How The First Oxford English Dictionary Was Compiled
The Strange Tale of the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, the Professor and the Madman
I’ve been obsessed with dictionaries since I was small. Stuck for something to read? Flick (or click if we’re talking about this century) through the dictionary for half an hour. Looking for a quick and easy party game or ice-breaker? Split into small teams with one person calling out random words from the dictionary: the team that can guess the definition fastest wins a point.
So when I read about The Professor and the Madman then settled down to watch it on a rainy Tuesday evening, I was fairly certain it would be a winner for me.
Although I loved every minute, I probably should have stuck to my principles and read the book on which it is based, The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester, before watching the film. The real-life story of how the first Oxford English Dictionary was compiled is truly stranger than fiction.
In 1879, James Murray, who was self-taught having left school at 14, was employed by the Oxford University Press (OUP) for the position of primary editor for The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (which is now known as the Oxford English Dictionary). The OUP was planning to…
