Marion
2019.10.17 09:53
In honor of the US author and spelling reformer Noah Webster, the 16th of October is commemorate as "National Dictionary Day".
Dictionaries are reference works, in which words and linguistic units are listed and explained in alphabetical order. Noah Webster is regarded as the founder of the American dictionary. In 1806, he published the first American English dictionary, entitled 'A Compendium Dictionary of the English Language'. It included approximately 28.000 entries.
With this dictionary, Webster pursued the establishment of American language. His aime was the strong simplified spelling, which was marked of dropping silent letters (e.g. colour turned to color, centre turned to center). Despite Great Britain's resistance, Webster enforced most of his linguistic reforms. It took 27 years of his life.