Stephen Vasciannie TVJ AND CVM will no doubt continue inviting viewers to the Olympiad in the Athenian city of the Grecian country. Last week, I threw a pebble at these two stations on this point: the word 'Olympiad', I had been taught at one of the Pierian springs of North Street, refers to the period of four years between the Olympic Games, not the Games themselves. So, I suggested, we should be invited to the Olympic Games, not the Olympiad.
In response, a senior wordsmith, a drinker at the aforementioned spring, has taken me to task. 'Olympiad', notes this English language specialist who has explored more words than are dreamt of in my philosophy, 'means either the period between the Olympic Games or the Games themselves.' I was therefore wrong to suggest otherwise.
English language niceties of this type may be of little moment in the constant pursuit of economic survival that seventies people are still apt to call 'the struggle' (as in la lutta continua). But words have value and, notwithstanding views to the contrary, there are times when respect for the English language is well-placed. That is why, for instance, it is important to remember that there is a 'St. Andrew High School for Girls', not 'St. Andrew's'.
OXONIAN SLIPPAGE?
But back to Olympiad. With the wordsmith's advice in mind, I embarked upon a little voyage of exploration. The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (published 1971) contains the complete text of the authoritative Oxford English Dictionary. It's called 'compact' because it is physically squashed down to two volumes, and you have to use a magnifying glass to make out the words.
Upon magnification, the entry for 'Olympiad' emerges as 'a period of four years reckoned from one celebration of the Olympic Games to the next, by which the ancient Greeks computed time, the year 776 B.C. being the first year of the first Olympiad.' The Compact Edition then offers references to the use of the term Olympiad in this sense from 1398, 1532 and 1601. This dictionary does not, however, offer any suggestion that the term Olympiad may also be used to refer to the Olympic Games.
Next stop: The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (published, with corrections, 1975). The entry for Olympiad simply reproduces the definition in the Compact Edition. No perceived need for correction there.
Third port of call: The New Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1998. Here, the Oxford school appears to turn on itself (no doubt to the delectation of wordsmiths everywhere); the New Oxford defines Olympiad as 'a celebration of the ancient or modern Olympic Games', 'a period of four years between Olympic Games', and 'a major national or international contest in some activity notably chess or bridge'. So, score one for TVJ/CVM if they used the New Oxford.
WEBSTERIAN DOUBLESPEAK
Given the apparent discrepancy arising in the Oxford school, I turned to Webster's family of dictionaries. The Webster Comprehensive Dictionary (Encyclopedic Edition, published 1992) is interesting. After noting that the Olympiad is the interval of four years between the Games, it elaborates that Olympiad is 'sometimes erroneously used to designate the games or their celebration'. Webster's then gives, as a secondary definition of the Olympiad, 'the modern Olympic Games'. The learned editors of Webster's (including the illustrious Frederic Cassidy of Jamaican English fame) wish to have things both ways: they say Olympiad is sometimes erroneously used to mean the Olympic Games, and then they turn around and define Olympiad to mean the Olympic Games!
Against this background of borderline irrationality, therefore, I turned to Fowler. Fowler's A Dictionary of English Usage (1926, First Edition) is silent on the point. The Second Edition, revised by Sir Ernest Gowers (1965) weighs in with clarity: "Olympiad, sometimes misused for the period during which the Olympic Games are celebrated, means the intervals of four years between celebrations used by the ancient Greeks in dating events."
TEMPTING FOWLER
The precision of Fowler's Second Edition is tempting, and one is inclined to exclaim, argument done. But, alas, there is also Fowler's Third Edition, published in 1996 (edited by R.W. Burchfield). In the Third Edition, the entry concerning Olympiad offers some useful points: (a) In earliest times, Olympiad referred in Greek to the games themselves (as used by Pindar and Herodotus); (b) Later, it came to refer, in the Greek, to the period between the games; and (c) Later still, the principal meaning in the Greek became the period between the games. Fowler's Third Edition then notes that ;in English the earliest recorded use (Trevisa, 1398) is the period between the games. Ultimately, though, this edition does not offer a final answer.
Are we any wiser, following this non-ode to a Grecian word? With the passage of time, Olympiad, in English language, appears gradually to have evolved through erroneous use to include a reference to the Games themselves, but the principal meaning is still a reference to the period between the Games. Life, however, would have been so much easier if TVJ and CVM had simply invited us to watch the Olympic Games, wouldn't it?
Stephen Vasciannie is Professor of International Law and Head, Department of Government UWI. He is also a consultant in the Attorney-General's chambers.
