Oxford English Dictionary being revised

HYDERABAD, JAN 3: For the first time in its long history, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is undergoing a comprehensive revision to ca...

HYDERABAD, JAN 3: For the first time in its long history, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is undergoing a comprehensive revision to capture the latest changes in the language and its diverse roots.

The mammoth project to revise and update the dictionary, with an investment of over 35 million pounds, will be completed by 2010, OED chief editor John Simpson and OED online marketing manager Susanna Lob told reporters here on Wednesday.

In addition to the inclusion of new words from different languages and senses, all the existing material was being fully reviewed to improve the accuracy of definitions, derivations, pronunciations and historical quotations, they said.

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A host of Hindi words like muhurat (auspicious beginning) would be added to the revised edition which will also uncover early evidence for Indian words in English like maidan, Manzil and Maithili.

New Indian English writers cited in the updated OED include Amitav Ghosh, Nalinaksha Bhattacharya and Firdaus Kanga.

The updated entries from the OED revision programme, considered the world’s largest humanities’ research project, would be released quarterly, Simpson added.

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