|
An
American Wordsmith
If you look up the word
"dictionary" in Webster's unabridged dictionary you'll
find it means "a reference book containing words usually
alphabetically arranged along with information about
their forms, pronunciations, functions, etymology,
meanings, and syntactical and idiomatic uses... ."
That's a lot of information. What were the beginnings
of the American dictionary? What are some of the changes
the American dictionary has undergone since it first
appeared?
The first
American dictionary, published over 170 years ago,
represented the life's work of Noah Webster (1758-1843),
who was dedicated to the promotion and use of the
English language on the western side of the Atlantic
Ocean.
|
Need
a Lift?
Although
Webster's dictionary may have been criticized
for being "too American," there is a difference
between American English and British English.
See if you can match these words with
their British equivalents. (If you've
read a Harry Potter book that was published
in Britain, you'll have a head start.)
|
|
American
|
|
|
British
|
|
|
1.
french fries |
|
|
a.
boot |
|
|
2.
suspenders |
|
|
b.
lorry |
|
|
3.
elevator |
|
|
c.
serviette |
|
|
4.
hood (of car) |
|
|
d.
car park |
|
|
5.
napkin |
|
|
e.
biscuit |
|
|
6.
jelly |
|
|
f.
pavement |
|
|
7.
trunk (of car) |
|
|
g.
lift |
|
|
8.
sidewalk |
|
|
h.
chips |
|
|
9.
cookie |
|
|
i.
jam |
|
|
10.
pharmacist |
|
|
j.braces
|
|
|
11.
parking lot |
|
|
k.
chemist |
|
|
12.
truck |
|
|
l.
bonnet |
Check
your answers at the BritSpeak
site.
|
A teacher, lawyer
and politician, Webster believed that spelling, pronunciation,
and word usage should reflect the distinctive American
culture. It was while teaching that Webster noticed that
the textbooks he used had little connection to American
culture. Over the course of two years, he worked on and
published A Grammatical Institute of the English Language,
a book that consisted of the American Spelling Book
(also known as the "Blue-Backed Speller"), a grammar book,
and a reader. The
books distinguished between American English and British
English and promoted Webster's view of the superiority
of American English over British English. Webster felt
that British English was confusing and unnecessarily complicated.
He was responsible for many of the differences between
American and British spellings ("color" vs. "colour"),
and for including words in the dictionary that were specific
to American culture (e.g.,"skunk" and "chowder").
His two-volume
An American Dictionary of the English Language
was published in 1828. In doing research for the etymology
of American words, Webster traveled abroad and learned
more than 20 languages. His resulting effort was attacked
for its unconventional spellings, its inclusion of
nonliterary words, and for being too American!
The dictionary
contained about 70,000 entries. (The current unabridged
version has over 450,000 entries.) The book was not
a big seller; it took over a year to sell out. The
1841 revised edition was also unsuccessful. After
Webster's death, the rights to the dictionary--and
the unsold copies--were purchased by George and Charles
Merriam, printers and booksellers from Massachusetts.
Worth
the Weight
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was planned
as a four-volume work that would "include all English
language vocabulary from the Early Middle English
(1150 A.D) onward." Each entry traces the word's "development
through time." The detailed etymologies and quotations
from English language sources make the OED a "unique
historical record" of the English language. Over the
course of 40 years, volume after volume was released
until the last of a 10-volume dictionary appeared
in 1928. Over the next 60 years, multivolume Supplements
appeared that included more scientific and technical
terms and additional information on 20th
-century vocabulary.
In the early
'80s the Oxford University Press--publisher of the
OED--reached a monumental decision: transfer
all the paper-based materials to an electronic medium
and publish a new edition by the late 1980s. The Press
spent over $13 million converting the files to a machine-readable
form. More than 120 "keyboarders" typed in the material,
assisted by more than 50 proofreaders. More than 600,000
definitions made it into the 20-volume, 22,000-pageOED,
Second Edition, which was completed on schedule.
Parts of
the OED have recently gone online and will
be updated every quarter. In addition, the OED
is available on CD-ROM. For the first time since 1928,
editors are working on a complete revision of the
OED, which is expected to contain more than
1 million entries. Expected completion date: 2010.
- Read
"OED
goes online" from CNN book news.
- Looking
at the etymology of a word in the OED is
comparable to digging on an archeological site.
You can actually see layer on layer of history
as the usage of the word is traced through various
cultures, fields, and sources. The word of the
day from the OED
includes etymology, pronunciation, dates, quotes,
and spelling.
- Submit
a word for inclusion in the revised OED.
src="/current/common_images/2top.gif" alt="Top" align=MIDDLE width="94" border="0" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0">
Brave
New Word
In a word, usage determines if a word makes
it into the dictionary. Editors, linguists, and consultants
from many different fields study and analyze the language
by reading, researching, and reviewing books, journals,
magazines, and other English language publications.
They look for new words, new meanings or spellings,
or even "old" words that have come into new usage.
|
Dictionary
Jargon
- concordance:
alphabetical index showing where each
principal word in the text of a book
may be found
- etymology:
history of a linguistic form (as a
word) shown by tracing its development
from earliest-recorded occurrence
- lexicography:
the editing or making of a dictionary
- lexicology:
branch of linguistics concerned with
the signification and application
of words
- orthography:
the art of writing words with proper
letters according to standard usage
(correct spelling)
- pronunciation:
act or manner of pronouncing something
(articulate utterance)
|
As the editors
accumulate words of interest, they enter the words
and their contexts into a computer. From there, they
may create files (called "citations") of the words,
their contexts, and other bibliographic information.
These files--of which there are many millions--form
the body (or corpus in linguistic terms) of
a searchable database.
As the process
of compiling entries for the dictionary begins, definers
look at very specific groups of citations. One aspect
of the definer's job is to decide which entries remain
unchanged, which need revising, and which can be dropped.
Words that are under consideration for addition must
have enough citations to warrant inclusion. A word
may be rejected if its citations are limited to a
single field or a single source.
- Read
the article "Usage
Experts Change Their Minds, Too" by the executive
editor of the third edition of The American
Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
for some insights into changing usage.
A
Lexicographer's Work Is Never Done
English is a dynamic language, which is one of the
reasons that most dictionary publishers start work
on a revised edition as soon as the current edition
leaves the press. Many new words have entered the
language in just the last 60 years. Each of the following
pairs of words originated in a decade starting with
the 1940s onward. Indicate which decade in the space
to the right.
|
Word
|
Decade
|
|
gas-guzzler
personal computer
|
|
|
junk mail
skydiving
|
|
|
in-line skate
virtual reality
|
|
|
sitcom
trendy
|
|
|
scrunchy
Web site
|
|
|
cheeseburger
snorkel
|
|
Check Words@Random
for the answers.
A
Word to the Wise
Numerous sites offer word lovers, bookworms, and amateur
lexicographers a chance to stretch their linguistic
muscles.
- Merriam-Webster
's Word
Central has a lot of dictionary-related articles
and features geared to kids. You can build your
own dictionary or search for words in a special
student dictionary section. The site also includes
teacher resources.
- The
word-of-the-day
site will e-mail you the daily word, which includes
its etymology, definitions, usage, and quotes.
- The
online version of The
Word Detective, a popular newspaper column,
features answers to readers' questions about etymology
of common words and phrases.
-
A
Word with You is an online column about
a popular word or phrase, its etymology, and
common and related usages. There's also an
archive of the more than 300 columns.
-
Check
out Verbivore,
a site for people who "devour words" ("verbivores").
|