A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle - Revision history

TCDE-Team at 20:53, 17 February 2026

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	\|author=Jon L. Lellenberg		\|author=Jon L. Lellenberg
	\|topic=Legacy		\|topic=Legacy
			\|summary=The article examines Arthur Conan Doyle's contributions to the English language, using the Oxford English Dictionary to show how his writing introduced hundreds of influential usages, especially through Sherlock Holmes and his historical novels. It argues that while Conan Doyle rarely coined entirely new words, his inventive, vivid deployment of existing language shaped modern English so deeply that even Sherlock Holmes itself became a dictionary entry.
	}}		}}
	''A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle'' is an article written by [[Jon L. Lellenberg]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 1) in september 1989.		''A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle'' is an article written by [[Jon L. Lellenberg]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 1) in september 1989.

TCDE-Team at 00:01, 7 February 2026

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	The article examines [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s contributions to the English language, using the Oxford English Dictionary to show how his writing introduced hundreds of influential usages, especially through [[Sherlock Holmes]] and his historical novels. It argues that while [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] rarely coined entirely new words, his inventive, vivid deployment of existing language shaped modern English so deeply that even "[[Sherlock Holmes]]" itself became a dictionary entry.		The article examines [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s contributions to the English language, using the Oxford English Dictionary to show how his writing introduced hundreds of influential usages, especially through [[Sherlock Holmes]] and his historical novels. It argues that while [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] rarely coined entirely new words, his inventive, vivid deployment of existing language shaped modern English so deeply that even "[[Sherlock Holmes]]" itself became a dictionary entry.

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TCDE-Team at 22:27, 5 February 2026

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	''A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle'' is an article written by [[Jon L. Lellenberg]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 1) in september 1989.		''A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle'' is an article written by [[Jon L. Lellenberg]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 1) in september 1989.

	~~__TOC__~~		The article examines [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s contributions to the English language, using the Oxford English Dictionary to show how his writing introduced hundreds of influential usages, especially through [[Sherlock Holmes]] and his historical novels. It argues that while [[Arthur Conan Doyle\|Conan Doyle]] rarely coined entirely new words, his inventive, vivid deployment of existing language shaped modern English so deeply that even "[[Sherlock Holmes]]" itself became a dictionary entry.

TCDE-Team at 20:09, 4 February 2026

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			{{Cargo_Research_Articles
			\|date=1989-09-01
			\|author=Jon L. Lellenberg
			\|topic=Legacy
			}}
	''A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle'' is an article written by [[Jon L. Lellenberg]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 1) in september 1989.		''A few words from Arthur Conan Doyle'' is an article written by [[Jon L. Lellenberg]] published in the [[A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society]] (Vol. 1, No. 1) in september 1989.

TCDE-Team at 00:27, 3 February 2026

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	* Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).		{{footer_acd_society_article}}
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TCDE-Team at 21:15, 2 February 2026

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	* Article courtesy Christopher Roden (founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, 1989-2003).		* Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
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TCDE-Team at 20:44, 2 February 2026

2026-02-02T20:44:10Z

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TCDE-Team at 17:06, 2 February 2026

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	According to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, more than 400 new words enter the English Language every year – proof of a remarkably vigorous language and worldwide English-speaking community. For over sixty years, the OED has been the definitive authority on English vocabulary, illustrating historical and contemporary usages with some two million literary and journalistic quotations. Arthur Conan Doyle's career as a writer encompassed its creation. The OED's first fascicle of the letter A appeared in 1884, and the final section was published in 1928: twelve massive volumes, a marvel of lexicography thousands of pages long, recording, defining, and documenting the English Language. Since then, five equally massive supplements have also been published, recording the continuing growth and development of the language. The OED's first Supplement and Bibliography was published in 1933, superseded since then by a modern four-volume Supplement appearing between 1972 and 1986. In considering what to add to their record of English words and usages, the OED's editors kept constantly before them 'the opposing concepts of permanence and ephemerality, retaining vocabulary that seemed likely to be of interest now and to future generations.' (1)		According to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, more than 400 new words enter the English Language every year – proof of a remarkably vigorous language and worldwide English-speaking community. For over sixty years, the OED has been the definitive authority on English vocabulary, illustrating historical and contemporary usages with some two million literary and journalistic quotations. Arthur Conan Doyle's career as a writer encompassed its creation. The OED's first fascicle of the letter A appeared in 1884, and the final section was published in 1928: twelve massive volumes, a marvel of lexicography thousands of pages long, recording, defining, and documenting the English Language. Since then, five equally massive supplements have also been published, recording the continuing growth and development of the language. The OED's first Supplement and Bibliography was published in 1933, superseded since then by a modern four-volume Supplement appearing between 1972 and 1986. In considering what to add to their record of English words and usages, the OED's editors kept constantly before them 'the opposing concepts of permanence and ephemerality, retaining vocabulary that seemed likely to be of interest now and to future generations.' (1)


	=== i ===		=== i ===
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	More likely examples of Doylean innovation are some of his evocative expressions to describe sounds in print. Perhaps the most truly original is the modest word ''snick'', from [[NAVA\|The Naval Treaty]]: 'suddenly there came from the window a sharp metallic ''snick''.' The OED knows no earlier use of it to mean 'a sharp noise, a click'. Other Doylean examples are '' 'the phit-phit-phit of the bullets' '' ([[The Tragedy of the Korosko\|Korosko]]), 'getting so ''squeaky'' in the upper notes' ([[A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus\|A Duet]]), 'a whip ''whistled'' in the darkness' ([[Rodney Stone]]), and 'much creaking of locks and ''rasping'' of bolts' and 'a ''splintering'' crash from inside the Cathedral' ([[Micah Clarke]]).		More likely examples of Doylean innovation are some of his evocative expressions to describe sounds in print. Perhaps the most truly original is the modest word ''snick'', from [[NAVA\|The Naval Treaty]]: 'suddenly there came from the window a sharp metallic ''snick''.' The OED knows no earlier use of it to mean 'a sharp noise, a click'. Other Doylean examples are '' 'the phit-phit-phit of the bullets' '' ([[The Tragedy of the Korosko\|Korosko]]), 'getting so ''squeaky'' in the upper notes' ([[A Duet, with an Occasional Chorus\|A Duet]]), 'a whip ''whistled'' in the darkness' ([[Rodney Stone]]), and 'much creaking of locks and ''rasping'' of bolts' and 'a ''splintering'' crash from inside the Cathedral' ([[Micah Clarke]]).


	=== ii ===		=== ii ===
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	''Watson'' finds a place in the OED today as well, identified as 'the name of the doctor who was the stolid, faithful assistant and foil of Sherlock Holmes – used allusively of one who acts similarly as a stooge or dupe, esp. for a detective.' The earliest example is from Ronald A. Knox's 1927 mystery ''The Three Taps'': 'Watson-work meant that Angles tried to suggest new ideas to her husband under a mask of carefully assumed stupidity.' Other usages of ''Watson'' followed, by Dorothy Sayers, P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, and some others less obviously owing homage to the creator of [[Sherlock Holmes]].		''Watson'' finds a place in the OED today as well, identified as 'the name of the doctor who was the stolid, faithful assistant and foil of Sherlock Holmes – used allusively of one who acts similarly as a stooge or dupe, esp. for a detective.' The earliest example is from Ronald A. Knox's 1927 mystery ''The Three Taps'': 'Watson-work meant that Angles tried to suggest new ideas to her husband under a mask of carefully assumed stupidity.' Other usages of ''Watson'' followed, by Dorothy Sayers, P.G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, and some others less obviously owing homage to the creator of [[Sherlock Holmes]].


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TCDE-Team at 17:05, 2 February 2026

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TCDE-Team at 16:59, 2 February 2026

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 === ii ===
-Though Conan Doyle would be loath to agree, posterity's judgement is that
+Though Conan Doyle would be loath to agree, posterity's judgement is that Sherlock Holmes is his greatest work. The OED seems to concur today, even though the name Sherlock Holmes appeared in only one OED quotation (from a December 9, 1899, London ''Daily News'' item), under the entry ''thought-reading'': 'Do you think your thought-reading gift could be turned to practical service in detective work – a thought-reading Sherlock Holmes?' For when the OED's Supplement and Bibliography was published in 1933, Sherlock Holmes had become sufficiently permanent a term in the English language to merit its own entry, with the following definition:
-SHERLOCK HOLMES. The name of the amateur detective who is the
+: SHERLOCK HOLMES. The name of the amateur detective who is the chief figure in the detective stories of A. Conan Doyle (1859–1931 [sic]) collected under the titles [[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|Adventures of Sherlock Holmes]], etc.; used typically for a person who indulges in investigating and solving mysteries. Hence SHERLOCK (HOLMES) v.intr., to play the detective.
-Five examples of the use of Sherlock Holmes were given in that historic
+Five examples of the use of [[Sherlock Holmes]] were given in that historic entry, the earliest from an 1899 ''Introduction to Science'': 'a coincidence that would hardly be devised in the fertile brain of a Sherlock Holmes.' Bernard Shaw followed in 1903, calling a character in ''Man and Superman'' 'a regular Sherlock Holmes'; and an obscure 1929 novel ''Roper's Row'' supposedly coined a peasant turn of phrase with the passage: 'Let's do a little Sherlock Holmesing.' (1929, it turned out later, was not the first time that the expression had appeared in print.) When the final volume of the OED ''Supplement'' appeared three years ago, it noted several more uses and permutations of Sherlock Holmesing, beginning now in 1922 with James Joyce's ''Ulysses'': "He had meantime been taking stock of the individual in front of him and Sherlock-holmesing him up.')
-By 1986, in fact, Holmes rated two entries in the OED Supplement, one
+By 1986, in fact, Holmes rated two entries in the OED ''Supplement'', one under [[Sherlock Holmes]] and an even longer one under ''Sherlock'' alone. No great surprise to find ''Sherlock'' used as a noun or a verb by writers like Dorothy Sayers, in 1928, or Rudyard Kipling, in 1932: 'We aren't exactly first-class Sherlocks,' he wrote in ''Limits and Renewals''. No big surprise either to find Baker Street Irregulars like Howard Haycraft and [[William Stuart Baring-Gould|William S. Baring-Gould]] contributing new usages of their hero's name. Stronger evidence of Holmes's universality were less likely creators of usages, writers as diverse as John Galsworthy, in his 1920 play ''Foundations'' ('Don't call the police! Let me do the Sherlocking for you'), and Jack Kerouac, in 1957's beat epic ''On the Road'' ('They tried some amateur Sherlocking by asking the same questions twice').
-Watson finds a place in the OED today as well, identified as "the name of the
+=== iii ===
 What about words or expressions created by Conan Doyle? Are there any?