- The first dictionary was called Table Alphabeticall, compiled by Robert Cawdrey and published in 1604. It contained no words beginning with J, K, U, W, X or Y. There have been well over 500 different dictionaries published since then, including slang dictionaries, dialect dictionaries, rhyming dictionaries and reverse dictionaries (where you look up the meaning to find the word).
- The dictionary on your bookshelf contains most everyday words, but in the 16th and 17th centuries, dictionaries only included words deemed difficult. These tended to be words which, during the Renaissaance, were added to English from other languages.
- In order to write his dictionary, and properly research his sources, Noah Webster learned 26 languages, including Old English and Sanskrit.
- The sample sentences, included in dictionaries to illustrate the usage of a word, make great writing prompts, according to illustrator Jez Burrows. He has produced a number of short stories by connecting together some of these sentences.
- There are about 600,000 words in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). It is usually bound in 25 volumes.
- Someone has to write all the definitions and collect all the quotations. Among the many people who have done this for the OED are JRR Tolkien who went on to write Lord of the Rings, and William Chester Minor, a former army surgeon who was being held in Broadmoor after killing a man. Tolkien was responsible for defining words beginning with W.
- A number of words have several different meanings. The word to have the most different meanings was "set" for a long time, but it has been recently overtaken by "run".
- The typescript for the first edition of the OED, if laid end to end, would reach from London to Manchester.
- How does a word get into a dictionary? The criteria for inclusion is that the word has been in common use by people of diverse backgrounds. There is a long process of collecting sources for origins of the words, definitions, quotations and so on. Lexicographers, the people who compile dictionaries, don't usually decide what should go in and what shouldn't (although there have been dictionaries which excluded certain words or meanings for moral reasons).
- Not all the words in every dictionary are genuine. Mistakes and typos creep into dictionaries just as in any other book. "Phantomnation" was one example of a word which doesn't exist, but should have appeared as "phantom-nation". Some fake words are included on purpose, so the publishers will know if another publisher is just copying their dictionary. Esquivalience is an example of such a word. It was defined as "the willful avoidance of one's official responsibilities." However, if enough people start using it...
Obsidian's Ark
Trish wonders how to get science whizz Tom to notice her; how to persuade him that the best way to stand up to the school bully is to fight back. She doesn't want her friends, especially not Tom, to know she is a genetic variant with superpowers. Little does she know that Tom has secrets of his own.
Suki struggles to make friends at school when she cannot understand everyday cultural references, and they all suspect her of being a terrorist. She, too, has a secret, but is it what her classmates assume?
When Daniel stumbles upon a plot by an alliance of supervillains to plunge the world into war, he tries to alert the established superheroes, but none of them believe him. When the Prime Minister's only daughter, Yasmin Miller, is abducted, Daniel knows the villains' plan is underway. It seems humanity's only hope may be Daniel and the ragtag bunch of teenage superheroes he recruits. Can he pull together, not only his own team, but the older heroes as well, in a bid to save the Earth from a devastating war?
Themes:
Superheroes; Coming of age; Leadership; Kidnap and rescue; Aliens; Friendship and rivalry; Terrorism; Secrets.
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