SHAKSPER 2007: Latest OED Online Update Now Available

From: Hardy M. Cook (editor@SHAKSPER.NET)
Date: 12/19/07 

The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0821  Wednesday, 19 December 2007

From: 		Hardy M. Cook <editor@shaksper.net>
Date: 		Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Subject: 	Latest OED Online Update Now Available

Dear SHAKSPEReans,

For those who might be interested, here is the latest news from OED 
Online. I have included many details for anyone who, like myself, may be 
looking for excuses to postpone grading that next paper.

Hardy Cook
Editor

Latest OED Online Update Now Available

Explore over 2500 new and revised words...

A new update of the Oxford English Dictionary was published on 13 
December, bringing 2506 new and revised entries from PURPRESS to QUIT 
SHILLING. John Simpson discusses the latest batch of new and revised 
entries in his latest article
<http://academic-marketing.oup.com/c/17AdZf3cEYSuhUa>, including 
information on the new longest entry in the OED and how the 'queen' 
entry has changed over the last 30 years.

http://www.oed.com/news/updates/revisions0712.html

++++++++++++++++++
Words at the start of the Q
John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary

The first entry I worked on when I joined the editorial staff of the 
Supplement to the OED back in 1976 was the entry for queen, and so (now 
that we are republishing queen in the current batch of revised and 
updated words) I was interested to see how the entry had changed over 
the thirty-one years since then.

Of course we weren't revising the entry in full in 1976, but only 
updating the original OED entry (first published in 1902) with new 
material drawn principally from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 
As we revised the entire entry this time round we found many areas which 
needed change: we have added a further four new meanings and two new 
compounds (queen-elect and queen's china), and now have 77 (rather than 
22) orthographic variants of queen; a new entry structure distinguishing 
senses referring to a woman from other extended uses; substantial 
changes to definitions; earlier documentary evidence provided for over 
half of the subsenses and compounds; later evidence for 91% of the 
subsenses, and earlier evidence for 64%. Along with the other changes 
made to the entry, this represents a substantially new view of our 
understanding of the word queen over the centuries since it entered English.

There are senses which were originally first recorded in the reign of 
Queen Anne (1702-14) which can now be shown to date from the time of 
Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) and Mary I (1553-8), though at present we 
have been unable to find the Queen of Spain fritillary any earlier than 
1775; queen-size goods (especially beds: the term appears to have 
originated in North America) tumble back from 1959 to 1906; the 
affectionate term of address 'Queen Mum' moves back from 1960 to 1954, a 
year after the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The current publication batch runs from purpress 'to commit purpresture; 
to enclose or encroach upon land illegally' to quit shilling 'a sum of 
money spent by a prisoner in celebration of his or her acquittal'. 
Published on 13 December 2007, it contains 2,508 entries, bringing the 
total number of main entries in the OED to 261,720. The dictionary's 
591,193 lemmas (roughly, words and expressions which are included in the 
dictionary) are now illustrated by 2,864,390 quotations and represent 
726,451 different meanings.

The list of some of the more significant words included in this release 
is perhaps somewhat shorter than usual:

purse, pursue, pursuit, push, put, puzzle, pyramid, python, quadrant, 
qualification, qualify, qualitative, quality, quantity, quarrel, quarry, 
quarter, queen, queer, query, quest, question, queue, quibble, quick, 
quid, quiet, quiff, quilt, quince, quintessence, quip, quirk, quit, quite.

This is partially because of the presence of the verb to put, which 
dominates the range. In its revised form it (temporarily?) takes its 
place as the largest entry in the OED, supplanting make, which itself 
took over from set in 2000. Other large entries here include quarter, 
quiet, and push. The smallest entry in the current range is the verb to 
putlog, which seems to have enjoyed a quiet life since OED1. Alongside 
the solid trail to the end of P we have a slightly quirkier set of words 
in Q (quibble, quiff, quip, quintessence), as well as quality, quantity, 
and over 200 main entries beginning with quad-.

Updating revised entries

In June of this year we noted that, following the switch to our new 
editorial computer system and the conversion of the dictionary data from 
SGML to XML, we had been able to republish updated versions of revised 
entries from necial to proteose (see Restructuring of compounds and 
phrases on OED Online). I'm now glad to be able to report that the 
present release includes all updated versions of entries revised to 
date, from M (the alphabetical point at which revision started). This 
means that any amendments to entries which we have applied to the 
database in the revised range are now published. These are often 
bibliographical improvements, but also include a number of earlier 
attestations and other alterations.

Typical changes include: middle class (antedating from 1756 to 1745), 
muller verb 4 (alteration to etymology), myrianthous (labelling change), 
and narrowcast verb (new sense and earlier quotation).

++++++++++++++++++
We have also added new words and senses from across the alphabet. Learn 
the stories <http://academic-marketing.oup.com/c/17Ae5RLGrbAtrAH> behind 
blankie, puttanesca, Godzone, and QALY from the new words editor 
Katherine Martin.

http://www.oed.com/news/updates/newwords0712.html

Notes on OED's December 2007 release of new words
Katherine Connor Martin, Acting Principal Editor, New Words, OED

blankie n.
The lexical innovations of children are often so short-lived or 
idiosyncratic that they do not gain widespread currency outside a 
particular family. Blankie, however, a colloquialism for "blanket" 
formed by adding the suffix -ie to the first syllable, has stood the 
test of time. Written evidence shows over 80 years of English usage of 
the word, especially in North America, but it probably has a longer, 
unrecorded history in the language of the nursery.

Godzone n.
This humorous name for New Zealand has its origins in a play on the 
first two words of the phrase "God's Own Country", respelled to suggest 
a compound having the word zone n. as its second element. Despite its 
presumption, the term "God's Own Country" has been patriotically applied 
to numerous geopolitical entities, including the United States, 
Yorkshire, and the Indian state of Kerala. The irreverent Godzone, 
however, belongs to New Zealand alone.

puttanesca n.
Food terms are a major source of new loanwords in English. In Italian, 
this word, denoting a piquant tomato sauce with olives, capers, and 
anchovies, has the literal sense "prostitute-esque" (< puttana 
prostitute). Culinary literature has produced a variety of conjectures 
for this association, such as the notion that the sauce was fast and 
easy to prepare between clients, or that its strong flavours and aroma 
exerted a stimulating effect. However, the motivation for the name 
remains uncertain.

QALY n.
Beloved of Scrabble players, the relatively few English words containing 
a Q which is not immediately followed by U are primarily loanwords, like 
the new OED entry qipao n. (< Chinese). QALY is an exception. An acronym 
from "quality-adjusted life year", it is a technical term used primarily 
in cost-benefit analysis to account for the quality of life, as well as 
its duration, after medical or surgical treatment.

+++++++++++++++++
Visit the Oxford English Dictionary Online web site for a full list of 
new words and senses in this update 
<http://academic-marketing.oup.com/c/17AecuuadoisBhe>(including all 
those 'q' words which might come in handy for Scrabble over the holiday 
period).

The latest news from Oxford University Press

We are delighted to announce that the latest update to Oxford 
Scholarship Online <http://academic-marketing.oup.com/c/17Aej7cDZB0rKXL> 
, along with nine NEW subject modules, is now available. December also 
saw the launch of the new online edition of Who's Who 
<http://academic-marketing.oup.com/c/17AepJV7LNIqUEi>, published by 
Oxford University Press, to coincide with the release of the 2008 print 
edition of Who's Who published by A & C Black. Why not contact us 
<http://academic-marketing.oup.com/c/17AewmDBy0qq4kP>for an 
institutional free trial or a price quotation?

_______________________________________________________________
S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List
Hardy M. Cook, editor@shaksper.net
The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net>

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