[Lexicog] archaic entries

[John Roberts]

Filip Rudolf asked:
> Is 'archaic' the same as 'old-fashioned'? Are these notions 
> interchangeable?

Dictionary makers seem to make a distinction. "Perchance" is not the best 
example because it has literary or poetic connotations. But a word like 
"wireless" (radio), for example, is a word my parents used. In Chambers 
English Dictionary (1989) it is not classified as either archaic or 
obsolete. But other dictionaries I have call it old-fashioned or dated 
rather than archaic:

Collins Cobuild (1988) "an old-fashioned word"
The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) "dated. chiefly Brit"
Encarta World English Dictionary (1999) "dated"
Collins English Dictionary (2005) "chiefly Brit. old-fashioned for radio"

John Roberts




 
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