4 ms·

I find it more that a little amusing, that despite the US friendship with France, Websters idea of decolonising English was to alter the french derived words li

I find it more that a little amusing, that despite the US friendship with France, Websters idea of decolonising English was to alter the french derived words like 'centre'

Amezarak 4y ago
The article overstates Webster's influence. He did not invent those spellings (the article says they are "new versions of old words"), which predated him sometimes by centuries. He simply standardized them. English spelling at the time was very lax, and had been for centuries. You can find people spelling their own name inconsistently! The article cites color, center, and aluminum. Color is essentially etymologically correct - it comes from the Latin word color, by way of France, which did not spell it colour either. And the spelling in English is attested long before Webster. Here's an example from 1657. https://books.google.com/books?id=xAdmAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA3-PA3&dq=color&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjenLmvo9v8AhUYmWoFHSGPBIEQ6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=color&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=xAdmAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA3-PA3&dq... Here's an example of "center" from 1704: https://books.google.com/books?id=GBcOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA282&dq=center&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN2--KpNv8AhUAnWoFHXVyBDoQ6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=center&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=GBcOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA282&dq=c... And aluminum comes from the British Humphry Davy in 1812, not Webster! This is at least excusable, since aluminum was a newer spelling, as opposed to color and center, which had been in very common use for hundreds of years. It's very disappointing when journalists get easily verifiable historical facts wrong. FWIW, America' friendship with France was also rapidly cooling in the 1790s, as the article alludes to. By the Adams administration, it was positively anti-France.

4 ms·

I find it more that a little amusing, that despite the US friendship with France, Websters idea of decolonising English was to alter the french derived words li

by mocopoco 4y ago

I find it more that a little amusing, that despite the US friendship with France, Websters idea of decolonising English was to alter the french derived words like 'centre'

Amezarak 4y ago
The article overstates Webster's influence. He did not invent those spellings (the article says they are "new versions of old words"), which predated him sometimes by centuries. He simply standardized them. English spelling at the time was very lax, and had been for centuries. You can find people spelling their own name inconsistently! The article cites color, center, and aluminum. Color is essentially etymologically correct - it comes from the Latin word color, by way of France, which did not spell it colour either. And the spelling in English is attested long before Webster. Here's an example from 1657. https://books.google.com/books?id=xAdmAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA3-PA3&dq=color&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjenLmvo9v8AhUYmWoFHSGPBIEQ6AF6BAgKEAI#v=onepage&q=color&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=xAdmAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA3-PA3&dq... Here's an example of "center" from 1704: https://books.google.com/books?id=GBcOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA282&dq=center&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN2--KpNv8AhUAnWoFHXVyBDoQ6AF6BAgFEAI#v=onepage&q=center&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=GBcOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA282&dq=c... And aluminum comes from the British Humphry Davy in 1812, not Webster! This is at least excusable, since aluminum was a newer spelling, as opposed to color and center, which had been in very common use for hundreds of years. It's very disappointing when journalists get easily verifiable historical facts wrong. FWIW, America' friendship with France was also rapidly cooling in the 1790s, as the article alludes to. By the Adams administration, it was positively anti-France.