Collins, Don't Exuviate That Word
By Ben Zimmer
It's a dirty little secret of lexicography that for every new word or meaning that gets added to a revised edition of a dictionary, something usually has to come out. Only the mammoth Oxford English Dictionary has the luxury of never doing away with old entries. Smaller dictionaries are expected to introduce new words with every edition, but they're usually mum about what is removed to keep the published work to a reasonable size. Collins English Dictionary, on the other hand, is taking a novel approach by announcing old words that are on the chopping block, in order to see which words the public thinks should earn a stay of execution.
As reported in the London Times, Collins released a list of 24 words that are slated to be removed from the forthcoming edition of their largest dictionary. If there's enough of a public outcry before February, then certain words will be spared. It's a clever marketing tactic, since it appeals to public anxieties about the loss of vocabulary from the language, as if the words are endangered species facing extinction in a modern world that has no place for them.
It's worth noting that when a dictionary cuts words or senses, it's not always the most archaic words that get the axe. For instance, when the second edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary was published in 2005, one of the entries that came out (to make room for such newcomers as Google and weblog) was information superhighway, a techie catchphrase of the mid-'90s. As NOAD editor Erin McKean explained at the time, "People aren't using it as much, and if they are, they're using it in a jokey way." (Sorry, Al Gore!)
But none of the words announced by Collins are that recent: most have the whiff of quaint museum pieces. Seven of the words are not so rare, actually, since they can be found in the Visual Thesaurus. Here they are, with VT's definitions:
agrestic: characteristic of the fields or country; rustic and uncouth
apodeictic: necessarily true or logically certain
embrangle: make more complicated or confused through entanglements
exuviate: cast off (hair, skin, horn, or feathers
muliebrity: the state of being an adult woman
nitid: bright with a steady but subdued shining
vaticinate: foretell through or as if through the power of prophecy
The rest of the words are a bit more obscure:
abstergent: cleansing or scouring
caducity: perishableness; seniliy
caliginosity: dimness; darkness
compossible: possible in coexistence with something else
fatidical: prophetic
fubsy: short and stout; squat
griseous: streaked or mixed with grey; somewhat grey
malison: a curse
mansuetude: gentleness or mildness
niddering: cowardly
olid: foul-smelling
oppugnant: combative, antagonistic or contrary
periapt: a charm or amulet
recrement: waste matter; refuse; dross
roborant: tending to fortify or increase strength
skirr: a whirring or grating sound, as of the wings of birds in flight
vilipend: to treat or regard with contempt
Some of these words already have celebrity spokespeople who will try to popularize them before Collins makes its final decision. For instance, comedian and quiz show host Stephen Fry has championed fubsy; British poet laureate Andrew Motion plans to work skirr into his poetry; and Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable will try to use niddering in his public speeches. Meanwhile, readers of the Times are voting for their own favorites, with embrangle currently in the lead.
Which words do you think should get an official reprieve from Collins? Even if your own personal favorite isn't spared, don't worry — it'll still be in the OED
