Don't Forget Your 200th Anniversary Webster's Dictionary While You Finish Your Novel This Month

2006 marks the nearly forgotten 200th anniversary of the first Webster's Dictionary, a small volume of short definitions (ex. "Dic'tionary, n. a book of words explained in alphabetical order").

It would be 22 years before he would complete the 70,000 entries (each personally written by him) in the two-volume "American Dictionary of the English Language" with which he would become synonymous, but the 1806 publication was important as it marked the first attempt by Noah (don't call me Daniel) Webster to capture the uniquely American-brand of English being spoke on our side of the Atlantic.

At the time, the idea of an American dictionary of English was highly controversial, almost the most equivalent of someone today publishing a dictionary of Spanglish. A predecessor publication, the "Columbian Dictionary," drew criticism for including Americanism's such as "wigwam,""rateability,""caucus," and "lengthy" (lengthy? what's next "strengthy"?). Webster was demoralized (a word he coined) at the lowly reaction to his endeavor.

But eventually, Webster's Dictionary was so successful that it's the first example of a copyrighted name being so ubiquitously associated with a generic product that the Merriam Company (which bought the rights to Webster's from his heirs) could no longer defend it's copyright, and after decades of lawsuits, conceded defeat and no longer layed claim to the name. This is why virtually every dictionary today is a "Webster's Dictionary."

So as you pound away at your novel this month, take a moment to remember Daniel, doh, I mean Noah Webster, the man who defined every word in this post and probably every word (except for the dirty ones, they wouldn't make it until the notorious third edition in 1961) in your trashy novel.