Gris's Journal

In Memoriam, Robert Burchfield (1923-2004)

I don't expect this name to spark instant recognition in many people-- I'll freely admit it didn't in me. You've probably never met him or seen him on TV. If you've seen his name at all, it was most likely in passing and wouldn't have registered.

But if you speak English, if you've ever listened to the radio, if you've ever written an essay, if you've ever had to look up a word in the dictionary... this man has had an impact on your life, and you didn't even realize it.

Robert Burchfield was the Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionaries. From 1957 until his retirement in 1986, he worked on and published the four volumes of the Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary, about six thousand pages' worth of update to the original OED. (As a side note, he's the editor responsible for getting all those naughty "four-letter words" included for the first time, as well as a number of "Americanisms," jargon, and slang words. He believed in inclusivity of language over exclusivity.) After his retirement, his Supplement was electronically incorporated into the original OED to produce the 20-volume Second Edition (which is what we use now).

As a Rhodes Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford, he studied under such eminent professors as C. T. Onions (Fellow Librarian of Magdalen at Oxford, and the last editor of the first edition of the OED), Jack Bennett, C. S. Lewis, Gabriel Turville-Petre, and finally J. R. R. Tolkien, who was his graduate supervisor.

While the Supplement was his masterwork, it certainly was not his only work. In 1981 he published The Spoken Word, the results of his survey of spoken English on the BBC. It continues to be used as a pronunciation and usage guide for broadcasters, and after its publication Mr. Burchfield was frequently consulted by the press and media as the final authority on the English tongue. In 1995, Cambridge University Press hired him for a complete rewrite and update of H. W. Fowler's popular Modern English Usage, originally published in 1926.

John Simpson, the current Chief Editor of the OED, says this of his predecessor:

"He will perhaps be best remembered for two things: for championing the ‘varieties’ of world English, and ensuring that these were accorded their rightful place in the Dictionary, and as the editor responsible for including the previously ‘taboo’ Anglo-Saxon four-letter words in the OED. The editorial traditions of the OED today owe much to Bob Burchfield's no-nonsense, practical approach to a task of gargantuan proportions. He didn't suffer fools gladly; he didn't suffer fools at all."

Robert Burchfield died in Abingdon, Oxfordshire on July 5, 2004. He was suffering from advanced Parkinson's disease.

As one English major to another, thank you, Mr. Burchfield.

Posted by gris at July 15, 2004 12:15 PM