Etymology, Part 7: Oxford English Dictionary

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The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines more than a half million words and it took more than seventy years to research and write the original “twelve tombstone-size volumes.” It is the gold standard of the English language.

On August 14, 1879, Scottish polymath James Murray was given the go-ahead by the Philological Society of England to begin the work of tracing the history of every single word in the English language and providing a definition faithful to its meaning. As the editor of the OED, he had the task of finding all the words as used in classical and standard written works in English. His historical starting point was the year 1150 AD.

Denholm, birthplace of James Murray, is located in the Scottish Borders Council Area

Murray was a “self-educated country boy” from the Scottish Borders village of Denholm. He had to leave school at fourteen for lack of funds, but he continued learning on his own, with a special interest in etymology — “He was captivated by words and strange languages.”

Murray mastered Spanish, French, Catalan, Italian and Latin and, “to a lesser degree”, Portuguese, Vaudois, and Provençal, as well as other various dialects. He also acquired a working knowledge of Gaelic, Dutch, German, Danish, Slavonic and Russian. He knew Hebrew and Syriac well enough to sight read the Old Testament and picked up to a lesser degree Coptic, Phoenician and Arabic. He taught school and worked in a bank as an administrator in London, but his real passion was language.

James Murray lived in this Oxford home on Banbury Road from 1885-1915

By 1879, at the age of forty-two, James Murray began his real life’s work creating the Oxford English Dictionary. All eleven of his children lived to maturity and they, his wife, and eventually, grandchildren all helped in the project. He was permitted to use an iron shed on the property of the school where he taught, which he had outfitted with a thousand pigeon-holed rack to hold the quotations slips for the words.

Before long, the “scriptorium” was ready and the project was begun. Through the Philological Society he issued “An Appeal to the English-Speaking and English-Reading Public” in Great Britain, America and the British Colonies, asking for a thousand readers for the next three years to supply him with good quotations, thus determining how various English words were used over the centuries. They were to avoid Bible Concordances, Shakespeare, and Edmund Burke — sources already combed.

Image Credit: Oxford University Press, LA Times

Dictionary slips and their sorting became a major part of life for the Murray family. People from all over the world sent in slips with the desired information. Several sub-editors and the children sorted through them and into the pigeon holes they went. One of Murray’s sons provided 27,000 quotations on his own, according to the introduction in the first volume.

The entire story is amazing — the perseverance, erudition and dedication of Murray became legendary, as did some of the characters that sent in quotes. One of the best, most erudite and apparently brilliant contributors turned out to be a murderer from America, locked up in a prison for the criminally insane in England! (As recounted in “The Professor and the Madman” by Simon Winchester).

Seven of the twelve volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary

When William Chester Minor heard about the project, he heavily got involved with it. At that point in his life, the former American army surgeon was a patient at Broadmoor (an asylum). William had murdered a stranger named George Merrett in 1872 due to paranoia. The assailant thought that his victim had broken into his room. The court ruled that William was not guilty by reason of insanity, and he was sent to the psychiatric facility in Crowthorne, Berkshire.

Image Credit: Unknown Author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In fact, William got a pension for his military service and was not adjudged to be dangerous. Therefore, he had access to comfortable housing and a plethora of books at the facility. This is why it is not surprising that he became one of the biggest contributors to the dictionary. He sent in more than 10,000 entries! It is true that the widowed Mrs. Merrett used to visit him and bring him books on his list. Even though Winchester’s writing suggests that they could have had an affair, the author did say he was unsure about this facet of the surgeon’s life.

Winchester further said this about the man— “Minor concentrated very hard, and some synapse(s) in his brain presumably fired in such a way as to eliminate his symptoms of schizophrenia.” All this time, James had no idea about William’s past. However, when he finally learned the truth, their relationship was unaffected. The lexicographer even described the “madman” as “a fine Christian gentleman, the same as myself.”

However, in 1902, William’s paranoia became worse. He had delusions wherein he was being abducted every night and was made to go as far as Istanbul to commit sexual assaults on children. Therefore, he cut off his own penis. By 1910, James campaigned for William’s release as well. Winston Churchill was the home secretary then and ordered that the patient be deported back to America.

There, William was admitted to St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington D.C. (which is where his schizophrenia was diagnosed). He passed away in 1920 in Hartford, Connecticut. James had passed away in 1915 due to pleurisy. Up until that point, however, he continued to work hard on the dictionary come hell or high water. The year before his death, he was awarded an Oxford honorary doctorate. Moreover, despite being knighted for his efforts in 1908, James continued to be a relative outsider at the university.

After reading all the quotations sent in for a particular word, Murray would write the “concise, scholarly, accurate, and lovingly elegant definition for which the Dictionary is well known.” The task was enormously difficult but for thirty-five years Murray stuck to it till the day of his death.

The dictionary was completed after the two passed away, however, their contributions to the book cannot be ignored. Did you know that in the end, all the information was compiled in 10 volumes? There were 414,825 words that had been defined, and 1,827,306 citations were used to illustrate their meanings.

The magnificent story of this singular Christian lexicographer was finally told by Murray’s granddaughter K.M. Elizabeth Murray in “Caught in the Web of Words: James Murray and the Oxford English Dictionary,” (1977).

K.M. Elizabeth Murray

Words have meaning, but when a culture redefines the fixed understanding of words, demagogues take advantage of the uncertainty and chaos that results, to change the culture itself. We must be wary of the malleable ways that enemies of the original intent of words, deconstruct meaning, to the destruction of morality and truth.

Did you know that the book “The Professor and the Madman” was made into a movie with Mel Gibson and Sean Penn? The script was adapted from Simon Winchester’s book called ‘The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness and the Love of Words.’ (It was, however, renamed ‘The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary’ for the audiences in America and Canada).

Mel Gibson and Sean Penn

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Published by NebraskaFilly

Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

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169 thoughts on “Etymology, Part 7: Oxford English Dictionary”

  2. Oh, FFS! I’m just now watching Tucker’s show from last night – once again, Tulsi Gabbard…..uh, look in the mirror, Tulsi, when you talk about politicians lying!!!! How about that fake Climate Change you support so deeply???!!?? And there’s that f’ing word again….”…the survival of our democracy….”

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Aw, man….Tulsi is just as bad as Laura about prefacing her statements with “….now….” That signifies an underlying, deep authoritarian mindset to me. Like they have to “instruct” the audience! As if they’re saying, “Now, pay attention! I’m the authority here, you need to listen to ME!”

    Liked by 1 person

  6. “Essential Government Activities Funded In The $1.7 Trillion Omnibus Bill”
    SPONSORED · Dec 30, 2022 · BabylonBee.com

    Brought to you by: PublicSq

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “As you may know, our government just passed a very important and necessary omnibus spending bill to make sure all the important government activities remain funded! Whew, what a relief! We forced an unpaid intern to read all 4,155-page bill and report on some of the most essential programs being funded! Here they are:

    — $20 Million to teach transgender Argentinian farmers how to use TikTok: So very important. TikTok needs their voice.

    — $3 million to hire more guards for the ark of the covenant: Rumor has it Epstein’s client list is in there.

    — $18 billion to cover Martha’s Vineyard’s new immigrant-deflecting dome: It’s the compassionate thing to do.

    — $500 million to figure out what’s in the omnibus bill: Our unpaid intern already did it for free so we’re not sure why this is needed. We’re sure the government knows what it’s doing.

    — $8 billion to groom undocumented immigrant kids: Immigrants should have access to all the same grooming that American kids get in public school!

    — $12 million to figure out how to make COVID even deadlier: This is very important for science.

    — $100 billion to study inflation: What even causes it? Hopefully, they find out!

    — $31 Billion to shoot all the cows: It is Greta Thunberg’s wish. So let it be written, so let it be done.

    — $1 million for research into Greta Thunberg comebacks on Twitter: She only has a meager team of 12 working on this.

    — $70 billion to figure out why kids love the taste of cinnamon toast crunch: We just LOVE science, don’t you?

    — $2 million to outfit Zelensky with more sweet olive drab sweaters: He looks so dreamy in those.

    — $1.00 for the claw game in the rotunda: Thomas Massie needs something to do while his staffers are reading omnibus bills.

    — $100 million for the launch of Jan6+, the all-January-6th cable network: Finally, giving the people what they want!

    — $1 billion to study the environmental impact of lighting $1 billion on fire: Whatever the impact, we’re sure it’s totally worth it.

    Wow! Thanks for taking care of us, Government! We look forward to seeing what’s in next month’s spending bill!”

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Ah-ha! Now I see the connection….the first quotes are from Fox.

    “The suspect is a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, according to the college’s website. Pullman is a 15-minute drive from the rental home where the four students were stabbed to death.”
    —————–
    “A white Hyundai Elantra was towed from the home where the suspect was arrested, law enforcement officials told NBC News.”
    —————–
    “Investigators have focused on tracking down the occupants of a 2011 to 2013 white Hyundai Elantra that was spotted near the home at the time of the murders.”

    From a different article:

    “Kohberger is facing extradition to Idaho on murder charges, the WPVI news station reports. Kohberger, an Albrightsville, Pennsylvania native, is a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, not far from Moscow. According to the WSU website, Kohberger is pursuing his Ph.D in criminal justice and criminology. In college, he was a student investigator for a survey that explored people’s actions, thoughts, and feelings when they committed crimes.

    One question in the study, “Why did you choose that victim or target over others?” Another reads, “After committing the crime, what were you thinking and feeling?”

    1. Kohberger Had a ‘Quiet, Blank Stare’ When He Was Taken Into Custody Near the Pocono Mountains on December 30, 2022, Reports Say

    2. Kohberger Once Gave His Favorite Quote as a Line From Aristotle; Moscow, Idaho, Police Announced They Are Holding a Press Conference on December 30, 2022

    3. Kohberger Studied Psychology at a Pennsylvania Community College & Researched the ‘Emotions & Psychological Traits’ of Criminals While in Grad School

    4. Kohberger Previously Worked in Security for a Pennsylvania School District
    5. A Hyundai Elantra Was Confiscated in Pennsylvania, Reports Say

    https://heavy.com/news/bryan-kohberger/

    Liked by 1 person

  15. no? really??? after ftx guy released on bail $1.7 million dollars VANISHED from some crypto account. wonder how that happened?????
    FTA
    Some $1.7 million in cryptocurrency vanished from a trading firm linked to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried just days after he was released on bail, according to reports.

    Thirty cryptocurrency wallets linked to Alameda Research, the bankrupt firm run by Bankman-Fried’s ex-paramour, suddenly became active on Dec. 28 following four weeks of inactivity, according to cryptocurrency site Cointelegraph. The money was moved using “mixing services” which make it more difficult to track, the site reported.

    “Currently, our compliance team is working closely with investigators to detect the flow of the illegal funds, while also keeping a close eye on alerts from the community on funds with suspicious trails,” ChangeNOW, one of the services used to move the money, said in a statement.

    Alameda Research was run by Caroline Ellison, the 28-year-old one-time girlfriend of Bankman-Fried who pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is now reportedly cooperating with prosecutors. Bankman-Fried allegedly poured billions of dollars in clients’ funds deposited in his cryptocurrency exchange into Alameda. Ellison allegedly lost the money through a series of failed investments.

    Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda, is facing up to 110 years in prison after pleading guilty to 7 charges including fraud in the FTX collapse https://t.co/b0cVNIlGsI

    — Insider Business (@BusinessInsider) December 22, 2022

    Cointelegraph reported that the movement of funds so soon after Bankman-Fried was released on bond raised suspicions in the crypto community and that it appeared that whoever moved the money took extraordinary measures to cover their tracks.

    The crypto forensic group Arkham said that the first transfer began with multiple Alameda addresses swapping tokens for Ether, sending them to crypto mixers. The money was moved through multiple wallets in amounts ranging from $50,000 to $200,000, then sent to ChangeNOW and fellow mixing service FixedFloat.

    https://www.dailywire.com/news/1-7m-in-crypto-vanishes-from-bankman-fried-linked-firm-days-after-his-release-on-bail

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Drastic
    Drastic
    A woman goes off the rail to defend looters targeting Buffalo stores during a historic blizzard that has left people dead. She starts talking about how the white man stole the land and that stealing and looting is acceptable, suggesting that taking a big screen television from a store is considered essential to survive. However, it should be noted that it is illegal to steal no matter what the weather situation is. This is another fine gem found by LibsofTikTok. Follow them on Twitter for more!

    https://crankers.com/videos/756/woman-defends-buffalo-blizzard-looters/

    Liked by 1 person

  17. fetterwoman is not giving interviews YET…but, his wife and team are…how convenient.
    entire article

    Despite winning a six-year term in the U.S. Senate, Fetterman apparently still isn’t comfortable enough speaking to the media. He hasn’t given a single interview since winning his election—despite the outstanding questions about his physical fitness for office.

    His communications team and his wife, however, have been giving plenty of interviews, according to Fox News Digital. This, of course, makes Fetterman’s absence even more suspect. Fetterman assured the voters of Pennsylvania that he was fit for office, providing a doctor’s note—not even a legitimate medical record—from his physician, who just so happens to be a big-time Democratic donor who coincidentally also gave money to Fetterman’s campaign.

    John Fetterman is letting his wife and communications team handle public appearances for him more than six months after his stroke and nearly two months after his election. So, it stands to reason that Fetterman is hiding something. Perhaps he’s not recovering as he claimed he would—which means that, in all likelihood, the same bumbling, confused man we saw on the debate stage in October will be trying to represent the people of Pennsylvania come next month.

    How long is Fetterman going to last in the Senate before he resigns for health reasons?

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/12/30/john-fetterman-is-still-hiding-from-the-media-why-n1657328

    Liked by 1 person

  18. There are 10 Tweets in the thread.

    1/ The FBI buried the #BidenLaptop since 2019. What’s on it? Joe Biden was the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill that sent millions of people to prison for doing what his son is doing here.
    (Video)
    2/ After a 13-month investigation, the @MarcoPolo501c3 report fully documents 459 violations of state and federal laws found on the #BidenLaptop. It includes 140 business-related crimes, 191 sex-related offenses, and 128 drug-related crimes.
    3/ The Biden family made more than $30 million from officials linked to Chinese intelligence. Hunter, Jimmy, and Sara Biden partnered with the “spy chief of China” (Hunter’s words) and CEFC Energy to spread China’s Belt & Road initiative.

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1604949841938825216.html

    MarcoPolo Report on Biden Laptop:

    https://bidenlaptopreport.marcopolousa.org/report_viewer/index.html#p=1

    Liked by 2 people

    1. so true!!
      we rarely watch regular tv because there were too many sows that weren’t in line with ANY real situations we see here…over representing minorities and minority lifestyles as well…
      woke shit.

      Liked by 1 person

  27. “El Camino Hospital’s Emergency Department Head Laura Cook died suddenly in her sleep
    Will there be an autopsy to determine if the vaccine killed her? Unfortunately, I doubt it. The hospital doesn’t have a say in the decision.”

    Steve Kirsch
    17 min ago

    (Laura Cook, age 61, died suddenly.)

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Executive summary — Laura Cook, age 61, the head of the emergency department at El Camino Hospital died suddenly in her sleep last night. Unfortunately, I doubt there will be an autopsy. The decision lies with the family and the coroner.

    Introduction — Mark Adams, the Chief Medical Officer of El Camino Hospital, sent out this internal email yesterday, December 29:

    ‘Subject: Sad News
    Colleagues:

    It’s with a heavy heart that I want you to know that Laura Cook, our MV Ed medical director, was found dead this morning at home. Laura was an outstanding ED doctor, a dedicated medical director, and, most importantly, a truly magnificent human being. It has been an honor for me to work with her and get to know her over the years. She has been a consistent supporter of El Camino Health and a tireless advocate for our patients, doctors, and staff. She will be missed.
    Mark’

    I emailed Mark Adams, the CEO of the hospital, and a dozen top executives at the hospital that sudden death is the #1 cause of death for those under 65 who have been vaccinated but it isn’t a factor at all for those who are unvaccinated. I suggested that they should call for an autopsy. I included various studies showing how the vaccine can kill people unexpectedly including the Schwab study. However, it’s not clear they can do anything about this since she died at home.

    A new book on Died Suddenly — Ed Dowd’s book, Cause Unknown, is now available on Amazon. It further points out that what is happening everyday, in front of our eyes, is not normal and the press is ignoring it.

    Poll
    The autopsy decision lies with the family and the coroner. What do you think they should do:
    —————–
    What really killed Laura Cook? I predict that there will be no autopsy along the lines of what was done in the Schwab paper. It’s very sad. The entire world could benefit enormously from an investigation. Another tragic death and yet another missed opportunity to expose the truth.”

    https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/el-camino-hospitals-emergency-department

    Like

  28. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

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