4/11/2023 0 Comments Byword review![]() When does a “new” word move sufficiently past the fad stage and into general acceptance? Įven words with “accepted” meanings change in different contexts and under new circumstances. Yet another concern arises for those who work on dictionaries. What about the simple phrase “you guys”? Is it singular or plural? What about other regionalisms like “youse”? Is “you” a synonym for that? Is “you all”? The next question for lexicographers is grammatical: a word’s part of speech is not as simple as it might seem. For example, does “new-kyoo-lur” versus “new-klee-ur” imply something about the background of the speaker? What about “ant” versus “AHHnt” for the name of your parent’s sister? Pronunciation matters too, and here one encounters determinative variables such as education, background, region of the country (or world), and again, social status. Usage conveys a lot about meaning: tone, context, intention, cultural implications, formality or lack thereof, gender assumptions, customs, rules, and even social status. To that end, those who work on dictionaries compile files and files (formerly by hand and now digitally) full of examples of usage of different words. ”īut “meaning” isn’t the only concern of lexicographers, even if those other conditions are met. A word also has to have a long shelf life.the third requirement is that it has what we call ‘meaningful use’ – that is, whether the word is used with a meaning. It needs first to have widespread use in print. “A word has to meet three criteria for entry into most general dictionaries. If you parse that sentence, you’ll see there’s quite a bit to take into account, not least of which is the word “belong.” Stamper writes: Title page of Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, circa 1830–1840 Noah Webster, in an 1816 letter, wrote that ‘the business of a lexicographer is to collect, define, and arrange, as far as possible, all the words that belong to a language.’” The author also offers insights into how the best “meaning” of a word is determined, and how that determination changes over time. This is not just a compendium of fun facts about words, although there are plenty of those, including anecdotes about former meanings and unusual etymologies. But behind the scenes, she wants you to know, there is in fact a great deal that goes into making a dictionary both authoritative and flexible. She points out that most people give no thought to the dictionary they use: it merely is, like the universe. Kory Stamper informs us that her employer, Merriam-Webster, is the oldest dictionary maker in America, dating unofficially back to 1806 with the publication of Noah Webster’s first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, and officially back to 1844, when the Merriam brothers bought the rights to Webster’s dictionary after his death. Delightfully humorous and informative, this look inside the making and constant revising of dictionaries will please a wide variety of readers, but especially those who love language.
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