90 An Unusual Collaboration

The making of a dictionary is a slow, exacting, tedious labor. Lexicographers—dictionary-makers—can’t rely on hunches or hearsay in writing definitions; they must carefully collect and evaluate citations, written examples of words in use. It was during the writing and assembling of the Oxford English Dictionary, a massive work over 70 years in the making, that a very unusual collaboration of lexicographer and citation-gatherer occurred.

William Chester Minor, the citation-gatherer, was an American doctor who began to suffer paranoid delusions sometime after serving as a surgeon in the Civil War. One night in London in 1871 he killed an innocent brewery worker who he imagined was pursuing him; for this offense he was committed for life to an asylum for the criminally insane. An intelligent man grappling with a disease with no known cure, he desperately searched for a way to give his life meaning.

James Murray, the lexicographer, was the head of the dictionary project. Needing vast numbers of citations to complete his ambitious work, he assembled a large corps of volunteers to aid him. A friend of Minor’s informed him of the project, and the unusual collaboration began.

Minor, with nothing but time on his hands and a strong need to redeem himself, became Murray’s most prolific citation writer. For years he read and recorded constantly, producing voluminous files of citations that the dictionary-maker found very valuable.

A grateful Murray eventually learned the true circumstances of Minor’s sad existence. Though able to do nothing to help Minor, he befriended him and often visited him in the asylum.

90 不同寻常的合作

编纂词典是一项缓慢、严苛且枯燥的工作。词典编纂者不能依靠直觉或传闻来撰写定义；他们必须仔细收集和评估引文——即词语使用的书面例子。在《牛津英语词典》（一部耗时70多年完成的巨著）的编写和汇编过程中，出现了词典编纂者与引文收集者之间一段非常不寻常的合作。

引文收集者威廉·切斯特·迈纳是一名美国医生，他在内战中担任外科医生后不久，开始出现偏执妄想。1871年的一个夜晚，在伦敦，他杀死了一名无辜的啤酒厂工人，因为他幻想对方在跟踪自己；为此，他被终身送进了精神病罪犯收容所。作为一个与无法治愈的疾病抗争的聪明人，他拼命寻找能让自己生命有意义的方式。

词典编纂者詹姆斯·默里是这个词典项目的负责人。为了完成这项宏大的工作，他需要大量引文，于是召集了一大批志愿者来协助他。迈纳的一个朋友把这个项目告诉了他，这段不寻常的合作就此开始。

迈纳有的是时间，又迫切想要赎罪，于是成了默里最多产的引文撰写者。多年来，他不断阅读和记录，产出了大量引文文件，这些文件对词典编纂者来说非常有价值。

心怀感激的默里最终了解到迈纳悲惨处境的真相。尽管他无法帮助迈纳，但他与迈纳成为了朋友，并经常去收容所看望他。