[Ads-l] antedating of 'oudenology', etc.

[Laurence Horn]

The corresponding Latinate version, “nihilology”, seems better substantiated, including its own website and monograph:

https://www.nihilology.com <https://www.nihilology.com/>
https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Nothingness-Toward-Apophatic-Science/dp/177702420X <https://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Nothingness-Toward-Apophatic-Science/dp/177702420X>


LH



> On Oct 26, 2022, at 4:22 AM, James Eric Lawson <jel at NVENTURE.COM> wrote:
> 
> Oudenology, noun; OEDO (entry updated 2004; modified 2019) 1838, "The
> science of nothing, or of things having no real existence." 1838 quote
> "Apparently an isolated use".
> 
> In _The London Medical and Surgical Journal_, 25 July 1835, 825/2.
> Article titled "Nothing of a Leader": "The substantialists may talk how
> they like, but *oudenology*, so we shall name it, is a very important
> branch of science--without its aid, some of the most celebrated medical
> works of the day would collapse into atoms!"
> 
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858046176412&view=1up&seq=833&q1=oudenology
> 
> Another attestation November 1883, 84/2, in _New England Medical
> Monthly_: "Benjamin Waterhouse, honorably known for having been the
> introducer of vaccination into America, was the first professor of the
> theory and practice of medicine. I remember him well, and carry the scar
> of the vaccination he performed on me. ...  He had some learning, which
> he was disposed to make the most of, as perhaps we all are if we have
> it, and laid himself open to the playful sallies of the students of his
> time, one of whom announced a course of lectures on Oudenology, which
> was supposed to be a travesty of some of his prelections."
> 
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015047691798&view=1up&seq=102&q1=oudenology
> 
> Occasional attestation thereafter in the 19th and 20th centuries, often
> in a humorous medical context involving the history of vaccination.
> 
> -- 
> James Eric Lawson
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org