A LONG LABOUR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20107, 28 March 1928, Page 10

A LONG LABOUR

THE OXFORD DICTIONARY WORK OF FORTY YEARS ENDS Some sidelights o nthe monumental Oxford Dictionary, which has just been completed after 40 years of patient labour, were given to a newspaper correspondent by Air Chapman, secretary of the Clarendon Press.

The nine volumes already published have been bought the world over, anui ara in all the gieat libraries, and in most of the public libraries. The best patrons of the dictionary are, of course, lawyers in search of exactitude and it is constantly being quoted in court where it, is recognised as the supreme authority. ‘‘Of places abroad, one of our best customers is Japan, which is greatly interested in English, ” said Air Chapman. ‘‘lt is also highly appreciated in India.”

Air Onions, the editor in residence, greeted the correspondent with the smile of a tired yet happy man, who has come triumphantly to the end of a long pilgrimage.

He said that he had now sent the final two sheets to the Press. The last letter of the alphabet was published in 192.1, and the words from

‘‘Wise to Wyzen” formed the two sheets referred to and filled in the gap. ‘‘The words that have given us most trouble,” Air Onions said, “have been old words of Anglo-Saxon origin. A simple word like ‘wit,’ for instance, has needed nearly three pages. Air Onions was questioned on his treatment of the delicate matter of blasphemous words and “bad” language. “Oh, yes,” he replied; “we have included such words, though some of the worst wo have tactfully omitted. “Of the fresh discoveries, one of my own, for instance, dealt with the word ‘syllabus/ which became current all over Europe. This is not a real word. The proper rendering is ‘sittybus, ’ occurring in one of Cicero’s letters, but it became corrupted to ‘syllabus’ through a copyist’s error.” Actually the greatest labour, Air Onions said, had been spent over little simple words. The stall was occupied I

for months in digging out the various significances of prepositions like “of” and “to.”

The final volume alone cost no less than £lO,OOO to produce. Sir James Alurray, who died in 1915, was editor-in-chief for thirty-three years, and was succeeded by Dr W. A. Craigie.