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TheAmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguageWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

TheAmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglish
Language
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

TheAmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage(AHD)isanAmericandictionaryofEnglish
publishedbyBostonpublisherHoughtonMifflin,thefirsteditionofwhichappearedin1969.Itscreation
wasspurredbythecontroversyovertheWebster'sThirdNewInternationalDictionary.

Contents
1History
2Linguistics
3Usagepanel
4Illustrations
5Firstedition
6Secondandlatereditions
7Seealso
8References
9Externallinks

History
JamesParton,theownerofthehistorymagazineAmericanHeritage,wasappalledbythepermissivenessof
Webster'sThird,publishedin1961,andtriedtobuytheG.andC.MerriamCompanysohecouldundothe
changes.Whenthatfailed,hecontractedwithHoughtontopublishanewdictionary.TheAHDwasedited
byWilliamMorrisandreliedonausagepanelof105writers,speakers,andeminentpersonschosenfor
theirwellknownconservatismintheuseoflanguage.[1]However,Morrismadeinconsistentuseofthe
panels,oftenignoringtheiradviceandinsertinghisownopinions.[1]

Linguistics
TheAHDbrokegroundamongdictionariesbyusingcorpuslinguisticsforcompilingwordfrequenciesand
otherinformation.Ittooktheinnovativestepofcombiningprescriptiveinformation(howlanguageshould
beused)anddescriptiveinformation(howitactuallyisused).Thedescriptiveinformationwasderived
fromactualtexts.
Citationswerebasedonamillionword,threelinecitationdatabasepreparedbyBrownUniversitylinguist
HenryKucera.
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Usagepanel
Forexpertconsultationonwordsorconstructionswhoseusageiscontroversialorproblematic,the
AmericanHeritageDictionaryreliesontheadviceofausagepanel.Initscurrentform,thepanelconsists
of200prominentmembersofprofessionswhoseworkdemandssensitivitytolanguage.Presentandformer
membersoftheusagepanelincludenovelists(IsaacAsimov,BarbaraKingsolver,DavidFosterWallace
andEudoraWelty),poets(RitaDove,GalwayKinnell,MaryOliverandRobertPinsky),playwrights
(TerrenceMcNallyandMarshaNorman),journalists(LianeHansenandSusanStamberg),literarycritics
(HaroldBloom),columnistsandcommentators(WilliamF.Buckley,Jr.andRobertJ.Samuelson),linguists
andcognitivescientists(StevenPinkerandCalvertWatkins)andhumorists(GarrisonKeillor,David
SedarisandAlisonBechdel).
Themembersofthepanelaresentregularballotsaskingaboutmattersofusagethecompletedballotsare
returnedandtabulated,andtheresultsformthebasisforspecialusagenotesappendedtotherelevant
dictionaryentries.Inmanycases,thesenotesnotonlyreportthepercentageofpanelistswhoconsidera
givenusageorconstructiontobeacceptable,butwillalsoreporttheresultsfromballotingofthesame
questioninpastdecades,togiveaclearersenseofhowthelanguagechangesovertime.

Illustrations
TheAHDisalsosomewhatinnovativeinitsliberaluseofphotographicillustrations,whichatthetimewas
highlyunusualforgeneralreferencedictionaries,manyofwhichwentlargelyorcompletelyunillustrated.It
alsohasanunusuallylargenumberofbiographicalentriesfornotablepersons.

Firstedition
Thefirsteditionappearedin1969,highlypraisedforitsIndoEuropeanetymologies.Inadditiontothe
normallyexpectedetymologies,whichforinstancetracethewordambiguoustoaProtoIndoEuropean
rootag,meaning"todrive,"theappendicesincludedasevenpagearticlebyProfessorCalvertWatkins
entitled"IndoEuropeanandtheIndoEuropeans"and"IndoEuropeanRoots",46pagesofentriesthatare
eachorganizedaroundoneofsomethousandProtoIndoEuropeanrootsandtheEnglishwordsoftheAHD
thatareunderstoodtohaveevolvedfromthem.Theseentriesmightbecalled"reverseetymologies":the
agentrythere,forinstance,lists49termsderivedfromit,wordsasdiverseasagent,essay,purge,
stratagem,ambassador,axiom,andpellagra,alongwithinformationaboutvaryingroutesthrough
intermediatetransformationsonthewaytothecontemporarywords.

Secondandlatereditions
Thesecondedition,publishedin1980,omittedtheIndoEuropeanetymologies,buttheywerereintroduced
inthethirdedition,publishedin1992.Thethirdeditionwasalsoadepartureforthepublisherbecauseit
wasdevelopedinadatabase,whichfacilitatedtheuseofthelinguisticdataforotherapplications,suchas
electronicdictionaries.
Thefourthedition(2000)addedSemiticlanguagematerials,suchasananalogousappendixofroots,and
includedcolorillustrations.ItislargerthanthedeskdictionariesofthetimebutsmallerthanWebster's
ThirdNewInternationalDictionaryorTheRandomHouseDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage.Thereisa
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lowerpricedcollegeeditionwithmonocolorprinting.
TheAHDhasalongtraditionofinsertingminorrevisions(suchasabiographicalentry,withphotograph,
foreachnewlyelectedU.S.President)insuccessiveprintingsofanygivenedition.
ThefifthandmostrecenteditionwaspublishedinNovember2011.[2]

Seealso
PronunciationrespellingforEnglish,whichcomparesthepronunciationrespellingschemeofthe
AHDwithotherdictionaries.
AmericanHeritage(magazine)
AmericanHeritageofInvention&Technology

References
1. ^abOttenhoff,John(Autumn1996)."ThePerilsofPrescriptivism:UsageNotesandTheAmericanHeritage
Dictionary"(http://www.jstor.org/stable/455550).AmericanSpeech71(3).doi:10.2307/455550
(http://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F455550).Retrieved10June2014.
2. ^TheAmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguage,FifthEdition.
(http://www.hmhbooks.com/catalog/titledetail.cfm?titleNumber=1034296)

Externallinks
AmericanHeritageDictionaryoftheEnglishLanguageonline(http://www.ahdictionary.com/)
MembersoftheUsagePanel(http://www.ahdictionary.com/word/usagepanel.html)
TheAmericanHeritageDictionarySoftware
(http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/epub/ahd4.shtml)
BostonGlobereviewoftheAHD3rdedition(1992)(http://courses.ischool.berkeley.edu/i290
10/f05/AHDGlobe.html)

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