Tag Archives: etymology

Snowclone Sandwich

“Snowclone” is a word for a kind of transferable, reusable pattern of phrase, such as the original “X have Y words for Z” (on the pattern “Eskimos have fifty-five (or pick your number) words for snow“, so transferable to “The French have no word for entrepreneur“, or whatever), or “X is the new Y” (on […]

23.09.2014 – 13:47 | By D-AW | Posted in Etymology, Language and Literature in Society, Lexicography | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Queen’s English – Respec’

Looking through some graduate work the other day I came across a reference to “the Queen’s English,” in scare quotes, used in the general sense to describe the phenomenon of socially privileged dialect (as opposed to a specific British class dialect). I’ve never heard “the Queen’s English” actually referred to positively or unironically. In my […]

15.09.2014 – 14:29 | By D-AW | Posted in Digital Humanities, Language and Literature in Society, Lexicography, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (4)

Contending and Pretending with Etymology

This morning brought a FB cry for help: As I happen to have my American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots (third edition) handy, I quickly came to the answer that English attend and content are indeed from the same root, although not exactly the same Latin root. That is, the historical semantic tree branches off […]

16.07.2014 – 13:42 | By D-AW | Posted in Criticism, Etymology, Language and Literature in Society | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Hello, baby!

What did people say to babies before the 1820s? Some weeks ago my two-month old daughter began to smile. The internet has this to say about how to encourage babies to do more of that: Smile widely at her and offer a warm “hello” in that sing-song pitch parents do so well. [webmd.com] My wife […]

04.07.2014 – 15:13 | By D-AW | Posted in Digital Humanities, Language and Literature in Society, Lexicography | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

On the origins of bears, and words for bears

A poem by Simon Armitage called “The Great Bear” (from CloudCukooLand, 1997) has a few things to say about, and to, a bear – or bears in general. The poem is modelled as a set of ratifications (“it’s right… And right…” etc.) of ursine legends and myths, actual and invented:  [embedded from Google Books] The […]

29.06.2014 – 15:11 | By D-AW | Posted in Criticism, Etymology, Lexicography, Poetry, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

“Disobstetricate not their enixibility”: OED’s Double Hapaxes

Or, Urquhart’s folly. Here’s a challenge: write a sentence with two never-before-used words in it, and see if the Oxford English Dictionary ever adds both of them to its long list of English words. In “Acrasial Philogamy – Ghost Hapaxes in OED”, I documented some words that are included as headwords in the OED on […]

25.06.2014 – 14:35 | By D-AW | Posted in Digital Humanities, Etymology, Language and Literature in Society, Lexicography, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Acrasial Philogamy – Ghost Hapaxes in OED

Poking around the OED today, I came across this entry, which I’ll reproduce here in full: aˈcrasial, a. rare-1. [f. acrasy + -al1.] Ill-regulated, untempered, intemperate. 1851 S. JUDD Margaret II. xi. 321 (1871) ‘Acrasial Philogamy? Brother Edward, what is that?’ ‘That,’ replied Edward, ‘is an incurable malady to which young persons are subject.’ I […]

13.06.2014 – 20:11 | By D-AW | Posted in Digital Humanities, Lexicography | Tagged , , , | Comments (10)

Going Live: “The Life of Words”

For over two years, I’ve been posting short posts and articles on topics related to poetry, criticism, lexicography – especially the Oxford English Dictionary – and Digital Humanities, on my research blog, “Poetry & Contingency”. That blog was initially set up to collect thoughts, results, and new research questions generated in the course of a […]

13.06.2014 – 19:53 | By D-AW | Posted in Criticism, Digital Humanities, Etymology, Language and Literature in Society, Lexicography, Poetry | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)