Revising OED etymologies: work in progress

Systematic revision of all OED etymologies is now under way, and there are a great many areas where innovations are being made. OED3 etymologies will give a much fuller account of the semantic and morphological development of English words, in addition to relating both aspects closely to similar developments of cognate words in other languages. Dates of first attestation (or where more appropriate a broader periodization) will be given where possible for foreign-language etyma, and in many cases this will be extended to major developments in sense or form which have a bearing upon the meaning, form, or subsequent development of the word in English.

To take an example, in the case of memoir n., the OED3 entry will give a fuller account of how and when the specialization in gender of French me'moire came about (the gender of the MFr. word fluctuated in all senses until the sixteenth century), relating this closely to an account of the earlier history of French me'moire at memory n. It will also trace carefully the extent to which English senses of memoir reflect similar senses attested earlier in French (written account, from c1190 in OFr.; document containing the facts in a case to be judged, 1356; document containing instructions on a matter, 1477, and subsequently in specific applications parallel to and attested earlier than those in English).

The principal English senses are now recorded earlier than in OED1 (e.g. sense 1: 1494 from 1567; sense 2: 1571 from 1696), in general demonstrating earlier borrowing than previously attested. Similarly, OED1's note on pronunciation at this entry, which will probably appear rather surprising to most readers today (recording pronunciations rhyming with war and lawyer), will both be updated and supplemented with a broader discussion of the history of the pronunciation of this word in English. A note on the history of the spelling of the word will comment upon the parallels with forms listed in the first part of the forms list at memory n., as well as drawing parallels with the orthographic history in French.

Obviously, all parts of this enterprise are dependent upon the quality and extent of the documentation available to us. The major scholarly dictionaries of each language are being carefully consulted, as is a large portion of the scholarship in the field of English historical linguistics produced in the period since the publication of OED1. However, it is inevitable that there will be gaps in our coverage of secondary material even on English, and if readers of this newsletter are aware of potentially valuable material in more out of the way publications, or which has attracted little attention in the scholarly community at large, we would be very glad to have it brought to our notice.

So far as the scholarship of languages other than English is concerned, our reading of material other than the major historical and etymological dictionaries is necessarily much more limited, and we would like to be informed of any other important documentation which has a bearing on the dating of foreign-language forms cited in OED etymologies, or which might provide the basis of a useful comparison with the form or meaning of an English word.

The history of scientific vocabulary is another area where documentation would be most gratefully received, particularly in the area of post-classical and modern Latin scientific vocabulary which, other than in taxonomic use, is often very poorly documented in standard reference works. We very much hope that readers will be generous with information, and that they will ultimately come to see the fruits of this in greatly improved etymologies in OED3. And of course, we will as ever always be delighted should readers draw our attention to possible etymologies of English words, or to foreign-language models for particular uses or senses of English words, which have previously been overlooked.