My Doktorvater* Jerry Norman has died, about a week after I put the last finishing touches on his Manchu dictionary.
The very last change was the adding of non-breaking spaces on either side of each ellipsis.
Two days before the end he woke up and told his daughter, "I'm happy that dictionary is done." Done it is. It should be out in well under a year from the Harvard Asia Center.
* "The father of my doctorhood." Most people call this person their "dissertation 'advisor'," although giving it that bureaucratic name trivializes the relationship, which is both familial and (for lack of another word) ceremonial.
Our society trivializes most things, but it is up to us to accept that or not. At the very least, it is good to know that not accepting trivialization is possible.
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