description Herbert Coleridge Overview
Herbert Coleridge was a 19th-century English philologist and the first editor of the dictionary project that eventually became the Oxford English Dictionary. He helped organize the collection of historical word evidence, including roughly 100,000 quotation slips assembled by 1861, and established an early system for arranging this material. His work laid practical foundations for a dictionary designed to document the development and recorded use of English words across time.
help Herbert Coleridge FAQ
What was Herbert Coleridge's role in the Oxford English Dictionary?
Herbert Coleridge was the first editor of the dictionary project that eventually became the Oxford English Dictionary. He organized early editorial work and helped define how historical evidence would be collected.
How did Coleridge help build the dictionary before publication?
Coleridge gathered dated quotations showing how English words had been used over time. Roughly 100,000 quotation slips had been assembled by 1861, making the project dependent on evidence rather than only on definitions from earlier dictionaries.
Did Herbert Coleridge finish the Oxford English Dictionary?
No. Coleridge died before the dictionary was completed, and the editorial project later continued under editors including Frederick Furnivall and James Murray. The finished work became the Oxford English Dictionary.
Why are quotation slips important to Coleridge's work?
The slips recorded real examples of words in historical use, often with a source and date. That evidence-based method became central to the Oxford English Dictionary's historical approach.
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