Introduction: sources and structure of the glossary

The glossary in this chapter highlights Dutch loanwords in American English that still exist – although some of them have become historical terms – as well as words cited in multiple sources. Most of the words have been extracted from the many dictionaries that describe the distinct vocabulary of American English (see the bibliography at the end of this book). A minority of the words have disappeared from American English. Dutch loanwords in American English that are cited only once or a limited number of times have not been included. The following list from Mencken's The American Language (1937) may serve as an example. On pages 109-110, Mencken writes in note 2:

None of these words are found in any other American English source and they therefore have not been incorporated.

The glossary gives the contemporary meaning of each headword, followed by an indication as to whether the word is included in the four-volume A Dictio nary of American English on Historical Principles by William A. Craigie and James R. Hulbert from 1938-1944 (abbreviated as Craigie hereafter), in the Dictionary of American Regional English (1985-) edited by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (abbreviated as DARE hereafter; volumes published so far: A through Sk-) and/or in Webster's Third New International Dictionary from 1961 (hereafter abbreviated as Webster). These three dictionaries were chosen because each represents the most comprehensive collection of words in American English in their respective fields: Craigie in the area of Americanisms, DARE with regard to regional American English, and Webster's as a contemporary document of the entire English vocabulary in the US. The source entry shows at a glance how current or frequently used a certain word is: a word that does not occur in any source other than DARE is only used regionally, while a word that is only included in Craigie is now regarded as archaic.