Oxford spelling

Oxford spelling (or Oxford English Dictionary spelling) is the spelling used by the Oxford University Press (OUP), including in its Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and by other publishers who are "etymology conscious", according to Merriam-Webster.

Oxford spelling is best known for its preference of the suffix -ize in words like organize and recognize, versus the -ise endings that are more common in current British English usage. The spelling affects about 200 verbs and is favoured because -ize corresponds more closely to the Greek root, -izo, of most -ize verbs. In addition to the OUP, British dictionary publishers that use Oxford spelling include Cassell, Collins and Longman. It is also used by the London-based scientific journal Nature, The Times Literary Supplement, and by the style guides of international organizations belonging to the United Nations System and various other international organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In digital documents, Oxford spelling may be indicated by the IETF language tag en-GB-oxendict (or, historically, by en-GB-oed).

Oxford

Oxford (/ˈɒksfərd/) is a city in the South East region of England and the county town of Oxfordshire. With a population of 159,994 it is the 52nd largest city in the United Kingdom, and one of the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse. Oxford has a broad economic base. Its industries include motor manufacturing, education, publishing and a large number of information technology and science-based businesses, some being academic offshoots. The city is known worldwide as the home of the University of Oxford, the oldest university in the English-speaking world. Buildings in Oxford demonstrate notable examples of every English architectural period since the late Saxon period. Oxford is known as the "city of dreaming spires", a term coined by poet Matthew Arnold.

History

Medieval

Oxford was first settled in Saxon times and was initially known as "Oxenaforda", meaning "Ford of the Oxen" (according to the English Place-Name Society, who base their result on a passing reference in Florence of Worcester's work "Chronicon ex chronicis"); fords were more common than bridges at that time. It began with the establishment of a river crossing for oxen around AD 900. In the 10th century, Oxford became an important military frontier town between the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and was on several occasions raided by Danes.

Dictionary

A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), with usage of information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, translation, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon. It is a lexicographical product designed for utility and function, curated with selected data, presented in a way that shows inter-relationship among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries do not contain information about words that are used in language for general purposes—words used by ordinary people in everyday situations. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that don't fit neatly in the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), or rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a monolingual general-purpose dictionary.