One of the salient features of Webster`s New World dictionaries has been an unusually full etymology, that is, the origin and development of words and the relationship of words to other Indo-European languages. The work also labels words which have a distinctly American origin. Pearson bought the reference division of Simon & Schuster in 1998 and sold it to IDG Books in 1999. John Wiley & Sons acquired IDG Books (renamed Hungry Minds) in 2001. In November 2012, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt acquired the reference portfolio of Wiley, including the WNWD. The college edition is the official desk dictionary of the Associated Press and The New York Times.