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From: Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz>
Newsgroups: sci.lang
Subject: Walter Scott died (21/9/1832)
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2024 22:56:50 +1200
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Bytes: 1876

Most often mentioned here (at least by me) as a lexical resurrectionist. 
He picked up words from old books and manuscripts to lend colour and 
verisimilitude to his historical novels. Sometimes these words had not 
been in common use for centuries, leading to telltale gaps in the record 
of attestations in OED.

But there's more: "He illustrated Scots dialogue with unprecedented 
realism, and gave many words their first recorded usage (over 400 in the 
Oxford English Dictionary -- bedazzled, cold shoulder, deferential, 
hilarious, password, uptake...)."

Interesting. I'm always skeptical about such numbers, and I notice 
Crystal carefully does not claim that Scott made up these words and 
expressions. Still, I'm happy to learn that he was something of a 
linguistic innovator as well as an antiquarian.