The essence of the OED

On 26 September 2002, OUP will publish the Fifth Edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. Until recently I was one of the editors at work on this revision of the 1993 New Shorter OED. The new edition has more than 3,000 new words added, updated quotation paragraphs, and a new (and even more user-friendly) page layout.

For those people unfamiliar with the SOED, the work aims to provide a third of the content of the OED in just two volumes. This is achieved in several key ways. Quotations are not provided for every sense (and for those quotations that are included, the bibliographic information is restricted to date and author); words and senses with no currency post-1700 are omitted, unless they are found in works by a prominent author such as Spenser or Shakespeare; senses very close in meaning are conflated; and some of the longer etymological discussions have been shortened.

In editing the SOED text we focused first on the areas that would need the most work. Our search for new material relied heavily on the `drafting lists' compiled by the OED editorial group responsible for new words, and there were some long hours of painstaking work to filter out the most important new entries and senses to add. We were keen to add significant new items to our coverage of slang and the language of technology, for example, but careful to avoid the more obscure scientific terms which are included in the OED with only a single illustrative quotation.

The Dictionaries group of the Trade and Reference department (which is responsible for such titles as the Concise Oxford Dictionary and the New Oxford Dictionary of English) also compiles a list of `new words suggestions'. These are passed on by lexicographers and interested members of the public. The addition of such terms meant a great deal of hands-on research. Where the new entries prepared by the OED's own team had required little more than adapting to the SOED style, the Trade and Reference suggestions had us searching through some of the dustier corners of the OED library (for the origins of the word hijab, for example), and surfing the internet for clues as to etymology, dates, and pronunciation (the Indian spice ajowan had me stumped for some time).

When we incorporated our findings into the existing SOED text, we were aware that the quotation paragraphs needed some attention too. Some were beginning to date a little; the latest quotation being from Oscar Wilde, for example. Others were rather sparsely evidenced in the original editions. We made an effort, too, to include quotations from many modern authors, leading to some interesting conjunctions: Stephen King rubbing shoulders with Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys fraternizing with Isaiah Berlin, and P. D. James followed by Successful Slimming magazine.

So what's new about the content? Since the 1993 edition of the Shorter OED, the Internet has formed, grown, and given rise to many new terms. The editors also chose important words and senses from the fields of fashion, food, commerce, the sciences, and world slang. Nothing has been removed from the previous edition, the focus being on updating the text and bringing it into line with its big brother, the OED.

I have now been working for the OED for four months, and have recognized what good preparation my time with the Shorter was. While the presentation and style are a little different in places, the attention to historical detail and multiple avenues of research are just the same. I believe the Fifth Edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary will appeal greatly to those already appreciative of the OED's merits.