From ‘A’ to ‘Z-z-z-z’

Press, 13 September 1983, Page 17

From ‘A’ to ‘Z-z-z-z’

From

BRIAN CATHCART,

Reuter, in Oxford

After a century fighting a losing battle to keep up with the language, the writers of the Oxford English Dictionary have decided to call in the computers. The 13-volume, 16,750-page dictionary, known to scholars throughout the world as the OED, is the most comprehensive catalogue of words in any language. It aims to list, define, and trace the origins of every word used in English literature printed anywhere in the world, from Oxford to Ottawa and from Melbourne to Montego Bay.

Half a million words have been logged to date, but with 500 new ones coined every year and innumerable new meanings being grafted on to old words, the job is never-ending. The Oxford word-gatherers are just coming to the end of a 25-year-cycle of updating the word from “A” to “Z” and they are determined that next time round they will have help from modern technology. Tenders have gone out to computer companies for a deal worth about $9 million. It will not only make the job of writing the dictionary easier, but will put it “on line” to computer screens the world over.

Richard Charkin, of the Oxford University Press, believes the move could turn the dictionary into a money-spinning product essential to lawyers, diplomats,, linguists, and scholars no matter what language they speak. “Whatever the French say, English is the principal language of the world and it is going to become more so,” he says. Tie into the computer a multi-

lingual index matching French, Chinese, or Swahili words with their English equivalents, and the dictionary could become a vital tool in international exchanges. “It would provide a single source defining a word for all languages — a fundamental building block for things like trade and treaties,” Mr Charkin adds.

Another possibility is that the dictionary could provide a wordbank for a new generation of computers which would use “natural language” rather than the special codes needed for today’s machines. It is a long way from the patient labours of the first dictionarymakers at Oxford, who proudly unveiled “A to Ant” back in 1884. They did not reach “Z” until 1933, by which time they had half a century of words beginning with “A” to catch up with. That first Oxford English Dictionary is still in print, rolling unchanged from the same metal printers’ plates. Filling a metre of shelf space and weighing 46kg, it is in every sense a monumental work. The job of producing a supplement embracing all the new words of this technological age began in 1957.

Three volumes have appeared, each hailed as an historic event by writers, academics, crossword buffs, and scrabble players. The last, running from “Se” (a Chinese musical instrument) to “Z-z-z-z” (used in comic strips to indicate sleeping), is due out late next year.

By that time volume one of the supplement will already be 12 years out of date so, as Mr Charkin comments, the publishers have no choice but to think of something new. “You can’t expect people to look up a supplement to a supplement,” he says. When the computer arrives, it will be possible to

integrate old words with new in the databank, eliminating the need for future supplements. Meantime, the painstaking word goes on. Bob Burchfield, the New Zealander editing the supplements, has reached “sugar”. Everything crosses his desk before going to the printers and before him stands a stack of handwritten cards drawn from the three million crammed into the surrounding offices. He is happy with “sugar daddy,” first used in 1926 and defined as “an elderly man who lavishes gifts on a young woman.” Next is “sugar glider,” a kind of flying squirrel, and he is thinking about it. Some words pose real problems — “social,” which has such a wide range of meanings, took his staff a whole man-year to define. Dr Burchfield has found the only way to get the job done is to be

dictatorial and he has no time for the grumblers who want to shorten the dictionary by outlawing Americanisms, jargon, and slang. “The English language is not going to the dogs. It is healthy, <1 sound, and secure — and it is changing,” he says.