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'Jedi' is now an official word in the Oxford Dictionary, so what does it really mean to be one?
It’s not a Jedi mind trick — Jedi, along with Padawan and lightsabre (just forgive the British spelling on that one) are now officially words you can look up in the Oxford English Dictionary if you’re playing Scrabble and need to use the Force.
Geeks everywhere must be rejoicing at the OED announcing three additions from the Star Wars lexicon to its October list of new words. The dictionary already has an additional definition for Force that defines it as “a mystical universal energy field”, and official terminology from a galaxy far, far away is right on time for The Rise of Skywalker. There’s just one thing. How do you define a Jedi when The Last Jedi left it so uncertain?
Here’s how the OED defines it:
In the fictional universe of the Star Wars films: a member of an order of heroic, skilled warrior monks who are able to harness the mystical power of the Force (see force n.1 Additions). Also in extended and allusive use; esp. someone (humorously) credited with great skill or preternatural powers. Also more fully Jedi knight, Jedi master.
There have to be some Star Wars fans who fought for Jedi and two other words associated with the Jedi to be an official part of the English language here on Earth, and after Luke’s deep questioning of his worthiness and Rey’s rise to heroism, they had to be at least somewhat aware that what it means to be a Jedi has evolved. Maybe they were just trying to be as impartial as possible as rumors of what could be revealed Episode IX take over the internet.
Think about it. When you have an actual Jedi questioning what it means to be one, does that change what the Order has seemed to be all along? If Rey becomes an even more powerful version of what would once qualify for a Jedi, what do you call that? Does all this mean revisions and possibly more additions on the horizon?
Does this mean the people behind the Oxford English Dictionary have some intel? Unlikely, but you never know.
