Customer Reviews

The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I knew I was in trouble with this book when I found myself fantasizing about cleaning my bathroom to avoid reading.

I'm in full agreement with the critique posted Octobert 22 by a reveiwer from CT. This book seemed thrown together capriciously, as if bits of information were written on confetti and blown out of a cannon.

Still, I gave the book two stars for content; albeit some of that content, in the form of footnotes, seemed like filler.

Anything by Simon Winchester is bound to be a delight due to his mastery of the English language and his ability to tell a fascinating tale. In The Meaning of Everything he returns to much of the same subject matter as he covered in his best known work, The Professor and the Madman.

The Oxford English Dictionary is a peerless reference work. Winchester tells the story of how it was conceived and brought to fruition by the work of numerous talented men and women from the mid eighteen hundreds up until the 1920s. He describes the painstaking work that developing each etymology and definition involved and the many personalities involved, most especially the greatest of the Dictionary's editors, Sir James Murray. There are also many vignettes of some of the others who spent time and energy creating the Dictionary, including J.R.R. Tolkien, who created many of the W definitions.

This is a delightful book that will entertain you even if you rarely have occasion to consult the OED.

Simon Winchester's The Meaning of Everything seems at first glance to merely be a sequel to the popular The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary. But I found The Meaning... to be a vastly superior book. Frankly I think that The Professor... would have made a good, long, chapter in this book (as it is you have several pages of rehash to retell Minor's story).

I think what makes book better is that Winchester has more meat to chew on. The making of the OED was not a simple affair and the whole thing seems to have very nearly met its end on more than one occasion. The book reads like a fantastic novel, complete with good guys and evil villains. And along the way you get to learn a good deal about a) the English language, b) lexicography (Dictionary study) and c) the English society that produced such a monumental (in all meanings of the word) work.

I felt a little cheated towards the end when the last 70 odd years of the OED are wrapped up in a few pages. I would have found it fascinating to learn more how the work of gathering up new words for the planned 2007 edition has changed since the original plan in the 1860s. And Winchester still tends to wander just a bit too much for my taste.

All in all a good solid read that will entertain and edify at the same time.

This book describes the story of the original Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and is not to be confused with the small conventional Oxford dictionary found at a modern bookstore. The original OED is a series of volumes that gives many quotes for each and every word to show how the word is used. Starting with the letter "A" it took a remarkable 70 years to complete the final volume that included the letter "Z". It was started from first concept in 1857 and went on until it was completed with the final tenth volume in 1928. It is thought that a modern version would be 40 volumes long. There are similar German and Swedish dictionaries that have taken over 100 years to complete and the Swedish version has yet to be completed.

The present book was written in approximately 2003, and is a bit similar but a vast improvement over the earlier book "The Professor and The Madman" also written by Simon Winchester but published in 1998 - my opinion. So Winchester now has two books on the subject of the writing of Oxford English Dictionary. But this newer book is much better than the older book. The two books approach the OED with different emphasis.

The first book 'Professor and the Madman' is somewhat like the author getting into the saga of the OED and suddenly making a left turn up the winding and unpredictable path of the life of Dr. William Minor, a mental patient that helped work on the dictionary from his cell. The rest of the OED story falls by the wayside.

Here we return to the OED story and all of its colorful characters. The first book was written in approximately 1998. The span of time has given Simon Winchester the opportunity to present a better package of ideas and it all shows. The present book gives a very detailed and balanced description. He presents some information on the English language and more information on the earlier dictionaries. He continues the story right up to the current computerized dictionary. It is a lot better that the earlier book - that reads like a novel - but is limited in scope to mainly Dr. Minor and James Murray.

One of the prime movers of that book (the OED) was a Scotsman James Murray who started at the beginning in 1878. Prior to that date, nothing of practical value was done between 1857 and 1878. He was in essence the first editor (technically the third), and he edited the dictionary up to approximately the volume ending with the letter T - the degree of the progress of the dictionary at his death in 1915. The cast of characters also included Henry Bradley who became a co-editor, Frederick Furnivall an early and very disorganized editor before Murray, and other English luminaries such as Benjamin Jowett of Balliol College. Even Churchill, Queen Victoria, and J.R.R. Tolkien have small roles.

I bought both books by Winchester but in retrospect would have skipped the first book and just bought the newer book. The newer book has one chapter on Dr. Minor and Fitzedward Hall and other people that sent in quotations by mail - which for me is enough.

I would only give the book 4 stars. The reason is that at the end of the book ' which is short just over 250 pages, one has the feeling that large chunks of the story are missing and a proper OED story would be a 500 to 1000 page book. The book seems rushed and starts to skip things towards the end. This seems to be confirmed by the other book about Dr. Minor (the Madman) that by itself is also 250 pages.

Jack in Toronto

Winchester's book will fascinate those interested in the history of what is generally accepted to be the greatest dictionary produced for any language. The opening chapters provide a good background to the history and nature of the English language and previous attempts to create comprehensive dictionaries for it. This is essential to understanding the massive scope of the project undertaken by the OED's editors, publishers and contributors. As for the project itself, Winchester does an excellent job of portraying the challenges, triumphs and unique personalities involved in the project. His strength lies in taking a subject as seemingly uninteresting as producing a dictionary and making the personages, the historical context and the document itself come alive. Winchester's other strength is his attention to detail. There is no question raised in this book that is not answered, either in the text itself or the footnotes. Highly readable and highly enjoyable, this book is great for those interested in language, dictionaries or even just nineteenth century society in general.

Until I read this book I really had no idea that the OED was, in large measure, created by the contributions of an army of unpaid amateurs. The story of the project's conception and the incredibly long and difficult process involved is truly fascinating as related by Mr Winchester. It is the sort of subject that could easily be monumentally tedious and dreary in the hands of a different author but Winchester's style, which I have enjoyed in some of his other books, is very engaging. One critic used the word 'pompous' to describe his tone but I didn't find that coming through in his prose at all; rather, I found his narrative light, entertaining, and, on occasion, witty and humorous. I particularly enjoyed the passage where he describes a project benefactor as being both an avid hunter and a good shot and then adds a footnote which amends the initial assertion to admit that he was perhaps only a 'fairly good' shot insofar as he accidentally shot off his own hand (while still, apparently, remaining 'keen on the sport').

After reading this book, I read The Professor And The Madman and assumed it was a sequel, or 'spin-off'. Actually, that book was written first and this one came a few years later. I rather think that if I had read 'The Professor And The Madman' first I might not have enjoyed this one quite as much as the earlier book is a very entertaining read and I probably learned quite a bit about the creation of the OED just from reading Dr. Minor's tragic story. On the other hand, reading this book first might possibly have allowed me to enjoy 'The Professor And The Madman' more than I might otherwise have done. In any event, I am very glad to include both books in my library and will read them both again.

The towering products of the English language include several disparate kinds of works - the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of Chaucer, the Authorised King James Version of the Bible, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the book that is the subject of Simon Winchester's text, the Oxford English Dictionary. Contrary to the belief of some who might never have seen the dictionary, this is no 'mere' dictionary. Some people have the two volume edition that comes in a box-slip case with a magnifying glass (I remember being offered one such when I belonged to a book club twenty years ago), whereas major libraries will have the larger-print 20 volumes of words.

This is a publication still in progress. The OED now has plans for a BBC television show that hunts for words and word origins; the website edition of the OED is in constant revision and very heavily used. According to the OED, 'The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.' How did it come to have such authority in the English language?

One thing to consider about the difference between English and a language such as French is that there is no definitive central authority that has official imprimatur over linguistic matters. Unlike the French Academe (which does itself have to bow ultimately to public convention in matters of common use), English has been for most of its time a flexible, fluid language born of competing strands within the Indo-European language family - words have Germanic, Latinate, Celtic, Greek and other influences; in the more recent times, Native American, African and Asian words have crept into common use.

Winchester's book gives a look at the early days of the development of the major project, the Oxford English Dictionary, and the kind of language world in which this project would exist. How does one trace English language words from a diverse island of speakers who have expanded beyond that island to become a worldwide empire?

Winchester's prologue gives a good story of the inauguration of the first edition (then twelve volumes, described as 'twelve mighty tombstone-sized volumes') of the OED in the Goldsmith Hall, with Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin presiding over a grand ceremony fit for a king on Derby Day. The then editor-in-chief William Craigie had been knighted and given an honourary degree from Oxford in recognition of his efforts; however, he had not been at the helm for the duration, for the task of coming to this point had begun over 70 years before - William Craigie had yet to be born when the OED project started.

Winchester gives a short description of the history and state of the language, including earlier attempts to produce dictionaries. 'Not one of them - not Johnson, not Webster, not Richardson - ever did the English language justice.' None came close to containing all the words in the English language. The pursuit of a thorough dictionary began as a pursuit 'both learned and leisured'. Progress was slow, and sometimes looked as though the whole process might falter - indeed, in the first twenty years, a mere 40 pages were in type, although hundreds of thousands of words had been collected and organised in note card fashion, stored in pigeon-holes. There were issues early that threatened the comprehensive nature of the dictionary project - Herbert Coleridge, the first editor, had moral objection to certain words being included. These were not the typical curse words, but rather words like 'devilship'. Coleridge died young, however, 'on the quintessentially English date of 23 April - both the Feast of St. George and the birthday of Shakespeare'. Coleridge's estimate of 100,000 quotations was a grand underestimate, but he did set the project on a trajectory from which it would eventually succeed.

Perhaps the most interesting characters part of this tale are Fitzedward Hall, a hermit who was obsessed with the OED project, and William Chester Minor, a murderer-lunatic whose involvement in the project was nothing short of remarkable. One can imagine that were Hall alive today, he would be obsessively glued to a computer screen tracking down words and word origins and typing up little emails to submit to the OED editorial team. Minor's way of reading, described here by Winchester, reminds me in many ways of the method by which internet reviewers sometimes size up books in preparation for writing reviews, with prodigious regularity.

This is a wonderful text, fascinating in the many details and broad in scope of the project that in many ways encompassed the whole of the English language.

This is an interesting story well-told, but I find myself in agreement with those readers who feel that it was somewhat hastily thrown together. On page 75 (of the first hardcover edition, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2nd printing), the writer tells us as simple fact that James Murray, born in 1837, "cherished the fact that he had managed to befriend a local ancient who had been alive when Parliament proclaimed William and Mary joint sovereign in 1689..." Do the math. If this "ancient" was two years old in 1689, he would be 152 years old in 1839 when Murray might be old enough to meet and remember him. Ancient indeed, and worth at least a comment. On page 124, the writer says of compositor James Gilbert "He joined the Press as an apprentice in 1880... and was still working 36 years later when the final words... were set in January 1928." Perhaps he was docked 12 years for lollygagging. I tend to think that Mr. Gilbert worked for the 48 years because 36 years at the same job is not so remarkable. What is remarkable is that this kind of obvious error would get past the august editors at the Oxford University Press.

Simon Winchester's book chronicles the efforts of many individuals who, as he often repeats, never received compensation and only limited recognition. In many ways it presages the millions of Internet contributors whose collective contributions create disproportionate value for everyone. Winchester writes well, as one would expect of someone writting about the best dictionary in the world. He weaves history and personal quirks into the narrative. I could hardly put the book down.

In a way, the narrative is inspiring at a higher level than just the creation of a big, fat dicitonary. Many of the participants in the enormous project had lives with disappointments or (and suprisingly often) even madness. For them, their contributions represented a redemption of sorts -- adding a small part to a huge undertaking compensated for their real or imagined failing.

He presents enough facts to give the reader a sense of the day-to-day work. The sheer mechanics of millions of slips of paper stored in wooden holes, the arguments about words to be excluded, how far back in time to go ... all had to be resolved. I particularly like the introduction where he mentions that the top echelon of educated people in 1928 were FAR more educated than almost all educated people today. While I don't think people today are dumber than in 1928, that comment sounds like the basis for a new book ....

Anyhow, this is an "accomplished, admirable, attractive, beautiful, capital, choice, cool, crack, dandy, elegant, enjoyable, exceptional, expensive, exquisite, fashionable, first-class, first-rate, first-string" read!!!!!!

Immediately after I finished undergraduate school, some thirty years ago, I joined a book club, finally free to read for pleasure once again. In exchange for ordering x-number of books and promising to buy several more over the coming year, I received a bonus: a micro-print edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, two large blue volumes with print just large enough that the naked eye could recognize it as print, but small enough that one could not read it comfortably without the magnifying glass that came in its own box and drawer at the top of the box. Although I was familiar with the OED, this was my first extended exposure to its riches. I was fascinated with the many illustrative quotes drawn from English literature. What surprises me now is that I had so little curiosity about who collected all those quotes. Who read all the books necessary to find all those sentences? And how did they catalogue them?

Simon Winchester answers both questions (volunteers all over the world to the first, and specially built pigeon holes to the second) and many, many more in his short, but informative "The Meaning of Everything." In lucid prose, with just enough humorous anecdote to moisten what could have been dry facts, he traces the history of the OED from its inception in a speech to the Philological Society in 1857 to its first complete printing in 1928 and then through its various revisions and expansions, including my micro-print edition.

Along the way, he drops in character sketches of some of the major players, describes some of the major predecessor dictionaries, offers some almost unbelievable statistics and compares the OED to its peers (if one admits any exist) in other countries, always with a gentle sense of humor. He shows admirable discretion and restraint in selecting his examples. Rather than attempt sketches of all the various types of volunteers, for example, he contents himself with portraits of a few representatives, and includes a list of some of the more colorful and evocative names to stimulate the reader's imagination.

If you use the OED regularly, or even occasionally, you may be as fascinated as I at how long it took to finish, and that the project was almost abandoned - several times. If you are not familiar with the OED, this history should be sufficient to entice you into finding a copy to peruse