Meanderings of Memory

{{Short description|Rare English book}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Italic title}}

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.{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|last=Flood|first=Alison|title=Oxford English Dictionary asks public to help track down mystery book|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/10/oxford-english-dictionary-meanderings-memory|date=10 May 2013}} OED editors made their search for the elusive source public in May 2013.{{cite web |url=http://public.oed.com/appeals/meanderings-of-memory |title=Meanderings of Memory, unknown source |work=OED Appeals |publisher=OED |date=4 June 2013 |orig-year=First posted 3 May 2013 |access-date=12 June 2013}}

OED citations

{{further|topic=the use of historical citations within the OED|Oxford English Dictionary}}

The OED is a comprehensive multi-volume historical dictionary, whose first edition was published in installments called fascicles between 1884 and 1928. 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.

{{cite book|last=Winchester|first=Simon|author-link=Simon Winchester|title=The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary|year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-860702-4}} 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. The editors selected a subset of quotations, including the earliest one for a given sense, for inclusion. They typically verified the citations given, though some might be taken on trust based on the submitter's reputation or previous reliability.{{cite book |last=Winchester |first=Simon |title=The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Harper Collins |year=1998 |isbn=0-06-017596-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aq4kwjS8_g0C |page=25}}

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.{{cite web|title=The Oxford English Dictionary|url=http://www.oed.com|format=online [login required]|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|access-date=17 May 2013}} In 2010, the third edition of the OED added the word revirginize, whose earliest citation is the 51st from Meanderings of Memory. 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.

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

|+{{nowrap|Citations of Meanderings of Memory in the Oxford English Dictionary}}

! Headword (class) !! Meanderings ref !! Quotation !! Form and/or sense !! Ref
{{#tag:ref|To NED (OED 1st edition) unless stated|group="n"}}

chapelled (ppl adjective){{hs|182}} I. 182The Chapelled templerchapelled[https://archive.org/stream/oed02arch#page/276/mode/1up Vol.II p.276 c.2]
cock-a-bondy{{hs|065}} I. 65Who can trim a cock~abundy, turn a rod with him?cock-a-bondy[https://archive.org/stream/oed02arch#page/568/mode/1up Vol.II p.568 c.1]
couchward{{hs|182}} I. 182Care for your couchward path.couchward[https://archive.org/stream/oed02arch#page/1049/mode/1up Vol.II p.1049 c.2]
day{{hs|149}} I. 149Day-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[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n66/mode/1up Vol.III D p.51 c.1]
dike/dyke (noun){{hs|015}} I. 15Dyke-cloistered Taddington, of cold intense."10. attrib. and Comb." dike-cloistered[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n374/mode/1up Vol.III D p.359 c.1]
dike/dyke (noun){{hs|053}} I. 53The dikeside watch when Midnight-feeders stray."10. attrib. and Comb." dikeside[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n374/mode/1up Vol.III D p.359 c.1]
droop (adjective){{hs|087}} I. 87In the droop ash shade.droop[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n693/mode/1up Vol.III D p.678 c.2]
dump (adjective)Not specified in OED (1st ed.)An heiress doughy-like and dump."2. Of the consistence of dough or dumpling; without elasticity or spring"[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n729/mode/1up Vol.III D p.714 c.1]
epistle (verb){{hs|035}} I. 35Tis noted down—Epistled to the Duke"2. b. To write (something) in a letter."[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n1001/mode/1up Vol.III E p.246 c.2]
extemporize{{hs|047}} I. 47Matter to sustain The staggering extemporizer's painextemporizer[https://archive.org/stream/oed03arch#page/n1210/mode/1up Vol.III E p.455 c.3]
fancy{{hs|079}} I. 79The *fancy-grazing herds of freedom's pen."B. attrib and Comb; 1. General relations; (c) Instrumental, originative and adverbial" fancy-grazing[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n74/mode/1up Vol.IV F p.61 c.2]
flambeau{{hs|166}} I. 166Flambeaued folly of the long procession.flambeaued[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n293/mode/1up Vol.IV F p.280 c.2]
flesh (noun){{hs|157}} I. 157Air coloured, scarcely carnate, or a flesh."5.b. ellipt. for flesh-colour"[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n328/mode/1up Vol.IV F p.315 c.1]
foodless{{hs|010}} I. 10Galls them no more their foodlessness or fag.foodlessness[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n410/mode/1up Vol.IV F p.397 c.3]
fringy{{hs|206}} I. 206Fluttering as the mantle's fringy rim."2. furnished or adorned with a fringe or fringes; covered with fringes."[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n565/mode/1up Vol.IV F p.552 c.2]
full (adjective){{hs|079}} I. 79Where *full-dug foragers at evening meet In Cow-bell concert."12. Comb. a. with nouns forming combinations used attrib." full-dug[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n603/mode/1up Vol.IV F p.590 c.2]
gigantomachy{{hs|128}} I. 128One 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]"[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/159/mode/1up Vol.IV G p.159 c.2]
goal (noun){{hs|131}} I. 131With a giddy foot and *goal-ward rush."6. attrib. and Comb." goalward[https://archive.org/stream/oed04arch#page/n903/mode/1up Vol.IV G p.262 c.3]
hearthward{{hs|206}} I. 206Hag of the hearthward cringe and tripod stool.hearthward[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdicpt105murruoft/#page/165/mode/1up Vol.V Pt.1 p.165 c.2]
idol{{hs|211}} I. 211A heathen lamp supplies With meagre beam his *Idol-anchored eyes."10. Comb.; e. instrumental and locative" idol-anchored[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdicpt205murruoft/#page/25/mode/1up Vol.V Pt.2 p.25 c.3] |
inscriptionless{{hs|071}} I. 71A margin stone I crave Inscriptionless, or chiselled by the wave.inscriptionless[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdicpt205murruoft/#page/329/mode/1up Vol.V Pt.2 p.329 c.1] |
lump (verb3){{hs|012}} I. 12I the mattress spread, And equal lay whatever lumps the bed."1. b. To form or raise into lumps."[https://archive.org/stream/oed6aarch#page/n512/mode/1up Vol.VI Pt.1 p.499 c.3]
peaceless{{hs|020}} I. 20Coins that were tinkled, ever shook In pouch of peacelessness.peacelessness[https://archive.org/stream/oed07arch#page/584/mode/1up Vol.VII p.584 c.1]
rape (verb2){{hs|087}} I. 87With art's refinement he would ... rape the soul."4. To transport, ravish, delight"[https://archive.org/stream/oed8aarch#page/n163/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.1 p.150 c.1]
re- (prefix){{hs|021}} I. 21O 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[https://archive.org/stream/oed8aarch#page/n201/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.1 p.188 c.1]
revirginizeWhere that cosmetic .. Shall e'er revirginize that brow's abuserevirginize{{Cite OED |term=revirginize (v.) |id=275571 }}{{#tag:ref|Not in OED (1st ed.) under "revirginize"[https://archive.org/stream/oed8aarch#page/n622/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.1 p.610 cc.2–3] (Revirescent–Revis) or "re- (prefix) 5. b." The word was added to the 3rd edition in 2010.{{cite web |title=New words list March 2010 |url=https://public.oed.com/updates/new-words-list-march-2010/ |website=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=15 November 2021 |language=en |date=March 2010}} |group="n"}}
reliefless{{hs|023}} I. 23Alone reliefless in thy cold distressreliefless[https://archive.org/stream/oedabarch#page/n421/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.1 p.408 c.1]
rheumatize{{hs|057}} I. 57Raw November's rheumatizing grass."2. To make rheumatic, affect with rheumatism."[https://archive.org/stream/oed8aarch#page/n641/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.1 p.628 c.3]
sanctuaried{{hs|175}} I. 175If a thought Should cream the blood in sanctuaried court.sanctuaried[https://archive.org/stream/oed8barch#page/n92/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.2 p.83 c.3]
sap (noun5){{hs|164}} I. 164He crowned his head but with another cap Than Cardinal's—for that he wants no Sap."A simpleton, a fool."[https://archive.org/stream/oed8barch#page/n109/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.2 p.100 c.3]
sarcophage{{hs|210}} I. 210Yon vermined Sarcophage."2. A flesh-eater"[https://archive.org/stream/oed8barch#page/n118/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.2 p.109 c.2]
scarf (noun1){{hs|109}} I. 109Scarf-like and ethereally slight."7. attrib. and Comb." scarf-like[https://archive.org/stream/oed8barch#page/n196/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.2 p.187 c.3]
scavage (verb){{hs|056}} I. 56The brain will scavage and the breast unstuff.scavage[https://archive.org/stream/oed8barch#page/n205/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.2 p.196 c.1]
shoe{{hs|163}} I. 163He looked submission with a shoeward eye."6. attrib. and Comb.; c. Special comb." shoeward[https://archive.org/stream/oed8barch#page/n733/mode/1up Vol.VIII Pt.2 p.724 c.3]
slippery{{hs|064}} I. 64Thou silvery-backed, and slippery-bellied Eel."9. Comb." slippery-bellied[https://archive.org/stream/oed9aarch#page/n232/mode/1up Vol.IX Pt.1 p.223 c.3]
sun{{hs|196}} I. 196Sunfaced choristers."12. Comb.; c. Similative and parasynthetic" sunfaced[https://archive.org/stream/oed9barch#page/n164/mode/1up Vol.IX Pt.2 Su–Sz p.153 c.2] |
sun{{hs|128}} I. 128And Sun-side Alps all tortuously slip."13. Special Combs.: sun-side (now rare) the side facing the sun, the sunny side (also attrib.)"[https://archive.org/stream/oed9barch#page/n165/mode/1up Vol.IX Pt.2 Su–Sz p.153 c.2] |
templed (ppl adjective){{hs|114}} I. 114We .. Rambled such river sides and templed lands."3. Furnished or adorned with a temple or temples."[https://archive.org/stream/oed9barch#page/n578/mode/1up Vol.IX Pt.2 T–Th p.167 c.2]
transplanter{{hs|021}} I. 21So thence uprooted with transplanter care, In other soil it scents another air.transplanter[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n286/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 Ti-Tz p.275 c.3]
tribe (verb){{hs|104}} I. 104Her nature may with thine be tribed.tribe[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n350/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 Ti-Tz p.339 c.3]
tribunal{{hs|032}} I. 32Tribunalled judge, he weds the weaker cause, Holds sternly up as he lays down the laws.tribunalled (adjective)[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n352/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 Ti-Tz p.341 c.1]
trouse{{hs|086}} I. 86The belted blouse Of velvet black, and closely-fitting trouse.trouse[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n419/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 Ti-Tz p.408 c.2]
trunked (adjective){{hs|132}} I. 132The trunked forest's deep Where graces dance.trunked "I 1. Having a trunk, as a tree"[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n439/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 Ti-Tz p.428 c.3]
un- (prefix){{hs|015}} I. 15A thing *unmental, mannerless and crude.un- "7. freely prefixed to adjectives of all kinds" unmental[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n612/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 U p.31 c.1]
un- (prefix){{hs|076}} I. 76Hope, *uncelestialized by heathen hand.un- "8. prefixing to past participles; a. Simple past pples. in -ed; (c) forms in -ized" uncelestialized[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n613/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 U p.32 c.2]
un- (prefix){{hs|005}} I. 5Worn As weary nakedness, *unshooned, unshorn.un- "9. Adjectival forms in -ed, from substantives" unshooned[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n613/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 U p.32 c.3]
unbusy (adjective){{hs|196}} I. 196If bigotted{{not a typo}}, or most unbusy herd, O'er stocked with time and talent, were preferred.unbusy[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n654/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 U p.73 c.2]
unstuff{{hs|056}} I. 56The brain [it] will scavage and the breast unstuff.unstuff[https://archive.org/stream/oedxaarch#page/n938/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.1 U p.357 c.2]
vermined (adjective){{hs|210}} I. 210Yon vermined Sarcophage.vermined[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdictio102murruoft#page/n157/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.2 V p.136 c.2]
vulgar (adjective){{hs|149}} I. 149She was not *vulgar-viewed, her thinkings took The self-same tenor."14. Comb." vulgar-viewed[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdictio102murruoft#page/n348/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.2 V p.327 c.3]
warmthless{{hs|100}} I. 100Vain and virtueless and warmthless grown.warmthless[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdictio102murruoft#page/n466/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.2 W–Wezzon p.105 c.3]
wen (noun1){{hs|111}} I. 111The wen-necked women."1. c. Applied to the swelling on the throat characteristic of goitre. Also Comb." wen-necked[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdictio102murruoft#page/n674/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.2 W–Wezzon p.314 c.1]
whinge (noun){{hs|170}} I. 170With cur-like whinge to such soft cutting whip.whinge[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdictio102murruoft#page/n746/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.2 Wh–Wyzen p.51 c.3]
width{{hs|098}} I. 98The *widthless road.widthless[https://archive.org/stream/newenglishdictio102murruoft#page/114/mode/1up Vol.X Pt.2 Wh–Wyzen p.114 c.3]

OED revision

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". When the staffer failed to locate the work, OED chief bibliographer Veronica Hurst launched a deeper search.{{cite magazine |magazine=The New Yorker |last=Weiss |first=Sasha |title=Have You Seen This Book? An O.E.D. Mystery |date=4 May 2013 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/05/oxford-english-dictionary-mystery-meanderings-of-memory.html |publisher=Condé Nast |location=New York |oclc=1760231}} No copy could be located; Hurst found no mention in Google Books, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography or other works consulted; 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:

{{blockquote|

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.

Public appeal

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.{{cite web|url=http://public.oed.com/the-oed-appeals/about-the-oed-appeals/|title=About the OED Appeals|work=Oxford English Dictionary|access-date=12 June 2013}} The original post was:

{{Quotation|

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:

File:Listing for Meandering of Memory, by Nightlark-2.png

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.

Notes

{{reflist|group="n"}}

References

=OED (1st edition)=

{{reflist|group="ned"|18em}}

=Other=

  • {{cite book |orig-year=1852–54 |year=n.d. |title=7 bookseller's catalogues |first=G. |last=Gancia |others=Bound volume ex libris A.F. Rodger |url=http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=OXVU1&docId=oxfaleph014221553 |id=Bodleian Library Aleph 014221553 }}
  • [https://books.google.com/books?id=rjQIAAAAQAAJ Google Books scan] (HTML)
  • [http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/590401577.pdf Bodleian Library scan] (PDF 96.6 MB)

==Citations==

{{Reflist|colwidth=25em}}