June 2010

Happy Birthday 1904

James Joyce fans around the world celebrate June 16 as Bloomsday. The name comes from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Joyce's novel Ulysses. That great modern novel details a single day -- June 16, 1904 -- in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom. (That date, by the way, marks James Joyce's first date with Nora Barnacle, whom he would later marry.)

Of the more than 250 words whose first appearance in print dates back to 1904, we pulled out three dozen which may (arguably) evoke James Joyce.

For a complete list of all the words that first appeared in print in a particular year, first select the Collegiate as your reference. Click on Date in the pull-down menu, type in the year, and click on Search.