Frederick James Furnivall

A scholar and editor, Furnivall was well-known for his tactlessness and impulsive nature. The OED, however, owes much of its existence to his persistence and energy. Furnivall was appointed in 1857 to the Philological Society's Unrecorded Words Committee (it is likely, in fact, that Furnivall suggested to Richard Chenevix Trench that the Society collect early words not recorded in contemporary dictionaries). Furnivall became the editor of the New English Dictionary after the death of Herbert Coleridge in 1861. He eventually became diverted by other literary activies, including the establishment of the Early English Text Society. He continued a long association with the OED until his death, contributing many quotations from his daily newspapers. The quotation slip written by Furnivall appears in the entry for odd, a. (n.) and adv., sense D.2. The text reads: ‘1873 R. Broughton Nancy I. 79 A dinner-party..a squire or two, a squiress or two, a curate or two - such odd-come-shorts as can be got together in a scattered country neighbourhood at briefest notice.’