Monthly Gleanings
Anatoly answers this month’s questions and explains the intriguing history of the words element and hocus pocus.
Anatoly answers this month’s questions and explains the intriguing history of the words element and hocus pocus.
Ben Zimmer introduces us to the sport of antedating.
Can any word sum up the 21st century so far? You tell us in our new poll.
Anatoly prepares for Halloween with the origins of witch.
Ben Zimmer responds to claims that OUP is allowing “corrupted” spellings into its dictionaries.
Anatoly looks at north and south.
Celebrate Dictionary Day with Italian!
Celebrate Dictionary Day with Spanish!
Dictionary Day fun in German!
Happy Dictionary Day!
We’re just five days away from Dictionary Day, the annual celebration of all things lexicographical held every 16th of October. Commemorating the anniversary of Noah Webster’s birth in 1758, it’s largely an opportunity for US school teachers to organize classroom activities encouraging students to build their dictionary skills and to exult in the joy of […]
Anatoly Liberman looks at the origin of the word “gig.”
Ben Zimmer looks at hapax legomena.
Anatoly delves into word history for our entertainment.
When a new edition of a dictionary is published, you never know what people are going to pick up on as noteworthy. Last week, when the sixth edition of the ‘Shorter Oxford English Dictionary’ was officially launched, much of the surrounding publicity had to do with the all the brand-new material.
Anatoly looks at some questions from the past month.