The making of the Oxford English dictionary

646 Pages·2016·14.755 MB·English

by  Peter Gilliver

OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 12/07/16, SPi
The Making of the
OxFORD ENgLISh DICTIONARy
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 12/07/16, SPi
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 12/07/16, SPi
ThE MAkINg OF T hE
Oxford English Dictionary
PETER gILLIvER
1
OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 12/07/16, SPi
1
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First Edition published in 2016
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2015959816
ISBN 978–0–19–928362–0
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OUP CORRECTED PROOF – FINAL, 12/07/16, SPi
For Robin, sine quo non
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Contents
Preface ix
List of illustrations xv
List of capsules xix
1. Beginnings: to 1861 1
2. Furnivall’s Dictionary: 1861–1875 41
Interlude. The work of Furnivall’s sub-editors 59
3. Manoeuvres: 1876–1879 81
4. The road to Ant: 1879–1884 109
5. The Dictionary divides: 1884–1887 177
6. Storm and stress: 1888–1897 208
Interlude. Method: from quotation slip to published entry 260
7. And then there were four: 1897–1915 278
8. After twilight: 1915–1923 330
9. Limping over the finishing line: 1923–1933 361
10. Interregnum: 1933–1957 414
11. Learning to swim (again): 1957–1972 453
12. Second Supplement to Second Edition: 1972–1989 493
13. Towards OED3: 1989– 550
Guide to abbreviations and sources 587
Bibliography 591
Index 605
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Preface
The Making of the O.E.D. would be a good subject for a book
in due course—by some retired lexicographer.1
There are already numerous histories of the Oxford English Dictionary; indeed, such
accounts began to be written long before the first edition of the Dictionary was
completed in 1928.2 There is even one history called ‘The Making of the Oxford English
Dictionary’.3 The Dictionary itself, in both its first and second editions, included an
account of its compilation,4 and much historical material is available on the OED’s
own website.
It nevertheless seemed to me, sometime in the late 1990s, that there was room for
another history. I had already begun to explore some of the Dictionary’s archives in
relation to my interest in the work done by J. R. R. Tolkien as one of henry Bradley’s
assistants just after the First World War;5 subsequently I also contributed a biographical
appendix6 to a volume of essays on the Dictionary (mainly with reference to the first
edition). The absorbing task of researching the latter revealed to me just how much
more there was to say about the thousands of individuals whose combined efforts
created the OED than was available in the existing published histories. The fact that I
was one of these individuals, and indeed belonged to a small and fortunate subgroup
of them—I have been a member of the Dictionary’s staff since 1987—made me realize
that I could bring a distinctive perspective to writing about the project. Most people
encounter and interact with the OED as readers, consulting individual entries or
definitions; my main mode of interaction with it over nearly thirty years has been
as a lexicographer, constantly engaged in creating and remaking its text. First-hand
1 Comment, apparently by Robert Burchfield, in an unsigned memo to Dan Davin dated 2 July 1975
(OUPA(u)).
2 The first account which was available as a separate publication was arguably the pamphlet issued by
OUP in 1913 entitled ‘A Brief Account of the Oxford Dictionary’: see p. 334 n. 18. Numerous earlier
accounts appeared as magazine articles or sections of longer works, including many published before the
Dictionary itself began to be issued.
3 A short pamphlet by John Cowley with this title, originally issued as an insert in the Clarendonian (a
magazine for OUP employees, of which he was then editor), was printed by the Press in 1972 for publicity
purposes; copies are preserved in OUPA.
4 The history included with the reissue of the first edition (Craigie 1933a) was reprinted with only
minor modifications in the second edition.
5 In 1992 I gave a conference paper on my findings, subsequently published as gilliver (1995).
6 gilliver (2000).