Sunday, June 21, 2015

Sir Thomas Browne’s Successful and Failed Neologisms

The beltarian Tyler Cowen notes:
Words he successfully introduced into the English language:
medical
electricity
hallucination
inconsistent

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Browne ranks 25th for the number of new words introduced into English, ahead of both Milton and Spenser.

Failed attempts:
tollutation [ambling]
axungious [lard-like]
deuteroscopy [the business of taking a second look]
unridiculous

...information is from Hugh Aldersey-Williams’s new book The Adventures of Sir Thomas Browne in the 21st Century, for fans of Browne only but yes I am one.

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