EDNOTE. NABOKV-L thanks Jamie L. Olson for this contribution.

--------------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----

Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 10:32 AM

Subject: Re: QUERY: Nabokov in the Oxford English Diictionary (OED)

It looks as though there are 224 quotations from VN's writings in the 2nd edition of the OED. In the "New Edition" of the OED, also searchable online, there are 60 entries with VN quotes, all beginning either with the letter M or the letter N----I assume from these odd results that the new edition must not yet be entirely searchable.

The quoted passages in both editions come from nearly all of his novels; _Mary_ and _The Real Life of Sebastian Knight_, among others, are not included. I see that there are also citations from VN's letters in the new edition, though not in the 2nd edition. There are also quotations from collections of VN's short stories, such as _Nabokov's Dozen_, and there are even citations from early periodical versions of the short stories. Partial entries with full quotations from the first ten (alphabetically) entries in the 2nd edition in which VN is cited follow:

1	1589	à la, phr.	1957 V. NABOKOV Pnin 157 A supper à la fourchette.
2	1581	analysis	1963 V. NABOKOV Gift iii. 188 In the final analysis all girls aspire to be beauties.
3	c1000	ankle, ancle, n.	1962 V. NABOKOV Pale Fire 123 In those days growing boys of high-born families wore on festive occasions..sleeveless jerseys, white ankle-socks with black buckle shoes, [etc.].
4	1934	appraisive, a.	1967 NABOKOV Speak, Memory (ed. 2) ii. 40 Her grim father would..give the heaviest racket an appraisive shake.
5	1859	Berliner	1963 V. NABOKOV Gift i. 35 The perpetual fetters that chain a Berliner to the door lock.
6	1552	blacked, ppl. a.	1967 V. NABOKOV Speak, Memory (ed. 2) xiv. 292 Opaque curtains separated me from blacked-out Paris.
7	1924	bong, n.¹	1960 V. NABOKOV Invit. Beheading iv. 43 The merciless bong of the clock.
8	1884	borsch	1963 V. NABOKOV Gift iii. 153 She was slowly mixing a white exclamation mark of sour cream into her borshch.
9	1765	brochure	1963 V. NABOKOV Gift v. 316 The sun's impact restores the deficiency..and the brazen body no longer experiences shame. All this sounds like a nudist brochure.
10	1932	burp, n.	1962 V. NABOKOV Pale Fire 22 A comfortable burp told me he had a flask of brandy concealed about his warmly coated person.

(The number immediately to the right of the word to be defined is the first appearance, in print, of that word in the English language.)

If there were problems in the formatting of this message, let me know and I will type the information manually, instead of copying and pasting, as I've done here.

Jamie L. Olson
Ann Arbor, MI

At 09:07 AM 07/17/2003 -0700, you wrote:

EDNOTE. I see from the posting below that one can get a count of authors whose works are used as examples in the new on-line Oxford Dictionary. Perhaps some one who has access can get us the count for VN.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

> > A cross-post from the Gaddis list, where a list member with access to a
> > searchable OED has run the numbers. I guess this taps in to the "big words"
> > thread unspooling elsewhere 'round these parts.
> >
> > I've snipped the Gaddis word lists to save space. If you want them I can
> > forward offlist, just ask. (Or join the Gaddis list @ yahoogroups!)
> >
> > "Dear God! there are, it looks like, 135 references to Gaddis in the
> > second edition of the OED, entirely to The Recognitions. Here's a
> > quick list, apologies for the formatting:
> >