MASTER OF WORDS

Evening Star, Issue 23175, 26 January 1939, Page 8

MASTER OF WORDS

DEATH DF DR VIZETELLY Dr Frank H. Vizetelly, lexicographer and master of one of the world’s largest vocabularies, who died a few weeks ago, was the author of scores of books on words, ranging from 1 S. O. S.—Slips of Speech ’ to 1 200 Simple Words Everyone Should Know.’ He was the son of a printer, born in London, England. He went to New York in 1891. His first position was with Funk and Wagnalls, and it was with them that he became internationally famous as a lexicographer and encyclopaedist. His interest in words—slang particularly—never languished, and he was forever checking newspapers and other publications seeking new and more expressive words and tracing their origin. FORTY-SIX YEARS AS EDITOR. He had been "associated with Funk and AVagnalls for 46 years as editor of the reference department. When he went _to work that organisation was compiling its 1 Standard Dictionary.’ His part of the job embraced the training of definers in the art of drafting definitions of words. In 1913 Dr Vizetelly was named managing editor of the unabridged dictionary of the firm, succeeding the late Dr Isaac K. Funk. During his association with this book the number of vocabulary terms it contained was increased more than 50 per cent., and it was necessary for him to become one of the most widely-read men in the country in order to keep abreast of new words and search out old and obsolescent ones. Once, in an address before the Phonetic Society at Columbia University, Dr Vizetelly urged a new English alphabet, arguing that the one now in use was inadequate to express the multiple sounds in the language. ANCIENT WORD. One of the words the origin of which attracted his attention when it hit Broadway and new (popularity, was “ whoopee.” That expression, the doctor concluded after research, was about five centuries old. Other words he embraced as passing the test of good social usage were kibitzer, gigolo, danker, nudist, nccker, and dumbbell. Chiseller was another word he gave good standing, pointing out in its defence that President Roosevelt had used it On the other hand, he said, the word is “ bologna,” not “ baloney ”, or “ boloney.” j