Words of the World: A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary

Think of the Oxford English Dictionary as a British institution? Think again

Words of the World

A Global History of the Oxford English Dictionary

Sarah Ogilvie

Paperback / ISBN 978-1-107605-69-5 / 257pp / £17.99

Heralded by a former British Prime Minister as a 'national treasure' and recently voted by the English public as an 'icon of England' to rival Marmite, Buckingham Palace and the bowler hat, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has long been regarded as a distinctly British product - until now.

In this fascinating new book, linguist, lexicographer and former OED editor, Sarah Ogilvie, lifts the lid on the hidden history of the OED and explodes some of the common myths about its British roots.

She reveals how it began life as a crowd-sourced project, 'the original Wikipedia', created by hundreds of dedicated readers and editors around the world; she argues that the OED in its coverage of World English is in fact a global text; and she reveals for the first time how the OED's original editors fought hard to include foreign words in the face of intense criticism from their superiors - and thus refuting the long-held view that they were Anglo-centric Oxford dons obsessed with preserving the 'Queen's English.'

Told with insider knowledge and the verve of a master storyteller, Words of the World, throws fresh light on the forgotten history of a controversial British icon.

About the author

 SARAH OGILVIE works for Amazon Kindle on technology and dictionaries. She is former Director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre, Reader in Linguistics at the Australian National University and former Chief Editor of Oxford Dictionaries, Australia. Prior to that she was Alice Tong Sze Research Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge University. She holds a doctorate in Linguistics from the University of Oxford and worked for many years as an editor on the Oxford English Dictionary in England.

About Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Dedicated to excellence, its purpose is to further the University's objective of advancing knowledge, education, learning, and research. Its extensive peer-reviewed publishing lists comprise 45,000 titles covering academic research, professional development, over 300 research journals, school-level education, English language teaching and bible publishing. Playing a leading role in today's international market place, Cambridge University Press has over 50 offices around the globe, and it distributes its products to nearly every country in the world.