Collaborative Spirit and Individual Dedication: Brief History of Oxford English Dictionary

Collaborative Spirit and Individual Dedication: Brief History of Oxford English Dictionary. 

 In 1879, the ambitious project of creating the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) began under the leadership of James Murray. Initially, it was estimated that the dictionary would take about ten years to complete. However, the enormity of the task soon became apparent. After five years of painstaking work, the team had only managed to complete entries up to the word "ant." The challenge lay in the meticulous process of collecting and verifying quotations to illustrate the usage of each word throughout history. This slow progress highlighted the need for a more efficient method to handle the vast amount of data required for such a comprehensive dictionary.

To address this, the project turned to crowdsourcing, enlisting the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers contributed by reading books and submitting quotations, significantly speeding up the process. Despite this collective effort, it still took 44 years to complete the first edition of the OED, which was finally published in 1928. The dictionary comprised 12 volumes and covered over 400,000 words and phrases. Today, it is estimated that it would take a single person 120 years to type out the entire OED, underscoring the monumental scale of this lexicographical achievement. The OED remains a testament to the collaborative spirit and dedication of countless individuals who contributed to its creation.

Source: Historian Den 

Posted in: