DICTIONARIES TAKE LEAD IN REDEFINING MODERN MARRIAGE: From the Washington Times

Now that Massachusetts has legalized same-sex "marriage," will major dictionaries expand their definitions of the word "marriage" itself?

The answer is simple: They already have.

Advocates of traditional marriage who once relied on dictionary definitions to bolster their case for the preservation of "one man-one woman" marriage might have to cite another authority.

Boston-based Houghton Mifflin, publisher of the American Heritage Dictionary, added a "same sex" clause to its definition of marriage in 2000.

"A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage," the addition--or "sub sense"--states.

"But we'll be altering that in the future to reflect the Massachusetts decision," editor Joe Pickett said.

"There have been a lot of changes in the defining of family terms in the past 15 years," Mr. Pickett continued. "A family is not necessarily a 'nuclear' family anymore. We've also had to re-examine definitions influenced by reproductive technology and accommodate the different possibilities of 'mother' and 'father.' It's an interesting time."

The Oxford English Dictionary [OED] retooled "marriage" in 2001.

"It's not so much a redefinition, because our definition did not specify marriage had to be between a man and woman in the first place," said editor Jesse Sheidlower from OED's New York headquarters.

Indeed, the OED defines marriage as, "The condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between persons married to each other; matrimony."

But the entry includes a note that explains: "The term is now sometimes used with reference to long-term relationships between partners of the same sex."

References to same-sex "marriage" also can be found in the Oxford dictionary under the "gay" and "homosexual" entries.

Merriam-Webster--publisher of the nation's best-selling desk dictionary--expanded its definition of marriage last July, with the publication of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition.

The definition now includes the phrase: "The state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage."

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posted by Eve at 4:12 PM | link

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