The new online Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction is a comprehensive, quotation-based online resource that’s a delight for language lovers of all kinds, and a treasure trove for sci-fi fans. It’s the work of lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower and grew out of the crowdsourced Science Fiction Citations Project, which also led to a print historical dictionary, Brave New Words, edited by Jeff Prucher. (Bookshop|Amazon) Some entries, like earthborn and dirtsider, remain outside the cultural mainstream. Warp speed, on the other hand, originated in a 1952 science fiction work, and is now so widely known to mean “very fast” that it ends up in names like that for the all-out vaccine-development effort, Operation Warp Speed. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. And I’ve never thought of myself as an earth-born dirt cider, but I suppose I am.
I didn’t ever call you that. That sounds rude.
No. These terms are new to me. Earth-born, meaning somebody born on planet Earth, which makes sense.
And Dirt Cider is a person who lives on a planet in contrast to a person who lives or frequently travels in space.
Earthborn and Dirt Cider are terms that I just learned from the wonderful new Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.
It’s a new comprehensive quotation-based dictionary of the language of science fiction.
And it’s online, it’s free of charge, and it is an absolutely extraordinary resource for language lovers of all kinds.
If you’re a science fiction fan, this is a treasure trove for you.
It’s at sfdictionary.com.
And as you know, Grant, it’s the work of lexicographer Jesse Scheidlauer,
Who is a former editor-at-large at the Oxford English Dictionary.
And this project grew out of something called the Science Fiction Citations Project,
Which was this crowdsourced effort initiated in 2001 by the OED when he was managing that project.
And that led in 2007 to a print historical dictionary called Brave New Words.
And in early 2020, Scheidlauer, who has since left the OED, got permission to continue the project independently.
And I’ve lost a good hour to it already.
And I look forward to losing many more.
Yeah, I’ve checked it out as well, browsed the pages, and I love it.
It just reminds me of books I’ve enjoyed and authors who have impressed me.
And it just reminds me of books that I meant to read and never got around to
And I might have to find at the library or the used bookstore.
Just some wonderful stuff in there.
Just kind of brilliant footprints of the great writing
That has led to some of the movies and TV shows that we’re enjoying to this very day.
Shows like The Expanse have these marks on them left by great writers
And you can see the language in this dictionary that’s showing up in bits and pieces
In these new works.
So it’s just, I don’t know,
It’s feeding into culture even today,
Stuff from the 50s and 60s and even earlier.
Well, yeah, speaking of which,
I mean, think about Operation Warp Speed.
That’s a term that originated in science fiction
Back in 1952, which you can learn
If you go to this website, sfdictionary.com.
Well, thank you, Martha.
That’s a wonderful resource.
I’ll add that immediately to my list of dictionaries
Like I need another one.
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