James Murray

James Murray was the Scottish lexicographer who became the principal editor of the New English Dictionary, later known as the Oxford English Dictionary. Appointed editor in 1879, he directed a vast reading and quotation program and personally oversaw large portions of the alphabet. The Evolution Of English Lexicography began as his 1900 Romanes Lecture at Oxford and surveys English dictionary making from early glossaries through Johnson, Richardson, and the Philological Society’s new historical project. Murray explains how changing literary and scholarly needs shaped successive dictionaries, while also correcting the assumption that any single volume could simply be called the definitive dictionary. The lecture links that historical account to the methods behind the work he was then editing, especially dated quotations and the tracing of meanings across time. Its compact scale makes it an accessible companion to Murray’s much larger editorial achievement, revealing how he understood the lineage and purpose of historical lexicography.