Inspired by the resume of Leonardo daVinci, I thought it would be interesting to post the resume of Sir James Murray. This passage comes from a letter he wrote when he applied for a position in the British Museum Library.
Remarkably, he was turned down for the job. Some years later he was appointed editor for the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Link. Photo credit.
"I have to state that Philology, both Comparative and special, has been my favourite pursuit during the whole of my life, and I possess a general acquaintance with the languages & literature of the Aryan and Syro-Arabic classes... With several I have a more intimate acquaintance as with the Romance tongues, Italian, French, Catalan, Spanish, Latin & in a lesser degree Portuguese, Vaudois, Provencal, & various dialects. In the Teutonic branch, I am tolerably familiar with Dutch (having at my place of business correspondence to read in Dutch, German, French & occasionally other languages), Flemish, German, Danish. In Anglo-Saxon and Moeso-Gothic my studies have been much closer, I having prepared some works for publication upon these languages. I know a little of the Celtic, and am at present engaged with the Sclavonic, having obtained a useful knowledge of the Russian. In the Persian, Achaemenian Cuneiform, & Sanscrit branches, I know for the purposes of Comparative Philology. I have sufficient knowledge of Hebrew and Syriac to read at sight the Old Testament and Peshito; to a less degree I know Aramaic Arabic, Coptic and Phoenician to the point where it is left by Genesius."
Remarkably, he was turned down for the job. Some years later he was appointed editor for the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Link. Photo credit.
My older brother's name is James Murray :D
A great and NOT boring talk at:
http://www.ted.com/talks/erin_mckean_redefines_the_dictionary.html