Websters Dictionary was first created by Noah Webster in 1806. His work became so widely used that people began referring to all dictionaries as Websters dictionary.
Websters dictionary was the work of Noah Webster who was born October 16, 1758 in Hartford Connecticut. His family was there since the area was first colonized. His dad farmed. He was a descendant of Connecticut Governor John Webster. Noah’s mother could trace her roots back to the governor of Plymouth colony.
At the age of 16 Noah began studies at Yale. At this time America was fighting against Britian for freedom. Noah served in Connecticut’s militia.
At 20 Webster decided to study law. He taught school to earn money for his education. Once he was able to begin practicing law in 1789 he found he did not like it. He went back to being a teacher. He failed when he tried to open his own school.
In 1789 he marred a fairly prominent woman. He walked in high social circles but didn’t have much money. Alexander Hamilton loaned him $1500 to begin a newspaper in New York. While in New York he took an interest in publishing. This was the true beginning of his path to Websters dictionary. He published text books while writing for his newspaper. In 1898 he served a term in the Connecticut House of Representatives.
While he was teaching he found conditions rather poor. There were too many students in each classroom. The teachers were not well trained. There weren’t many supplies. Webster wanted American kids to learn from books written in American English. He addressed this by publishing three volumes for children – a reader, a grammar book and a spelling book. His goal was to rescue American English from what he called the pedantry of English grammar and pronunciation. To him the people should create the language, rather than have some archaic language like Latin dictate it.
This was the source of Websters dictionary. His dictionary had many revisions. And when Webster died the Merriam brothers purchased the rights to his name and his work. Today most dictionaries use the term Webster because it’s so well known.
So that’s the scoop on Websters dictionary.
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