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pronunciations were generally provincial in character – those of
Webster’s own New England. The label «American» in the title is
more a reflection of the works of American authors referred to
than of its uniquely American lexicon. Indeed, at one point
Webster observed that «there were not 50 words in all which were
used in America and not in England». On the other hand, nearly
half of the words he did include are not to be found in Johnson’s
Dictionary, which added considerable force to his claim that he
was giving lexicography a fresh direction.
Despite its weaknesses and its critics, the American
Dictionary made Webster a household name in the USA. It was
fiercely attacked in Britain for its Americanism especially in
matters of spelling and usage; but the work was crucial in giving to
US English an identity and status comparable to that given to the
British English lexicon by Dr Johnson.
Indeed, it’s difficult to appreciate today the impact which
Webster’s Dictionary made at the time, and just how authoritative
the book was perceived to be. After Webster’s death (1843), the
rights were purchased by George and Charles Merriam, and later
editions have appeared under the name of Merriam-Webster. A
revision in 1847 was edited by Webster’s son-in-law, Chauncey A.
Goodrich. Several dictionaries within this tradition appeared in the
following decades, via the Webster’s International Dictionary of
1890 to the Webster’s New International Dictionary of 1909, with
rd
a second edition in 1934. The 3 edition appeared in 1961, edited
by Philip B. Gove, based on a collection of over 6 million citations
of usage, and dealing with over 450,000 words. This edition
prepared over a 10-year period, took up 757 editor-years, and
proved to be highly controversial. Three supplements later
appeared – of 6,000 words (1976), 89,000 words (1983), and
12,000 words (1986), and a CD is also available. Outside of this
tradition, many other publishers have come to use the «Webster»
name for their dictionaries and word-books.

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