Showing 11-19 of 19 entries tagged

“OED history”

An Oxford lexicographer of the 1940s: Hereward Price

As the previous article in this series explained, Oxford University Press called a temporary halt to its activities in English-language lexicography in Oxford during the 1930s, although there continued to…

Oxford lexicographers of the 1930s: J. L. N. O’Loughlin and Herbert Le Mesurier

As the 1930s began, after many years of being the centre of operations for the compilation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the ‘Dictionary Room’ in the Old Ashmolean, in the…

The Meaning of Everything: a new preface

The following is an abridged version of the preface to the new edition of Simon Winchester’s highly-acclaimed The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary Lexicography is…

OED editors of the 1920s: Jessie Coulson and James Wyllie

Among the people who started work on the OED in the 1920s were two who went on to have careers of some significance for Oxford lexicography in very different ways:…

Americanisms (and ‘America Firsters’) in the OED

When the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary were putting the finishing touches on the first edition ninety years ago, they knew their work was in no way ‘complete’. The…

1928: the Year of the Dictionary

‘This year, whatever else it may be, is the Year of the Dictionary.’ So wrote Charles Onions in the Times of 19 April 1928, in an article celebrating the completion…

Shakespeare in the OED

The works of Shakespeare (1564–1616) are more widely quoted in OED than those of any other author, and they pose questions for lexicographers and bibliographers concerning date and location. Treatment…

The OED in two minutes

Modern English includes words from a wide variety of different sources around the world. Patterns of word-borrowing over time reflect the changing demography of its speakers; cultural and economic influences…