The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language (review)

REVIEWS The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language. 2000. 4th edition. Ed. Joseph Pickett, Beth Anderson, Benjamin W. Fortson IV, Steven Kleinedler, Hanna Schonthal, and others. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Pp. xxxviii + 2074. $60.00 US. The time between editions of the American Heritage® Dictionary ofthe English Language (henceforth AHD) is declining regularly, from the thirteen years between the first (1969) and the second edition,1 to ten years between second and third (1992), to eight years between AHD3 and AHD4. A question this phenomenon raises is whether the increase in the new edition rate reflects improved technology and methods for dictionary-making or whether the differences are mostly cosmetic, in order to present the product as new and thus invigorate lagging sales. Happily for consumers and lexicographers , the evidence favors the former hypothesis. AHD4 is the product of obvious systematic revision, both in its entries and its features. This is especially stunning when we review the facts about the earlier editions. AHD2C did not involve a full revision of AHDl or even AHDlC, so twenty-three years passed between the publication ofAHDl and the first full revision, AHD3. The changes between AHD3 and AHD4 are sometimes subtle and occasionally striking, but the fact that this new edition involves so many changes in so few years is a testament to the mercurial nature of the English language and its use, as well as to the sensitivity and organization of the American Heritage editorial staff. This is not, of course, to say that the AHD4 is without faults, some of which might have been avoided with a little more time and care. Happily, most faults are found in the details, not in the premises or policies of the dictionary. This edition boasts several new features (full color illustration, Our Living Language Notes, Proto-Semitic roots appendix) and thousands of new words and senses. This review progresses from the outside of the dictionary in, and from the front to back. The dictionary can be purchased with a CD-ROM companion, which is not reviewed here. •The Second CoUege Edition (AHDC2) is in fact a new edition of the 1976 college edition (AHDCl) that was abbreviated from AHDl. Dictionaries:Journal ofthe Dictionary Society ofNorth America 22 (2001) 1 82Reviews Judging the book by its cover and size The first thing one notices about AHD4 is that its dustjacket is white, a bold move away from AHD3's more traditional blue-black, which has been co-opted by recent competitor The Encarta World English Dictionary (EWED) . My immediate impression was that it looks like the family Bible, which is perhaps what its producers hoped. The cover itself is black and quite handsome, the front board embossed with the English alphabet. The binding of this first printing seems strong. The pages are manageably thin and thumb-indexed. In spite of the fact that my copy of the AHD4 is several millimeters thicker than AHD3, it is only 2112 pages long (including 38 pages of front matter and 61 of appendices), compared to AHD3's 2184 (44 pages of front matter and 40 pages of appendix) . How was this reduction achieved when whole sections and thousands of entries were added to the dictionary? In the front matter, the font sizes have been reduced, as has the number of essays on language (from four to three) . In the body of the dictionary, subtle changes make the AHD4 page seem denser. The definition font is the same height, but slightly narrower, spaces between syllables in headwords and parts of the entry (headword, pronunciation) have been reduced. Whether this reduces readability is a subjective matter; I found both editions equally squint-inducing. On the other hand, cross-referenced words are larger and a bit less bold, making them stand out better on the page. Front matter The "Table of Contents" (v) is supplemented by lists of charts and tables and followed by a guide to "Entries with Notes" (vi-vii) . This feature is very useful for dictionary reviewers, if no one else. Joseph Pickett's Introduction (viii-ix) highlights new material in the dictionary and the "latest technology" (use of online databases) used in its four years of...