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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

etymologies, Noah Webster, lexicographer, different languages

College

Humanities

Department

Linguistics and English Language

Abstract

In addition to priceless definition writing, the famed lexicographer, Noah Webster, spent over a decade in research for the etymologies, or word origins, in his dictionary. Unfortunately, scholars and biographers often criticize his etymological work in the literature. The trend in these criticisms seems to be that labeling a few obscure examples of Webster’s etymologies as incorrect is sufficient reason for the entire collection of his etymologies to be ignored. These critics dismiss his etymologies as being too speculative, lacking in scientific rigor, and too Biblical. Surprisingly, no study to date has reported a scientific analysis of his etymologies. My ORCA project included such an analysis, intended to validate Webster’s etymological work as a whole. My results confirmed my hypothesis that a significant portion of Webster’s etymologies contains valid information, that Webster’s critics were incorrect in labeling his work as too Biblical, and that Webster was actually a noteworthy example of a disciple-scholar who applied revelation to academic pursuits.

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