Notes on OED's March 2007 release of new words

The quarterly batches published on OED Online have two main intersecting aims: to revise thoroughly a section of the alphabet, and to add new entries from across the alphabet. This means that the updates do not cover only a single range, such as March’s Prakrit to prim, but also take a full A to Z sweep of additional items. In this way, the Dictionary is not only revised in the sense of having existing entries improved, but also keeps up to date with new developments and stays at the forefront of recording new vocabulary. Below are a few notes on some items of particular interest this quarter.

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ixnay v.

Pig Latin, a systematically altered form of English used as a sort of code, especially by children (commonly produced by transferring the initial consonant or consonant cluster of each word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllable, usually /eI/), by its nature tends to give rise to ad-hoc formations with no permanent place in the language; so it is interesting to see the continued use of this word (itself formed on another slang word, nix) back to 1937, fully justifying a place in the Oxford English Dictionary.

pre-boarding n. and adj.

Although much more mundane in derivation, this word is characteristic of a key element of the current release of new and revised material to OED Online, the prefix pre-, which continues to give rise to new formations as rapidly as ever.

ta-da int.

A different sort of interesting etymology: an evocative and familiar word (evocative and familiar enough to form the title of a recent Scissor Sisters album) arising from the noise made by a musical instrument.

virtualize v.

Although one might expect this word to be appearing, associated as it is with computers and 'virtual reality', it's interesting to note that another sense of the word enjoyed years of usage in philosophical circles before the advent of these recent phenomena.

wiki n.

This joins a small but distinguished group of words which are directly or ultimately borrowings into English from Hawaiian. It has been suggested that in some ways the OED itself resembles a wiki: its long tradition of working on collaborative principles means it has welcomed the contribution of information and quotation evidence from the public for over 150 years.