HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Joseph Emerson Worcester (August 24, 1784 – October 27, 1865) was an American
lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...
who was the chief competitor to
Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible ( Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...
of ''
Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...
'' in the mid-nineteenth-century. Their rivalry became known as the "dictionary wars". Worcester's dictionaries focused on traditional pronunciation and spelling, unlike
Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible ( Book of Genesis, chapters 5� ...
's attempts to Americanize words. Worcester was respected by American writers and his dictionary maintained a strong hold on the American marketplace until a later, posthumous version of Webster's book appeared in 1864. After Worcester's death in 1865, their war ended.


Biography


Early life

Worcester was born August 24, 1784, in Bedford, New Hampshire, and worked on a farm in his youth, entering
Phillips Academy, Andover ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...
, in 1805. In 1809, he entered
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
and graduated in two years. He began a school in
Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
in March 1812, but gave up on the project by 1815. One of his students had been a young
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
; Worcester tutored Hawthorne privately at the boy's home. During this time, Worcester worked on several works on geography, including ''A Geographical Dictionary, or Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern'', which was published in 1817. In 1823, he was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
He wrote a much-used textbook, ''Elements of History, Ancient and Modern, accompanied by an Historical Atlas'', published in 1827. Worcester collected philological works and wrote a journal in Europe in 1831. For many years, he co-edited the annual ''American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge''. He earned LL.D. degrees from Brown University (1847) and
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
(1856).


Dictionary war

Worcester's first edited dictionary was an abridgment of Samuel Johnson's ''English Dictionary, as Improved by Todd, and Abridged by Chalmers; with Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary Combined'', published in the United States in 1827,Jackson, Howard. ''Lexicography: An Introduction''. New York: Routledge, 2002: 63. the year before Noah Webster's '' American Dictionary'' appeared. Having worked as an assistant on the production of Webster's dictionary, he produced an abridgment of Webster's work in 1829. Worcester believed that Webster's dictionary sacrificed tradition and elegance.Corbett, William. ''Literary New England: A History and Guide''. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1993: 30. Worcester's version added new words, excluded
etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
, and focused on pronunciation. Worcester published his ''Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory English Dictionary'' in 1830, inciting charges of plagiarism from Webster. Worcester protested that he had worked on his dictionary before working for Webster and had used his own research. Webster's first accusations against Worcester were in March 1831, when he wrote to ask if Worcester had taken many definitions from his own work. Worcester replied, "No, not many." Accusation became attack in 1834, the
Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...
-based ''Palladium'' published an article that called Worcester's book "a gross plagiarism" and stated that its author "pilfer dthe products of the mind, as readily as... the common thief." Webster later published an open letter to Worcester in the ''Palladium'' dated January 25, 1835, accusing Worcester of stealing the definitions of 121 words, claiming their definitions were not published in any other dictionary and challenging Worcester to prove otherwise. Worcester responded saying that the burden of proof fell on Webster but provided his sources anyway. In what is often referred to as the "dictionary wars", rivalry and contention between the two dictionaries continued beyond Webster's death in 1843, and long after with Webster's successor, the G. & C. Merriam Company, which bought rights to the ''American Dictionary''. Worcester continued to revise his dictionary, producing ''A Universal and Critical Dictionary of the English Language'' in 1846.Hartmann, R. R. K. ''Lexicography: Reference Works Across Time, Space, and Languages''. Taylor & Francis, 2003: 67. When a British edition of the work stated that it was based on the work of Noah Webster, and omitted Worcester's introductory statement claiming otherwise, he responded with "A Gross Literary Fraud Exposed". In 1860, Worcester published ''A Dictionary of the English Language'', a substantially revised and expanded work which was soon recognized as a major English language dictionary.Jackson, Howard. ''Lexicography: An Introduction''. New York: Routledge, 2002: 64. The first copies were electrotype printed at the Boston Stereotype Foundry. The dictionary featured numerous illustrations throughout the text, a relatively new innovation. However, Worcester's work was not technically the first American dictionary to feature illustrations. Having heard about the plans for Worcester's new edition, Webster's publishers, George and Charles Merriam, rushed to put out a similar work. They managed to publish a Pictorial Edition of Webster's ''American Dictionary'' in 1859. The Pictorial Edition was basically a reprint of the 1847 ''American Dictionary'', with engravings taken from the
Imperial Dictionary of the English Language ''The Imperial Dictionary of the English Language'': ''A Complete Encyclopedic Lexicon, Literary, Scientific, and Technological'', edited by Rev. John Ogilvie (1797–1867), was an expansion of the 1841 second edition of Noah Webster's ''American ...
. More competition arrived in the form of the Merriam's revised edition of Webster's ''American Dictionary'', which appeared in 1864. Worcester's dictionary was posthumously revised in 1886, but was eclipsed by ''Webster's International'' and other dictionaries of the 1890s.


Marriage and family

In 1841 he married Amy Elizabeth McKean; the couple had no children. McKean, daughter of the founder of
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
's
Porcellian Club The Porcellian Club is an all-male final club at Harvard University, sometimes called the Porc or the P.C. The year of founding is usually given as 1791, when a group began meeting under the name "the Argonauts",, p. 171: source for 1791 origins ...
, had previously served as a teacher after taking over the post of
Sophia Ripley Sophia Willard Dana Ripley (1803–1861), wife of George Ripley, was a 19th-century feminist associated with Transcendentalism and the Brook Farm community. Biography She was born Sophia Willard Dana in 1803. Her father traveled abroad often and le ...
. Around this time, Worcester was living in the Craigie House in Cambridge, Massachusetts, renting rooms from the widow of
Andrew Craigie Andrew Craigie (1754-1819) is best known for serving as the first Apothecary General of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. The one-time owner of the Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, Craigie dev ...
, first apothecary general of the United States. When Mrs. Craigie died, Worcester rented out the entire house from her heirs and
sublease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
d rooms to the poet and professor
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...
. In 1843, after the house was purchased by Nathan Appleton on Longfellow's behalf, Worcester rented a portion of the house from Longfellow until the construction of his own home a few doors down was completed that spring. The home is still standing at 121 Brattle Street in Cambridge.


Death

Worcester died on October 27, 1865. He is interred at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The historian Howard Jackson notes it was not until Worcester's death that the "dictionary war" was finally over.


Critical response and legacy

Unlike Webster, Worcester adhered to British pronunciation and spellings, calling them "better", "more accurate", "more harmonious and agreeable". He opposed Webster's phonetic spelling reforms (e.g. ''tuf'' for ''tough'', ' for ''daughter''), to Webster's disapproval. The 20th century lexicographer and scholar James Sledd noted that the commercial rivalry between the two attracted significant public interest in lexicography and dictionaries. It was not until 1864, when the much-improved ''Webster-Mahn Dictionary'', which completely revised etymologies, was published, that the Worcester dictionary was outsold in the American marketplace. Worcester sent a copy of one of his dictionaries to the author
Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
, who predicted it would be used "to supply the wants of common schools". Though Webster's dictionary was the more popular, Worcester's book proved to be a favorite among writers. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. wrote that the book was one "on which, as is well known, the literary men of this metropolis are by special statute allowed to be sworn in place of the Bible."
Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as " The Man Without a Country", published in '' Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union ...
wrote of the 1860 ''Dictionary of the English Language'': "We have at last a good dictionary."


Works

*''A Geographical Dictionary, or Universal Gazetteer, Ancient and Modern'' (1817, enlarged 1823) *''A Gazetteer of the United States'' (1818) *''Elements of Geography, Ancient and Modern'' (1819) *''Sketches of the Earth and its Inhabitants'' (1823) *''Elements of History, Ancient and Modern, accompanied by an Historical Atlas'' (1826) *''Epitome of History'' (reissue of above, 1827) *''Outlines of Scripture Geography'' (1828) *''Johnson's Dictionary, as improved by Todd and abridged by Chalmers, with Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary combined, to which is added Walker's Key'' (1828) *''A Comprehensive Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language with Pronouncing Vocabularies'' (1830) *''A Universal and Critical Dictionary of the English Language'' (1846) *''A Gross Literary Fraud exposed; relating to the Publication of Worcester's Dictionary in London: Together with Three Appendixes; Including the Answer of S. Converse to an Attack on him by Messrs. G. & C. Merriam'' (1854) *''A Dictionary of the English Language'' (1860) *''An Elementary Dictionary for the Common Schools with Pronouncing Vocabularies of Classical Scripture and Modern Geographical Names'' *''An Elementary Dictionary of the English Language'' *''A Primary Dictionary of the English Language''


References


External links

*
"Dictionary Wars"
at ''History House'' magazine * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Worcester, Joseph Emerson 1784 births 1865 deaths American lexicographers Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Yale University alumni Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery People from Bedford, New Hampshire Phillips Academy alumni Brown University alumni Dartmouth College alumni Place of death missing 19th-century lexicographers