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Noah Webster's famous dictionary, published in 1828, shaped what we now consider American spelling. But ultimately, the choice of which spellings to adopt is made in the most democratic way possible: by public use and acceptance.
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Sep 25, 2017 · Webster was undertaking what likely was the first multi-city book tour by an American author. The writer had left his home in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 2, planning to range as far as. Noah Webster, American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, spelling reformer and author. Painted by Samuel Finley Breese Morse.
- Rosemarie Ostler
Webster’s work, with 5,000 words not included in British dictionaries and with definitions based on the usage of American writers, soon became the recognized authority. 07 In 1810, he published a booklet on global warming titled “Are Our Winters Getting Warmer?”
- Who Was Noah Webster?
- 6 Major Achievements of Webster
- The American Spelling Book
- Reforms in Education and American English
- Lobbied For Copyright Laws
- Established A Number of Newspapers to Promote American Culture
- A Compendious Dictionary of The English Language
- Authored ‘An American Dictionary of The English Language’
- Other Notable Accomplishments of Noah Webster
- More Noah Webster Facts
Noah Webster was born in 1758 in West Hartford, Connecticut. His parents were Noah Webster Sr. and Mercy Webster. His father, Noah Webster Sr., was a farmer, a church deacon and the captain of the militia in his town [during the American Revolution]. Around age 16, he enrolled at Yale University only for him to pause his studies in order to fight f...
The following are some of the major feats chalked by Noah Webster, the man’s whose name is synonymous with the word ‘dictionary’:
Noah Webster’s goal was to make spoken and written English in the country ooze out American culture. As part of his efforts to reform American education, he came out with The American Spelling Book (1783). Also known as the “Blue-Backed Speller”, the book contained reforms that Webster wanted to see in spelling, grammar and usage of words. To this ...
He reasoned that in order for America to have a distinctive education the American English should reflect the values and ideals that nation was built upon. He was a huge advocate for incorporating into the language the ideals of democracy, pursuit of happiness, the can-do spirit and a sense of moral responsibility. His reforms in spelling are some ...
Noah Webster was saddened by the fact that late 18thcentury American copyright laws on book piracy was not able to adequately apprehend the people who pirated his books and many other popular books of the time. And because much of his income came from the sales of his books, he reasoned that the laws ought to catch up. For years, Webster lobbied ve...
To make some extra income, he took on a number of teaching and lecturing jobs in New York. He also established a newspaper/magazine called the American Magazinein 1787. Although the magazine ran for a short time, Webster was able to get his message out to the public, educating them on a host of subjects, including government, literature, agricultur...
He published A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language in 1806. The dictionary, which was his first dictionary, had about 45,000 words, about 5,000 words more than the words in Samuel Johnson’s dictionary. Webster’s dictionary was the first to separate the letters I and j as well as u and v.
In 1807, Noah Webster started working on a more comprehensive American dictionary. About two decades later, in 1828, the first edition of An American Dictionary of the English Language was published in two volumes. Webster’s dictionary (which has about 70,000 entries) sold out in less than a year. In the U.S. it sold about 2,500 copies, and about 3...
In 1798, he won a seat on the Common Council in New Haven. In 1800 and 1802-1807, he served in the Connecticut House of Representatives. He founded the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1827, Webster became a fellow at the American Philosophical Society. Noah Webster founded the Connecticut Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1791 He...
Noah Webster was not a fan of vulgar words in the English language. This made him level some criticisms at ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’ (1755), a 40,000-word dictionary that was co-written by Samuel Johnson. His aversion to vulgar words made him writea version of the Bible that used euphemisms in the place of words that he considered too ...
In his 1828 dictionary, Webster added words unique to North America, many of which originated from the continent’s Native Americans; for example: ‘skunk,’ ‘squash,’ and ‘lacrosse.’ Webster also identified words that took on special American meaning.
It took him over 27 years to write his book. When finished in 1828, at the age of 70, Noah's dictionary had 70,000 words in it. Noah did many things in his life. He worked for copyright laws, wrote textbooks, Americanized the English language, and edited magazines.
Noah Webster is considered by many to be the father of American English. Webster championed a number of spelling changes to English, some of which had more success than others. Here are some of Noah Webster's biggest wins and losses.
