Catalogue Traces

When does a word disappear from the dictionary? And is it possible to give a word that has become extinct a new leash of life? Vibeke Mascini discovered that the editors of the Van Dale dictionary of the Dutch language carefully register all the words that are published in the public domain. When a word is not used often enough, it may disappear. Mascini and visual artist Oscar Santillan placed an In Memoriam in a newspaper for the word ‘death rattle’. This marked the moment when the word started to be used again in the public domain; which is a condition for the word to return to the dictionary.

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