Newspaperially, adv.

Lincoln Mullen · 26 Sep. 2007

The OED lists the following words derived from newspaper:

newspaper, n.
newspaper, v.
newspaperdom, n.
newspapered, adj.
newspaperese, n.
newspapering, n.
newspaperish, adj.
newspaperism, n.
newspaperland, n.
newspaperless, adj.
newspapery, adj.
newspaporial, n. and adj.

I found a new derivative in the Connecticut Mirror of 9 January 1815: newspaperially. In discussing the latest news from London via the Halifax newspapers, the Mirror writes, “It was stated newspaperially, that the British Ministry had at length resolved to prosecute the war against the United States with the utmost energy.” The writer means that he is summarizing the reports of the Halifax newspapers rather than directly or indirectly quoting the British Ministry.

I’ll probably report this one to the OED as I did with the last interesting word I came across, even though newspaperially is a singularly cumbersome expression.

One Comment

Lincoln
Posted 1 Oct. 2007 at 10:15 am | Permalink
Here is this response I got from my e-mail to the OED. (I sent them an e-mail this time, because sending a letter last time cost a shade under two dollars.)

Thank you for your message. I shall note this word in the OEDâ€™s files, but cannot promise that your contribution will result in an entry. We do need quite a large body of evidence, particularly for derivatives, before we can add them to the Dictionary, but we shall check on databases of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century material to see what other evidence we can find.

Margot Charlton
Oxford English Dictionary

From: Lincoln Mullen
Sent: 30 September 2007 01:48
To: OED3
Subject: Newspaperially

In reading nineteenth-century newspapers I found a word not contained in the OED: “newspaperially.” The source was the CONNECTICUT MIRROR of 9 January 1815. In discussing the latest news from London via the Halifax newspapers, the MIRROR writes, â€œIt was stated newspaperially, that the British Ministry had at length resolved to prosecute the war against the United States with the utmost energy.â€ The writer means that he is summarizing the reports of the Halifax newspapers rather than directly or indirectly quoting the British Ministry.

Perhaps you would like to eventually include “newspaperially” in the OED. Fortunately, I’ve never seen another occurrence of that rather cumbersome expression.

Thank you,

Lincoln Mullen
Bob Jones University
Greenville, South Carolina

The Backward Glance is the blog of Lincoln and Abby Mullen. Lincoln Mullen is a reference librarian at Bob Jones University's Mack Library and a student of history. Abby Mullen is a master's student in English at Bob Jones University. She teaches freshman English at BJU. [Read more »]

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Newspaperially, adv.

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