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October 2010

Oxford English Dictionary — Online dictionary spells doom for printed version

By Raman Jokhakar
Tarunkumar G. Singhal
Chartered Accountants
Reading Time 1 mins
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15 Oxford English Dictionary — Online dictionary
spells doom for printed version


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 to peruse online. Publisher Oxford University
Press said that burgeoning demand for the dictionary’s online version has far
outpaced demand for the printed versions. By the time the lexicographers behind
the dictionary finished 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 now gets 2
million hits a month from subscribers. The current printed edition — a hefty
20-volume, £ 750 set published in 1989 — has sold about 30,000 sets in total.

The first instalment 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 evolved to become the accepted authority on the
meaning and history of words.

(Source : The Times of India, dated 30-8-2010)

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