compiling a dictionary: an art, not a science

I have been enjoying Kory Stamper's new book Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries. She writes about her life as a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster. The book is thoroughly delightful.

Stamper quotes an article discussing a fundraiser held by Barbara Streisand at her home. The article hyphenates "fund-raiser." Kory writes that this is an example of the transition of a phrase from an open compound to a hyphenated compound.

But wait. I always thought of fundraiser as a single word. I confirmed that by checking out my go-to dictionary, the American Heritage. One word. Then I checked the free online Merriam-Webster, which is based on the M-W Collegiate Dictionary. It showed only the hyphenated version.

hmmm....

I had occasion to sign up and pay for the full, unabridged Merriam-Webster, not on account of this quest, but because of  of the work I was doing for a client. I looked up the word in the unabridged. It is an interesting entry. The main spelling is two words. The second spelling is one word. The third spelling is hyphenated.

This reinforced for me something that I have long known but which I often forget. Dictionaries are not created by some omnipotent Language Being. They are compiled by real people making human decisions. While each dictionary publisher has its own rigorous rules and guidelines, producing a dictionary is an art, not a science.