Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary
Most people think of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as a distinctly British product. Begun in England 150 years ago, it took more than 60 years to complete and, when it was finally finished in 1928, the British prime minister heralded it as a 'national treasure'. It maintained this image throughout the twentieth century, and in 2006 the English public voted it an 'Icon of England', alongside Marmite, Buckingham Palace and the bowler hat. However, this book shows that the dictionary is not as 'British' as we all thought. The linguist and lexicographer, Sarah Ogilvie, combines her insider knowledge and experience with impeccable research to show that the OED is in fact an international product in both its content and its making. She examines the policies and practices of the various editors, applies qualitative and quantitative analysis, and finds new OED archival materials in the form of letters, reports and proofs. She demonstrates that the OED, in its use of readers from all over the world and its coverage of World English, is in fact a global text.
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Contents
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Entering the OED
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1 |
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A global dictionary from the beginning
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24 |
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James Murray and Words of the World
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53 |
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James Murray and the Stanford Dictionary controversy
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104 |
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William Craigie Charles Onions and the mysterious case of the vanishing tramlines
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134 |
Other editions - View all
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Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary Sarah Ogilvie Limited preview - 2013 |
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Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary Sarah Ogilvie No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
1933 Supplement alphabet American English antedated Arabic Athenaeum Australian Australian English borrowed Bradley Bradley’s Britain Burchfield’s Supplement Cambridge Charles Onions Coleridge coverage Craigie and Onions Craigie’s criticism culture Dan Davin Delegates deleted Doble donor languages early editors edited Empire English language Englishes and loanwords entries etymology example fascicle Fennell Fennell’s Figure foreign words French Furnivall headword Hindi Hucks Gibbs included Indian influenced Jackson’s Oxford Journal James Murray kadin Letter from Murray Letter from Sisam lexicographic lexicographic practice linguistic loanwords and World London Mesurier Murray’s National Dictionary neologisms and adaptations OED’s OUP Archive Oxford Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary Philological Society policy and practice preface pronunciation published quotation paragraphs readers reflected Review Robert Burchfield sample scholars senses slips South Africa South African English SPE Tract spelling Stanford Dictionary Superfluous tamber timbre tramlines University Press variant varieties of English vocabulary volume William Craigie word’s World Englishes wrote Zealand English