| Summary: The American Heritage Dictionary has its roots in scandal and innovation. In fact, were it not for Webster's dictionary and pivotal steps taken by the Webster's publisher, the American Heritage Dictionary might not have come into existence at all! |
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD), published by Houghton-Mifflin and edited by William Morris, first appeared in 1969. In addition to its extensive lexicon, the American Heritage Dictionary is characterized by essays regarding language usage, spelling, pronunciation, and the history of the English language. A feature unique to the AHD is an appendix of reconstructed Indo-European roots, which gives a glimpse into the etymology of ancient words and the paths they took into English and other European languages.
The AHD appeared as a reaction to the publication of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary in 1961, which created a controversy in academic circles because of its novel approach to compiling content. Webster’s Third included thousands of new terms that were in use in spoken English at the time while leaving out most proper nouns and obsolete words. Most scandalous, and completely out of character with Webster’s Second, was Webster’s Third’s lack of authority regarding word usage, for all labels about accepted uses for specific words were removed.
James Parton, the publisher of American Heritage magazine, was incensed at the permissive use of language advocated by Webster’s Third, and attempted to buy the G. and C. Merriam Company, publisher of Webster’s Third, to correct the error. When he was unable to do so, he approached Houghton-Mifflin about creating a new dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language was born. Editor William Morris used a panel of 105 experts to compile the dictionary’s usage statistics.
Unlike Webster’s Third, the AHD made a point of showing how words ought to be used, as well as showing how words were actually being used by the general public. In cases where a word had controversial usage, the AHD listed a specific paragraph about usage after the etymology. In cases where most experts believed that there should be no controversy, the dictionary merely outlined proper and improper usage. In cases where the panel was split about proper usage, the dictionary listed the various uses and included the percentage of panel members who supported each specific use.
The Second Edition of the AHD omitted the Indo-European roots, much to the displeasure of linguists. However, this error was corrected in the Third Edition in 1992, and expanded in 2000 with the Fourth Edition, which included Semitic language materials. The AHD continues to be the preferred collegiate and high school dictionary in American schools.
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