I have long promised to write a story about the creation of the Oxford Dictionary. You might think that now there will be some boring story about how great minds collected words, worked with their meaning, did not sleep at night, performing their linguistic and philological feat. This, of course, was everything, but still, while working on the dictionary, one amazing and completely unusual story happened, the main character of which was a mentally ill person who committed a murder.
Let’s talk about everything in order.
The Oxford Dictionary is undeniably one of the most reputable sources for looking up words and their meanings. In addition, it is of great interest to scientists, because, thanks to it, one can trace the history of the development of the English language. It is sometimes referred to as “Murray’s Dictionary”, since it was Sir James Augustus Henry Murray who became its first editor.
In 1857, the London Philological Society decides on the need to create a dictionary, and by 1859 the project itself appears. Murray joins the team a little later. At times, he has disagreements with colleagues, but it is he who proposes a program with which scientists can make lists for a dictionary. The idea was that the volunteers collected quotes and examples of word usage from various sources. Of course, in those days it was mostly newspapers and books. Quotes found by volunteers were sent to Murray’s team. Scientists processed the received information and included new words in the lists. The same method still works today. True, the Internet and social networks have become the main resource for finding quotes.
One of the most famous volunteers who made a huge contribution to the creation of the dictionary was William Chester Minor. And no, he was not a philologist or linguist. His fate was different. He graduated from Yale Medical School in 1863 and went on to become a military surgeon and served in the American Army.
There are enough inaccuracies in Minor’s biography, but it is known for certain that in 1868 he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Treatment will not give significant improvements, and then he will decide to move to England in the hope that a change of scenery will help to cope with the disease. Unfortunately, this not only did not help, but also led to tragic consequences. Being in a state of delirium, he kills a man named George Merrett, who, as a respectable father of a large family, went to work and did not pose any danger to Minor. The court will recognize Minor as insane and send him to a psychiatric hospital, where he will be allowed to buy and read books. Most likely, while corresponding with the booksellers, he will learn about the search for volunteers and begin to compile lists of quotations that he will send to the team of scientists who worked on the creation of the Oxford Dictionary. The most surprising thing is that the widow of George Merrett, who was killed by him, will show sympathy and participation for him and will supply him with literature.
After a while, James Murray learns about the history of their chief assistant and goes on a visit to the clinic to express his gratitude and note his incredible contribution to the work on the dictionary: “we could easily illustrate the last four centuries with only quotations sent to him.”
Unfortunately, Minor’s health will only get worse. Murray will defend the prisoner, after which Uniston Churchill will issue permission for the release of the former military man. He is deported to the United States, where he will be placed in a psychiatric hospital. Minor died on March 26, 1920. He did spend some very last months of his life in a nursing house.
In 2019, the film The Professor and the Madman was released, dedicated to this amazing and at the same time tragic story. Mel Gibson played James Murray and Sean Penn played William Chester Minor. Of course, as in any feature film, there are inaccuracies here, but still it is worth watching (age limit 16+).