12 May
2025-5-12 7:10:58 PM UTC
Did J.R.R. Tolkien have access to the Oxford English Dictionary (specifically the A–H fascicles published by 1900) during his school years—either at home or in his school library? If not, is it likely that he relied primarily on Chambers’s English Dictionary or another general-purpose lexicon during his formative years?
5 hours ago
2025-5-22 9:26:44 PM UTC
I'm going to second this inquiry. I really love this question and, although I personally don't know the answer, I'd be very curious to know what dictionary he did use.
5 hours ago
2025-5-22 9:48:05 PM UTC
A quick search through Cilli's Tolkien Library (1st edition this time, would have to do a close pass on the 2nd edition at some point too).
1709. Murray, James Augustus Henry (Ed). A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Clarendon Press, 1888 onward). Renamed the Oxford English Dictionary in 1928.
Primary source: MS Tolkien A 21/13 fol. 119. Tolkien notes "Books in Exeter Library Useful" on back of photostat reading list dated October 1913.
There are a lot of dialect and translation dictionaries listed as well, but nothing from his childhood that I could tell.
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