Antedating of "First World War"
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Mon Jun 16 12:53:47 UTC 2014
Better under "world war," without brackets.
According to some publicity-seeking theorists, next up will be WW IV or
greater, III having been the Cold War.
(The Seven Years War, for example, is now sometimes referred to as a "world
war." And the Napoleonic Wars too!
http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Empire-Napoleon-First-1792-1814/dp/1559720360
)
Fun!
JL
On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 8:17 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: Antedating of "First World War"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The OED's first use for "First World War" is dated 1918. It seems that
> the=
> following citation, which I have previously posted, should be mentioned
> at=
> least in square brackets:
>
>
> 1914 Ernst Haeckel in _Indianapolis Star_ 20 Sept. 37/1 (Newspaperarchive)
> =
> There is no doubt that the course and character of the feared "European
> wa=
> r" ... will become the
>
> first world war in the full sense of the word.
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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