The Dictionary of Lost Words

 

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like 3.5 stars. Esme is the daughter of a lexicographer working on the Oxford English Dictionary. The OED is the bible of the literati, and the compilation of it was no small task. But what Esme discovers is that because it is overseen by educated white men, words of the poor, women, and ignorant were left out or definitions not complete. Do the words we put in dictionaries or leave out matter? Should slang, curse words, or words used among certain groups be left out? How and when do we determine that a word is part of our lexicon? Not only does this book bring up these interesting questions, but it also chronicles the life of Esme, who is trying to find her place as a contributing woman at the turn of the last century. It reads a bit as though you were reading the OED--some parts are long and boring, some parts are incredibly interesting, but overall it helps you learn something new.

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Some words' histories stretched so far back that our modern understanding of them was nothing more than an echo of the original, a distortion.  I used to think it was the other way round, that the misshapen. words of the past were clumsy drafts of what they would become, that the words formed on our tongues, in our time, were true and complete.  But I was realizing that in fact, everything that comes after that firs utterance is a corruption.

Bondmaid.  If I hadn't found it and explained what it meant would Lizzie see herself differently?