Reading Comprehension
TEXT 6
Oxford English Dictionary selects 100 words that define first World War
The term First World War itself was first recorded on September 10th, 1918
As part of a project to revise every word in the Oxford English Dictionary, the latest
quarterly OED update published today marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War.
Editors have selected 100 words first recorded in, popularised during, or coined as a result of the
First World War.
New evidence published today in the Oxford English Dictionary reveals:
The term First World War is first recorded in the closing months of the war, in a diary entry
from September 10th, 1918. Intuitively we might expect it to have been coined after the start of the
Second World War (when the distinction became necessary). The name was chosen very much with
posterity in mind; the phrase acknowledged not only the unprecedented scale of the conflict (the
First World War), but also predicted its enduring historical significance.
A number of terms which are now mainly associated with the Second World War are shown
to date back to the first, including demob (1918), foxhole (1915 in the military sense), and strategic
bombing (1918).
The word cootie, meaning a body louse, originated in the trenches in 1917. New research
shows that coot meaning “louse” and cooty meaning “infested with lice” were used earlier in the
war, in 1915. All are ultimately related to the bird called a coot: the phrase as lousy as a coot
(referring to the reputation of these birds for being lice-infested) dates back to the 19th century.
The word cushy was borrowed from Urdu by the British military in India; the first recorded
use in English is by Rudyard Kipling in 1887, in the sense “easy-going”. The term became
widespread in the First World War, first in military slang, then in general colloquial usage, in a
variety of senses including “easy” and “comfortable”.
German was largely the source of loanwords referring to weapons and vehicles, such as
minenwerfer (and the diminutive Minnie), and U-boat. By contrast, the influence of French was
more idiosyncratic; many of the French words used by soldiers at the front were informal phrases
that were mispronounced forms of common French expressions, such as Alleyman (from Allemand,
“a German”), no bon (“no good”), toot sweet – or even the tooter the sweeter (from tout de suite,
“straightaway”).
The wet and muddy conditions of the first winter of trench warfare were evoked in the term
Flanders mud (November 1914), while trench boots and trench coats (both December 1914) were
invented to cope with these conditions. By early 1915 the physical and psychological effects of
trench warfare were being felt: both trench foot and shell shock are first recorded in January 1915.
The sense that those back home are contributing to the war effort was first created in the
First World War. War effort itself is a coinage of World War One, as are rationing (1915),
propaganda film (1916), and home front (1917).
1 Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Anzac Day, Cenotaph, the Unknown Soldier, and the
short period of communal silence were all introduced to commemorate the fallen of the first World
War. That these words form part of our ordinary language nearly a century on is a testament to the
power of words to capture, communicate and record shared histories.
Speaking of the project’s findings, OED chief editor Michael Proffitt comments, “As a
historical dictionary of the English language, the OED also serves as a record of social history. On
the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, we have revisited and revised the dictionary’s
coverage of the language and history associated with the war. As might be expected of such a
prolonged global conflict, the scale and breadth of words associated with the First World War is
vast. We have selected words that characterise the conflict: its technological innovations, its
international scope, its impact on military and civilian life, and its enduring historical legacy. Some
are familiar, others forgotten, but together they compellingly evoke the linguistic crucible of war.”
Additionally, OED editors appealed to the public via the OED Appeals website, to search
for new early evidence in documents they would have found difficult to access, such as personal
diaries and letters, and as a result several dictionary entries have been updated, including shell
shock (1915), jusqu’auboutiste (1916), and demobbed (1919). The 100 Words that Define the First
World War can be found in an animated timeline on the Oxford Dictionaries website:
oxford.ly/ww1words
The last entry is from 1926 - the lost generation, a reference to those who fought, suffered
and died in the war. It comes from the title-page of Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises,
quoting Gertrude Stein: “You are all a lost generation."
First and second-language students are asked to answer the true/false statements
Now read the following statements and write TRUE or FALSE after each of them.
1. German was the main source of loanwords during the First World War.
2. OED chief editor Michael Proffitt claims a comprehensive list of words that characterise the
First World War has been selected
Third-language students are asked to answer the following questions.
Now answer the following in your own words.
1. Why, according to the text, was the term First World War coined?
2. How, according to OED chief editor Michael Proffitt, has the Oxford English Dictionary
chosen the list of words to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War?
2