January 1995 newsletter

This is the first of a new-style series of newsletter, intended to keep readers up to date on progress towards the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, scheduled for publication in the year 2005. Our current objective is nothing less than a comprehensive revision of the OED, most of which has not been re-edited since the original publication of OED1 between 1884 and 1928.

The task is a daunting one, and would not be possible unless the text was already accessible by computer. A short summary can only hint at aspects of the work involved: most of the entries are now out of date in respect of content, particularly in the sciences and other technical disciplines; scholarship has moved forward in many areas by leaps and bounds, not least in aspects of grammar and etymology; many thousands of antedatings have come to light which will change our view of the development of words; and there is also, of course, the more nebulous quality of outdated social attitudes and customs which are still enshrined in many OED definitions. As well as our own paper files, containing countless notes and quotations relevant to individual entries, we must also address information in the specialist period and regional dictionaries which have been published since the first edition of the OED, as well as the many electronic resources now available throughout the world. Against this background, we are also constantly monitoring the language for new words and phrases, and new senses of old words, for publication in our OED Additions series, and these must eventually be incorporated into the main structure of the OED.

Work on such a scale is not for the faint-hearted; but so long as there are people eager to write to us with details of their textual discoveries, or to point out errors, however small, we can feel confident of a desire to see the OED succeed and improve which will undoubtedly sustain our work in the years to come.