Talk:Wintonian

I've removed the definition of "Wintonian" as "a person from Winchester", because of a lack of any citation.

"Wintonian" is relatively common as a word from someone from Winchester now - it's commonly seen, for example, in local papers. However, based on looking at the evidence, I believe this usage has only become common recently (in the last five years or so). Part of the reason for popularising the word may be that it was added, prominently and unsourced, into the Wikipedia article on Winchester a few years ago. As the role of Wikipedia/Wiktionary is to document existing usage, rather than popularise new words, I think that definition of "Wintonian" should only go back in if and when there is a citation from another dictionary or reference work.

Below are my notes (reproduced from the Winchester talk page on Wikipedia):
 * I can find no dictionary, reference book or similar good quality source that defines "Wintonian" as a demonym referring to people from Winchester
 * There is lots of evidence of "Wintonian" being used in the past few years (in local papers etc). However, that is after the definition was added, unsourced, into Wikipedia in around 2010.  I suspect that the popularity of the word now may be because it's one of the first things people read about when the look up Winchester in Wikipedia.  We should be careful about this kind of "circular referencing".
 * Looking at evidence of usage before 2010 (such as local papers etc), the word "Wintonian" was only occasionally used to refer to someone from Winchester.
 * Where the word was used, before 2010 it it was often used to refer to someone who went to King Alfred's College (now the University of Winchester). The college newsletter was called "the Wintonian" (source: A history of King Alfred's College, by Martial Rose, 1981, page 65), and the alumni association referred to students and former students as Wintonians Example here.

Enchanter (talk) 07:43, 10 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Citation from a dictionary or reference work is not required by our Criteria for inclusion- only usage as confirmed in durably-archived sources. Looking through Google Books, one can easily find early references to the people of Winchester as Wintonians. Here's one from 1703. Somehow I doubt Thomas Uvedale was parroting Wikpedia in that letter, so I think you're simply mistaken. Chuck Entz (talk) 23:59, 10 December 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi - and thanks for providing the citation. And to confirm, I'm happy for the word to be in Wiktionary, provided that it is backed up with citations, as you have done.
 * I had done a search for citations (as above), but hadn't come up with any significant - I think because I had not gone back far enough (for example, I had looked back in archives of local papers going back 100 years or so). During that period, the word was very rarely used.  When it was, it was almost always for alumni of what is now the University of Winchester, rather than to refer to people from the town.
 * Enchanter (talk) 00:54, 12 December 2016 (UTC)