You may have noticed that I’m not posting as many new entries to the Big List and the rest of the Wordorigins blog as I was a few months ago. There are a few reasons for this.
The biggest is that I’ve simply finished the wholesale revision of the Big List entries. Most of the volume in the past months has consisted of these updates, now that they’re done, there will simply be fewer postings. Similarly, I’ve cleared out the backlog in my inbox of suggestions.
But another reason is that I’m still doing a lot of minor revisions--housekeeping stuff. When I switched the content over to the new software and host, many of the characters did not translate--appearing as question marks on the site. I’m going through all the entries again to 1) insert the proper characters where needed; 2) fix style inconsistencies and add cross-reference links; and 3) give modern English translations for all the Old and Middle English examples.
Regarding the last, I’m not an expert in Old or Middle English grammar and syntax. I’m sure I’ve made errors in the translations--probably mainly in verb tense, noun declension, and prepositions. If anyone who has some expertise in the subject wants to review them and provide me corrections, please do so. You can just go through the entries and pick out the relevant examples. Currently, I’m just starting on the letter M, so A through L are fair game.
