The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-09
ENGLISH
DICTIONARY.
The Story of Its Making Shows
Its Magnitude.

To the average person a dictionary
is, with the exception Of the Bible, the
most awe~-inspiring OF books 1t is re-
garded with an intensity Of venerat-on
that appears wholly un~Warranted when
one knows the inside facts of diction-
airy making and of the nature of lang
uage. This generation for the diction-
airy has grown up largely because Of
the fact that in language the dictiOn-
airy furnishes that with which almost
all people desire to close an argument
an appeal to authority. The die
tionary says So" and the Constitution
Of the language is written in the die
tiOnary. Veneration of this kind soon
fades into superstittion: there are
ghosts in language as we'll as in nature
at least a belief in ghosts.
AS in the case or the Constitution
and of many other things for which
we nave the highest respect, We are
fond OF talking about the dictionary
without handling it intimately. Mr.. J.
NJ. Barry can afford to make the ad-
mission more generously than the
most of us. Il seldom use a diction-
ary.' he says. but l always like to
have one on my table to give me a
sense Of confidence and responsibility"
The names of dictionaries and their
makers we use with great ease; Web
ster and Worcester are still a pair to
c%Onjure with, long after repeated re
visions of their word books have made
them totally new But
there is good ground for fear that the
biggest undertaking in the making of
a dictionary in any language is being
slowly and patiently carried out in our
own day without the knowledge Of the
general public, silently and unadVer-
tised.
EHTh. Nn- G~fD~l TA;n{ion, rx,J ~
'Murray:s Dictionary as it is some
times called, now about four-fifths
completed, has not become a popular
household book: nor is it likely ever
to become one; the name Of its chief
editor likewise has not yet grown to
be as familiar as that Of Webster or
Worcester. His work has. however,
brought him a knighthood; he is now
Sir James Murray-still a plain, sim
pie and Very learned Scotchman.
Plans for the publication of this die
tionary We're laid by the Pathological
Society of England as early as 1857
and the collection OF material was i'm
mediately begun by a large umb Of
volunteer readers from all over the
world. h Pathological Society put
a small number of temporary word
lists, but it soon found the task Of
omplet publication too great to car
ry through. In 1878 the Clarendon
Press the Oxford University Press)
consented to undertake the publica-
ton. under the editorship Of Doctor
James A. II. Murray. So enormous
was the task of classifying and ar
ranging the material that the first vol
ume containing words beginning with
A and 3 (31.254 in alb did not appear
until 1888. From that time on the sec
tons Of the dictionary have been ap-
pearing with a speed and regularity
that is wonderful in consideration of
fRQ Hit1c1lf1RC af tho work + hos
been made into a book as far as R.,
the editors being now at work on S
and e.
Doctor Murray would probably dis
k to tell the number Of times he
has had to answer in one way or an
other the stock question:. when will
the dictionary be finished He has
grown to reckon time by the ogr
of his dictionary; he even dates the
birth Of his grandchildren by the let
ter he was in at the time. AS lar as
one can guess, the dictionary should
run through the alphabet in four or
five years more. But a supplement to
correct errors and add fresh material
has already been begun.
NO a count can as yet be given
OF the number Of separate word entries
this dictionary will ontain--T Three
hundred and twenty-five to three hum
dred and fifty thousand is a fair esti-
mate. The hundred thousand mark
had been reached when Z, had been
printed, 97.60S being the number OF
words recorded to that point. In COM
parison with other dictionaries the
count will be more than two to one in
favor of the New Oxford ictlonar
over any English dictionary SO far
published. In this dictionary. for ex-
ample, the total number of words I'M
der ID is 19,O51; IN Johnson's Diction-
airy. under the same letter, 1854; in
Caswells 10,0S9: in the Century, TO-
7O5; in h Standard, 11,1S1. The
large increase in the number of
words recorded does not mean that the
English language has grown in yooab-
ulary to any large extent since the
publication of the dictionaries mem
toned by way Of comparison; it sign1-
f1es only that the editors have been
dilllgent in seeking out all the words
thai are kn0un 70 hauo hoo1 =