I have just finished reading the first letter of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary: the first magnum opus I am reading of my magna opera reading list.

It has taken me far longer to read and been much more of a chore than expected. Not only is this because of the small text but I suspect due to the thin dictionary paper. The 288 pages of the book I am currently reading (The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, the Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone) is approximately 20mm thick while 288 pages of the COED is approximately a mere 9mm. This does not bode well for B to Z.

The COED “contains over 240,000 entries and 1,681 pages (concise only compared to its parent OED at over 21,000 pages) (Wikipedia). It is hard to think that I might actually read all those entries over the next few years as I read another letter every few months.

Of all the great books (that I have ear marked so far) I am reading this first as I thought it would do me some good and I have learnt a few things. (i) Some definitions of words have surprised me such as aboriginal, abstract, affluent. (ii) It is okay to use -ize, which I had always attributed to an Americanism but as the introduction to the COED says:

Where verbs can be spelled with either an -ize or -ise ending the two spellings are given as parallel forms:

agonize or agonise

Either spelling may be used. The form -ize has been in use in English since the 16th century; although it is widely used in American English, is not an Americanism. The alternative spelling -ise is used particularly in British English.

I think as an example verb they should have listed anglicize for a bit of a laugh. (iii) The English language is flexible in odd ways. For example both are not only perfectly acceptable but mean the same:

I am an analytic person.
I am an analytical person.

(iv) Curious rules: which as an (!) Englishman are innate to me, for example the usage of an:

It is better to use a rather than an before words such as hotel and historical that begin with a sounded h-. An was common in the 18th and 19th centuries because the initial h was then often not pronounced.

I also noticed the abundance of biology, chemistry, medicine, botany, and bio chemistry words and lack of physics and especially engineering words. It is like engineering is the poor relation all these years while the sciences have enjoyed aristocratic blessings. I looked in my Civil Engineering Dictionary to see what a- words are missing and noted that engineering has bastardised common words rather than conjoining Latin or Greek words. There are fourteen entries for variations on anchor. Architecture fares slightly better then engineering but both could do with more COED entries given the millions of obscure and technical science entries. Harrumph!

I compiled a list of my favourite obscure a- words:

abbey, absquatulate, abstruse, absurdism, abulia, acceptation, accidie, acclivity, accouchement, accoucheur, accoutre, acephalous, acerbic, acharnement, acicular, Adam’s ale, adda, addle, adroit, adscititious, adultescent, adumbrate, aegrotat, afflatus, afreet, agglomerate, agglutinate, a gogo, agraphia, ah, aha, ahem, ahistorical, ailurophobia, akimbo, alacrity, alannah, aleatory, allée, alma mater, ameliorate, amplexus, anamnesis, anatomy, anergia, angels on horseback, anglice, angrez, anguine, animadvert, animateur, animism, anorgasmia, anserine, antepenultimate, anthropocentric, anthropoid, anthropophagi, anti-emetic, antilogy, antinomian, aperçu, apostatize, arborescent, arcology, argufy, ascesis, asinine, assiduity, assortative, assuage, asynchronous, atrabilious, attaboy, aubade, audiophile, augur, augury, august (adj.), Aunt Sally, aureate, auscultation, autarky, authoring, autodidact, auto-erotic, autotelic, avaunt, avocation, awl.

(Note: not all the words listed are available on the website without a subscription account.)

I am curious how most of these words might be used. For example can one say:

I’ll meet you at the adda for some adda.

given adda is defined as:

n. 1 a place where people gather for conversation. 2 an illicit drinking place. 3 informal conversation. 4 a junction for public transport.

Till next time, when we will be looking at the b- words…!