The Dictionary of Lost Words : A Novel (2020)

by Williams, Pip

  EDIT

  To publish, give to the world (a literary work by an earlier author, previously existing in MS).

  This book would be nothing more than an idea if not for the following people. Thank you to everyone at Affirm Press for working so hard to make this a beautiful book that says nothing more and nothing less than it needs to. In particular, I thank Martin Hughes for his extraordinary confidence in this story, and Ruby Ashby-Orr for her consummate skills as an editor. Put simply, this book is better because of her. I also thank Kieran Rogers, Grace Breen, Stephanie Bishop-Hall, Cosima McGrath and the rest of the team.

  For their wonderful support of this book and invaluable editorial feedback, I thank Clara Farmer and Charlotte Humphery from Chatto & Windus publishers in the UK and Susanna Porter from Ballantine Books in the US. For the beautiful cover I thank Lisa White. And I am forever grateful to Claire Kelly for her eagle eye and love of history.

  MENTOR

  An experienced and trusted counsellor.

  I have always loved journeying with people who are wiser than me. Thank you, Toni Jordan, for walking beside me on this adventure and making it a richer and better articulated experience.

  ENCOURAGE

  To inspire with courage sufficient for any undertaking; to embolden, make confident.

  Throughout the writing of this book I have been fortunate to have the encouragement of other writers. For their insights and enthusiasm, I thank Suzanne Verrall, Rebekah Clarkson, Neel Mukherjee, Amanda Smyth and Carol Major. I also thank all the writers with whom I shared residencies at The Hurst – Arvon in the UK, and Varuna, the National Writers’ House, in Katoomba, NSW. I also greatly appreciate the community of writers who are part of Writers SA, and I am grateful for the continuing encouragement of Sarah Tooth. A special thank you to Peter Gross for his generosity and timely advice, and to Thomas Keneally and Melissa Ashley for responding so generously when asked to read the manuscript.

  SUPPORT

  To strengthen the position of (a person or community) by one’s assistance, countenance or adherence; to stand by, back up.

  This story is woven through the early history of the Oxford English Dictionary and I have tried to be true to the people and events of that time. I am indebted to the generosity of three people in particular: without them, this book could not have happened. Beverly McCulloch, archivist for the Oxford English Dictionary, brought me the slips, proofs, letters and photographs that furnish this book. She also read the manuscript and told me where I had erred. I am so grateful, and any remaining errors of history are mine. Peter Gilliver, lexicographer at the Oxford University Press (OUP), provided me with a text that became my bible. He also gave generously of his time, and supplied me with wonderful anecdotes that put flesh on the bones of lexicographers past. Dr Martin Maw, archivist of the University Press, also provided text and rare footage of the processes of compositing and printing the Oxford English Dictionary. I am very grateful for the time he spent talking to me about the press during WWI, and walking with me around the OUP Museum.

  For their scholarship, assistance or time, I am also grateful to Lynda Mugglestone; K.M. Elizabeth Murray, author of Caught in the Web of Words; Amanda Capern for her paper on Edith Thompson; Katherine Bradley for her booklet ‘Women on the March’; the Oxford History Centre; and the good people at the State Library of South Australia, especially Neil Charter, Suzy Russell and whoever lugged all twelve volumes of the OED 1 down the spiral staircase from the Symon Library to the reading room.

  I would like to thank Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi (KWK) for providing advice about Kaurna names and spelling, and Aunty Lynette for sharing her language and stories.

  Finally, thank you to my local café, Sazón, for all your sustenance and good cheer. I have pushed the limits of time bought by two or three cups of coffee, and I am grateful you allow me to languish in the corner table for as long as a scene requires.

  FELLOWSHIP

  To unite in fellowship; to connect or associate with or to another; to enter into companionship.

  So many friends have listened to me talk about this story and given me the confidence to tell it. Thank you for believing I can do it. Gwenda Jarred, Nicola Williams, Matt Turner, Ali Turner, Arlo Turner, Lisa Harrison, Ali Elder, Suzanne Verrall, Andrea Brydges, Krista Brydges, Anne Beath, Ross Balharrie, Lou-Belle Barrett, Vanessa Iles, Jane Lawson, Rebekah Clarkson, David Washington, Jolie Thomas, Mark Thomas, Margie Sarre, Greg Sarre, Suzie Riley, Christine McCabe, Evan Jones, Anji Hill.

  ACCOMMODATE

  To adapt, fit, suit or adjust.

  Writing can be a crime of passion if the bills don’t get paid and the children starve. Many thanks are due to Angela Hazebroek and Marcus Rolfe for understanding that this book was my number one priority and offering me a job anyway. And to my wonderful colleagues at URPS for ensuring my day job is not only possible, but rewarding and meaningful.

  AID

  Anything by which assistance is given in performing an operation; anything helpful, a means or material source of help.

  I am most grateful to Arts South Australia for a Makers and Presenters grant in 2019. I am also indebted to Varuna, the National Writers’ House, for a Varuna Fellowship and two Alumni residencies in 2019. The opportunity to write in peace, be fed, and have the stimulation of other writers is an enormous privilege.

  LOVE

  That disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which (arising from recognition of attractive qualities, from instincts of natural relationship, or from sympathy) manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object, and usually also in delight in his presence and desire for his approval; warm affection, attachment.

  To Ma and Pa, who gave me a dictionary when I was young and insisted I use it. Thank you for fostering my curiosity and giving me the means to satisfy it. To Mary McCune, my marvellous mother-outlaw, for always listening to my stories as they develop. And to my sister Nicola, for being everything a sister should be.

  Thank you to Aidan and Riley for listening when I explain the world, then challenging me to rethink everything. If I could write you into the dictionary, you would be a simple, uncomplicated variant of love.

  And to Shannon, whose attention to detail and fondness for limericks made all the difference. There is no single word that explains what you mean to me, no dictionary meaning that defines how I feel. Thank you for welcoming my writing life into your everyday, and making generous adjustments whenever it needs a little more space. This book, as with everything, is ours.

  RESPECT

  To treat or regard with deference, esteem, or honour; to feel or show respect for.

  Finally, I acknowledge that this book has been written on Kaurna and Peramangk Countries. For millennia, the languages of these first peoples was shared through oral storytelling, and the words they used gave meaning to their landscape, their cultures and their beliefs. While many of these words have been lost to time, others have been found. They are being shared anew.

  I pay my respects to the elders of the Kaurna and Peramangk Peoples, past, present and emerging. I acknowledge their stories and their languages, and I have the deepest respect for the meaning of what has been lost.

  TIMELINE OF THE

  OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY

  1857 The Unregistered Words Committee of the Philological Society of London calls for a new English Dictionary to succeed Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755).

  1879 James Murray appointed as Editor.

  1881 Edith Thompson publishes History of England (Pictorial course for schools) – multiple editions follow as well as adaptations for American and Canadian markets.

  1884 ‘A to Ant’ published. It is the first of approx. 125 fascicles.

  1885 James and Ada Murray move from London to Oxford, erecting a large corrugated iron shed in the garden of their house. The house is known as Sunnyside. The shed is known as the Scriptorium.

  1885 Pillar post box placed outside Sunn
yside in recognition of the high volume of mail generated by the Scriptorium.

  1887 Henry Bradley appointed as second Editor.

  1888 A and B published. It is the first of twelve volumes originally titled A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles.

  1901 William Craigie appointed as third Editor.

  1901 Bradley and Craigie move into the ‘Dictionary Room’ at the Old Ashmolean.

  1901 Bondmaid discovered missing following a letter from a member of the public.

  1914 Charles Onions appointed as fourth Editor.

  1915 Sir James Murray dies.

  1915 Staff and contents of the Scriptorium are moved to the Old Ashmolean.

  1928 V to Z published as Volume 12.

  1928 150 men gather in London’s Goldsmiths’ Hall to celebrate the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary, seventy-one years after it was proposed. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin presides. Women are not invited, though three are allowed to sit in the balcony and watch the men eat. Edith Thompson is one of them.

  1929 Edith Thompson dies aged 81.

  1989 Publication of the second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

  Staff of the Scriptorium, Oxford. Photographed for The Periodical on 10th July 1915. (Back row) Arthur Maling, Frederick Sweatman, F.A. Yockney.

  (Seated) Elsie Murray, Sir James Murray, Rosfrith Murray.

  Image reprinted with permission of Oxford University Press.

  TIMELINE OF MAJOR HISTORICAL EVENTS

  FEATURED IN THE NOVEL

  1894 South Australian Parliament passes the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act. This act grants all adult women (including Aboriginal women) the right to vote and the right to stand for Parliament. It is the first parliament in the world to do so.

  1897 National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) formed, led by Millicent Fawcett.

  1901 Queen Victoria dies. Edward VII becomes King.

  1902 The newly established Australian Parliament passes the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, enabling all adult women to vote at Federal elections or stand for Federal Parliament (except those who are ‘aboriginal natives’ of Australia, Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands).

  1903 Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) formed, led by Emmeline Pankhurst.

  1905 WSPU begin militant campaign, including civil disobedience, destruction of property, arson and bombings.

  1906 The term suffragette is applied to militant suffragists.

  1907 Elizabeth Perronet Thompson publishes A Dragoon’s Wife.

  1908 Adelaide woman Muriel Matters chains herself to the grille of the Ladies Gallery in the House of Commons as part of a protest organised by the Woman’s Freedom League (WFL), a non-militant suffrage organisation.

  1909 Marion Wallace Dunlop is the first gaoled suffragist to go on hunger strike – many will follow.

  1909 Charlotte Marsh, Laura Ainsworth and Mary Leigh (née Brown) are force-fed in Winson Green Prison, Birmingham.

  1913 Jan 8, ‘Battle of the suffragists’. A peaceful procession of suffragist societies in Oxford is disrupted by an anti-suffrage crowd.

  1913 June 3, the Oxford boathouse is burned down. Four women are seen fleeing, three in a punt, one along the road. Non-militant suffragists condemn the action and collect money for laid-off workers.

  1914 War with Germany is declared.

  1914 Sixty-three men from the Oxford University Press march out of the grounds to report for duty.

  1914 The First Battle of Ypres.

  1915 The Battle of Festubert.

  1915 The Battle of Loos.

  1918 End of World War I.

  1918 The UK coalition government pass the Representation of the People Act, enfranchising all men over the age of twenty-one, and women over the age of thirty who meet minimum property qualifications.

  1928 The UK conservative government passes the Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act, giving the vote to all women over the age of twenty-one on equal terms with men.

  In 1901, the word bondmaid was discovered

  missing from the Oxford English Dictionary.

  This is the story of the girl who stole it.

  Motherless and irrepressibly curious, Esme spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of lexicographers are gathering words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day, she sees a slip containing the word bondmaid flutter to the floor unclaimed. Esme seizes the word and hides it in an old wooden trunk that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

  Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. She begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

  Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape our experience of the world.

  Table of Contents

  About the Author

  Tom Keneally

  Copyright

  Title

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Part 1 May 1887

  April 1888

  April 1891

  August 1893

  September 1896

  Part 2 August 1897

  April 1898

  September 1898

  August 1901

  Part 3 May 1902

  May 1906

  June 1906

  December 1906

  March 1907

  Part 4 September 1907

  November 1907

  November 1908

  May 1909

  December 1912

  January 1913

  May 1913

  Part 5 August 1914

  May 1915

  July 1915

  September 1915

  Part 6 November 1928

  Epilogue

  Author’s note

  Acknowledgements

  Timeline Of The Oxford English Dictionary

  Timeline Of Major Historical Events Featured In The Novel

  Back Cover