An American Dictionary of the English

Language

Noah Webster’s Gift to America

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

• written by Noah Webster

• lived in Connecticut and was educated at Yale

• outspoken Antifederalist; extremely patriotic

• very religious; dictionary contains greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume

• began to see need for an American dictionary while reading modern books of science which had many new terms from recent discoveries in science

• published in its first edition in 1828

• took him 27 years to complete

• first dictionary sold only 2,500 copies so he was forced to mortgage his home in order to publish a 2nd edition

Webster’s Goals for Dictionary

His preface to his original dictionary stated his wish to exhibit:

I. The origin, affinities, and primary signification of English words, as far as they have been ascertained.

II. The genuine orthography and pronunciation of words, according to general usage or to just principles of analogy.

III. Accurate and discriminating definitions, with numerous authorities and illustrations.

Originally he only wanted to correct a few errors in existing English dictionaries and to supply “words in which they are deficient”, but after writing through 2 letters of alphabet, he decided to change his purpose to determining the origin of words, the relationship between English and other languages, and “to bring about some agreement or coincidence of opinions in regard to unsettled points in pronunciation and grammatical construction.”

Underlying Patriotism• Preface states goal of dictionary to, “furnish a standard of our

vernacular tongue, which we shall not be ashamed to bequeath to three-hundred millions of people, who are destined to occupy, and I hope to adorn, the vast territory within our jurisdiction.”

• American English was developing differently from English of Europe and Webster wanted to create a standard form of American English (prescriptivist)

• Americans in different parts of the country were spelling, pronouncing, and using words differently, and Webster hoped to correct this

• strived to rescue American English from “the mischievous influence of that dabbling spirit of innovation which is perpetually disturbing its settled usages and filling it with anomalies.”

American English vs. European English

• believed that the main difference between the 2 was due to different forms of government and different laws, institutions, and customs

• new, peculiar American institutions of the time gave rise to words which wouldn’t be found in England’s dictionaries, “unless copied from ours.”

• words such as congress, senate, and court express different ideas in America than they would in England

• “…the English dictionaries inform us that a Justice is one deputed by the king to do right by way of judgment– he is a Lord by his office– Justices of the peace are appointed by the King’s commission– language which is inaccurate in respect to this officer in the U.S.”

• language, then, is both place and time specific

Structure of the Dictionary

-a preface outlining his goals for the text

-a very long introduction containing features such as the definition of language, profiles of 26 other languages, and an immense section on the origin of language

- “the historical narrative of facts in the book of Genesis”

(The Tower of Babel, Noah’s flood)

-a philosophical and practical grammar of the English language

-contains features on the English alphabet, division of syllables, rules for spelling, and sections on the in-depth proper usage of the various parts of speech

-directions for the pronunciation of words

-main text

-arranged alphabetically with a brief history of each of the letters, listing of the word followed by its origin, various definitions, and usage by both English and American writers

An American “Flavour”• 70,000 total words; 12,000 had never appeared in any earlier printed

dictionaries

• introduced some distinctly American vocabulary such as “hickory”, “skunk”, “squash”, and “chowder”.

• introduced American English spellings such as “color” instead of “colour”, “music” instead of “musick”, “wagon” rather than “waggon”, “center” instead of “centre”, and “honor” vs. “honour”

• attempted to modify the spellings of “tongue” to “tung” and “women” to “wimmen”, but neither of these caught on

Extreme Makeover:Webster’s Edition

• Webster’s dictionary has appeared in numerous updated editions and is now available on-line

• many abridged versions are out there that contain lexicon of words most commonly used at home, in school, and in the office while words of low or infrequent usage are often excluded

• in order for a new word to appear, must have proof that it is used frequently by all sorts of English writers

• now less prescriptivist and more descriptivist in tone

• “All words were pronounced differently at some time in the past. There is simply no scholarly basis for preferring one pronunciation over another, and the term "correct" pronunciation doesn't mean anything objectively.”

• the majority of homes and schools contain at least one dictionary

Words of the Year• new feature of Webster’s online dictionary allows you to see a list of the top

10 most frequently looked up words of a given year2005:

1) integrity2) refugee

6) tsaunmai

2004:1) blog

2) hurricane3) cicada

2003:1) democracy2) quagmire

(-soft, miry land that yields under the footOr

a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position)

A Unified American English?

• numerous variations in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation still exist across the nation

• Examples:• 1) How do you pronounce the word aunt?• 2) How do you pronounce the second syllable in pajamas?• 3) What do you call a long sandwich with a lot of

cold-cuts/toppings?• 4) What do you call shoes that you exercise in?• 5) Where might you get water in a public building?• 6) What’s that bubbly, carbonated drink called?

Webster’s Dream

• “ I present it to my fellow citizens, not with frigid indifference, but with my ardent wishes for their improvement and their happiness; and for the continued increase of the wealth, the learning, the moral and religious elevation of character and the glory of my country.”