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Oxford University Press
THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARYREVISION PROGRAM
The Oxford English Dictionaryis changing. In the first
comprehensive revision undertaken since the original volumes were
published between 1884 and 1928, every word in the Dictionary is being
reviewed to improve the accuracy of definitions, derivations,
pronunciations, and the historical quotations. A staff of 120
scholars, research assistants, systems engineers, and project
managers, plus approximately 200 specialist consultants and readers,
have been working on this project since 1993. This phase of their work
will conclude in 2010 when the Dictionary will have been completely
re-edited in line with the best modern scholarship. This historic
event will mark a new chapter in our understanding of the history and
development of the English language. [Why Revise?] The Dictionary has been updated before, but has never received such
a thorough overhaul as that currently in hand. Previous updates have
added new terms, but the text of the original volumes has not changed
since they were published in 1928. In the intervening century more and
better resources have become available to language scholars. New
historical dictionaries cover different varieties of English, specific
periods of the language's development, and particular subject areas. A
multitude of scholarly articles and books have been published that
give a clearer understanding of the etymology of English, especially
the history of words that have been borrowed from other languages.
Countless other resources from both the distant and recent past are
now helping scholars to refine and expand the Dictionary's coverage of
the formal, colloquial, slang, and dialect vocabulary of English since
the twelfth century. Through this productive but painstaking process today's editors are
creating a document that gives a more accurate representation of each
word's history and development, as well as a fuller chronological and
geographical coverage of the English language. Work on the revision
program has already resulted in over one in every four definitions
revised being augmented significantly with data on earlier usage. [The Revision Process] Dictionary revisions are made following a set of procedures as
exacting as any laboratory experiment. Information about the language
(e.g. evidence of use) is collected and interpreted, reliable sources
are consulted, and final conclusions are drawn based on the mass of
available data. Because the Dictionary gives a wide variety of information for each
entry, these careful revision procedures are applied in a number of
different ways. Definitions Scholars are reviewing each entry to make sure that all definitions
are up to date and accurate. They check each word against a number of
historical and modern databases (including the card-files contributed
by generations of readers), and revise the entries to reflect shades
of meaning and other features that were overlooked or unknown when the
Dictionary was first edited. Specialist consultants review technical
terminology, often clarifying the meanings of obscure words or adding
new facts to entries. Etymology Scholars know much more about the derivation of words than they did
one hundred years ago when the original Dictionary was being edited.
In particular, there are many languages other than English that now
have authoritative etymological dictionaries and other scholarly
literature of their own. The Dictionary's editors consult these works
for more detailed insights into word origins. Pronunciation All pronunciations given in the Dictionary are being reviewed to
make sure they reflect how each word is pronounced today. The
Dictionary uses a standardized system of pronunciation symbols known
as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Up till now, the
keystone has been the standard pronunciation of the British Isles, but
the revised Dictionary will give equal prominence to North American
pronunciations, and will introduce other regional varieties where
appropriate. Illustrative Quotations One of the most interesting features of the Dictionary is its
documentation of the first recorded use of each word meaning. The
Dictionary's editors monitor usage by means of a reading program;
thousands of modern and historical texts are read for new and
supplementary information. Scholars from around the world send in - on
index cards or, more recently, via e-mail - documentation of a word's
usage. Millions of these contributions are filed in the Dictionary's
offices and are reviewed during the revision process. As the work of updating and revision proceeds, scholars are
reviewing the accuracy of the source quotations on which the
definitions are built. Using the material collected by earlier reading
programs and by consulting historical and regional dictionaries
(including the mass of material available throughout the Dictionary
itself), the revision team is able to demonstrate that many words
originated earlier than was stated in the first edition of the
Dictionary, or that the documentation previously published does not
meet modern bibliographical and textual standards. The revision allows
the editors to cite from more appropriate editions, to date evidence
more accurately, and to supply fuller documentary evidence of each
word's use in context. New Entries The Dictionary's reading program also provides the editorial team
with many historical and modern terms that haven't yet been included
in the work. Many thousands of new entries will be added to make the
revised text more up to date and comprehensive than before. [Exciting Discoveries Along the Way] The full-scale revision of the entire Dictionary is a fascinating
process that will provide readers with many new insights into word
meanings and the history of the English language. Why have some words
fallen into disuse? Did the great authors such as Shakespeare and
Chaucer really invent as many new words as they are given credit for,
or does new information now show that many of these words have
earlier, popular, origins? Which words have fallen out of use since
the original Dictionary was published? These are just some of the
questions readers can research as the revision proceeds. Because the Dictionary is now held in an electronic format, revising
has become a more regular and ongoing process. Once the huge task of
updating the existing work is finished, the editors will continue to
add new information to the Dictionary database as they receive it,
instead of storing it away for the next print revision. Readers will
be able to access an online version of the Dictionary, giving them the
latest information on every word in the Dictionary as soon as it is
inserted in the database. These technological advances, plus the
enormous number of content revisions, ensure that the Oxford
English Dictionarywill be an even more authoritative record of
the English language in the twenty-first century. While the Oxford English Dictionaryrevision program is
going ahead, we are simultaneously planning to make Oxford English
Dictionary, Second Edition the published Additions
volumes, revised entries, and new unpublished entries available to
readers online. The World Wide Web is a natural medium for the publication of
revised entries as work in progress, and gives us the ability to make
them available to readers before the third edition is completed in
2010. This concept of publication in instalments was familiar to Sir
James Murray, whose original Dictionary was issued in fascicles; but
the issuing of revised entries online would have the added advantage
of offering a medium in which continuous revision could take place,
i.e. no revised entry would be final until 2010, but could go through
several publicly available versions as more antedatings were found and
as more information entered our files. We aim to publish the online Dictionary in October 1999, and to
release new batches of revised entries every quarter, linking them to
the original versions for comparison. This is an opportunity for an
entirely new product, a natural milestone in the history of the Oxford
English Dictionary,which will take it into the next century and
ensure its future as an ever-growing and developing record of the
language.
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