il Giardino Romantico

A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

Originally named 'The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words', this is  one wonderfully, well-researched piece of work.  It celebrates the birth of the magnificent Oxford English Dictionary (OED)and promulgates an acknowledgment of an extremely intelligent man who had collaborated with lexicographers throughout the process of its making from an asylum. 

This is not a fictitious story, but a meticulously researched narration of poignant story behind the making of one of the largest literary projects in the history of the English language.  It is not difficult, after having finished the book, to imagine what it had been that inspired the author, Simon Winchester to illustrate the story through words.  However, telling a story only makes one a storyteller.  Not only is Winchester an adroit storyteller, but he is also an exceptionally poetic novelist.  The readers can readily feel his love of the English language through his careful choice of words and sentence structures.  This is one of few contemporary books that I have found enjoyable, yet extremely educating. 

The book, as Winchester states, has two protagonists - the OED and Dr. William Chester Minor, the 'madman' who volunteered to contributing his knowledge to the making of  the OED.  Minor was one of the most prolific contributors.  The OED was one colossal project.  Of course, we may all take it for granted now, but a dictionary is undeniably an essential tool for language learning.  This huge project brought together two men - James Murray, a lexicographer and Minor himself.  Awed by the intelligence and thankful to his contributions to the project, Murray set out to visit Minor in person.  He was even more dumbfounded by the discovery of Minor's institutionalization after years and years of letter correspondence.

Why is it so difficult to accept the fact that sanity and intelligence may not coexist?  Perhaps it had been the war that sabotaged the ever-so sedate soul of Minor, but could it be that such an intelligent man was so overloaded with information that led to the malfunctioning of his ability to reason?  Nonetheless, could he have taken part in the making of the OED if it had not been the murder he committed?  This is not a discussion of morality behind the motive of murder, but one of the many stories behind the making of the OED. 

Its educational value has led me to gain a better appreciation of the two copies of Oxford Dictionaries I own (Pocket and Mini).  This reading has also allowed me to finally understand why our high school English teacher crucified anyone who grabbed the Merriam-Webster instead of using her copy of the Oxford Dictionary.

Click to visit online: the Oxford English Dictionary

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Dictionary Trivia
1. Rober Cawdrey produced one of the first dictionaries of the English Language - Table Alphabeticall. [1604]
2. Nathan Bailey produced the first dictionary, The Universal Etymological English Dictionary, attempting to include a complete listing of all English words in 1721. [source: History of English Literature 1660-1837. Martin S. Day. Doubleday, 1963.]
3. Samuel Johnson also produced an influential English dictionary in 1755, namely A Dictionary of the English Language.
4. Though apparently not the first English dictionary ever written, the OED remains, to date, one of the most influential and authoritative dictionaries of the English language.