"The Professor and the Madman" Simon Winchester

And after that, and also for each word, there should be sentences that show the twists and turns of meanings—the way almost every word slips in its silvery, fishlike way, weaving this way and that, adding subtleties of nuance to itself, and then perhaps shedding them as public mood dictates.” 

― Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

The most I knew about the OED before reading this book was that it is a common abbreviation used in the New YorkTimes crossword puzzle.  I love words, as my current 76-day streak of completing the NYTXWP testifies to, and am a sucker for stories about insane asylums. I needed a break from fiction, and this was in my library.  Although on the short side, an enjoyable read.

My love of etymology was fostered by Dr. Kenneth Walker at Arkansas Tech University.  As a typical college student in the 1970s, I was required to take Western Civ I.  I was naive and idealistic and thought that whatever was required by college would be good.  I did not enjoy the readings we had from the 4-inch thick textbook, and the lectures in class were not that exciting.  But Dr. Walker required two things that I loved: reading of a period story and the study of etymology.  I chose "The Cloister and the Hearth" for the reading, and I still have the book.  We studied the words from a three-hole-punched mimeographed book that Dr. Walker had compiled.  I remember being the only person in the class to get an A, but if it is true, I don't know how I knew that.  I studied barely enough to make the A, and so I figure that Dr. Walker gave me the grade because I loved learning about words.

In Winchester's book we learn about two of the main characters involved in the creation of the OED: James Murray, the editor for much of the first edition, and Dr. Chester Minor, a significant contributor.  In the quote above Winchester explains that the entries in the OED would have examples from the literature to illustrate the various meanings of words.  Murray invited volunteers to read from certain eras of writing in English and to submit excerpts to be used in the dictionary.  Dr. Minor, a medical doctor who had served in the Civil War, was a voracious reader and one of the contributors.  Dr. Minor used a system for making word lists that allowed him to contribute to the fascicle that was going to print instead of just submitting usage evidence whenever he encountered it.

The intriguing aspect of Dr. Minor's contributions to the work is that he was confined to an institution for the criminally insane at the time.  He was a U.S. citizen living in London, and he shot a man that he claimed had broken into his house.  In reality, he shot the man due to a paranoid delusion.  The British tried him and found him to be a lunatic, using the language of the time, and confined him to Broadmore.

Winchester gives background information on Murray, Minor and the OED, but he focuses mostly on Minor's life.  I liked the historiography used, basing the story on evidence obtained from the British, the U.S. government, family documents and historical documents of the making of the OED.  He presents the myths of the time, and those that have endured until he was able to uncover evidence pointing in a different direction.

I am intrigued by Winchester's writing and have put a few of his books on my wish list, particularly "The Meaning of Everything", "The Map That Changed the World" and "The Man who Loved China".