Noah Webster's "American Dictionary of The English Language"
Noah Webster (1758–1843), the author of the readers and spelling books that dominated the American market at the time, spent decades of research in compiling his dictionaries. His first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, appeared in 1806. In it, he introduced features that would be a hallmark of future editions such as American spellings (center rather than centre, honor rather than honour, program rather than programme, etc.) and included technical terms from the arts and sciences rather than confining his dictionary to literary words. He spent the next two decades working to expand his dictionary.
Read more about this topic: Webster's Dictionary
Famous quotes containing the words english language, noah webster, noah, webster, american, dictionary, english and/or language:
“The English language is nobodys special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.”
—Derek Walcott (b. 1930)
“... word-sniffing ... is an addiction, like glueor snowsniffing in a somewhat less destructive way, physically if not economically.... As an addict ... I am almost guiltily interested in converts to my own illness, and in a pinch I can recommend nearly any reasonable solace, whether or not it qualifies as a true descendant of Noah Webster.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (19081992)
“... word-sniffing ... is an addiction, like glueor snowsniffing in a somewhat less destructive way, physically if not economically.... As an addict ... I am almost guiltily interested in converts to my own illness, and in a pinch I can recommend nearly any reasonable solace, whether or not it qualifies as a true descendant of Noah Webster.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (19081992)
“Everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart,Liberty and Union, now and for ever; one and inseparable!”
—Daniel Webster (17821852)
“If Shakespeare has not been equalled, he is sure to be surpassed, and surpassed by an American born now or yet to be born.”
—Herman Melville (18191891)
“The much vaunted male logic isnt logical, because they display prejudicesagainst half the human racethat are considered prejudices according to any dictionary definition.”
—Eva Figes (b. 1932)
“The English language may hold a more disagreeable combination of words than The doctor will see you now. I am willing to concede something to the phrase Have you anything to say before the current is turned on?”
—Robert Benchley (18891945)
“The writers language is to some degree the product of his own action; he is both the historian and the agent of his own language.”
—Paul De Man (19191983)