[Ads-l] Fw: Historically Interesting Antedating of "Mootness"

[Shapiro, Fred]

I believe that the OED does not generally have entries for comparative or superlative adjectives.

Fred


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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of mr_peter_morris at outlook.com <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 9, 2024 1:08 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Historically Interesting Antedating of "Mootness"

Interdating:

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Fbooks%2Fedition%2FVanity_Fair%2F1cM-AQAAMAAJ%3Fhl%3Den%26gbpv%3D1%26dq%3Dmootness%26pg%3DRA9-PA21%26printsec%3Dfrontcover&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cfac74ab45ff04557331a08dc9fd5374a%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638560985323185420%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=epWTr6SJ%2BrZPYOmMRawRoEJ0z9nPaTq%2BcIREz5npPyQ%3D&reserved=0<https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Vanity_Fair/1cM-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=mootness&pg=RA9-PA21&printsec=frontcover>

August 1919
Article  in Vanity Fair written by P.G. Wodehouse.

"In this age of moot points - some mooter than others, others possibly a
shade less moot than some - perhaps the mootest point of any is, What
is happening to the drama now that July 1st is behind us? This surely is
a point of which the mootness cannot escape the most ivory-domed.  It
is practically Old Man Moot in person. "


Does OED have entries for "mooter" and "mootest"?



------ Original Message ------
From "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 08/07/2024 22:13:27
Subject Historically Interesting Antedating of "Mootness"

>mootness (OED 1922)
>
>1896 Law Notes​ Jan. 32/2 (HeinOnline)
>
>Some of the speakers doubted the "mootness" of the "Moot."
>
>NOTE: This is an historically interesting antedating of the OED.  What was probably the first computer-assisted antedating of all time, found by me in 1978 or 1979, was an antedating of the word "mootness" from 1946 to 1940.
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
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