If you’ve ever wondered why Americans spell “color” and the British, “colour,” you can thank Noah Webster. The same thing goes for “theater” and “theatre” and “mask” and “masque.” When a distinctive American accent started to develop, Webster decided that it was time to sever ties with Great Britain’s language and create something more American. In honor of our independence of British governance, here is the story of our independence from British orthography.
Noah Webster is known for a couple things -- reforming the American education system, the name sake for the Webster dictionary, and the creator of English spelling. He grew up in Hartford, Conn. in a farming family, and he went to Yale at the age of 16. After graduation, he decided to be a teacher. While working as a teacher, he became discontent with the American school system, with its outdated British textbooks and underqualified teachers. For this reason, he set out write his own textbook titled, "A Grammatical Institute of the English Language."
This textbook became a staple in the American classroom, selling nearly 100 million copies. Within it, Webster attempted to simplify the spelling and pronunciation of American English and explain why there were so many confusing rules. In the process of simplifying the method of English spelling, Webster made some corrections to words. He decided the “u” in the suffix "our" is unnecessary, rendering the American spellings: color, glamor, favor, etc. He also found the suffix "re" confusing, so he inverted the two letters, leading the American spelling: center, theater, etc.
Webster began his next cumbersome task in 1801: creating a truly American dictionary, a dictionary that would contain American words that do not apply in Britain, words that are unique to the American experience. Such words ranged from ecological terms, like hickory and squash, all the way to giving a name to the process of becoming American: Americanizing.
As soon as he published his first dictionary, he started work on another, more complete dictionary. Published in 1828, "American Dictionary of the English Language" contained more than 65,000 words that further expressed the American experience.
Though some of Webster’s alterations were quickly accepted by the American public, not all were met with such a warm welcoming. Corrections like “ake,” as opposed to “ache” were never adopted. Here is a list of words with the previous spellings that were either adopted or rejected in American English:
Words that made it | Words that didn’t |
Gaol = jail | Ache = ake |
Mould = mold | Soup = soop |
Travelled = traveled | Sleigh = sley |
Honour = honor | Sponge = spunge |
Centre = center | Tongue = tung |
Masque = mask | Cloak = cloke |
Publick = public | Determine = determin |
Musick = music | Woman = wimmen |
