Webster's Third New International Dictionary
by Webster's
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Book Summary Information
Author: Webster'sBrand: Merriam-Webster
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-01
ISBN: 0877792011
Number of pages: 2816
Publisher: Merriam-Webster
Product features:
- Sold Individually
Book Reviews of Webster's Third New International Dictionary
Book Review: A classic: treat it as one
Summary: 5 Stars
All dictionaries are out of date when they are published.
This is a flaw to some, and a delight to others.
Despite what some reviewers here claim, no dictionary in the last 100 years set out to be prescriptive, that is, to include the words considered good and exclude the words considered bad. Prescriptive lexicography went to its grave about the same time as Queen Victoria did (in 1901).
People _believe_ that dictionaries are prescriptive, because (despite the inconvenient stuff in the preface that says otherwise) generations of English teachers have browbeaten their charges into writing they way their parents would have done, by saying "That's not a word, it's not in The Dictionary."
False, on two counts. False first, because the teacher should have said (with a glance at the title verso), not "That's not a word", but "That wasn't a word in 1961." No teacher today would ever say that, of course. Most of them weren't born in 1961. False second, because it is an _argumentum e silentio_, an argument from silence. This is a fallacy because you are assuming the compilers of the dictionary omitted the word on purpose, when in fact, if you read what they said in the preface, they probably omitted it through lack of evidence, or lack of time, or -- most likely -- lack of opportunity.
People believe that Websters Second (W2) was prescriptive (=good) and Websters Third (W3) was descriptive (=bad) because W2 more or less ignores informal English, and W3 covers it in detail. But this is not the dictionaries' doing. Lexicographers describe the language they see. And lexicographers glean much of their contemporary language citations from newspapers.
What many people do not take into account is the revolution in journalism that took place in the 30s, when the "write as you speak" movement swept away a whole formal style of writing that now seems to us quaint and stilted. If you turn up a leader column or opinion piece from 75 years ago, you may well find it nearly unreadable. Even many of Ambrose Bierce's funny columns from 100 years ago can now seem as hard to read as something written in 1750.
Several reviewers have noted that a Merriam-Webster 4 is long overdue. That is true. If you went around speaking the English that is described in W3, very shortly there would be soft-spoken but burly men in white coats coming to take you away. That dictionary says "a video" means "a tv set". That dictionary says that "email" is "a kind of enamel".
There is no news of a W4, and I believe the publishers are hesitant to spend the vast amounts of money required to produce a modern dictionary. Why should they? Much of Middle America wants a prescriptive dictionary, but no lexicographer of any standing would produce one. Considering the scorn, much of it ignorant, that was heaped on W3 in 1961 (a much more liberal time), it would be a brave, perhaps even foolhardy publisher that would launch a new dictionary on the US market now.
W3 is a fine dictionary. Its style of definition writing (consistent throughout) is exemplary, though today it sounds a little stiff. It swept away rubbish contributed by the technical advisers to W2 (such as "dord"). It is the first dictionary I consult about food (next stop: Larousse Gastronomique).
But it does describe American English of 1959, because in those days of manual typesetting and galley proofs it took about 2 years for a dictionary to get from manuscript to book. That makes it a museum-piece. It does not describe the English you speak. It describes the English your parents (or maybe grandparents) were speaking on their first date. That is, of course, what makes it valuable to teachers. If they say "Don't say that, it's a horrible slangy word", that is a 'value-judgement', which is of course not allowed. But they can say, "Don't say that, it's not a word, it's not in the dictionary." That is not a value-judgement, it's an objective criticism, which is allowed. There is slang in W3, but it is 50s slang, and has now entered the standard language or is forgotten, so it doesn't matter.
In the absence of a scholarly modern American dictionary, you may have to content yourself with a European one. Europeans tend to complain about contemporary words and senses being left out, whereas Americans almost invariably complain about them being put in. And, despite what you may think, we do know about American spelling. How could we not? it is the majority dialect.
Summary of Webster's Third New International Dictionary
Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, is the largest, most comprehensive American dictionary available, containing over 472,000 entries, 14,000 new words in a special Addenda Section, 3,000 illustrations, and 140,000 etymologies describing word origins. Boxed hardcover, buckram binding, thumb-notched.If big is better, the unabridged Webster's Third New International Dictionary is among the best. Weighing 12.5 pounds and measuring 4 inches thick, its 2,662 pages define more than 450,000 words spanning "a" to "zyzzogeton," including words ("disselboom" for instance) not found in other dictionaries, plus clear definitions, comprehensive etymologies, interesting asides, literary usage quotes, and a comfortable typeface. More than 150 years of accumulated scholarship helped collect the 10,000,000 usage examples that accurately provide definitions, and $3,500,000 went into producing this impressive volume. With Webster's Third you get a lot of dictionary for your money.
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