Meanderings of Memory is a rare book published in London in 1852 and attributed to Nightlark (probably a pseudonym). Although it is cited as a first or early source for over 50 entries in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the current OED editors have been unable to locate a surviving copy. [1] OED editors made their search for the elusive source public in May 2013. [2]
The OED is a comprehensive multi-volume historical dictionary, whose first edition was published in installments called fascicles between 1884 and 1928. [3] The definition of every sense of every headword entry is accompanied by quotations, listed chronologically, from cited sources, to illustrate when and how the word was used. [4] These citations were mostly submitted to the editors by volunteer readers in what current OED editors describe as an early instance of what is now called crowdsourcing. [3] The editors selected a subset of quotations, including the earliest one for a given sense, for inclusion. [4] They typically verified the citations given, though some might be taken on trust based on the submitter's reputation or previous reliability. [4] [5]
The first edition of the OED included citations from Meanderings of Memory for senses of 50 entries: chapelled, cock-a-bondy, couchward, day, dike/dyke, droop, dump, epistle, extemporize, fancy, flambeau, flesh, foodless, fringy, full, gigantomachy, goal, goalward, hearthward, idol, inscriptionless, lump, peaceless, rape, re- (prefix), reliefless, rheumatize, sanctuaried, sap, sarcophage, scarf, scavage, shoe, slippery, sun, templed, transplanter, tribe, tribunal, trouse, trunked, un- (prefix), unbusy, unstuff, vermined, vulgar, warmthless, wen, whinge, and width. [6] In 2010, the third edition of the OED added the word revirginize, [7] whose earliest citation is the 51st from Meanderings of Memory. [8] Inspection of the original submission slips in the OED archive in 2013 revealed that they came from Edward Peacock (1831–1915), an antiquary, writer, and regular OED volunteer reader living near Brigg in Lincolnshire. [2]
Headword (class) | Meanderings ref | Quotation | Form and/or sense | Ref [n 1] |
---|---|---|---|---|
chapelled (ppl adjective) | I. 182 | The Chapelled templer | chapelled | [ned 1] |
cock-a-bondy | I. 65 | Who can trim a cock~abundy, turn a rod with him? | cock-a-bondy | [ned 2] |
couchward | I. 182 | Care for your couchward path. | couchward | [ned 3] |
day | I. 149 | Day-drowsiness and night's arousing power. | "23. General combinations; c. With agent-nouns and words expressing action, '(that acts or is done) by day, during the day, as distinguished from night'" day-drowsiness | [ned 4] |
dike/dyke (noun) | I. 15 | Dyke-cloistered Taddington, of cold intense. | "10. attrib. and Comb." dike-cloistered | [ned 5] |
dike/dyke (noun) | I. 53 | The dikeside watch when Midnight-feeders stray. | "10. attrib. and Comb." dikeside | [ned 6] |
droop (adjective) | I. 87 | In the droop ash shade. | droop | [ned 7] |
dump (adjective) | [n 2] | An heiress doughy-like and dump. | "2. Of the consistence of dough or dumpling; without elasticity or spring" | [ned 8] |
epistle (verb) | I. 35 | Tis noted down—Epistled to the Duke | "2. b. To write (something) in a letter." | [ned 9] |
extemporize | I. 47 | Matter to sustain The staggering extemporizer's pain | extemporizer | [ned 10] |
fancy | I. 79 | The *fancy-grazing herds of freedom's pen. | "B. attrib and Comb; 1. General relations; (c) Instrumental, originative and adverbial" fancy-grazing | [ned 11] |
flambeau | I. 166 | Flambeaued folly of the long procession. | flambeaued | [ned 12] |
flesh (noun) | I. 157 | Air coloured, scarcely carnate, or a flesh. | "5.b. ellipt. for flesh-colour" | [ned 13] |
foodless | I. 10 | Galls them no more their foodlessness or fag. | foodlessness | [ned 14] |
fringy | I. 206 | Fluttering as the mantle's fringy rim. | "2. furnished or adorned with a fringe or fringes; covered with fringes." | [ned 15] |
full (adjective) | I. 79 | Where *full-dug foragers at evening meet In Cow-bell concert. | "12. Comb. a. with nouns forming combinations used attrib." full-dug | [ned 16] |
gigantomachy | I. 128 | One is the sculptor, of the statue nice, Or Gigantomachies of rock and ice. | "2. A representation of [ the war of the giants against the gods]" | [ned 17] |
goal (noun) | I. 131 | With a giddy foot and *goal-ward rush. | "6. attrib. and Comb." goalward | [ned 18] |
hearthward | I. 206 | Hag of the hearthward cringe and tripod stool. | hearthward | [ned 19] |
idol | I. 211 | A heathen lamp supplies With meagre beam his *Idol-anchored eyes. | "10. Comb.; e. instrumental and locative" idol-anchored | [ned 20] |
inscriptionless | I. 71 | A margin stone I crave Inscriptionless, or chiselled by the wave. | inscriptionless | [ned 21] |
lump (verb3) | I. 12 | I the mattress spread, And equal lay whatever lumps the bed. | "1. b. To form or raise into lumps." | [ned 22] |
peaceless | I. 20 | Coins that were tinkled, ever shook In pouch of peacelessness. | peacelessness | [ned 23] |
rape (verb2) | I. 87 | With art's refinement he would ... rape the soul. | "4. To transport, ravish, delight" | [ned 24] |
re- (prefix) | I. 21 | O too *re-brutalized! O too bereaved! | "5. b. prefixed to verbs and sbs. which denote 'making (of a certain kind or quality)', 'turning or converting into —', esp. those formed on adjs. by means of the suffix -ize" re-brutalize | [ned 25] |
revirginize | Where that cosmetic .. Shall e'er revirginize that brow's abuse | revirginize | [8] [n 3] | |
reliefless | I. 23 | Alone reliefless in thy cold distress | reliefless | [ned 27] |
rheumatize | I. 57 | Raw November's rheumatizing grass. | "2. To make rheumatic, affect with rheumatism." | [ned 28] |
sanctuaried | I. 175 | If a thought Should cream the blood in sanctuaried court. | sanctuaried | [ned 29] |
sap (noun5) | I. 164 | He crowned his head but with another cap Than Cardinal's—for that he wants no Sap. | "A simpleton, a fool." | [ned 30] |
sarcophage | I. 210 | Yon vermined Sarcophage. | "2. A flesh-eater" | [ned 31] |
scarf (noun1) | I. 109 | Scarf-like and ethereally slight. | "7. attrib. and Comb." scarf-like | [ned 32] |
scavage (verb) | I. 56 | The brain will scavage and the breast unstuff. | scavage | [ned 33] |
shoe | I. 163 | He looked submission with a shoeward eye. | "6. attrib. and Comb.; c. Special comb." shoeward | [ned 34] |
slippery | I. 64 | Thou silvery-backed, and slippery-bellied Eel. | "9. Comb." slippery-bellied | [ned 35] |
sun | I. 196 | Sunfaced choristers. | "12. Comb.; c. Similative and parasynthetic" sunfaced | [ned 36] |
sun | I. 128 | And Sun-side Alps all tortuously slip. | "13. Special Combs.: sun-side (now rare) the side facing the sun, the sunny side (also attrib.)" | [ned 37] |
templed (ppl adjective) | I. 114 | We .. Rambled such river sides and templed lands. | "3. Furnished or adorned with a temple or temples." | [ned 38] |
transplanter | I. 21 | So thence uprooted with transplanter care, In other soil it scents another air. | transplanter | [ned 39] |
tribe (verb) | I. 104 | Her nature may with thine be tribed. | tribe | [ned 40] |
tribunal | I. 32 | Tribunalled judge, he weds the weaker cause, Holds sternly up as he lays down the laws. | tribunalled (adjective) | [ned 41] |
trouse | I. 86 | The belted blouse Of velvet black, and closely-fitting trouse. | trouse | [ned 42] |
trunked (adjective) | I. 132 | The trunked forest's deep Where graces dance. | trunked "I 1. Having a trunk, as a tree" | [ned 43] |
un- (prefix) | I. 15 | A thing *unmental, mannerless and crude. | un- "7. freely prefixed to adjectives of all kinds" unmental | [ned 44] |
un- (prefix) | I. 76 | Hope, *uncelestialized by heathen hand. | un- "8. prefixing to past participles; a. Simple past pples. in -ed; (c) forms in -ized" uncelestialized | [ned 45] |
un- (prefix) | I. 5 | Worn As weary nakedness, *unshooned, unshorn. | un- "9. Adjectival forms in -ed, from substantives" unshooned | [ned 46] |
unbusy (adjective) | I. 196 | If bigotted, or most unbusy herd, O'er stocked with time and talent, were preferred. | unbusy | [ned 47] |
unstuff | I. 56 | The brain [it] will scavage and the breast unstuff. | unstuff | [ned 48] |
vermined (adjective) | I. 210 | Yon vermined Sarcophage. | vermined | [ned 49] |
vulgar (adjective) | I. 149 | She was not *vulgar-viewed, her thinkings took The self-same tenor. | "14. Comb." vulgar-viewed | [ned 50] |
warmthless | I. 100 | Vain and virtueless and warmthless grown. | warmthless | [ned 51] |
wen (noun1) | I. 111 | The wen-necked women. | "1. c. Applied to the swelling on the throat characteristic of goitre. Also Comb." wen-necked | [ned 52] |
whinge (noun) | I. 170 | With cur-like whinge to such soft cutting whip. | whinge | [ned 53] |
width | I. 98 | The *widthless road. | widthless | [ned 54] |
The second (1989) edition of the OED retained almost all the information of the first edition essentially unrevised. The third edition (publication ongoing since 2000) is fully revisiting all entries. A staff member revising the entry for revirginize in 2013 sought to verify the word's earliest citation, from Meanderings of Memory: "Where that cosmetic ... Shall e'er revirginize that brow's abuse". [1] When the staffer failed to locate the work, OED chief bibliographer Veronica Hurst launched a deeper search. [3] No copy could be located; Hurst found no mention in Google Books, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other works consulted; [1] and confirmation of the book's existence initially rested entirely upon a short listing in an 1854 catalogue of G. Gancia, a bookseller in Brighton: [2]
MEANDERINGS of Memory, by Nightlark, 8vo, boards London, 1852 6s Written and published by a well-known connoisseur with the epigraph "Cur potius lacrimæ tibi mi Philomela placebant?"
Investigating the Latin epigraph was another dead end. It translates to "why did my tears please you more, my Philomel?" and does not appear to be a quotation from another work. [1]
On 3 May 2013, OED editors posted about the book on the "OED Appeals" section of the website, which continues the volunteer-reader tradition by asking the public for help with the history of particular words or other lexicographic issues. [9] The original post was: [2]
A number of quotations in the OED derive from a book with the title Meanderings of Memory. However, we have been unable to trace this title in library catalogues or text databases. All these quotations have a date of 1852, and some cite the author as 'Nightlark'.
The only evidence for this book's existence that we have yet been able to find is a single entry in a bookseller's catalogue:
Have you ever seen a copy of this book? Can you identify the 'well-known connoisseur' mentioned by the bookseller?
The appeal was reported in the general media. [1] [3] [10] [11]
Seven Gancia catalogues are bound in a volume once owned by an A. F. Rodger, now in the Oxford University library and on Google Books. Three of these list Meanderings of Memory, with variations in detail and price: the Third Catalogue for 1852 on page 20; [12] the First Catalogue for 1854 on page 10; [13] and the Second Catalogue for 1854 (referred to by the OED) on page 27. [14] The John Rylands Library, which contains many of Edward Peacock's private papers, found no copy of Meanderings of Memory. [2] In 1893, a reader [n 4] asked The Bazaar, Exchange and Mart to value the book; it replied, "We know nothing about this book, never having seen it before. The probability is that it is of little value." [15]
Hurst suggested the book might contain content considered pornographic by Victorians, potentially resulting in nonstandard cataloguing. [10] It might have been self- or privately published with a very small print run. [3] Following the appeal to the public, another reference to Meanderings of Memory was found in an 1854 Sotheby's catalogue, which rendered less likely the notion that the work might be a hoax by a nineteenth-century miscreant. [1] Identification of Peacock as the reader corroborated this. [2] Given the "flowery" character of the work's quotations appearing in the OED, and in light of the Sotheby's auction record, Hurst postulates that Meanderings of Memory may turn out to be a short book of poetry. [11]
In Christopher Linforth's 2014 short story "Here is the Light", among the miscellanea collected by protagonist Pym Dark are "flowery poetry chapbooks (including the sordid volume, the Meanderings of Memory)". [16]
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first edition in 1884, traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, and provides ongoing descriptions of English language usage in its variations around the world.
William Chester Minor was an American army surgeon, psychiatric hospital patient, and lexicographical researcher.
An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts. The essence of antiquarianism is a focus on the empirical evidence of the past, and is perhaps best encapsulated in the motto adopted by the 18th-century antiquary Sir Richard Colt Hoare, "We speak from facts, not theory."
William Lily was an English classical grammarian and scholar. He was an author of the most widely used Latin grammar textbook in England and was the first high master of St Paul's School, London.
Eudokia Makrembolitissa was a Byzantine empress by her successive marriages to Constantine X Doukas and Romanos IV Diogenes. She acted as regent of her minor son, Michael VII in 1067, and resigned her regency by marriage to Romanos IV Diogenes. When he was deposed in 1071 she resumed the regency for her sons, but was soon forced to resign again.
Richard Bowdler Sharpe was an English zoologist and ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his career he published several monographs on bird groups and produced a multi-volume catalogue of the specimens in the collection of the museum. He described many new species of bird and also has had species named in his honour by other ornithologists including Sharpe's longclaw and Sharpe's starling.
James Francis Stephens was an English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume Illustrations of British Entomology (1846) and the Manual of British Beetles (1839).
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (SOED) is an English language dictionary published by the Oxford University Press. The SOED is a two-volume abridgement of the twenty-volume Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and American spelling. Many of the differences between American and British/English in the Commonwealth of Nations date back to a time before spelling standards were developed. For instance, some spellings seen as "American" today were once commonly used in Britain, and some spellings seen as "British" were once commonly used in the United States.
Charles Edward Mudie , English publisher and founder of Mudie's Lending Library and Mudie's Subscription Library, was the son of a second-hand bookseller and newsagent. Mudie's efficient distribution system and vast supply of texts revolutionized the circulating library movement, while his "select" library influenced Victorian middle-class values and the structure of the three-volume novel. He was also the first publisher of James Russell Lowell's poems in England, and of Emerson's Man Thinking.
Marghanita Laski was an English journalist, radio panellist and novelist. She also wrote literary biography, plays and short stories, and contributed about 250,000 additions to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Jacques Charles Brunet was a French bibliographer.
Sampson Low was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 19th century.
Edward Peacock was an English antiquarian and novelist.
Twat is an English-language vulgarism which means the vulva or vagina, and is used figuratively as a derogatory epithet. In British English, and Irish English it is a common insult referring to an obnoxious or stupid person regardless of gender; in American English, it is rarer and usually used to insult a woman. In Britain and Ireland, the usual pronunciation rhymes with "hat", while Americans most often use the older pronunciation that rhymes with "squat". This is reflected in the former variant spelling of "twot".
This is a list of works by the English historical novelist William Harrison Ainsworth (1805–1882).
A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament: For the Use of Biblical Students is one of the books of Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener (1813–1891), biblical scholar and textual critic. In this book Scrivener listed over 3,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, as well as manuscripts of early versions. It was used by Caspar René Gregory for further work.
Alexander Donaldson was a Scottish bookseller, publisher, and printer. Donaldson was the founding publisher of the weekly newspaper, the Edinburgh Advertiser. He was also known for selling cheap copies of books after their copyright had expired in disregard to London booksellers' opinions on literary property.
James Talboys Wheeler was a bureaucrat-historian of the British Raj.
The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary is a 2023 book by Sarah Ogilvie. The book examines the volunteer contributors who responded to public appeals by the Oxford English Dictionary for words. After finding address books that had belonged to editor James Murray in the basement archive of the Oxford University Press, Ogilvie conducted research into the identities of the contributors. Murray's address books, combined with those of Frederick Furnivall, included the names of some 3000 volunteers alongside the words they had submitted quotations for and which books they had used.