morning lineup firegeezer on 16 Aug 2008 08:19 am
Morning Lineup - August 16
Everybody has heard of the Oxford English Dictionary (the OED). Some people have even seen a set of the 20-volume work in their local library. But nobody that I know has ever actually used it. I certainly haven’t.
That’s probably because it isn’t the same type of reference work that we usually associate with a dictionary. The OED was created with the thought of becoming the authoritative source for not only the definitions of words, but their complete histories and usages from the time of their first-known utterances. Most of the individual entries run to hundreds of words and are mostly utilized by scholars.
Briefly put, the dictionary project was begun in 1858 by a group of linguists headed by Frederick Furnivall and they put out a call to English language scholars for help. They requested that volunteers send in their submissions of specific word histories complete with their references of past usage. Then the papers began to pour in by the thousands. The project continued to grow over the years and in 1879 Dr. James Murray took over the post of editor.
As the massive work approached its mid-point of completion in 1896, Dr. Murray noticed that of the thousands of steady contributors, the most prolific of them all was a Dr. William C. Minor who had sent in an astounding 10,000 entries and was still going strong after 20 years. Despite many invitations and pleadings, Murray never was able to convince W. C. Minor to travel from his home in SW England up to London so that they could meet. Dr. Murray then decided to take the train to Berkshire and call on Dr. Minor personally. When he arrived, it was then that he learned that Minor was a permanent resident of the Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum.
Not long ago I finished reading a fascinating book that tells the story of this remarkable man who was an American army surgeon but had gone mad and murdered an innocent Londoner. The book, The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, weaves the story of Minor’s sad life along with a concise history of the OED. The dictionary project was finally finished in 1929 after 70 years of dedicated effort by thousands of scholars. A second edition was issued in 1989 and a digitized edition on CD-ROM was released in 2002. A complete overhaul of the OED culminating in the release of the 3rd edition is hoped to be completed in 2037.
That’s probably more than you wanted to know about the Oxford English Dictionary, but I really would recommend the story about W. C. Minor. The 230-page book is inexpensive and easy reading, but is very interesting if you like historical stories.
Now let’s get the equipment checked out. I’ll go start the coffee and then find the order-form for the book.
