A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles: Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by the Philological Society

Commissioned by the Philological Society in London during the mid-19th century, this ambitious project was intended to document every word in the English language from the Anglo-Saxon period to the contemporary era. Under the leadership of Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, the work aimed to trace the historical development of each word through illustrative quotations, a methodology that shifted lexicography toward a strictly historical and scientific footing. The first fascicle was published by Oxford University Press in 1884, initiating a monumental scholarly effort that would span decades and involve thousands of voluntary contributors from across the globe.

The dictionary's design was defined by its exhaustive archival approach and the innovative use of citation slips, which Murray organized in a specially constructed 'Scriptorium' in his garden. The work was initially received with both awe and frustration due to the extreme duration of its compilation, which spanned seventy years before the final volume was completed in 1928. Its reputation as the definitive authority on the English language was solidified by its rigorous inclusion of obsolete terms, etymological precision, and the sheer intellectual scale of the undertaking, eventually becoming known to the public as the Oxford English Dictionary.