Which 1919–1920 publication project employed J.R.R. Tolkien after World War I?

The Oxford English Dictionary employed J.R.R. Tolkien after World War I.

Tolkien worked on the Oxford English Dictionary from January 1919 until the middle of 1920. He served as an assistant lexicographer and contributed to the history and analysis of words beginning with the letter “W.” His work included researching word origins, forms and historical usage.

The experience connected his professional linguistic scholarship with the philological interests that had already shaped his education. Tolkien later recalled the demanding work on the Dictionary, and biographers often identify it as an important stage in his development as a language scholar.

After leaving the project, Tolkien became a reader in English language at the University of Leeds in 1920. He later moved to Oxford, where he built his academic career. The OED job is sometimes confused with Tolkien’s later fictional language invention, but it involved documenting real historical English rather than creating Quenya or Sindarin.