Another use for the Ngram Thingy

[steepholm]

Just over a year ago I was wondering how to date the shift in common usage from "Great War" to "First World War". Now, thanks to the Ngram Viewer, all is clear:



The answer is, of course, exactly what you'd expect, but it's good to have it confirmed. My impression that "Great War" is making a modest comeback also seems to be correct.

Comments

[papersky.livejournal.com]

How about "the Worldwar" or "the world war", referring to WWI. It seems to me to be a 1920s usage.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that tip! To my considerable surprise, "the World War" turns out to be much more common than "the Great War", all the way from 1920 through to 1938 or so, when they both (for understandable reasons) suffer a decline.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I was astonished the first time I ran across it, because I'd been saying "firstworldwar" and "secondworldwar" without ever really thinking about the meaning, and "The World War" especially as "Worldwar" seemed almost science fictional.

Very interesting how contemporary terms get lost in historical ones.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I prefer "The Great War". It's neater- and it's how people spoke of it at the time.

Besides it wasn't the first world war. As Winston Churchill pointed out, the first world war was the Seven Years War of 1756-63.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I prefer it too - though, as per papersky's observation above, it was never the only nomenclature in town.

[calimac.livejournal.com]

The original Library of Congress subject heading for WW1 was "European War, 1914-1918". See, they didn't realize it was a world war at first, isolationist Americans as they were.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I suppose it was only a world war for certain values of 'world' (c.f. 'World Series'). Neutral countries might justly feel snubbed by the implication that, while it takes all sorts to make a world, it doesn't take all states.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Wasn't the World Series originally so called because it was sponsored by a newspaper called The World or similar?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I don't know. First I've heard of it, but you may well be right.

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Further research suggests that it's only an urban myth, which is a pity, because it makes so much sense.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That's disappointing!

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Great War was the contemporary useage and of course you needed to have had a Second World War before you knew you had a First World War!

Anyhow, what do I know? I'm a 17th century specialist- a whole different war game!

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of a recent historical novel for children in which the young Elizabeth Tudor is crowned "Queen Elizabeth the First"!

But yes, that's why the chart above was no great surprise - though I do think there's an interesting psychological shift when you start thinking of an event previously named for its uniqueness as merely the first in a (continuing?) series...

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Don't get my other half (a Scot and a mediaevalist by training) going on monarch numbering. If I mention James I, he's sure to remind me that he's James VI & I :o)

Pedantry? There's not half enough of it about!