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From: "W Johnson" <>
Subject: Re: Nephew double meaning
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 2004 19:11:08 -0000
References: <Z%CLb.429$ir1.2691@newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net> <58euvv8in0aob0772p8n9fpfrfsv8dgnmv@4ax.com> <fqkvvvc2698i99l7t4groqud8fr3nbroi1@4ax.com> <ijrvvvcm81irjmd7famuo1sco3tnhobpu9@4ax.com> <MVXLb.422$YV1.383@newsfep4-winn.server.ntli.net> <cig2001p3dbg9uo9g8ct5s18jgart84dfp@4ax.com> <4001b9ee.14703074@news.cis.dfn.de> <btuhaj$dd4$1@titan.btinternet.com>


"Chris Dickinson" <> wrote in message
news:btuhaj$dd4$1@titan.btinternet.com...
> Cecilia wrote:
>
> >Don Aitken wrote:
> >>"W Johnson" wrote:
> >>>[...]
> >>>According to the Shorter OED,
> >>> examples of the following have been found:
> >>>
> >>>1. nephew was used meaning niece up to 1585.
> >>> [...]
> >>>
> >> I think that "up to" is misleading. [...]
> >>There is no implication that the
> >> cited use ceased at or soon after the
> >> date of the last cite.
> >
> >"The latest limit of an obsolete word or sense is shown by means of a
> >year preceded by a dash, as -1759."
> >The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Vol I A-M, Third Edition
> >reprinted with corrections, 1967
> >
> >Which I take to mean that the OED did not know of a (written) use of
> >the obsolete word or sense after the given date; "up to 1585" seems
> >a reasonable restatement of the OEd's "-1585".
>
>
> Um well, if any editor of the OED is reading this, here is an instance of
> nephew being used to mean niece in 1682, about one hundred years later:
>
> from the will of Henry Towerson the elder of Oldby [Aldby] in the parish
of
> Cleator, Cumberland:
>
> "I give and bequeath to my nephew Jane Woodle ..."
> "I give and bequeath to my nephew Ellinor Hodgson ..."
> "I give and bequeath to my nephew Margrett Towerson ..."
>
>
> Chris
>
Chris, you can actually submit such evidence to the OED, they encourage it,
see these pages:

http://dictionary.oed.com/readers/
http://dictionary.oed.com/readers/research.html

Will


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