2011 Hertford College Magazine (Issue 91)

self: research that is academic in the most
laborious sense of that word. But the results
that emerge are of more general interest.
‘In brief, Shakespeare is the single most
quoted author in the OED, and that has
given an enormous boost to his reputation
as word-coiner par excellence in the English
language. But since most of the historical
material in the OED was gathered
in the Victorian and Edwardian periods,
did those early editors give undue prominence
to the Bard? For the first time in its
history OED is being revised, and today’s
editors are sifting through the vast quantities
of scholarly research on language
that have appeared over the hundred-odd
years since the dictionary was first compiled.
To date they have re-written about a
third of the dictionary’s original contents
and have consulted many texts and authors
(literary and non-literary) that were inaccessible
to the editors the first time round.
“ Shakespeare is the single most
quoted author in the OED - but
did the early editors give undue
prominence to the Bard? ”
‘So how has the revision changed
Shakespeare’s rating? The answer is that
one in three of the usages first recorded
in Shakespeare can now be shown to have
been used by earlier writers – but nevertheless,
Shakespeare is still way ahead of
everyone else when it comes to making
up new words: a striking result. What’s
more, the OED is now detecting new first
usages in Shakespeare which have never
been noticed before: e.g. old son and old
lad as familiar forms of address (Richard
II, “Come my old son. I pray God make
thee new”; Titus Andronicus, “Look how
the black slave smiles upon the father, As
who should say, ‘Old lad, I am thine own”).
‘Our English students study the OED
along with other language topics during
HERTFORD COLLEGE MAGAZINE
Hertford year: Subjects and research
the course of their undergraduate degree,
and they (usually!) enjoy a switch from literary
to language work – and investigating
the relationship between the two. Oxford is
creating a new MSt course in English language,
starting in October 2012. Any alumni/alumnae
with fond memories of language
work at Hertford do please apply…
‘Finally, we are delighted that our English
students have done so well in recent
years at Hertford, with this year’s stunning
Finals results topping even those of the
year before. Our pleasure and satisfaction
in teaching derives from seeing how the
students grow intellectually; although examination
results do not always do justice
to their achievements, it is intensely gratifying
when there is a strong correlation.’
Emma Smith writes - ‘During my post-
Senior Tutor sabbatical leave (Hilary
and Trinity terms) I have been working
to complete two projects: a new edition of
early modern revenge plays for Penguin,
and a book on Shakespeare for Cambridge
University Press. With a colleague I have
convened a symposium and edited a sub-
61.