Online dictionary spells end for the printed words
Source: Agencies |
August 30, 2010, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
IT'S been in print for over a century, but in future the Oxford English Dictionary - the authoritative guide to the English language - may only be available online.
Publisher Oxford University Press said yesterday that burgeoning demand for the online dictionary has far outpaced demand for the printed versions.
By the time the lexicographers behind the dictionary finish revising and updating the latest edition - a gargantuan task that will take many more years - publishers are doubtful there will still be a market for the printed form.
The online Oxford English Dictionary (www.oed.com) now gets 2 million hits a month. The current printed edition - a 20-volume, 750 pound (US$1,165) set published in 1989 - has sold about 30,000 sets.
"At present we are experiencing increasing demand for the online product," a statement from the publisher said. "However, a print version will certainly be considered if there is sufficient demand."
Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, told the UK's Sunday Times he didn't think the newest edition will be printed.
"The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year," he said.
Although the comments relate primarily to the full-length dictionary, the publisher says the convenience of the electronic format is also affecting demand for its shorter dictionaries.
The first installment of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1884, and it kept growing for decades until the complete text went out in 1928. It was the first comprehensive English dictionary since Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" published in 1755, and has since evolved to become the accepted authority on the meaning and history of words.
The version users now consult - the second edition - has 291,500 entries, plus 2.4 million quotations as sources. Unlike shorter printed versions such as the single-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, it doesn't track current usage, it simply includes every single word.
A team of 80 lexicographers are preparing the third edition of the dictionary, which is just under one-third complete. There's no date for when it will be ready.
The Oxford English Dictionary first went online in 2000, offering paying subscribers a much faster way to look up words. It has also helped the dictionary catch up with rapid semantic changes and the large numbers of new words. Updates to the dictionary's online version are added every three months.
Publisher Oxford University Press said yesterday that burgeoning demand for the online dictionary has far outpaced demand for the printed versions.
By the time the lexicographers behind the dictionary finish revising and updating the latest edition - a gargantuan task that will take many more years - publishers are doubtful there will still be a market for the printed form.
The online Oxford English Dictionary (www.oed.com) now gets 2 million hits a month. The current printed edition - a 20-volume, 750 pound (US$1,165) set published in 1989 - has sold about 30,000 sets.
"At present we are experiencing increasing demand for the online product," a statement from the publisher said. "However, a print version will certainly be considered if there is sufficient demand."
Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, told the UK's Sunday Times he didn't think the newest edition will be printed.
"The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year," he said.
Although the comments relate primarily to the full-length dictionary, the publisher says the convenience of the electronic format is also affecting demand for its shorter dictionaries.
The first installment of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1884, and it kept growing for decades until the complete text went out in 1928. It was the first comprehensive English dictionary since Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" published in 1755, and has since evolved to become the accepted authority on the meaning and history of words.
The version users now consult - the second edition - has 291,500 entries, plus 2.4 million quotations as sources. Unlike shorter printed versions such as the single-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, it doesn't track current usage, it simply includes every single word.
A team of 80 lexicographers are preparing the third edition of the dictionary, which is just under one-third complete. There's no date for when it will be ready.
The Oxford English Dictionary first went online in 2000, offering paying subscribers a much faster way to look up words. It has also helped the dictionary catch up with rapid semantic changes and the large numbers of new words. Updates to the dictionary's online version are added every three months.
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