《牛津简明英语词典》

11.2.1　《牛津简明英语词典》

在这三部著名的词典中，最著名的当属《牛津简明英语词典》。它最初是由福勒兄弟(Henry Watson Fowler和Francis G.Fowler)以《牛津英语词典》为基础编辑而成，并于1911年6月首次出版。词典刚一问世，就以其浓厚的现代气息和丰富的例证而一举成名，被誉为“一个浓缩的奇迹”。这部词典修订之频繁也堪称为奇迹。在近一个世纪的时间里，这部中型词典已经出版到了第11版(2004)。特别是从1990年艾伦(R.E.Allen)主编的第8版后，修订周期已经缩短到了5年:1995年出版汤姆森(Della Thompson)主编的第9版，1999年就出了皮尔索尔(Judy Pearsall)主编的第10版，2001年更新了其中的300个词条，2004年索恩斯(Catherine Soanes)和史蒂文森(Angus Stevenson)主编的第11版问世，真正做到了与时俱进。

随着语言及世界的变化，收录的词语和描写词语的方式也随之发生了变化。在第1版中，读者是查不到像“computer”、“radio”，“television”、“cinema”这样的词语的。在例证的收集上，福勒兄弟像当时其他词典编纂家一样，只能通过自己阅读来搜寻。而最近版本的编纂者则能够充分利用达数百万词之多的《牛津英语语料库》，从而可以尽可能准确、及时、客观地描写英语。因此，在最新版中，像“gangmasters”、“the congestion charge”、“sky marshals”、“health tourism”、“pole dancing”、“bookcrossing”、“speed dating”等最新的日常生活中的词语已经被收录。第11版还大量增加了用法说明，对于一些令人头疼的用法问题进行了解答。颇为有趣的是，编者还为约100个单词提供了特别词源信息，例如:

cloud:The earliest use of cloud is recorded in Old English，in the sense“amass of rock; a hill”; from this sense arose a number of place names，such as Thorp Cloud，a hill in Derbyshire.Later it was used in the same sense as clod to mean“a lump of earth or clay”; indeed it is likely that cloud，clod，and clot come ultimately from the same root.The current sense，“mass of watery vapour”，is first recorded in a reference in the medieval work the Cursor Mundi to the sun climbing the clouds.

gossip:A gossip was originally a rather more serious and worthy person than they are now.In Old English the word was spelled godsibb and meant“godfather or godmother”，literally“a person related to one in God”; it came from sibb“a relative”，the source of sibling.In medieval times a gossip was“a close friend，a person with whom one gossips”，hence“a person who gossips”，later(early 19th century)“casual conversation about other people”.

lady:The forerunner of the word lady in Old English was hlē^－fdīge，meaning the female head of a household，or a woman to whom homage or obedience was due，such as the wife of a lord or，specifically，the Virgin Mary.The word came from hl＊f“loaf”and a Germanic base meaning“knead”which is related to dough and dairy; thus a lady was a“loaf kneader”.The word lord developed in a similar way; in Old English it literally meant‘bread keeper’.

Tory:Tory is probably derived from the Irish word toraidhe“outlaw，highwayman”，and was originally used of Irish peasants dispossessed by English settlers and living as robbers.It was extended to marauders in the Scottish Highlands，and then adopted in about 1679 as an abusive nickname for supporters of the future James II.After James'deposition，Tory lost its negative connotations and was applied to members of the English，later British，parliamentary party which supported the established religious and political order and opposed the Whigs.This party became the Conservative Party in the 1830s.

上述词源描写告诉读者“cloud”本来的意思是“hill”，“gossip”原来指“godfather”或“godmother”，“lady”是“制作面包的人”，最早的“Tories”却是“outlaws or robbers”。另外，第10版和11版还推出了光盘版。