Newsgroup: it.fan.scrittori.tolkien
Titolo: Tolkien and "W" in the OED

The Strait Times, which I believe is in Singapore, has an article on 
"The Triumphant Rise of English" that credits its success over languages 
such as French to its willingness to borrow, willy nilly, from other 
languages. On that, it has this to say:
"Unlike the French and the Italians, the English, till recently, had a 
rather laissez-faire attitude towards their language. The French have 
had their Academie Francaise since 1634, and the Italians their 
Accademia della Crusca since 1582. 'The task of both bodies was to 
preserve linguistic purity, to prevent the languages' ruin by permitting 
inelegant importations, and to guide the public on just how to write and 
speak.' No such body has ever existed for English. 
Which perhaps explains its prodigious promiscuity. By the time the first 
edition of the compendious Oxford English Dictionary appeared in 1928, 
the language had at least 414,825 words. The second edition of the OED, 
published in 1989, had 615,100 words. In addition, an estimated 
half-million technical and scientific words remained uncatalogued. The 
Revised OED, being prepared now, may define as many as a million words. 
By comparison, German has a lexicon of only 185,000 words, and French 
fewer than 100,000."
It has this to say about the role J. R. R. Tolkien had to play in the 
creation of the Oxford English Dictionary:
"We also meet J.R.R. Tolkien, who served as assistant editor for a year, 
labouring 'mightily over words beginning with W, among them warm, wasp, 
water, wick, wallop, waggle and winter' - not to mention 'walrus', which 
he filled a good-sized notebook trying to define."
And for what it is worth, many in Singapore speak an interesting 
variation of English that they call Singlish.
--Mike Perry, Inkling Books, Seattle
http://www.InklingBooks.com/
-- 
****************
Preorder Lord of the Ring DVDs and videos.
http://www.inklingbooks.com/
****************

 variation of English that they call Singlish.
    Anche qui, l'autore mi dà l'impressione di essere poco erudito in
materia, di aver sentito il termine "Singlish" e di averlo riportato
credendo di diffondere il Verbo. In realtà, ci sono moltissime versioni
"locali" della lingua inglese, non è certo una novità, né tantomento quella
di Singapore può vantare un qualche primato su altre.
    Théoden l'erudito (o il saccente?)
--
Théoden, figlio di Thengel, FeSToso # 327
Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!

     Théoden l'erudito (o il saccente?)
Forse tutt'e due :-)

     Théoden l'erudito (o il saccente?)
Il primo va bene, il secondo e' gia' sotto copiright (sebbene sotto forma
rafforzata).

 rafforzata).
ma non era una forma numerata?
-- 
Brandivano Soffiatromba, #307 deI FeSTosi
definizioni:  LATITANTI = POLIGONI

 ma non era una forma numerata?
Come ben sai, ci son inmerito due scuole di pensiero: i rafforzisti e i
numeristi. Io parteggio per la prima, che esprime al meglio la grandezza del
nostro incomparabile Araldo.

 Come ben sai, ci son inmerito due scuole di pensiero:
ho capito, ho capito!  ma io mio sono preoccupato poco e male delle scuole
di pensiero: di solito avevo il pensiero della suola che mi assorbiva.
-- 
Brandivano Soffiatromba, #307 deI FeSTosi
RECESSO:  introvabile sovrano sanitario