Coming up on Word Matters, just who was Noah Webster?
I'm Emily Brewster,
and Word Matters is produced by Merriam-Webster in collaboration with New England Public Media.
On each episode, Merriam-Webster editors Amon Shea, Peter Sakalowski,
and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point.
Try to imagine, if you will, the entirety of the English language,
every noun, verb, adverb, preposition.
Now imagine being the kind of person who says, I think I'll catalog all of this on my own.
That, my friends, is what Noah Webster did.
Today we're going to talk about our lexicographical progenitor and his quest to capture a new American English.
I think every Merriam-Webster editor has at one point or another been assigned to reply to someone who is asking just who Merriam is.
in the company's name, Miriam Webster.
Who is this mysterious Miriam woman?
I know who Webster is, but who is Miriam?
And the answer, of course, is that she is no woman.
She is actually a pair of brothers.
It's a family name.
We sometimes even get letters addressed to Miriam Webster with an I. or a Y even,
the family name is spelled with an E-M-E-R-R-I-A-M.
We say Merriam, but it's easily misheard.