c**i
发帖数: 6973 | 1 (1) Barton Swaim, A Definitive American Life; Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary
embodied a nation grown self-confident enough to celebrate its own language
. Wall Street Journal, Apr 14, 2011.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274
8704013604576247334173406802.html
(book review on Joshua Kendall, The Forgotten Founding Father; Noah Webster'
s obsession and the creation of American culture. Putnam, 2011)
Note:
(a) Noah Webster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_Webster
(1758-1843)
Quote: "Politician Daniel Webster [US senator from Massachusetts] was Noah
Webster’s cousin. As a senator, Daniel sponsored Noah’s proposed copyright
bill. The first major statutory revision of U.S. copyright law, the 1831
Act was a result of intensive lobbying by Noah Webster and his agents in
Congress.
* Merriam-Webster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merriam-Webster
(originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts;
Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a subsidiary of Encyclopædia Britannica,
Inc. since 1964; section 1.1 Noah Webster, section 1.2 Merriam as publisher)
(b) typescript (n; type + manuscript): "a typewritten manuscript)
All definitions are from www.m-w.com.
Go to images.yahoo.com and you will see a typescript is different from a
print.
(c) peremptory (adj): "characterized by often imperious or arrogant self-
assurance
Shakespeare>"
(d) Thomas Dilworth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dilworth
(died 1780; English author of a widely-used schoolbook, both in Great
Britain and America: A New Guide to the English Tongue, published in 1761)
(e) Minerva (n): "the Roman goddess of wisdom — compare ATHENA" who is "the
Greek goddess of wisdom."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva
(f) Benjamin Rush
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Rush
(1746-1813; a Founding Father of the United States; lived in the state of
Pennsylvania; a physician)
(g) The review talks about "attempts to improve Dr. Johnson."
Samuel Johnson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson
(1709-1784; often referred to as Dr Johnson; Englishman)
Quote: "Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755;
it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as "
one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship."[3] The Dictionary
brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford
English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was viewed as the pre-eminent
British dictionary.
(h) balderdash (n; origin unknown): "NONSENSE"
(2) John A Murray, Noah Webster and the Bee; Nobody would be prouder of
contestants at the National Spelling Bee than the Founding Father who made
it possible. Wall Street Journal, June 4, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142
4052748704875604575280822341418854.html
Quote:
"The first national spelling bee was held in 1925.
"Given this amazing diversity united under one language, the author of
America's first dictionary and the originator of uniform spelling in America
(which makes the Bee possible!) would be proud. That's Noah Webster
My comment: There is no need to read the rest. |
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