The OED as ‘Literary Instrument’: Its Treatment Past and Present of the Vocabulary of Virginia Woolf

VIRGINIA WOOLF's use of the term scrolloping, meticulously recorded in the OED Supplement of 1972–86, is antedated by a use in the letters of Edward FitzGerald (published in 1901, and conceivably read by Woolf) which can be turned up via Google. This note further discusses the treatment of Woolf's vocabulary in the OED Supplement, exploring whether and to what degree the particular characteristics of the OED dictionary evidence can be used to illuminate her choice of language. It also compares and contrasts her treatment in the ongoing revision of OED, i.e. the third edition (which since 2000 is being gradually published online at www.oed.com), to show that the wider range of sources now being consulted by the OED lexicographers recontextualizes her writing, revealing it to be both more unusual and...