About

A commonplace-book is a lovely thing, both in its name and its existence. I have one that I used to keep quite regularly – digging it out now I find there is a lot more in it than I remember putting there – but I no longer seem able to commit myself to writing out by hand the ‘notable passages or quotations’ as the OED defines them.

I turned to the OED before I started this page because the name, tho’ delightful, is a bit puzzling. If these passages are notable then why are they also commonplace? The dictionary helps me a little on this, if I take the first three definitions of commonplace n. in reverse order:

3. An ordinary topic; an opinion or statement generally accepted; a platitude

A definition from the mid-sixteenth century which is pretty much how I understand the word today.

2. A notable passage or quotation entered in a book for future use

OK, so that’s what I’m dealing with here – also from the mid-sixteenth century as it happens.

1. Rhet. A passage of general application; a leading text

Mid- to late-sixteenth century this one, and sadly marked with a † to signify that it is obsolete. Sadly, because I think it might be my missing link. A notable passage, extracted and recorded, then generally applied on some rhetorical occasion: quoted and repeated often enough, how quickly it may become a platitude.

Well, that’s my theory today. Of course the internet is full of resources addressing this topic – like this page for example – and, in a footnote on the wikipedia entry, commonplacing is credited as one of the historical roots of blogging.

My poor commonplace-book has languished these long years and I would like to enjoy it again, so we are going virtual.