Metaglossia: The Translation World

Behind the doors of the hulking Merriam-Webster building in Springfield, the past is very much present. Inside is the oak cabinet built to show off Webster’s International Dictionary of the English Language at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Old signs and photographs are on display, but the most precious relic is the 1806 dictionary that Noah Webster labored over for 20 years.

For that dictionary, Webster defined 37,000 words (the current unabridged Merriam-Webster dictionary contains about 500,000) and Americanized British spellings, excising an “l” from “traveller,” turning “gaol” into “jail,” and so on. Yet reviews were mixed, sales slow. Webster’s next dictionary, published in 1828, had almost twice as many words and became an American standard but his publisher went bankrupt. His 1841 revision, priced at $15, sold poorly. When Webster died in 1843, the future of his monumental achievement was in doubt.....

What about the future? Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, first published in 1898 and now in its 11th edition, has been one of the best-selling hardcover books in American publishing history but today it’s available for free online. The company has dictionary apps for the iPad, iPhone, and Android platforms, and this fall it will unveil a redesigned subscription website for the unabridged dictionary. The most recent print edition of the unabridged Webster’s dictionary holds a 2002 copyright. Will there be another? Morse said no decision has been made. “I have a feeling,” he said, “that the death of the print dictionary will be predicted many times before it actually happens.”

Oxford is famous for, among other things, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which has been the last word on words for more than a century.