If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
Good question but you are crediting the wrong man, Webster’s dictionary didn’t actually appear until the year 1806 and maybe credited as being the first definitive American dictionary of the English language.
However the main honour should rightfully go to Samuel Johnson, who published his Dictionary of the English Language in the year 1755 and even that was not the first dictionary to be attempted there were others but Johnson’s was considered to be the definitive work until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary, in 1919.
The Language is after all English, not American although you could credit Webster for the misspelling of many English words and therefore inventing Americanese !
So the answer to your question is he probably borrowed a copy of Johnston's dictionary from the local library....
He probably got his words from the first, English dictionary by Robert Cawdrey, 1604, then Thomas Blount, 1656, and Johnson in 1755, Webster was very late in the dictionary stakes, creating his in 1806.
Of course, the question still stands, where did Cawdrey get his words from:-)
An aside, the Chinese and Greeks had dictionaries much earlier than these.
by Janis Leslie Evans 10 years ago
Do you have a hard copy dictionary that you still use like a Merriam-Webster?I still need my dictionary and thesaurus beside be as I'm at my computer writing a hub. I don't use online dictionaries, an installed app/program, or spell checker. What do you use?
by ga anderson 5 years ago
Of course, a word means, (or is supposed to), mean what its definition says it means.And of course, it is technically correct to deny alternate meanings are correct or acceptable.But ... I think it is more real-life true that a word, in common usage, is more correctly defined by what a broad...
by Denise Handlon 11 years ago
Do teachers still teach students how to use a dictionary or is this becoming obsolete?I use a dictionary (book) when I write, which I keep at my side. I've heard from a few people that NO ONE uses dictionaries anymore. (obviously they are wrong b/c there is at least still one,...
by Myn Is Me 12 years ago
How many words are there in the English language?
by skeptics r us 13 years ago
Does anyone agree with me that spelling should be required thru 12th grade?I've seen so many spelling errors on web pages lately. That includes 'help wanted' pages!!!!!! It's a scary thought that our future is in the hands of people that are not even aware that there's a problem.
by nikki1 13 years ago
What is the first literature book written and who wrote it? And, when was it written?
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