Webster’s dictionary (1806- ), the main dictionary in the US, bears about as much relationship to Noah Webster as a Christian church does to Jesus Christ. “Webster’s” and “Christian” are names in the public domain. They are not trademarks like Apple or Google.
Anyone can call their dictionary a Webster’s – and they do. Random House and Microsoft have both done it. So has Simon & Schuster. Because it is a name people in the US trust – even though it is not a trademark!
What is trademarked are names like “Merriam-Webster” and “Webster’s New World” – but not “Webster’s” itself.
The Merriam brothers bought the copyright to the original, real dictionary of Noah Webster in 1844, but that expired in 1889. They tried to keep others from using the name “Webster’s”, but in vain.
In 1909 a judge told them:
“[The Merriam company] is in no position to deny a purely descriptive use of the word to any other dictionary which is as legitimate as its own. The constant iteration that all such are ‘bogus’ or not ‘genuine’ is merely a childish extravagance.”
In 2019 Merriam-Webster (now owned by Encyclopædia Britannica) is still printing stuff like this in their dictionaries:
“The name Webster alone is no guarantee of excellence. It is used by any number of publishers and many serve mainly to mislead an unwary buyer.
“Merriam-Webster™ is the name you should look for when you consider the purchase of dictionaries or other fine reference books. It carries the reputation of a company that has been publishing since 1831 and is your assurance of quality and authority.”
They are good for US English in the late 1900s but not much beyond that. Their 2019 paperback edition does not have coloured (person), plonker or even LOL.
Merriam-Webster is the “real” Webster’s only in a historical sense. In 1961 they completely redid their unabridged dictionary as “Webster’s Third New International Dictionary”. Noah Webster rolled in his grave.
Noah Webster’s most notable books:
- 1783: American Spelling Book – better known as the Blue Backed Speller because of its blue cover (pictured). By 1900 it had sold at least 60 million copies in the US – second only to Holy Scripture itself. Price: $0.14 (= 3.4g of silver).
- 1806: A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language – made J and V separate letters in their own right (were seen as forms of I and U). Webster, a huge nationalist, made US English spelling different than British English on purpose!!! Mainly by shortening words: color not colour, traveler not traveller, archeology not archaeology, plow not plough, ax not axe, etc. But also stuff like center not centre, and baptize not baptise. Most of the differences in US spelling go back to his nationalistic zeal.
- 1828: An American Dictionary of the English Language – his magnus opus. He worked on it from age 48 to 70. But at $20 (481g or 16 crowns) it was beyond the reach of the masses, back when most White men made a dollar a day.
In 1844, a year after his death, his family sold his book rights to Charles and George Merriam. In 1847, with the help of Webster’s son-in-law, Chauncey A. Goodrich, they got his dictionary down to $6 (144g or 5 crowns) and made it a hit.
– Abagond, 2019, 2020.
Sources: mainly “The Dictionary Wars” (2019) by Peter Martin; “Spell it Out” (2012) by David Crystal; and “Letter Perfect” (2003) by David Saks.
See also:
- Noah Webster
- dictionary
- Oxford dictionary
- The 1911 Concise Oxford Dictionary
- Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
- “The dictionary was written by White people”
- style guide: spelling
- American dollar
- crowns
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Abagond 