January 1998 newsletter

August 1997 saw the publication of the third volume of the OED Additions series. In this issue of the Newsletter Jennie Miell, one of the New Words editors who handled publicity for the volume, describes the wide variety of media attention it received, both in Britain and abroad.

While the public was concentrating on the OED's acknowledgement of the entrance of 'ableism', 'Mills & Boon', and 'luvvy' into the dictionary, behind the scenes the revision of the existing OED text continued apace. The close scrutiny being given to its hundreds of thousands of quotations has some interesting scholarly by-products. In the process of verifying OED2 quotations from Charles Dickens's Sketches by 'Boz' M. Clare Loughlin was able to trace, through minor changes in the text of eight different editions from 1836 to 1850, Dickens's growing opposition to public execution. The resulting article, 'Revisions to "A Visit to Newgate" and Dickens's experience of the Mannings' Execution', appeared in The Dickensian 93 (Summer 1997).

Work on OED etymologies also continues to throw up interesting philological issues. Professor Bernhard Diensberg of the University of Bayreuth, Germany, who is acting as a consultant on Old French etymologies, describes some of those arising from the consideration of English words with Old French regional origins.

Editing on the OED is not always a serious business. Often our quotation files and databases, or the OED itself, turn up quotations worth sharing. Below are some Quotable Quotes on a variety of subjects, from glasshouses to garrotting.

Finally, this issue of the OED Newsletter sees a change of editor. Our thanks go to Yvonne Warburton, who has done such an excellent job of editing the Newsletter over the past three years.