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The Oxford English Dictionary is a historical dictionary. It aims to be a complete lexicon of the English language over time. It doesn't aim to reflect modern u
by Veen 4y ago
The Oxford English Dictionary is a historical dictionary. It aims to be a complete lexicon of the English language over time. It doesn't aim to reflect modern usage, except by adding new words. In contrast, the Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE, not OED) does aim to reflect modern usage.
- nomilk 4y agoVery interesting, I hadn't come across the term historical dictionary until today. From wikiepdia: > A historical dictionary or dictionary on historical principles is a dictionary which deals not only with the latterday meanings of words but also the historical development of their forms and meanings. It may also describe the vocabulary of an earlier stage of a language's development without covering present-day usage at all. A historical dictionary is primarily of interest to scholars of language, but may also be used as a general dictionary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_dictionary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_dictionary
- bloak 4y agoYes, and the criteria for inclusion are interesting. According to https://www.oed.com/public/oldenglishintheoed/old https://www.oed.com/public/oldenglishintheoed/old, any word that survived in English after 1150 qualifies for inclusion, but once it is included examples of its usage may be taken from the earliest Anglo-Saxon literature, so back to about the year 600. So some of the usage examples are not very easy for a typical modern reader to understand, to put it mildly.
- hodgesrm 4y agoThe OED also cheats a little by using quotes from other languages like Latin, which does not seem completely cricket. Definition 1 of Peer in the 1989 Edition has the following starting quote from the Magna Carta: 1215 Magna Carta xxi. Comites & barones non amercientur nisi per pares suos. Counts and barons shall not be fined except by their equals.