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Websters 1828 - Noah Webster
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class="text-center"> <div><img src="/Content/images/WebstersDictionary1828.png" class="img-menu img-responsive d-none d-md-block" alt="Noah Webster" width="200" height="240" /></div> <div class="img-title">Noah Webster</div> </div> <div class="sitemap"> <ul> <li>Topics</li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Bible">Bible</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Constitution">Constitution</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Literature">Literature</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Grammar">Grammar</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Education">Education</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Science">Science</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Mathematics">Mathematics</a></li> <li><a class="aniload" href="/Medical">Medical</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-6"> <div id="MainContent"> <hr /> <div class="searchheadword">The History of Webster's Dictionary</div> <hr /> <p> Noah Webster (1758 – 1843), was a lexicographer and a language reformer. He is often called <em>the Father of American Scholarship and Education</em>. In his lifetime he was also a lawyer, schoolmaster, author, newspaper editor and an outspoken politician. </p> <p> In 1806, Noah Webster published his first dictionary, <em> A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language </em>. Then in 1807 he began working on an even more comprehensive edition, and in 1828 this was publihed as <em>An American Dictionary of the English Language</em>. </p> <p> <img src="/Content/images/WebDict1828.jpg" alt="Websters Dictionary 1828" class="img-responsive" width="800" height="482" /> </p> <p> Noah Webster was a very learned and devout man, and his ideas about language in his long introduction to his dictionary make for interesting reading. The frontispiece gives us a wonderful portrait of Webster. He presents as a man of strong will and determination, qualities he would have needed to push his great project to a conclusion. </p> <p> In total it took twenty-eight years to complete. To evaluate the etymology of words, Webster learned twenty-six languages, including Old English (Anglo-Saxon), Greek, Hebrew and Latin. Webster completed his dictionary during his year abroad in 1825 in Paris, France, and at the University of Cambridge. His book contained seventy thousand words, of which twelve thousand had never appeared in a published dictionary before. </p> <p> As a spelling reformer, Webster believed that English spelling rules were unnecessarily complex, so his dictionary introduced American English spellings, replacing <em>colour</em> with <em>color</em>, substituting <em>wagon</em> for <em>waggon</em>, and printing <em>center</em> instead of <em>centre</em>. He also added American words, like <em>skunk</em> and <em>squash</em>, that did not appear in British dictionaries. At the age of seventy, Webster published his dictionary in 1828, registering the copyright on April 14. Webster did all this in an effort to standardize the American language. </p> <div class="floatleft imgborder"> <img src="/Content/Images/NoahWebsterHouse.png" class="imgsize" alt="Noak Webster's House" width="200" height="159" /> <div class="imgsize"> Webster's New Haven home, where he wrote <em>An American Dictionary of the English Language</em>. Now relocated to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. </div> </div> <p> Though it now has an honored place in the history of American English, Webster's first dictionary only sold two and a half thousand copies. He was forced to mortgage his home to develop a second edition, and his life from then on was plagued with debt. </p> <p> In 1840, the second edition was published in two volumes. On May 28, 1843, a few days after he had completed revising an appendix to the second edition, Noah Webster died. </p> <p> Noah Webster was a Christian and famously said "Education is useless without the Bible." His dictionary contains seventy thousand words and over six thousand Bible references and remains one of the only mainstream dictionaries to use Bible references to demonstrate the meaning of words. His dictionary is an essential tool for anyone studying the Bible. </p> <p> Christian readers will find it rewarding to compare his definitions of such words as "marriage", "education", "sin", "law", "faith", "prayer", etc., with those given in any modern dictionary. They will no doubt be surprised at the great differences, and may come away with a renewed respect for American. </p> <p> Noah Webster also used quotes from many authors of classical literature in his dictionary. His work went on to inspire many other authors in their use of the language. As with Emily Dickinson, we know that she made frequent and extensive use of Noah Webster's 'Dictionary of the English Language' in writing her poems, paying attention not only to definitions but also to Webster's etymologies and his illustrative quotations. </p> <p> The scholarly consensus is that she probably made use of an 1844 reprint of the 1841 edition, but since this is now rare, and since the 1828 edition was also in the Dickinson library, the present facsimile of the 1828 edition becomes an important resource for helping us to recover at least some of the senses in which she understood certain words. </p> <p> This is a book that should be in everyone's library, as providing a fund of wisdom, knowledge, and information that few modern books can even begin to approach. </p> </div> <div class="clearfix"><p> </p></div> <div class="d-md-none"> <hr /> <div class="d-md-none" style="width:100%; margin-bottom:24px;"> <div style="width:320px; height: 50px; margin:20px auto 0 auto;"> <div class="banner-mobile"> <iframe src="/AdFrameMobile/mobile" title="Advertisment" width="320" height="50"></iframe> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-3 d-none d-sm-none d-md-block"> <p> </p> <div class="banner-skyscraper"> <iframe src="/AdFrame/leaderboard" title="Advertisment" width="160" height="600"></iframe> </div> </div> <p> </p> </div> </main> </div> <footer> <div class="footcontent"> <div class="footheaddiv"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="foothead col-md-12"> <h2>Websters Dictionary 1828</h2> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="footmenudiv"> <div class="container"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-4 footmenu"> <div class="colhead">SITEMAP</div> <hr /> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><a href="/" class="aniload"><i class="bi bi-house-fill" aria-hidden="true"></i> Home</a> </li> <li><a href="/Preface"><i class="bi bi-sticky-fill" aria-hidden="true"></i> Preface</a></li> <li><a href="/NoahWebster"><i class="bi bi-clock-fill" aria-hidden="true"></i> History</a></li> <li><a href="/Quotes"><i class="bi bi-chat-quote-fill" aria-hidden="true"></i> Quotations</a></li> <li class="d-none d-md-block"> </li> <li class="d-none d-md-block"> </li> </ul> <hr /> </div> <div class="col-md-4 footmenu"> <div class="colhead">INFORMATION</div> <hr /> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><a href="/AboutUs" class="aniload">About Us</a></li> <li class="d-none d-md-block"> </li> <li><a href="/Accessibility" class="aniload">Statement of Accessibility</a></li> <li><a href="/Terms" class="aniload">Terms of Use</a></li> <li><a href="/Privacy" class="aniload">Privacy Policy</a></li> <li><a href="/Copyright" class="aniload">Copyright Notice</a></li> </ul> <hr /> </div> <div class="col-md-4 footmenu"> <div class="colhead">OUR WEBSITES</div> <hr /> <ul class="list-unstyled"> <li><a href="https://thekingsbible.com/">The Kings Bible</a></li> <li><a href="https://blackletterkingjamesbible.com/">King James Bible 1611</a></li> <li><a href="https://kingjamesbibledictionary.com//">King James Bible Dictionary</a></li> <li><a href="https://webstersdictionary1828.com/">Websters Dictionary 1828</a></li> <li><a href="https://textusreceptusbibles.com/">Textus Receptus Bibles</a></li> <li><a href="https://tsk-online.com/">Treasury of Scripture Knowledge</a></li> </ul> <hr /> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="footmenulogo text-center col-md-12"> <a href="http://www.thekingsbible.com" rel="external" title="The Kings Bible"> <img src="/Content/Images/thekingsbible144.gif" alt="The Kings Bible" width="144" height="44" /> </a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebstersDictionary1828" title="Find us on Facebook"> <img src="/Content/images/facebook.gif" alt="Find us on Facebook" width="144" height="44" /> </a> </div> </div> <div class="row"> <div class="text-center col-md-12" style="margin-top:10px;"> <a href="/Copyright" class="aniload sanserif" style="color:#fff; font-size:16px">© Copyright 2025 MasonSoft Technology Ltd</a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="version">v4 (7.10.2024)</div> <div id="RefPanel" class="panel showpanel"> <div class="panelclose"> <button id="ClosePanel" class="btn btn-small btn-danger" type="submit" title="Close" aria-label="Close Panel"> <strong>X</strong> </button> </div> <div id="RefPanelText" class="clear paneltext"></div> <div class="extlinks"> <a href="http://www.thekingsbible.com" id="RefPanelKingsBible" rel="external" title="The Kings Bible"> <img src="/Content/Images/thekingsbible144.gif" alt="The Kings Bible" width="144" height="44" /> </a> </div> </div> </footer> <input type="hidden" value="NoahWebster"> <div id="cookieConsent" class="cookiealert"> <div class="cookie-container ms-md-auto me-md-auto"> <h3>Cookies & Privacy</h3> <p> We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. 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