[Lexicog] archaic entries

Fri Feb 10 23:39:32 UTC 2006

Creative speakers surely cannot be stopped. People frequently revive words which are no longer commonly used simply because they want to enliven their speech. However, that doesn't mean a particular word ceases to be archaic.
Let me quote David Crystal: 'An archaism is a feature of an older state of the language which continues to be used while retaining the aura of its past'. (italics mine) (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, p. 185). 

Labelling words in a dictionary is probably the trickiest task a lexicographer is faced with - the word 'perchance'  is a good case in point:
'old use' - Cambridge International Dictionary of English (1995)
'archaic' or 'poetic' - 'The New Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus' (1989)
'old use' - 'Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary' (2000)
'chiefly poetic or humorous' - 'Longman Dictionary of the English Language' (1994)
'an old-fashioned or literary word' - 'Collins Cobuild' (1990)
Is 'archaic' the same as 'old-fashioned'? Are these notios interchangeable? 
Who should make judgements - how should these judgements be made? Incidentally, the same holds good for such labels as 'spoken', 'informal', 'colloquial', 'slang'... 

Filip

Fritz Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org> wrote:       "Obsolete" might go one step further. I have heard it used as a club (or  should I say "axe"?)
 by people who had an axe to grind and who tried to  expunge words from the
 language that did not fit their ideological agenda.  Such language engineering usually
 backfires.

 Fritz Goerling 

 It might be worth asking how various people differentiate "archaic" from  "obsolete" while we're at it.

 Andrew Dunbar.

 On 2/10/06, Fritz  Goerling <Fritz_Goerling at sil.org>  wrote:     Good point,    Phil, 

   Such a    judgment can kill a word. There is also the possibility of resurrecting or    rejuvenating a word labelled
   "archaic."    Who can hinder creative speakers from doing    so?

   Fritz    Goerling

thanks Filip, Jimm, I was also hoping to know who was making the    judgement of a term being 'archaic' - the lexicographer or the speaker    consultant(s) or speech community.    

   qo'c (later), 
   Phil Cash Cash    
      On Feb 10, 2006, at 1:04 AM, Filip Rudolf wrote:

goodtracks at peoplepc.com wrote:      I        use "archaic" as a term that has documented use in past generations, but        
is no longer used or known by present day speakers. There may be        persons 
who recall the term however.
I use "old" for those terms        that may be heard from and used by a few 
persons, but are not the        usual word or pronunciation of a word that is        
current.
Jimm
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "phil cash        cash" <pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET>
To: <        lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 09,        2006 3:03 PM
Subject: [Lexicog] archaic entries

> Hi        everybody,
>
> I just wanted to ask for some input on the        intent or meaning behind 
> defining a dictionary entry as        "archaic."
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Phil Cash        Cash
> University of Arizona

<no longer used or known by        present day speakers> Well, perhaps <no longer used> would        suffice. Forms such as 'thou art' or 'thou shalt' are no longer used but        are surely understood by educated speakers. It would be interesting to        have a closer look at such labels as 'old', 'old use', 'archaic',        'obsolescent' or 'obsolete' as the the distinctions between them are not        clear-cut. 

Filip

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