Colloquy

   A colloquy (pronounced coll-ock-wee) is a formal conversation; a conference or a gathering for discussion of theological questions.

Facts about the Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use.  (The average 16 year old has a vocabulary of only 10,000-12,000 words so would find a few words he or she didn't know.)

The First Edition

The proposed size of the first edition was 4 volumes, 6,400 pages (with provision for ‘a larger dictionary containing not fewer than 10 volumes, each containing not less than 1,600 pages’).  The actual size was 10 volumes, 15,490 pages

Proposed time to complete: 10 years.  Actual time to complete: 70 years (from approval date)

Publication date: 1884-1928 in 128 fascicles. Published in 10 volumes in 1928 and reissued in 12 volumes in 1933, with the addition of a one-volume Supplement.

Price of fascicles: 12 shillings and sixpence for large sections.  Price of bound volumes (1928): from 50 to 55 guineas for the set, depending on binding

Number of pages edited by James Murray: est., 7,200.  Number of contributors (readers): est. 2,000.  Number of quotations submitted by contributors: est. 5 million.  Number of quotations used in Dictionary: 1,861,200.  Number of authors represented in quotations: 2,700.  Number of works represented in quotations: 4,500


The Supplement (1972-1986)  

Proposed size: one volume, 1,300 pages.  Actual size: 4 volumes, 5,730 pages.

Proposed time to complete: 7 years.   Actual time to complete: 30 years

Publication date: vol. 1, 1972; vol. 2, 1976; vol. 3, 1982; vol. 4, 1986

Number of entries: 69,300.  Number of quotations: est. 527,000.


The Second Edition (1989)

Proposed size: 20 volumes.  Actual size: 20 volumes, 21,730 pages

Publication date: 1989

Weight of text: 62.6 kilos or 137.72 lbs.

Amount of ink used to print complete run: 2,830 kilos or 6,243 lbs.

Number of words in entire text: 59 million

Number of printed characters: 350 million

Number of different typographical characters used in text: approx.: 750 (660 special plus approx. 90 on regular keyboard)

Equivalent person years used to ‘key in’ text to convert to machine-readable form: 120

Equivalent person years to proof-read text: 60

Number of megabytes of electronic storage required for text: 540

Number of entries: 291,500

Number of main entries: 231,100

Number of main entries for obsolete words: 47,100

Number of main entries for spurious words: 240

Number of main entries for non-naturalized words: 12,200

Longest entry in Dictionary: the verb ‘set’ with over 430 senses consisting of approximately 60,000 words or 326,000 characters

Number of cross-reference entries: 60,400

Number of cross-references within entries: 580,600

Number of word forms defined and/or illustrated: 615,100

Number of pronunciations: 139,900

Number of etymologies: 219,800

Number of quotations: 2,436,600

Most frequently quoted work (in various full and partial version, and translations): Bible (est. 25,000 quotations)

Most frequently quoted single author: Shakespeare (approx. 33,300 quotations)

Most frequently quoted single work of Shakespeare: Hamlet (almost 1,600 quotations)

Percentage of quotations by centuries:
20th century 20 per cent
19th century 31
18th century 11
17th century 16
16th century 10
15th century 4.5
14th century 3.5
13th century 1
1st to 12th centuries 1
Undated (see note) 0.5

Note: ‘Undated’ includes approximately 1,250 quotations from Beowulf, with the balance consisting of proverbs, nursery rhymes, ‘made up’ illustrations, and references to the appearance of word forms ‘in mod. Dicts.’


The OED Additions Series (1993, 1997)

Volume 1 (1993)
Number of entries (new senses added): 3152
Number of pages: 334

Volume 2 (1993)
Number of entries (new senses added): 3335
Number of pages: 336

Volume 3 (1997)
Number of entries (new senses added): 3319
Number of pages: 352

Fascicle

  A fascicle is a separately published installment of a printed work.

You should learn this word - you will need it for tomorrow's entry, which, I warn you in advance, will be a long one.

Jumping the shark

   Jumping the shark refers to a point at which a TV series makes a desperate bid to improve its rating by introducing a melodramatic or fantastical plotline. I only found the expression recently but the phenomenon has been known for years. The phrase was coined in the 1980s when The Fonz tried jumping a shark on his water-skies when the ratings of Happy Days were falling.

Nowadays the plots of soap operas are so fantastical from the outset that I'm not sure how much more melodramatic they could be made.  A nuclear strike perhaps.  That might be their best fate!

On German Words

  Mark Twain's views on race, nationality and class were typical of his time. That is, they are largely unacceptable today.   But the skill of his writing and the fact that he lived over a hundred years ago make those things to some extent forgivable.  Take, for example, his view on the German tendency to string words together  -



    “These things are not words, they are alphabetical processions. And they are not rare; one can open a German newspaper at any time and see them marching majestically across the page — and if he has any imagination he can see the banners and hear the music, too. They impart a martial thrill to the meekest subject. I take a great interest in these curiosities. Whenever I come across a good one, I stuff it and put it in my museum. In this way I have made quite a valuable collection. When I get duplicates, I exchange with other collectors, and thus increase the variety of my stock.”
- Mark Twain 1880

The dreaded lurgi

The dreaded lurgi is a severe illness or allergy but you won’t find it in any medical dictionary.  (Lurgi is pronounced LUR-Ghee with a hard g). Although it is commonly used to refer to a cold or flu it is a fictional illness invented by that exceptional British radio series, The Goon Show in 1954.

Anile

Anile is an adjective meaning old-womanish; of or like a feeble old woman; like a foolish, doddering old woman; or weak-minded.  The word was first used as long ago as 1652.

I'm a bit anile in all of its senses until I've had my first tea or coffee in the morning. 

Balaniferous

   Balaniferous means acorn-bearing.  More photos -

Coniferous

 
Coniferous means cone-bearing.  It's as simple as that.  I just wanted an excuse to show some of my photos...  (And yes, the top ones are cones - the Alder tree is both coniferous and deciduous.)

Maudlin

 Maudlin is an adjective meaning self-pitying or tearfully sentimental. One dictionary suggested it was feeling sad and sorry for yourself, especially after you have drunk a lot of alcohol. I shall have to stop using the expression to refer to how I'm feeling or people will get the wrong impression.