Lemuel Dole Nelme was an English craftsman of the eighteenth century, known as the author of An essay towards an investigation of the origin and elements of language (1772). This was a speculative book on the origin of languages, and alphabet symbolism . Nelme was interested in Anglo-Saxon as proto-language, and compiled (or suggested the compilation of) an Anglo-Saxon dictionary. He is said to have deferred later to the theory of Rowland Jones on Celtic as proto-language.

He is otherwise known to have been in business in Exchange Alley in London around 1750, to have held a Government post as Clerk in 1764, and to have participated in the Society of Arts at the end of the 1760s.

Works

• An Essay towards an Investigation or the Origin and Elements of Language and Letters (1772) reprinted 1972 by Scolar Press , Menston