Monday, April 21, 2014

Next Oxford dictionary may be too big to print

Next Oxford dictionary may be too big to print

The Oxford English Dictionary may
disappear from bookshelves as future editions may be too big
to print, its publishers fear.
Only an on-line format would be practicable and
affordable as the third edition is expected to be twice the
size of the current version, according to its publishers.
The publishers say the third edition of the famous
dictionary, estimated to fill 40 volumes, is running at least
20 years behind schedule, 'The Telegraph' reported.
The mammoth masterpiece is facing delays because
"information overload" from the Internet is slowing compilers,
Michael Proffitt, the OED's first new chief editor for 20
years, said.
Proffitt's team of 70 philologists, including
lexicographers, etymologists and pronunciation experts, has
been working on the latest version, known as OED3, for the
past 20 years.
The next edition will not be completed until 2034, and
likely only to be offered in an on-line form because of its
gargantuan size, Proffitt told Country Life magazine.
"A lot of the first principles of the OED stand firm, but
how it manifests has to change, and how it reaches people has
to change," said Proffitt.
Work on the new version, currently numbering 800,000
words, has been going on since 1994, the report said.
The first edition, mooted in 1858 with completion
expected in 10 years, took 70 years.

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