[Dixonary] OT: That "aborigenes" question

[Dodi Schultz]

>> So it brings back the mystery of what written source the online
>> dictionaries cite as "Webster's 1913" and whether the typo was in
>> such source, which is apparently not M-W.

Yep, Dan, it does--but the def you found, EXCEPT for that misspelling, is
in fact identical with the real M-W def as it appears in the 1934 Second
International. Therefore, I suspect that what Wiki's got (whatever the
source used by the anonymous person who entered it) was initially swiped
from the M-W New International of 1909 for that 1913 publication (which
maybe made the further false claim of being M-W).

I can tell you that the people who steal published stuff far outnumber us
copyright owners. And they, in turn, are vastly outnumbered by those who
have no grasp of copyright law at all. :-(

--Dodi

[Daniel B. Widdis]

Dodi said:
> Next was the New International of 1909, followed by the Second
> International of 1934, and the Third (roundly criticized for laxity)
> in 1961. There was no 1913 edition.

I've traced the roots of several online sources back to a single source,
Project Gutenberg. The "C" section of the W1913 is here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/661. The header identifies the source fully
as:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Version published 1913
by the C. & G. Merriam Co.
Springfield, Mass.
Under the direction of
Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D.

This electronic version was prepared by MICRA, Inc. of Plainfield, NJ.
Last edit February 11, 1999.

The "aborigene" typo exists in this copy and is likely the cause of the
typos everywhere else. The only remaining question is whether MICRA scanned
the text in electronically from a misspelled hard copy, or an employee made
the typo when manually transcribing.
--
Dan

[Paul Keating]

"by the C. & G. Merriam Co." is the giveaway. The real Merriam-Webster is
"G. & C." Nowadays you would get the pants sued off you for a stunt like
that.

Paul Keating
The Hague

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel B. Widdis


Dodi said:
> Next was the New International of 1909, followed by the Second
> International of 1934, and the Third (roundly criticized for laxity)
> in 1961. There was no 1913 edition.

I've traced the roots of several online sources back to a single source,
Project Gutenberg. The "C" section of the W1913 is here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/661. The header identifies the source fully
as:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Version published 1913
by the C. & G. Merriam Co.
Springfield, Mass.
Under the direction of
Noah Porter, D.D., LL.D.

This electronic version was prepared by MICRA, Inc. of Plainfield, NJ.
Last edit February 11, 1999.