The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD) is a dictionary of American English published by Boston publisher Houghton-Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. Its creation was spurred by the controversy over the Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Manual of Specialised Lexicography, Henning Bergenholtz/Sven Tarp (eds. ... American English or U.S. English is the form of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ... Nickname: Beantown, The Hub, Athens of America Location in the state of Massachusetts Founded September 17, 1630 County Suffolk County Mayor Thomas Menino (Dem) Area  - Total  - Water 232. ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is a common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, deriving its name from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ...

James Parton, the owner of the history magazine American Heritage, was appalled by the "permissiveness" of Webster's Third, published in 1961, and tried to buy the G. and C. Merriam Company so he could undo the changes. When that failed, he contracted with Houghton to publish a new dictionary. The AHD was edited by William Morris and relied on a usage panel of 105 writers, speakers, and eminent persons for usage notes. 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Merriam-Webster, originally known as the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is a United States company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Websters An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). ...

The AHD broke ground among dictionaries by using corpus linguistics in compiling word-frequency and other information. The AHD made the innovative step of combining prescriptive elements (how language should be used) and descriptive information (how it actually is used); the latter was derived from text corpora. Citations were based on a million word, three-line citation database prepared by Brown University linguist Henry Kucera. Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples (corpora) or real world text. ... Brown University is an Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... Henry Kucera (born 1925) is a Czech linguist who was a pioneer in corpus linguistics and linguistic software. ...

The first edition appeared in 1969, highly praised for its Indo-European etymologies. In addition to the normally expected etymologies, which for instance trace the word "ambiguous" to a Proto-Indo-European root "ag-", meaning "to drive", the appendices included a seven-page article by Professor Calvert Watkins entitled "Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans" and "Indo-European Roots", 46 pages of entries that are each organized around one of some thousand inferred Proto-Indo-European roots and the English words of the AHD that are understood to have evolved from them. These entries might be called "reverse etymologies": the "ag-" entry there, for instance lists 49 words derived from it, as diverse as "agent", "essay", "purge", "stratagem", "ambassador", "axiom" and "pellagra", along with information about varying routes through intermediate transformations on the way to the contemporary words. Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies Indo-European is originally a linguistic term, referring to the Indo-European language family. ... Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Proto-Indo-Europeans are the hypothetical speakers of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, a prehistoric people of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. ... In vascular plants, the root is that organ of a plant body that typically lies below the surface of the soil (compare with stem). ... Calvert Watkins is a professor Emeritus of linguistics and the classics at Harvard University. ...

The second edition, published in 1980, omitted the Indo-European etymologies but they were reintroduced in the third edition, published in 1992. The third edition was also a departure for the publisher because it was developed in a database, which facilitated the use of the linguistic data for other applications, such as electronic dictionaries. The fourth edition (2000) added Semitic language materials, including an analogous appendix of roots. As of 2004, it remains the current edition. 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Semitic languages are the northeastern subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages, and the only family of this group spoken in Asia. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The AHD is larger than the desk dictionaries of the time but smaller than Webster's Third New International Dictionary or The Random-House Dictionary of the English Language. 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is a common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, deriving its name from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ... The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged was the original name of a large American dictionary, first published in 1966, and recently renamed the Random House Websters Unabridged Dictionary. ...

There is a lower-priced college edition with monocolor printing.

External links

• yourDictionary's American Heritage Dictionary online (http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/search)
• Bartleby's American Heritage Dictionary online (http://www.bartleby.com/61/)
• The American Heritage Dictionary Software (http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/eref/buy_HMAFF00009.jsp)