OXFORD DICTIONARY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 223, 19 April 1933, Page 3

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Criminal Lunatic's Aitl

INMATE OF BROADMOOR

The strange story of a criminal Inn-j atic who, while detained at Broadmoor, gave enormous assistance to the i compilers of one of the most important books in existence, was revealed ill Oxford recently. Dr. C. T. Onions, editor of the book, "The New English Dictionary," of which an abridged edition has jii.-i been published—told the story of til'- queer lonely figure and his great work for Oxford. _ I Some years ago an appeal was issued for public help in compiling this 10.000,000 word hook, and the editors soon began to find thousands of quotations coming from an unknown contributor, whose address was given j cryptically as "Broadmoor, Hants.'' \V'ho was this anonymous helper? asked the Oxford authorities. Surely he must, lie a savant, some professor with vast knowledge of words. IDs contributions were so valuable that the editors of the ''New English Dictionary" made inquiries, ami lo their astonishment discovered that their helper was a criminal lunatic in Broadmoor Asylum, a wealthy man. Then the case wa brought to the! notice of the Broadmoor authorities.] They decided that to further the work the'man should be allowed out under, supervision in order that he could buy books. So from Broadmoor two I a,en used to go out to haunt bookshops and book auctions—one mi inmate, and the other a kindly warder. The man whom booksellers knew as a keen.'scholarly buyer of old books, went back every night to sleep within the grim confines of an asylum. ~ But he took with him scores ol books, many of them a hundred years old and in time this prisoner lived with a valuable library and sent the results of his daily labours to Oxford. The man who revealed tins strange story D. C. T. Onions, has worked for '■sß years on the monumental inventory of the English language, and has been editor of the "New English Dictionary" from the letter V onward. It has been his life's work. "The complete dictionary has 55 years to finish;' he said. "It has cost the Oxford University Press £300,000, and it gives all the information it has been humanly possible to obtain about 414,820 English words Words have been pouring into Oxford at an average rate of 320 a day. In all 5 000 000 quotations were received'by the editors, and every single one was read, filed and indexed. ' The dictionary is so valuable mat the last time the complete Set of ten volumes were sold they fetched £IOO. To-day however, the essentials ot the dictionary can be had in the abridged edition, which itself has i taken 30 years to complete.