The results of a little side-project just landed on the doormat. The Sound Word Almanac, a collection of unique or special words in many different languages, submitted by some seventy practitioners and theoreticians, artists and scholars. I remember the Enkhuizer Almanak from my native Holland, a collection of data such as sunset/sunrise, originally for sailormen and merchants, expanded with an assortment of other useful and odd facts, updated yearly and sold to the general public (it actually still appears, 2024 is volume 429 of “the oldest almanac in the world that’s still in print”).

The word Almanac for this book on sound words is well chosen by the initiator and editor, Bernd Herzogenrath since the entries differ a lot in length, in tone of voice, and in approach. For me it immediately brings to mind the somewhat haphazard nature of the Enkhuizer Almanak. Even a cursory look shows that the publishers (Bloomsbury Academic, mind you!) did not bother to do much editing. I did receive a request to check a word or phrase here and there, but while leafing through the final version now, I immediately and repeatedly stumble upon grammatical errors by contributors for whom English is not their first language, and other mistakes. Example: despite the fact that the almanac follows the alphabet, my own entry, ‘parafonie’, appears after the entries ‘patasurrealism’ and ‘pflotsch’. (Example 2: see photos).

 

 

I must say, I am honoured with this special non-alphabetical spot for my contribution; and I am also charmed by the uneven presentation: long and short entries, entries with and without photos, with and without bibliographic notes, some more or less objective and factual, others anecdotal, or highly personal. It is just very fitting for a Sound Word Almanac, which is neither dictionary, nor encyclopedia, and yet is designed to help Everyman navigate the world – in this case, through a list of typical and untypical sound words of foreign lands. The cover is brilliant and says it all: this is not your usual academic book, but some sort of historical relic. A special treasure of obscure knowledge that you cannot find anywhere else. I’d almost say: get it while you can, next year it may be outdated! But whether it’s worth the hefty price tag, is another question – this had better been an affordable artists’ book unless the publisher had done a proper academic-level editing job. Something for the long-term wishlist?