Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries
- The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Issues in English Lexicography
- Part II English Dictionaries Throughout the Centuries
- Chapter 8 A Dictionary Ecosystem: Four Centuries of English Lexicography
- Seventeenth-Century English Dictionaries: Hard Words
- Eighteenth-Century English Dictionaries: Prescriptivism and Completeness
- Nineteenth-Century English Dictionaries: Descriptivism
- Chapter 13 The Making of American English Dictionaries
- Chapter 14 The Oxford English Dictionary
- Twentieth and Twenty-First-Century Dictionaries
- Part III Dictionaries of English and Related Varieties
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions to Literature
Chapter 14 - The Oxford English Dictionary
from Nineteenth-Century English Dictionaries: Descriptivism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 September 2020
- The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries
- The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Issues in English Lexicography
- Part II English Dictionaries Throughout the Centuries
- Chapter 8 A Dictionary Ecosystem: Four Centuries of English Lexicography
- Seventeenth-Century English Dictionaries: Hard Words
- Eighteenth-Century English Dictionaries: Prescriptivism and Completeness
- Nineteenth-Century English Dictionaries: Descriptivism
- Chapter 13 The Making of American English Dictionaries
- Chapter 14 The Oxford English Dictionary
- Twentieth and Twenty-First-Century Dictionaries
- Part III Dictionaries of English and Related Varieties
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions to Literature
Summary
Known as ‘the definitive record of the English language‘, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the largest dictionary of English in the world. This chapter traces its creation from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day - through the publication of the first edition, supplement volumes, second edition, and the current third edition and OED Online website. The lexicograhic policies and practices of the various editors are also discussed, e.g. from Herbert Coleridge, Frederick Furnivall, and James Murray to Henry Bradley, Charles Onions, William Craigie, Robet Burchfield, John Simpson, Ed Weiner, and Michael Proffitt. This chapter also discusses the OED‘s current efforts to move from seeing the dictionary as a discrete text to seeing the dictionary as data which can be used in machine learning, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence.
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- The Cambridge Companion to English Dictionaries , pp. 170 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020