On My Bookshelf

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DOROTHY WILLIAMS
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nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn“I have a secret. I love dictionaries. I know you must think that is weird or strange but I just love them. I have always loved looking at words, mulling over their etymology and their sounds. Even as a kid I always thought of dictionaries and encyclopaedia as close friends. I didn’t smart either when my friends would sneer, “You are a walking dictionary.” Words are what books and life are about – at least I have always felt that way. I am deadly in a game of Scrabble, can play a mean game of Boggle and will try any crossword labelled ‘hard,’ ‘expert’ or ‘challenging.’

My dictionary collection numbers now in the hundreds. I have bilingual dictionaries, American, British, Canadian, foreign and specialized dictionaries about obscure subjects, crossword dictionaries and word lists of all types. In fact, the weirder and more obscure the list, the better! And if they are old, older than me, I am in seventh heaven.

I love to watch people’s faces when they walk into my home office. They scan a row of my books once, then twice. Their mouths drop open. Oooh, I caught them! I think the first thing they expect to see are books I have written, books about Blacks in Canada, or books on women, Canadian history or racism. Sure, I have these books in my collection, but not in the first two columns of my floor-to-ceiling shelves. No, they are very surprised to see dictionary after dictionary all lined up, together by height. Some even have little colourful, post-it-notes sticking out of them. Only the very inquisitive will actually ask me about those dictionaries with little slips of paper sticking out of them. If asked I would gladly reveal: Those notes are markers on entries for the word ‘nigger.’

Years ago, I fancied myself an amateur lexicographer and had even joined the Dictionary Society of America. I read books on the history of the OED and books on the early pioneers of English language dictionaries. I learned about their motivations and how they put together their word lists, but I was really interested in how they selected their entries. With over a million words in the language, I asked, “Why these words and not others?” “Why then have some words been dropped in subsequent editions?”

That enquiry was to solve another riddle. I wondered about the word ‘nigger’ – this is way before hip-hop’s appropriation. How had it been used? How did old dictionaries describe it? When did it enter mainstream dictionaries? Who would dare include the word ‘nigger’ without labelling it slang or offensive? I thought then that one day I would put together a couple of articles that married the science and craft of etymology with my personal (albeit, painful) relationship with the word.

Alas, as my writing took another turn and no articles were forthcoming I am content just to have my dictionary collection. It grows from visiting dusty second hand bookstores, braving the mobs at library book sales, and occasionally getting another one as a gift or even winning one in a contest or two.

So go ahead, just ask me about a word... .”

DR. DOROTHY W. WILLIAMS has penned numerous articles and is the author of the Road to Now: A History of Blacks in Montreal (1997) and Blacks in Montreal 1628-1986: An Urban Demography (1989, 2009).