''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (commonly known as ''Webster's Third'', or ''W3'') was published in September 1961. It was edited by
Philip Babcock Gove
Philip Babcock Gove (June 27, 1902–November 16, 1972) was an American lexicographer who was editor-in-chief of the ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'', published in 1961.
Born in Concord, New Hampshire, he received his A.B. from Da ...
and a team of lexicographers who spent 757
editor-years and $3.5 million. The most recent printing has 2,816 pages, and as of 2005, it contained more than 476,000 vocabulary entries (including more than 100,000 new entries and as many new senses for entries carried over from previous editions), 500,000 definitions, 140,000 etymologies, 200,000 verbal illustrations, 350,000 example sentences, 3,000 pictorial illustrations and an 18,000-word Addenda section.
The final definition,
Zyzzogeton
''Zyzzogeton'' is a rare genus of leafhoppers endemic to South America. It is named after a former genus ''Zyzza'' (probably an onomatopoeia), appended with the ancient Greek ''geitōn'' ( ‘neighbour’).Webster’s ''Unabridged Dictionary'': ...
, was written on October 17, 1960; the final etymology was recorded on October 26; and the final pronunciation was transcribed on November 9. The final copy went to the typesetters,
R. R. Donnelley, on December 2. The book was printed by the
Riverside Press
Riverside Insights is a publisher of clinical and educational standardized tests in the United States; it is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It is also a charter member of the Association of Test Publishers.
Riverside Insights was establish ...
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
. The first edition had 2,726 pages (measuring wide by tall by thick), weighed , and originally sold for $47.50 ($ in dollars). The changes were the most radical in the history of the ''Unabridged''.
The dictionary was met with considerable criticism for its
descriptive
In the study of language, description or descriptive linguistics is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is actually used (or how it was used in the past) by a speech community. François & Ponsonnet (2013).
All acad ...
(rather than
prescriptive
Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
) approach.
It told how the language was used instead of how it ought to be used.
Deletions
Prior to ''Webster's Third'' the ''Unabridged'' had been expanded with each new edition, with minimal deletion. To make room for 100,000 new words, Gove now made sweeping deletions, dropping 250,000 entries. He eliminated the "nonlexical matter" that he felt belonged in an encyclopedia, including all names of people and places (which had filled two appendices). There were no more mythological, biblical, and fictional names, nor the names of buildings, historical events, or art works. Thirty picture plates were dropped. The rationale was that, while useful, these are not strictly about language. Gove justified the change by the company's publication of ''Webster's Biographical Dictionary'' in 1943 and ''
Webster's Geographical Dictionary'' in 1949, and the fact that the topics removed could be found in encyclopedias.
Also removed were words which had been virtually out of use for more than two hundred years (except those found in major literature such as Shakespeare), rare variants, reformed spellings, self-explanatory combination words, and other items considered of little value to the general reader. The number of small text illustrations was reduced, page size increased, and print size reduced by one-twelfth, from six point to agate (5.5 point) type. All this was considered necessary because of the large amount of new material, and ''Webster's Second'' had almost reached the limits of mechanical
bookbinding
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, b ...
. The fact that the new book had about 700 fewer pages was justified by the need to allow room for future additions.
In style and method, the dictionary bore little resemblance to earlier editions. Headwords (except for "God",
acronym
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
s pronounced as a string of letters, and, in the reprints, trademarks) were not capitalized. Instead of capitalizing "American", for example, the dictionary had labels next to the entries reading ''cap'' (for the noun) and ''usu cap'' (for the adjective). This allowed informative distinctions to be drawn: "gallic" is ''usu cap'' while "gallicism" is ''often cap'' and "gallicize" is ''sometimes cap''.
Reception and criticisms
The reviews of the Third edition were highly favorable in Britain.
Robert Chapman, a lexicographer, canvassed fellow lexicographers at
Funk & Wagnalls, who had used the new edition daily for three years. The consensus held that the Third was a "marvelous achievement, a monument of scholarship and accuracy". They did come up with some specific criticisms, including typographic unattractiveness (they claimed the type is too small and hard to read); non-use of capital letters (only "God" is capitalized; the goal was to save space); excessive use of citations, giving misspellings as legitimate variants, dropping too many obsolete words, the lack of usage labels, and deliberate omission of biographical and geographical entries. Chapman concluded that the "cranks and intransigents who advise us to hang on to the NID 2 are plain fools who deny themselves the riches of a great book".
This dictionary became preferred as a backup source by two influential style guides in the United States, although each one directs writers to go first to other, shorter dictionaries. ''
The Chicago Manual of Style
''The Chicago Manual of Style'' (abbreviated in writing as ''CMOS'' or ''CMS'', or sometimes as ''Chicago'') is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 17 editions have prescribed writi ...
'', followed by many book publishers and magazines in the United States, recommends ''Webster's Third'', along with ''
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate 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 n ...
'' for "general matters of spelling", and the style book "normally opts for" the first spelling listed (with the ''Collegiate'' taking precedence over ''Webster's Third'' because it "represents the latest research").
['']The Chicago Manual of Style
''The Chicago Manual of Style'' (abbreviated in writing as ''CMOS'' or ''CMS'', or sometimes as ''Chicago'') is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 17 editions have prescribed writi ...
'', 15th edition, New York and London: University of Chicago Press, 2003, Chapter 7: "Spelling, Distinctive Treatment of Words, and Compounds", Section 7.1 "Introduction", p. 278 ''
The Associated Press Stylebook
The ''AP Stylebook'', also known by its full name ''The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law'', is an American English grammar style guide, style and usage guide created by American journalists working for or connected with the A ...
'', used by most newspapers in the United States, refers readers to ''W3'' "if there is no listing in either this book or ''
Webster's New World''".
Permissiveness
In the early 1960s, ''Webster's Third'' came under attack for its "permissiveness" and its failure to tell people what proper English was. It was an early conflict in the
culture war
A culture war is a cultural conflict between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal value ...
s, as conservatives detected yet another symbol of the permissiveness of society as a whole, and the decline of authority represented by the ''Second Edition''. As historian Herbert Morton explained, "''Webster's Second'' was more than respected. It was accepted as the ultimate authority on meaning and usage and its preeminence was virtually unchallenged in the United States. It did not provoke controversies, it settled them." Critics charged that ''Webster's Third'' was reluctant to defend standard English, for example entirely eliminating the labels "colloquial", "correct", "incorrect", "proper", "improper", "erroneous", "humorous", "jocular", "poetic", and "contemptuous", among others.
Gove's stance was an exemplar of
descriptivist linguistics: describing language as it is or has been used. As David M. Glixon put it in the ''
Saturday Review'': "Having descended from God's throne of supreme authority, the Merriam folks are now seated around the city desk, recording like mad."
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...
said this stance made ''Webster's Third'' "the longest political pamphlet ever put together by a party", done with "a dogma that far transcends the limits of lexicography".
In 1962, two professors of English James Sledd (Northwestern) and Wilma R. Ebbitt (University of Chicago), published a "casebook" that compiles more than sixty lay and expert contributions to this controversy. In it, Sledd was drawn into debate with
Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald (March 24, 1906 – December 19, 1982) was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, literary critic, philosopher, and activist. Macdonald was a member of the New York Intellectuals and editor of their leftist maga ...
, one of the most prominent critics of the dictionary, who in the pages of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' (March 10, 1962) had accused its makers of having "untuned the string, made a sop of the solid structure of English"; Macdonald held that the dictionary was an important indicator of "the changes in our cultural climate".
'Ain't'
The dictionary's treatment of '
ain't
The word "ain't" is a contraction for ''am not'', ''is not'', ''are not'', ''has not'', ''have not'' in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects ''ain't'' is also used as a contraction of ''do not'', ''does not'' and ''did not''. ...
' was subject to particular scorn,
since it seemed to overrule the near-unanimous denunciation of that word by English teachers. ''The New Yorker'' ran a cartoon showing a receptionist at the dictionary's office telling a visitor that "Dr. Gove ain't in." The entry for "ain't" seemed to condone its use, saying "though disapproved by many and more common in less educated speech, used orally in most parts of the U. S. by many cultivated speakers esp. in the phrase ''ain't I''". ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' of Toronto editorialized: "a dictionary's embrace of the word 'ain't' will comfort the ignorant, confer approval upon the mediocre, and subtly imply that proper English is the tool of only the snob". ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' editorialized that "Webster's has, it is apparent, surrendered to the permissive school that has been busily extending its beachhead in English instruction in the schools ... reinforced the notion that good English is whatever is popular" and "can only accelerate the deterioration" of the English language. The ''Times'' widely respected
Theodore M. Bernstein, its in-house style authority and a professor of journalism at Columbia University, reported that most of the newspaper's editors decided to continue to use the ''Webster's Second''.
Garry Wills
Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...
in the ''
National Review
''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...
'' opined that the new dictionary "has all the modern virtues. It is big, expensive, and ugly. It should be a great success."
Criticism of the dictionary spurred the creation of ''
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (''AHD'') is an American English, American dictionary of English published by Boston publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Houghton Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. ...
'', where 500 usage notes were determined by a panel of expert writers. The editor, however, often ignored their advice.
Revisions and updates
Since the 1961 publication of the ''Third'',
Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States.
In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...
has reprinted the main text of the dictionary with only minor corrections. To add new words, they created an ''Addenda Section'' in 1966, included in the front matter, which was expanded in 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1993, and 2002. However, the rate of additions has been much slower than it had been throughout the previous hundred years.
Following the purchase of Merriam-Webster by
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. is a British-American company known for publishing the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', the world's oldest continuously published encyclopaedia, as well as extensive digital efforts—including text and audiovisual ...
in 1964, a three-volume version was issued for many years as a supplement to the encyclopedia. At the end of volume three, this edition included the ''Britannica World Language Dictionary'', 474 pages of translations between English and French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and Yiddish.
A CD-ROM version of the complete text, with thousands of additional new words and definitions from the "addenda", was published by Merriam-Webster in 2000, and is often packaged with the print edition.
The Merriam-Webster staff has been working on the fourth edition (W4) of the ''Unabridged'' since 2008, but a publication date had not been set. It is now unlikely that Merriam-Webster will ever publish a paper version of W4 due to its unprecedented length.
References
Further reading
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External links
Webster's Third New International Dictionary Clippings 1961–1964at th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{Authority control
1961 non-fiction books
English dictionaries
Works about American English