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Jan 7, 2004

This week's theme
Earls who became words (or places that became words)

This week's words
orrery
cadogan
Oxfordian
derby
yarborough

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oxfordian

Oxfordian (oks-FORD-ee-uhn) noun

1. The theory attributing the authorship of William Shakespeare's works to Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford.

2. A person who believes in this theory.

[After Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604).]

A related term, Stratfordian, is used to describe a person who believes Shakespeare himself to be the true author. The term derives from the name of the English town Stratford-on-Avon that is the birthplace and burial place of Shakespeare.

Home page of the Shakespeare Oxford Society.

"Gould, being a daughter of a movie mogul, knows high concept when she sees it. And she's an Oxfordian, a believer in Edward de Vere as the real Shakespeare."
Paul Carbray; Shakespeare's True Identity is Still in Dispute; Montreal Gazette (Canada); Aug 16, 2003.

"The statesman Sir Francis Bacon, the playwright Christopher Marlowe, the Earl of Derby (William Stanley), the Earl of Rutland (Roger Manners) and even Elizabeth I all have their advocates among scholars of the field, but the Oxfordians and Stratfordians are by far the most numerous and the most active in terms of recent books and established Web sites."
William S Niederkorn; Where There's a Will, or Two, or Maybe Quite a Few; The New York Times; Nov 16, 2003.

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