Talk:Noah Webster

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[edit] Webster's spellings

Was Webster really trying to make spellings more phonetic, or was he trying to make them more classic, i.e., closer to their etymons? We spell "color", "splendor", etc. the way Julius Caesar spelled them; the British do not. We write "analyze"; they write "analyse", etc.; our version is closer to the original Greek. -- Mike Hardy

[edit] American English Spellings

I think the article has the "American English" spellings wrong -- unless Webster's "American English" was the exact opposite of what's used in the U.S. today. The article currently says:

so his dictionary introduced American English spellings like "colour" instead of "color", "waggon" instead of "wagon", "centre" instead of "center", and "honour" instead of "honor".

I think that all of those words should be reversed. However, on the off-chance that what's written is correct, I didn't change anything just because it seems wrong. Can someone more knowledgeable make the call? –Kadin2048 00:08, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Real McCoy (er, Webster)

Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition is not the real "Webster's". The real Webster's has Merriam in the name. I am replacing the link.
Brooklyn Nellie (Nricardo) 06:06, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)

Someone should really include Webster's contributions to the Constitution (his influence in the separation of church and state) and his contributions to education. The dictionary was hardly the pinacle of his life's work.

[edit] Merger?

Today I decided to work on extensive revisions to Webster's Dictionary and in poking around found a stub at Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition and a longer article at Webster's Third New International Dictionary. It seems to me it would be best to consolidate the second and third material at Webster's Dictionary, because it is the familiar name and it would put the history of the work, which has appeared under several names in one spot; then put in redirects under the other names. I've integrated the material at the present "Third" article with my own contributions at Webster's Dictionary. Would anyone with comments please contact me on my talk page? PedanticallySpeaking 16:40, Oct 27, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Justification for Rollback

I reverted the changes User:Paton made. First, he said Webster signed the United States Declaration of Independence, but he is not listed in the signers section of that article. Second, the main body of the article dealt with the loss of trademark protection, citing the opinion of an unnamed relative of Webster. While it certainly seems wrong under modern understanding of trademark law that the Merriam Company should have lost the trademark protection, our opinions do not matter. The courts decided against the trademark decades ago and what's done is done. See the article Webster's Dictionary for more on the trademark issue. PedanticallySpeaking 15:45, Dec 30, 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Anti-Federalist?

The assertion that Webster was an outspoken anti-federalist seems a bit vague if not wrong. If provided the right context it could make sense, but it contradicts most of what I'm reading about him.

For insteance, the American Minerva was a Federalist newspaper and was subsidized by Alexander Hamilton himself, according to a textbook I have. I think the assertion needs to be clear.

[edit] Why glamour?

Webster seemed to have attempted creation of phonetic spellings by dropping 'u' from words like favour, flavour, honour, etc. Glamour bucks the trend by retaining the 'u'. Are there any more such exceptions? Sudar 05:51, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

I believe it's because its taken directly from the Scots language and not Latin like the other words you listed.
Yes, in honor &c. Webster simply restored the original Latin spellings; glamour (also formerly spelt glamer) is in origin a Scots corruption of grammar in the occult sense of the word (cf. gramarye and grimoire). It most probably should be spelt glammar but the current spelling is too well established... Tkinias 09:54, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

I have seen it spelled both ways in American english; although "Glamor" may be a recent development. Travis Cleveland 23:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I think Webster wanted to remove the "u" between "o" and "r" in plurisyllabic words because the "u" wasn't really pronounced. Yet I did talk about how I didn't think it really was a good idea. 66.191.115.61 02:12, 25 September 2007 (UTC)Cbsteffen

[edit] Music error

I removed the mention of music non musick because it's simply not true. The OED has citations of the spelling <music> at least as far back as 1673, long before Webster. Not to mention that <music> is not exactly unique to American English! Tkinias 09:39, 12 July 2006

Heh, I see Noah is | This Guy! Hurrah for kitten-huffing! (UTC)

[edit] Painting of Noah Webster

Here's a painting I found, in case you want to use it. -- Chuck Marean 03:55, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
Image:Painting of Noah Webster .jpg

[edit] Nuetral? No.

This article is sooo anti European... Something needs to be done.

"American nationalism was superior to Europe because American values were superior, he explained." I think this sentence could be worded differently. It is jarring not to mention it sounds like a narration. It is probably what adds to the claim that this article has a POV. I don't think it serves any purpose right before the quotation that follows after it.--Roonerspism 03:59, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Missing stuff

Just stumbled across this article out of interest - it seems to have lost a deal of its references and categories (visible from the history). Perhaps someone knowledgeable about the subject might restore them? --Joopercoopers 13:02, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Alternate Spellings for Words in American English

I didn't really think Webster's ideas of dropping the "u" between "o" and "r," replacing "s" with "c" or "z," or flipping "e" and "r" around at the end of words in order to recognize American English were any good. You don't need to spell words differently to distinguish a certain form of language. -- 66.191.115.61 Cbsteffen 01:31, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Troll.

He isn't a troll, he is just stating an opinion. I tend to agree somewhat - I'm American and try to use all the "traditional" spellings as much as possible. Chris16447 (talk) 23:11, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

  • "traditional" is a misnomer. There isn't necessarily a 'traditional' spelling; these things were in flux. In truth, a lot of spelling variations (as well as vocabulary variations) stem from the fact that many of them that were codified into American English were slightly more archaic than those codified into British English. Secondly, the idea that he necessarily 'dropped' the letters may be somewhat questionable; considering the flux thing, a some of the spellings favored in American English reflect the original Latin (honor, for example) where British English does not (and vice versa). Apologies if this is somewhat incoherent; I shouldn't be browsing wikipedia at 1:00am! Novium (talk) 08:03, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Date of death

In this edit, one of the things changed was Noah Webster's date of death. No explanation was provided in the edit summary. Is there any source for this change? The new date is still in the article. —Daniel Šebesta {chat | contribs} 15:02, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Unaccepted Spelling changes

My Middle School History Teacher had told us that Webster went so far as to try to make the "American Language" spelled perfectly Phonetic. He used an example of the word fish being spelled like "fesch". Can someone confirm or discredit this fact for me. 71.176.134.94 (talk) 17:30, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Completely Uncalled For HI EVERYBODY!!!!!!!BLAH BLAH BLAH U R ALL NERDS!!!! HE HE LOSERS WHO SPEND THERE TIME EDITING WIKIPEDIA THIS IS FOR U...........GET A LIFE!!!!'Lildrummerkid12 (talk) 23:01, 11 March 2008 (UTC)'Lildrummerkid12