I was really excited to read Simon Winchester's account of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. As a linguistics buff, I was hoping Winchester would delve more deeply into the process of unearthing etymologies through the use of specific, juicy examples. Although some lists of words and their geographical origins were included, they were far from meaty or detailed, and I did not feel as though I got to experience the thrill of ferreting out any especially interesting etymologies. There were a few small inaccuracies when wandering outside the author's expertise in the English language (such as the influence of the Florentine Academy of the Italian Language- which, quite unlike the Academie Française, does nothing whatsoever to defend the Italian language from the encroachment of English language words, and does little more than give exams for Italian language learners). Further, Winchester made a lot of remarks about the fact that English is the dominant world language now (agreed) and will continue to be forever...a fortune telling whose likelihood would be fun to discuss, but is certainly not 100% guaranteed.
The most joy I got from reading the book was its trivia. Did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien labored on much of the W section of the dictionary- and loved every minute of it? That editor Murray paid his eleven children pocket money for sorting quotation slips- rates based, not on productivity, but on age? That the famous Scriptorium in which much of the work was done was a prefab garden shed erected in Murray's yard? That the dictionary was originally released in fascicles (small, periodical releases of a larger work) that generally did not even encompass an entire letter? That the standard English-language dictionary before the OED was the American Webster's Dictionary?
More interesting still was learning about the scores of volunteers who made the project possible. Although I would hardly compare the OED to Wikipedia, there is no doubt the OED was a precursor to popular volunteerism aimed at collecting, preserving, and distributing knowledge. The OED project began with a call to readers to collect words, and quotations which accurately illustrated their meaning, from a set reading list. Thousands of volunteer readers from around the world responded, flooding the editors with millions and millions of quotation slips. Among these volunteer quotation-gatherers, certain volunteers were chosen to help with editing and proofing tasks- and these volunteers were far from English professors. One of the most prolific volunteer contributors lived in an asylum for the criminally insane, and only stopped his long and diligent work on the OED after cutting off his own manhood in a fit of madness. Even John Murray, editor through the bulk of the hard-working years of the dictionary, was not a traditional scholar. Murray left school at the age of fourteen, went to work at a bank, and only received honorary college degrees well into his work on the dictionary. The OED was a labor of love for the people by the people, a truly great achievement.
I have the two-volume Compact Edition of the OED, complete with magnifying glass (this edition was supposedly very popular in America). It's out in the garage, now. My Kindle has an OED search function (I used it yesterday to look up the word "purlieu"). I wonder what John Murray would have thought if he could see his Scriptorium full of quotations living in a small device I can hold in the palm of my hand.
The most joy I got from reading the book was its trivia. Did you know that J.R.R. Tolkien labored on much of the W section of the dictionary- and loved every minute of it? That editor Murray paid his eleven children pocket money for sorting quotation slips- rates based, not on productivity, but on age? That the famous Scriptorium in which much of the work was done was a prefab garden shed erected in Murray's yard? That the dictionary was originally released in fascicles (small, periodical releases of a larger work) that generally did not even encompass an entire letter? That the standard English-language dictionary before the OED was the American Webster's Dictionary?
More interesting still was learning about the scores of volunteers who made the project possible. Although I would hardly compare the OED to Wikipedia, there is no doubt the OED was a precursor to popular volunteerism aimed at collecting, preserving, and distributing knowledge. The OED project began with a call to readers to collect words, and quotations which accurately illustrated their meaning, from a set reading list. Thousands of volunteer readers from around the world responded, flooding the editors with millions and millions of quotation slips. Among these volunteer quotation-gatherers, certain volunteers were chosen to help with editing and proofing tasks- and these volunteers were far from English professors. One of the most prolific volunteer contributors lived in an asylum for the criminally insane, and only stopped his long and diligent work on the OED after cutting off his own manhood in a fit of madness. Even John Murray, editor through the bulk of the hard-working years of the dictionary, was not a traditional scholar. Murray left school at the age of fourteen, went to work at a bank, and only received honorary college degrees well into his work on the dictionary. The OED was a labor of love for the people by the people, a truly great achievement.
I have the two-volume Compact Edition of the OED, complete with magnifying glass (this edition was supposedly very popular in America). It's out in the garage, now. My Kindle has an OED search function (I used it yesterday to look up the word "purlieu"). I wonder what John Murray would have thought if he could see his Scriptorium full of quotations living in a small device I can hold in the palm of my hand.
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