Dictionary Society of North America

Many thanks to Leah Mandel and The Creative Independent for this great interview about research, Old English, sounds, and lexicography that nonetheless ends right where I needed it to today. thecreativeindependent.com/people/autho...

I'm thrilled to announce my upcoming book: BY DEFINITION: The Surprising History of the English Dictionary To be published in February! read.macmillan.com/lp/by-defini...

How many varieties of English do you speak? 🌍 From Bermudian 'hamma' and Trinidadian 'douen' to Ethiopian 'berbere', New Zealand 'hospo', and Welsh English 'now in a minute', the OED's September 2026 update celebrates English as it's spoken around the world. oxford.ly/4cTGYXs

Applications due tomorrow, October 1!

Big news: LSA membership is getting more equitable. October 1, dues will be income-based -- so your capacity to pay determines what you pay. More linguists, more voices, more community – no questions asked. Join or renew today! www.lsadc.org/membership   #LinguisticsCommunity #LSA #MembershipEquity

Submit your nominations for 2026 word-of-the-year: bit.ly/WOTYNOMS2026 You can make as many nominations as you want between now and New Year’s Eve. Winners will be picked live at our annual meeting in January. Will your pick be the next slop, rawdog, or enshittification? Only time will tell!

Boston area word nerds: tomorrow in Newton! newtonfreelibrary.libcal.com/event/16512418

#CWOTY26 ALERT! We are once again calling on our Canadian community to come together and decide which word defined Canada in 2026. Have your say by submitting your nomination for CWOTY26 (Canadian Word of the Year 2026): ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

JohnsonsDictionaryOnline.com is currently offline following a malware attack. UCF's IT security team is working on remediation, but we don't yet know when the site will be restored. Updates will be posted here as we have them. Apologies for the inconvenience!

webstersdictionaryonline.com is currently offline following a malware attack. UCF's IT security team is working on remediation, but we don't yet know when the site will be restored. Updates will be posted here as we have them. Apologies for the inconvenience!

TL;DR: once the Reformation established that the Bible should be read at home, and in the home language... people needed dictionaries!

Today's antedating for the Historical #Dictionary of #ScienceFiction: "farside", for the non-Earth-facing side of the Moon (often as a placename), from 1958 to 1949. Plus the usual cleanup. sfdictionary.com/view/1591/fa...

Started a new dictionary project? Published a book or article? Or have any other news of interest to DSNA members? Email dsna.membernews@gmail.com by Oct 25 and we'll include your news in the member news section of the DSNA newsletter.

"a public strumpet" was Samuel Johnson's definition about 25% of Webster's big 1828 dictionary was from Johnson, but "a public strumpet, a mere hireling" is word-for-word from Entick's 1791 dictionary, primary source for Webster Entick was looking at Johnson's 'Dictionary'

New words just dropped. www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/new...

US #dictionary adds 1,400 words, including neckbeard, trash panda and cuffing season www.bbc.com/news/article... via @bbcnews-world-rss.bsky.social #langsky

Percy James Philip (1886–1956) is my latest #OEDMaker, and here’s a piece about him. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNA members and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/the-editors-...

Two weeks remaining to apply for a DSNA project grant!

DSNA Project Grants #CFP In 2027, DSNA will award small grants to support practical or scholarly lexicographic projects by independent researchers, #dictionary makers, and early-career scholars. Info & how to apply: dictionarysociety.com/2027-project... Applications are due October 1, 2026.

My book ‘The Making of the OED’ was published on 25 Aug 2016, so I have missed the exact 10th anniversary; but I don’t care. I am going to indulge myself by quoting from the wonderful series of reviews I was lucky enough to get ten years ago. (Yes, I kept a file of them, of course I did.) 1/

Congratulations to Dr Stephen Turton @stephenturton.bsky.social who has been awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant for his project ENCOED, which will create a digital edition of the letters of James A. H. Murray, the first chief editor of the #OED. Find out more:

🔎 Built a corpus, dictionary, lexical database, or language tool? Consider submitting your work for the Adam Kilgarriff Prize by 30 September. #CorpusLinguistics #DigitalHumanities #NLP kilgarriff.co.uk/prize/

Demonstrate commitment to success by purchasing bulk student memberships! The beginning of the academic year is the perfect time to show your department’s commitment to their success. Providing an LSA membership through the bulk student membership is cost-effective. www.surveymonkey.com/r/H3MDWFH

Another pair of #OEDMakers (though in a very modest way): James Edgerton Learned (1839–1902) and Dwight Whitney Learned (1848–1943). Here’s a piece about them. Also available on Facebook to @DictionarySocNAmembers and at themakersoftheoed.wordpress.com/miscellaneou...

The August Separated by a Common Newsletter is here! Some truly ace videos and article links, a bit on nouning verbs, and why I made a pilgrimage to a Lincolnshire cinema... lynneguist.substack.com/p/your-invit...

We are pleased to finally announce… 📢 Call for Papers: Corpus Linguistics 2027 Venice, Italy | 12th-16th July 2027 CfP details: www.cl2027.info/call-for-pap... Deadline: 8th January 2027 🔗 All links in bio 🔁 please share widely! #CL2027

DSNA Project Grants #CFP In 2027, DSNA will award small grants to support practical or scholarly lexicographic projects by independent researchers, #dictionary makers, and early-career scholars. Info & how to apply: dictionarysociety.com/2027-project... Applications are due October 1, 2026.

The 26th Biennial Meeting of the Dictionary Society of North America at the University of California, Davis, will now be held a week later than previously announced, from June 23–26, 2027. #CFP & more info: dictionarysociety.com/dsna26-in-da... Submissions close January 29, 2027. #lexicography

#lexicography #CFP: Dictionaries: Journal of the Dictionary Society of North America is accepting submissions for forthcoming general issues. The journal publishes articles on all aspects of lexicography. Please contact the editor, Lynne Murphy (m.l.murphy@sussex.ac.uk), for submissions or queries.

SAVE THE DATE! We are excited to announce that The Linguistic Institute will return to the University of Oregon for 2027! This will build on the success of the 2025 Institute held there. There will be “a focus on dynamics across the timescales of processing, learning, and change.” Stay tuned!

... including my insights.

Another reason to hang in there: the in-progress/up-coming *Dictionary of Jamaican Slang*. Sounds like it aims to take the game to a higher level.