Thursday was Wolvercote Cemetery and the resting place of my hero James Murray, the longest-serving Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879 up to his death in 1915.

The Dictionary People. By Sarah Ogilvie. Knopf; 384 pages; $30. Chatto & Windus; £20. I n July 1915 an ailing James Murray (pictured), one of the early editors of the Oxford English Dictionary ...

Linguist, lexicographer, and Oxford professor Sarah Ogilvie joined us to share her new book--"The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary"-- which celebrates ...

Sir James Murray, right, and his editorial team work on the Oxford English Dictionary in the central workroom known as the Scriptorium. From “The Dictionary People,” by Sarah Ogilvie.

When James Murray took command in 1879, the Oxford English Dictionary could best be defined by the word disarray. The irony of making this massive reference book was that it required millions upon ...

Dr. James Murray, a philologist, took the helm as the dictionary’s principal editor in 1879 and remained in that position for the rest of his life (he died in 1915).

An expert in music and mathematics and an authority on English phonology, he had been contacted by the editor James Murray to assist with compiling what would become the Oxford English Dictionary.

Who was the greatest dictionary-maker ever? Most people, faced with this question, would instantly think of Dr Samuel Johnson. Yet, pioneer though Johnson undoubtedly was, it is Scottish ...

Sarah Ogilvie’s sprightly “The Dictionary People” pays tribute to the explorers, suffragists, murderers and ordinary citizens who helped create the Oxford English Dictionary.