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From:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/0 ... ictionary.html?_r=0
A 1970 printing of the 1933 corrected reissue. Credit Hannah Whitaker for The New York Times. Prop stylist: Emily Mullin
Until the appearance of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1928, Samuel Johnson’s 1755 Dictionary of the English Language was the pre--eminent authority on spelling and usage. Titanic an achievement as it was — Johnson wrote it largely on his own, with the help of a few assistants — it contained only those words the great lexicographer thought worth knowing. Richard Chenevix Trench, dean of Westminster and an early champion of the project that would result in the O.E.D., opposed the very idea of curation, as he explained to the Philological Society in London in November 1857.
‘‘I cannot understand how any writer with the smallest confidence in himself … should consent … to let one self-made dictator, or 40, determine for him what words he should use, and what he should forbear from using,’’ he wrote. For Trench, a dictionary should be a complete ‘‘inventory of the language,’’ not just a greatest--hits collection. So he persuaded the Philological Society to crowdsource the compilation of what eventually became the Oxford English Dictionary — less a book than a ceaseless endeavor that continues to this day.
Maybe 20 years ago, my husband bought the supersize 20--volume 1989 edition of the O.E.D. from an old friend, this half--crazy bond trader. It has been my favorite possession ever since, and by a wide margin, handily beating out all books, paintings and drawings, souvenirs, jewels — shoes, even. To own these books is to dwell alongside your own personal Eighth Wonder of the World, something to wander and delight in as you please. That such a thing should even exist in this chaotic world seems impossible — the painstaking record of not only a language but also value systems and cultures and ways of life, alphabetized and arranged in 20 beautiful volumes bound in midnight--blue cloth with gilt--lettered spines, weighing about seven pounds apiece.
Consider Volume V (‘‘Dvandva — Follis’’). The text, typeset in a diverse mixture of fonts, of boldfaces and italics, is surprisingly stately and legible, evoking the sense of well--ordered complexity that characterizes many of the 19th century’s great undertakings, from the Victoria and Albert Museum to Audubon’s ‘‘Birds of America’’: the truth recorded in every discernible detail, exact and unflinching, crazy, overwhelming. Only a people drunk on discovery, for whom possessing the entirety of knowledge seemed just on the horizon, could be capable of such exquisite arrogance.
Like a fool, I get in the habit of thinking that I have a decent vocabulary — lol! — but there are just nine words defined on the first page of Volume V, and I don’t know eight of them.
A dvandva is a compound word made up of two equivalent components, e.g. ‘‘bittersweet’’ or ‘‘prince--consort’’; it is Sanskrit in origin. Dvornik, Russian--derived, means ‘‘house--porter’’ — that is, a person who ferries things around in your house — of limited utility today, perhaps, unless maybe you’re an oligarch.
Dwa--grass (see TWA--GRASS), feathery grasses from southern Africa. Dwale (Obs.), ‘‘error, delusion, deceit, fraud,’’ via Old English. Now a whole different dwale, ‘‘prob. from Scandinavian’’: ‘‘a stupefying or soporific drink.’’ Dwalm, ‘‘a swoon, a fainting--fit’’ (Scottish); what happens after you knock back a dwale, I guess. Can be verb or substantive. Dwam, same as dwalm. ‘‘That causit hir to dwam.’’ I love that one. Dwang, ‘‘timber used in strutting a floor.’’ Too bad; I had so hoped it was a var. of ‘‘dang’’ — a dang with a twang — ‘‘dang’’ being ‘‘a euphemistic substitute for DAMN,’’ according to Volume IV (‘‘Creel — Duzepere’’).
Hail and well met, dwarf ! — at last, a familiar face.
The 20--volume O.E.D. cost $2,500 on its publication in 1989; the current price is $995, direct from Oxford University Press. One reason for the steep discount (deeper still when you factor in inflation) is that the most up-to-date version is now online and accessible by subscription for $295 annually — or quite possibly free through your public or school library.
The advantages of digital reference materials are blindingly obvious. The capacity to perform instantaneous searches is by now an essential feature in standard reference works, as is an expectation of continuous updates; the online O.E.D., which is updated quarterly, has been particularly nimble in this regard. It is as mind--blowing an accomplishment as any in the Internet’s history. There has been talk that the third edition of the O.E.D. may never see print.
But it is troubling that a project of this kind should exist solely online. Reading on-screen tempts us to see things only through the pinhole of our immediate curiosity. I don’t mean to sentimentalize the Reading of Books, but as a practical matter, when you hold a book in your hands, it is very different from what happens when you are typing something onto a glassy, featureless screen. Online, your experience is personalized, but it is also atomized, flattened and miniaturized, robbed of its landscape. Physical books require you to literally hold some of the context of what you are reading, and that is a crucial dimension of understanding. After all, the O.E.D. is ‘‘an historical monument,’’ as Trench accurately foretold, a ‘‘complete inventory of our English tongue ... which we ought not to rest satisfied until we possess.’’
If only he could see it now! In time, his words bore such a harvest as would surely have causit him to dwam.
Barbara New York, New York July 6, 2015
But can one browse the online OED?? I have not used it, so plead ignorance. To me one of the fascinating (and fun) things about using a hard-copy book is the serendipity of browsing.
8Recommend
John Stuehr Cleveland July 6, 2015
Not mentioned in the article nor any comments is the wonderful book on the O.E.D.'s creation: "The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester. One of the 19th century crowdsourcers was a convicted murderer, a schizophrenic confined in an insane asylum. Wonderful reading, as is my compact edition cum magnifying glass.
"Physical books require you to literally hold some of the context of what you are reading, and that is a crucial dimension of understanding." I agree.
8Recommend
David Atlanta, Georgia July 6, 2015
Expresses my views perfectly!
5Recommend
Earl B. St. Louis July 6, 2015
The OED two-volume set anchors my shelves at home; along with a Merriam-Webster Second Edition. These are treasures truly cherished.
We've been involved with matters electronic since the forties, and indeed enjoy pulling up matter on our computer, Kindle, even the smart phone. Each has a place. However, there's a strong awareness that batteries fail and power too. The electronic image has a transitory nature that, with a misplaced touch, click, power surge or even a sunspot, will disappear. It's an uneasy uncertainty that stays with us constantly as we contemplate the screen.
Print books never lose power.
12Recommend
Justice Holmes Charleston July 6, 2015
It would be sad indeed for the hard copy of this delicious buffet of language to disappear. Gone the serendipitous delight of tripping over a relic of days gone by or scrap of culture obscured by time.
Don't do it. Print it and bind it still in blue and gold.
7Recommend
Richard M. Waugaman, M.D. Chevy Chase, MD July 6, 2015
Let's beware of all false dichotomies! Both the print and the online OED are invaluable. Those of us with university faculty appointments sometimes get online access as a fringe benefit. My Shakespeare research has benefitted enormously from having the OED bookmarked on my computer. And, yes, let's home the OUP will lower the subscription price for individuals.
I have found the OED editorial staff to be responsive to suggestions. They readily admit, for example, that their first usage examples are often inaccurate. Early English Books Online is a database that often gives earlier examples. They told me they plan a major revision of early usage examples.
Inexplicably, however, they refuse to add the word "manicule," meaning a pointing hand drawn in the margin of a book. I told them I was planning a demonstration in support of this word. A colleague suggested that demonstrators could hold manicule placards, with the usual pointing index finger. I cautioned her that the inevitable radical elements demonstrations attract might discredit our cause with placards showing a raised middle finger.
5Recommend
forestflier Alkmaar July 6, 2015
When I was in graduate school we were assigned an exercise to acquaint us with the OED: to choose one word and write about its etymology and usage based on the OED entry. I chose the word "free." Changed my life forever. When I turned 50 my friends all got together and bought me the OED on CD ROM. The only birthday present I've ever received that actually made me cry.
8Recommend
GiGi is a trusted commenter Montana July 5, 2015
I worked as the tech coordinator for a school when the Mosaic browser changed the world. I could see what it would become. I asked the school librarians to let me know when the OED would be available online. The State of Missouri - yes, Missouri - funded availability to all schools and libraries in the state for the princely sum of $15 per year. Every rural library in every tiny town had access to the OED, something they never could have afforded.
People who treasure their paper copies forget that the OED project was scholarship and meant to track the living, changing language, perhaps the most lively language on the planet. That task can now be done better than ever the paper editions could.
I'm writing this comment on an iPad in a darkened room. I can make the print larger or smaller, brighter or dimmer, a real boon to aging eyes. I guess books will always be around. The hipsters of 2040 will tell us how much better they are than digital.
6Recommend
Ladislav Nemec Big Bear, CA July 5, 2015
I no longer read books on paper. Fortunately, a dictionary comes frre with any version of Kindle and I use it, just 'selecting' the word as I read one of my 300 Kindle books.
Very useful, the dictionary identifies 'British' uses, by default it is actually an American English dictionary.
In this country since 1968 I still some help...
2Recommend
Arthur Layton Mattapoisett, MA July 5, 2015
I purchased for $50 a good copy of the 2-volume edition. It is worth every cent and then more.
2Recommend
rob blake ny July 5, 2015
My 2 volume set with magnifying glass is proudly and prominently displayed.
2Recommend
Peter Maryland July 5, 2015
I do have a copy of the Compact Edition.
However I believe that $295 p.a. is too high for online access. OUP would have more success were it $99 - I am sure that sales would more than triple.
11Recommend
polymath British Columbia July 5, 2015
"Dwale (Obs.), ‘'error, delusion, deceit, fraud,’' via Old English. Now a whole different dwale, ‘'prob. from Scandinavian’': 'a stupefying or soporific drink.'"
I would not assume these words are unrfelated. Scandinavian had a lot of influence on Old English, and the words' meanings are akin. Plus, much of the OED omits etymology discovered in the past 100 years.
2Recommend
Nina New York, NY July 5, 2015
Since college decades ago, I wanted the Compact OED. I found a set on eBay or Amazon, and it arrived, packaged in kraft paper, from New Hampshire.
I remember the times we, in our group house in Pittsburgh, would look up words and laugh at the etymologies of some of the words. Like, "sarcasm", from the Greek words meaning "to tear flesh, to gnash the teeth, to speak bitterly".
I feel like a treasure hunter when perusing its tissuey pages.
13Recommend
Dheep' Midgard July 5, 2015
Want to thank you for this Wonderful & Inspiring Article. And to also see the regular feature: Letter of Recommendation. I had never seen this before.
Thank you once Again
4Recommend
Naomi Goldblum Jerusalem July 5, 2015
Due to a limited budget and limited shelf space, I bought the Shorter OED (2 volumes) about 15 years ago. It has given me many hours of pleasure. I am not interested in rare words, but rather in the variety of meanings of common words, and this it provides in abundance. I am now writing a book about this topic, and my first acknowledgment will be this wonderful reference work.
5Recommend
Christopher Hawtree Hove, Sussex, England July 5, 2015
I was pleased to point out that Virginia Woolf had not invented "scrolloping" but that it appears in Edward Fitzgerald's letters. Something that has now been incorporated into the online version. Not perhaps the greatest contribution to human knowledge but satisfying in its way. Meanwhile, it has the great "telluric" - of the earth - petering out in 1884. It has been used since, notably by Melissa Harrison in her recent novel At Hawthorn Time.
1Recommend
Ruth nys July 5, 2015
I too am blessed with the compact micro edition. there was a time I could read it without the magnifying glass (that time is long passed now). If stuck on the dessert island, this is the work I want to have with me.
Robert Graves insisted that a poet should know the meaning and the history of every word s/he uses. what a good idea for anyone who makes poems or who writes and reads at all.
I can't think of a book that makes me happier.
7Recommend
Dr. Abraham Solomon Fort Myers July 3, 2015
When I had my Bar Mitzvah many years ago; I was given a hard covered Webster's Dictionary. As a present from a dear friend. His mother was a school teacher. It is the only present I remember, the only gift I still have in my possession, from that coming of age event.
I use it too rarely, but enjoy and cherish the memory it evokes in me. On some rare occasions, I have given dictionaries to some young children. In the hope they would appreciate the almost timeless wonder a dictionary can evoke.
This article although about a greater tome, was interesting to read. Thank you.
17Recommend
Eleanor Augusta, Maine July 6, 2015
I too have the foot thick Webster's (from the 1950's) which serves, still, as a step-stool and source of clarity and entertainment.
2Recommend
NA Fortis Los ALtos CA July 3, 2015
Gifted my twenty volume beauty to son when wife and I had
to move into asssted living. He'll take proper care of it. But I still need an occasional visit to this magnificent work, so I pay $295 every year for online acess.
Worth every penny.
Nick F. aging retiree
(I was able to keep my 1939 MWebster 2nd unabridged and my 1773 N. Bailey's
Universal Etymological English Dictionary. Also On the Study of Words; English Past & Present by Bishop Trench.)
22Recommend
Marilyn Wise Los Angeles July 3, 2015
The 2-volume set (with its own magnifying glass) in its own cardboard container is a valued object in my home, sparking much joy. I have two other dictionaries, and I am always excited to look up strange words in all three of them.
19Recommend
winthropo muchacho durham, nc July 2, 2015
I have the two volume compact O.E.D. which comes with a magnifying glass.
It is always at my side when I'm reading anything by James Joyce, especially Ulysses, which I'm plowing through again.
I have always longed for the multi volume set which is now within my ability to financially rationalize at $995. Thank you Ms. Bustillos for the heads up!
I hope the O.E.D. never goes completely digital. There's something about holding a book in one's hands. Also, as Ms. Bustillos has noted, once one finds the sought after word, one finds numerous other words previously unheard of.
23Recommend
Karen New York July 2, 2015
I owned the super-compact one with a magnifying glass and it got destroyed in a flood in my apartment. I mourned that loss.
12Recommend
lydia davies allentown July 2, 2015
This article brings back a wonderful memory. I'm an English major, a retired librarian, and an avid lover of words. Shortly before my retirement from a college library about a decade ago, I had rearranged the books in our reference collection and brought our copy of the 1989 OED into my large office, freeing up some valuable space on the public shelves for more heavily used items. One day the library director wanted to consult the OED, and she came flying into my office in a panic, wailing that "The OED has been stolen!" I cheerfully reassured her and pointed to the 20 beautiful creatures in their new home. After that I made a sign for all who desired usage of the OED to come to my office for its new location. I had some great conversations with those users, all very interesting people.
31Recommend
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发表于 2015-7-19 00:46:49
