Neology resources needed

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 11 Oct 2001, Paul McFedries wrote:

> I'm looking for resources (books, articles, Web sites, cocktail napkins,
> etc.) that discuss (either primarily or partially) neology: the ways that
> new words are formed, how new words propagate, why some stick and others
> don't, that kind of thing. Any and all pointers will be greatly appreciated.

A fascinating older book is Leon Mead, _Word-Coinage_ (1902).  He did
things like ask famous authors about whether they had ever knowingly
coined any words.  Most denied it, and said they would never dream of
doing such a thing.  I particularly find interesting Mark Twain's saying
that he had never coined a word as far as he knew; the historical
dictionaries list him as the first user of many hundreds of terms.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------