Abstract
General-purpose dictionaries may be assumed to reflect the core vocabulary of current language use. This implies that subsequent editions of a desk dictionary should mirror lexical changes in the general language. These include cases where special-language words have become so familiar to the general public that they may also be regarded as part of general language. This is the perspective of the present study on English football vocabulary, where a set of well-known football words – dribble, offside, etc. – are investigated as to their representation in five editions of the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911–2011), and in four of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1948–1995). Two other dictionaries are also consulted: the Oxford Dictionary of English (2010) and – for first occurrences of the words studied – the Oxford English Dictionary. It is shown that, over the past hundred years, football vocabulary has gradually, at an accelerating pace, become more mainstream, as demonstrated by the growth of such vocabulary (e.g. striker, yellow card) in subsequent dictionary editions. Yet, some football terms make an esoteric impression, e.g. nutmeg ‘play the ball through the opponent’s legs’. Interestingly, such words also tend to be included in present-day dictionaries. Thus, football language is in a state of constant flux, responding to developments in and around the game. This is reflected in the dictionaries studied. In conclusion, due to the status and media coverage of the “people’s game” today, English general-purpose dictionaries have increasingly come to recognize much of its vocabulary as part of general language.
Highlights
Football, as a popular pastime in some form or other, has been around for ages (Goldblatt, 2007: Ch. 1)
As will already have appeared, the overall aim of the present study is to explore the relationship between football vocabulary, the core of the special language associated with football in a wide sense, and general language
To determine the first recorded occurrence of each individual football word, with a football sense, in our material, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was consulted. Having established their first occurrences by means of the OED, the 40 football words were looked up in the Concise Oxford Dictionary (COD)/Concise Oxford English Dictionary (COED) and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD) to establish in which edition of the two dictionaries each word was first included, as a basis for calculating the time lag between the first OED occurrence of the word and its appearance in the COD/COED and the OALD
Summary
As a popular pastime in some form or other, has been around for ages (Goldblatt, 2007: Ch. 1). On British soil, is that, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the first occurrence of the word football dates back to the Middle Ages (1409). Due the fast-rising popularity of the game from the late 19th century onwards, football language as a special language, with a vocabulary of its own, gradually came to infiltrate general language, continuously blurring and modifying the boundary between them.. As an indication of this state of affairs, some familiarity with football language, even among those not directly involved in the game as players or spectators, was becoming increasingly common in the first few decades of the 20th century, not least in Britain (Bergh & Ohlander, 2018: 256–257) Due the fast-rising popularity of the game from the late 19th century onwards, football language as a special language, with a vocabulary of its own, gradually came to infiltrate general language, continuously blurring and modifying the boundary between them. For example, as an indication of this state of affairs, some familiarity with football language, even among those not directly involved in the game as players or spectators, was becoming increasingly common in the first few decades of the 20th century, not least in Britain (Bergh & Ohlander, 2018: 256–257)
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