The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), published by the Oxford University Press Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as OUP's chief executive and as its major representative, is a dictionary A dictionary, also referred to as a lexicon, wordbook, or vocabulary, is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a of the English language.[2] Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. As of December 2008[update], the editors had completed one quarter of a third edition.[3]
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Entries and relative size
According to the publishers, it would take a single person 120 years to type the 59 million words of the OED second edition, 60 years to proofread it, and 540 megabytes The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: 1048576 bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes (106, see prefix mega-) generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000 000", with to store it electronically.[4] As of 30 November 2005, the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries. Supplementing the entry headwords A headword, head word, lemma, or sometimes catchword is the word under which a set of related dictionary or encyclopaedia entries appear. The headword is used to locate the entry, and dictates its alphabetical position. Depending on the size and nature of the dictionary or encyclopedia, the entry may include alternative meanings of the word, its, there are 157,000 bold-type combinations and derivatives; 169,000 italicized-bold phrases and combinations; 616,500 word-forms in total, including 137,000 pronunciations Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect; 249,300 etymologies Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time; 577,000 cross-references; and 2,412,400 usage quotations A quotation is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed to its original source, and it is indicated by (punctuated with) quotation marks. The dictionary's latest, complete print edition (Second Edition, 1989) was printed in 20 volumes, comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages. The longest entry in the OED2 was for the verb set, which required 60,000 words to describe some 430 senses. As entries began to be revised for the OED3 in sequence starting from M, the longest entry became make in 2000, then put in 2007.[5]
Despite its impressive size, the OED is neither the world's largest nor earliest dictionary. The Dutch dictionary Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal is a dictionary of the Dutch language and the largest dictionary in the world in print. It has over 430,000 entries of Dutch words from 1500 to 1921 and the paper edition consists of 43 volumes and close to 50,000 pages. The dictionary was almost 150 years in the making: the first fascicle (A-Aanhaling) was, which has similar aims to the OED, is the largest and it took twice as long to complete. The earliest large dictionary is the Grimm brothers They are among the best-known story tellers of folk tales from Europe, and their work popularized such tales as "Rumpelstiltskin", "Snow White", "Rapunzel", "Cinderella", "Hansel and Gretel", and "The Frog Prince", some of which they had first heard from the Italian Fairy Tale writers' dictionary of the German language The Deutsches Wörterbuch is one of the most important dictionaries of the German language. It is for German what the Oxford English Dictionary is for English, containing detailed historical information about the origin and use over time of German words, with examples taken from actual documents, begun in 1838 and completed in 1961. The first edition of the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca The Accademia della Crusca is an Italian institution that brings together scholars and experts in Italian linguistics and philology. It was founded in Renaissance Florence in 1582 by Antonio Francesco Grazzini, commonly known as "Il Lasca". To this day, the Accademia della Crusca has remained well-known for its mission to maintain the &, which is the first great dictionary devoted to a modern European language (Italian), was published in 1612; the first edition of Dictionnaire de l'Académie française The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française is the official dictionary of the French language in France dates from 1694. The first edition of the official dictionary of Spanish, the Diccionario de la lengua española The Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española or DRAE is the most authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language. It is produced, edited, and published by the Real Academia Española ; the first edition was published in 1780. The most current, twenty-second edition was published in 2001; an advance version of the 23rd (produced, edited, and published by the Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone (i.e., Spanish-speaking) nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies. The RAE's emblem is a fiery crucible,) was published in 1780. The Kangxi dictionary The Kangxi Dictionary was the standard Chinese dictionary during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kangxi Emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty ordered its compilation in 1710. The creator innovated greatly by reusing and confirming the new Zihui system of 214 radicals, since then know as 214 Kangxi radicals, and was eventually published in 1716. The of Chinese was published even earlier, in 1716.
The OED's official policy is to attempt to record a word's most-known usages and variants in all varieties of English past and present, worldwide. Per the 1933 "Preface":
The aim of this Dictionary is to present in alphabetical series the words that have formed the English vocabulary from the time of the earliest records [ca. AD740] down to the present day, with all the relevant facts concerning their form, sense-history, pronunciation, and etymology. It embraces not only the standard language of literature and conversation, whether current at the moment, or obsolete, or archaic, but also the main technical vocabulary, and a large measure of dialectal usage and slang.
It continues:
Hence we exclude all words that had become obsolete by 1150 [the end of the Old English Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon era] ... Dialectal words and forms which occur since 1500 are not admitted, except when they continue the history of the word or sense once in general use, illustrate the history of a word, or have themselves a certain literary currency.
The OED is the focus of much scholarly work about English words. Its headword variant spellings order list influences written English in English-speaking countries.[citation needed]
History
Origins
At first, the dictionary was unconnected to Oxford University but was the idea of a small group of intellectuals in London;[6] it originally was a Philological Society The Philological Society is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language. The society was established in 1842 to "investigate and promote the study and knowledge of the structure, the affinities, and the history of languages" project conceived in London by Richard Chenevix Trench Richard Chenevix Trench was an Anglican archbishop and poet, Herbert Coleridge Herbert "Herbie" Coleridge was a British philologist, technically the first editor of what ultimately became the Oxford English Dictionary, and Frederick Furnivall Frederick James Furnivall , one of the co-creators of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), was an English philologist, who were dissatisfied with the current English dictionaries. In June 1857, they formed an "Unregistered Words Committee" to search for unlisted and undefined words lacking in current dictionaries. In November, Trench's report was not a list of unregistered words; instead, it was the study On Some Deficiencies in our English Dictionaries, which identified seven distinct shortcomings in contemporary dictionaries:
- Incomplete coverage of obsolete words
- Inconsistent coverage of families of related words
- Incorrect dates for earliest use of words
- History of obsolete senses of words often omitted
- Inadequate distinction among synonyms Synonyms are different words with identical or very similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn ("with") and onoma (ὄνομα) ("name"). The words car and automobile are synonyms. Similarly, if we talk about a
- Insufficient use of good illustrative quotations
- Space wasted on inappropriate or redundant content.
The Philological Society, however, ultimately realized that the number of unlisted words would be far more than the number of words in the English dictionaries of the 19th century. The Society eventually shifted their idea from only words that were not already in English dictionaries to a more comprehensive project. Trench suggested that a new, truly comprehensive dictionary was needed. On 7 January 1858, the Society formally adopted the idea of a comprehensive new dictionary.[7] Volunteer readers would be assigned particular books, copying passages illustrating word usage onto quotation slips. In 1858, the Society agreed to the project in principle, with the title "A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles" (NED).
Early editors
Richard Chenevix Trench played the key role in the project's first months, but his ecclesiastical Ecclesiology is the theological study of the Christian church. Specific areas of concern include the church's origin, its relationship to the historical Christ, its role in salvation, its discipline, its destiny, and its leadership career meant that he could not give the dictionary project the time required, easily ten years[citation needed]; he withdrew, and Herbert Coleridge became the first editor.
Frederick Furnivall Frederick James Furnivall , one of the co-creators of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), was an English philologist, 1825–1910On 12 May 1860, Coleridge's dictionary plan was published, and research started. His house was the first editorial office. He arrayed 100,000 quotation slips in a 54-pigeon-hole grid. In April 1861, the group published the first sample pages; later that month, the thirty-one-year old Coleridge died of tuberculosis Tuberculosis or TB is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air, when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit. Most infections in.
Furnivall then became editor; he was enthusiastic and knowledgeable, yet temperamentally ill-suited for the work.[8] Many volunteer readers eventually lost interest in the project as Furnivall failed to keep them motivated. Furthermore, many of the slips had been misplaced.
Recruited assistants handled two tons of quotation slips and other materials. Furnivall understood the need for an efficient excerpting system, and instituted several prefatory projects. In 1864, he founded the Early English Text Society, and in 1868, he founded the Chaucer Society for preparing general benefit editions of immediate value to the dictionary project. The compilation lasted 21 years.[citation needed]
In the 1870s, Furnivall unsuccessfully attempted to recruit both Henry Sweet Henry Sweet was an English philologist, phonetician and grammarian and Henry Nicol to succeed him. He then approached James Murray James Augustus Henry Murray was a Scottish lexicographer and philologist. He was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879 until his death, who accepted the post of editor. In the late 1870s, Furnivall and Murray met with several publishers about publishing the dictionary. In 1878, Oxford University Press agreed with Murray to proceed with the massive project; the agreement was formalized the following year.[9] The dictionary project finally had a publisher 20 years after the idea was conceived. It would be another 50 years before the entire dictionary was complete.
Despite the participation of some 800 volunteer readers, the technology of paper-and-ink was the major drawback regarding the arbitrary choices of relatively untrained volunteers about "what to read and select" and "what to discard."[cite this quote][clarification needed]
Late in his editorship Murray learned that one prolific reader W. C. Minor William Chester Minor, also known as W. C. Minors was an American surgeon who made many scholarly contributions to the Oxford English Dictionary while confined to a lunatic asylum was a criminal lunatic.[10] Minor, a Yale University trained surgeon and military officer in the U.S. Civil War, was confined to Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton. Scotland has a similar institution, located at Carstairs, officially known as The State Hospital; also called Carstairs Hospital after killing a man in London. The story of Minor and Murray is told in Simon Winchester Simon Winchester, OBE , is a British author and journalist who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel and his's The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary[11] (U.S. title – elsewhere The Surgeon of Crowthorne The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words is a book by Simon Winchester first published in 1998. The American edition is called The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, and was published the same year: a tale of murder, madness and the love of words). Minor invented his own quotation-tracking system allowing him to submit slips on specific words in response to editors' requests.
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Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:48:25 GMT+00:00
New York Magazine [WWD] LBD just became an official word in the Oxford English Dictionary , which is surely the most exciting thing to happen to the dictionary since ...
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that as one lexicographer put it every word should be made to tell its own story Enthusiastic readers sent Murray definitions and examples on identical slips of paper in response to a letter of appeal in 1879 By the time the last volume was published in 1928 the dictionary had swelled from 4 to 10 volumes containing over 400 000 entries In the years since the staff
