c**i
发帖数: 6973 | 1 Ian Freeman, Free dictionary; At play in the fields of the OED. Boston Globe
, Jan 16, 2011.
http://www.boston.com/ae/books
/articles/2011/01/16/free_dictionary/
("Through Feb. 5, the OED Online — the world’s most comprehensive
collection of English word histories, with 3 million usage examples dating
back more than a millennium — is celebrating its redesign with free access
for all")
My comment:
(a) Alfred the Great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great
(849-899; King of Wessex from 871 to 899; Alfred is noted for his defence of
the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming
the only English monarch to be accorded the epithet "the Great")
(b) The report invited readers to "discover the odd origin of bridegroom."
Etymology of bridegroom: "in the Promptorium and Catholicon, bryde is of
both sexes: see bride n. 2" which OED defines as "In 15th and 16th c.
denoting also a bridegroom; = spouse. Obs."
(c) The report also suggests "trend"--OED indicates trend as a noun came
from trend as a verb
(d) honcho (n; Japanese 班長)
In Japanese 班長 is pronounced "hancho":
"【はんちょう】 (n) squad leader; honcho; team leader; group leader"
Breen's online Japanese dictionary
(c) Sorry, I was too busy to put this up. Only two more days left for free
trial. | c**i
发帖数: 6973 | 2 I just added the follwoing to the original.
(e) It appears that the online OED (www.oed.com) does not accept more than
one word in the search box, thus precluding a phrase. For example, to look
for "all hell breaks lose," I must enter hell as a noun, and proceed to
locate the phrase "(all) hell breaks (also (is) let) loose." It is
worthwhile, though, because the earliest other web sites can trace the
phrase back was to English John Milton's Paradise Lost (originally published
in 1667).
In comparison, OED listed two prior to that year:
"1577 Misogonus in R. W. Bond Early Plays from Ital. (1911) 215 To be
revelinge and bousinge after such a lewde fashion I thinke hell breake louse.
"1600 S. Nicholson Acolastus his After-witte sig. E4v, Before my hell
of foule mishap breake loose. |
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