The OED forum

The OED Forum is a series of occasional lectures (usually one or two per University term) instituted in 1993, and sponsored by Oxford University Press in association with Kellogg College, Oxford. John Simpson, the chief editor of the OED, and Edmund Weiner, the deputy chief editor, are both fellows of Kellogg College, and the OED Forum is usually held there.

There is no specific brief for the lectures. Any aspect of the English language (past or present), or of lexicography, or of general linguistics may be treated. Subjects vary widely within this broad range. As indeed do speakers (who may be local or visitors to Oxford): members of the OED and other dictionary projects, graduate students, distinguished academics, and well-known writers have all spoken about their work.

The OED Forum is advertised throughout Oxford and is open to all. After the lecture questions are taken from the floor and, after the formal conclusion of the lecture, drinks are served providing an opportunity to chat informally with the speaker and other members of the audience.

A series of three special OED Forum presentations was held at the Oxford University Press in late 1999 and early 2000 to publicize the launch of OED Online in March 2000.

Past OED Forum speakers and subjects have included: David Parsons (University of Nottingham) 'The Vocabulary of English Place Names'; Michael Barnes (University College, London) 'The Norn Language of Orkney & Shetland'; Carole Biggam (University of Glasgow) 'Digging up the Plant Names of Anglo-Saxon England'; Jennie Miell (OED) 'Dwile Flonkers & Internauts: New Words in the OED'; Bernard O'Donoghue (Wadham College, Oxford) 'Irish Poetic Language before Yeats'; Penny Silva (OED & Rhodes University) 'Dictionaries for Africa: Righting the Wrongs for South African Languages'; Jean Aitchison (Worcester College, Oxford) & Michael Dummett (New College, Oxford) 'Rules, Change, & Standards in English'; Danielle Clarke (University College, Dublin) 'The Language of 17th-Century Women's Writing'; Tom Paulin (Hertford College, Oxford) 'Ireland's Missing Dictionary'.

If you would like to receive information about future OED Forum lectures, or if you would like to propose the name of a speaker, please write to:

Dr Samantha Schad, OED, Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon St., Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
E-mail: samantha.schad@oup.com