#BookReview: The Dictionary of Lost Words
It is a fascinating book, beautifully written, that passes on a little education, some laughter and not a few tears.
Today we barely give the origins of the Oxford English Dictionary a second thought – or even a first – yet at the time it was an enormous project spanning 50 years and the entire careers of many men and women.
Also, occasionally you encounter a book that is so different in every way from any other you have read that you know it will not be forgotten.
This is such a book.
Based on true events, it is the story of a motherless girl who grew up at the feet of the men compiling the Dictionary, secretly collecting the scraps of discarded words that fell from the work tables – words considered vulgar, common words not fit for polite society, women’s words.
As the world grew into the 20th century, bringing the suffragette movement and the First World War, so little Esme blossomed and suffered in turn, discovering the beauty of love and the pain of loss.
The milestones of her life were measured with words – not necessarily the words that were approved by the male editors for the first edition, but many that were considered unsuitable.
The word that fascinated Esme most was “bondmaid”, defined as “Bonded for life by love, devotion or obligation”.
The word reflected the lives of many women in those times and whose emancipation was fiercely resisted by post-Victorian society.
It is sobering to be reminded that the year 1928, the same year the last section of the Dictionary was published, was when women in Britain were given the vote.
This was only two years before the same was afforded women in South Africa. What an uproar that caused in my parents’ lifetimes, less than 100 years ago.
It is a fascinating book, beautifully written, that passes on a little education, some laughter and not a few tears.
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