A Sure Uncertainty: On Some Difficulties Using OED Online Data to Establish Shakespearian Coinages

Since 1928, when the first full edition was completed, the Oxford English Dictionary has been relied upon by researchers who are interested in ascertaining how many words were first used by Shakespeare. As the only comprehensive historical dictionary in English, the OED can serve an invaluable role in establishing the chronology of many individual words. However, it is not clear that the OED was intended to serve the role of arbiter of lexical coinage. This article is concerned with some of the ways that data from the OED may be misinterpreted when attempting to establish a count of words first used by Shakespeare, as well as the problems that are inherent in any attempting to quantify authorship of specific words.