Antedating of "Biodiversity"

[Baker, John]

        Even by the standards of new electronic databases, the datings
in Google Print are strikingly unreliable.  Normally some confidence as
to the correct date can be achieved by checking the title or copyright
page.  In a surprisingly large number of cases, however, books are
conflated and the title and copyright pages are for a different book.

        In this case, Google Print did not provide the title or
copyright page; clicking on the appropriate link just gave the cover,
which does not have a date on it.  Amazon.co.uk appeared to provide
confirmation of the 1980 date.  Even so, I posted the Google Print
antedating with a warning, the need for which seems to have been
well-founded.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Fred Shapiro
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 11:56 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Biodiversity"

On Mon, 9 Jan 2006, Baker, John wrote:

>        If Google Print can be trusted (which may not be the case - I'm

> amazed at how many obvious errors it produces), then "biodiversity"
> was used passim in United Nations Environment Programme, Fourth Global

> Training Programme in Environmental Law (1980).

Don't trust the datings in Google Print.  This document apparently was
published in 1999.

Because I and Barry and others have been very successful in using
databases to antedate the OED, it has become tempting to believe the
database rather than the OED where there is a wide discrepancy in date
of first use.  I believe that in cases of technical terms with
well-established datings or approximate datings of coinage, one's first
instinct should be to believe the OED and conclude that the database is
in error.  Most of these databases have dating problems or greater or
lesser severity.

Fred Shapiro


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