Whitney, William Dwight

Whitney, William Dwight

▪ American linguist
born Feb. 9, 1827, Northampton, Mass., U.S.
died June 7, 1894, New Haven, Conn.

      American linguist and one of the foremost Sanskrit scholars of his time, noted especially for his classic work, Sanskrit Grammar (1879).

      As a professor of Sanskrit (1854–94) and comparative language studies (1869–94) at Yale University, Whitney conducted extensive research and published a number of works. These included editions and translations of the Vedas, the ancient Hindu sacred scriptures, written in the oldest form of Sanskrit. Whitney also contributed to the great Sanskrit dictionary of Otto von Böhtlingk and Rudolf von Roth.

      Whitney also served as editor in chief of The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 6 vol. (1889–91), which in its time was one of the finest general-purpose dictionaries in the United States. He was also the editor of the 1864 edition of Webster's dictionary. Whitney wrote The Life and Growth of Language (1875; reprinted, 1977), Essentials of English Grammar (1877), and Max Müller and the Science of Linguistics: A Criticism (1892). His Selected Writings, edited by Michael Silverstein, was published in 1971.

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  • WHITNEY, WILLIAM DWIGHT —    American philologist, born in Massachusetts; studied at Yale College, where he became professor of Sanskrit, in which he was a proficient, and to the study of which he largely contributed; has done much for the science of language (1827 1894) …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

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  • William Dwight Whitney — (1827–1894) was an American linguist, philologist, and lexicographer who edited The Century Dictionary. Contents 1 …   Wikipedia

  • William Dwight Whitney — [ˈwɪtneɪ] (* 9. Februar 1827 in Northampton, Massachusetts; †  8. Juni 1894 in New Haven (Connecticut)) war ein amerikanischer Sp …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • William Whitney — William Dwight Whitney [ˈwɪtneɪ] (* 9. Februar 1827 in Northampton, Massachusetts; †  8. Juni 1894 in New Haven (Connecticut)) war ein amerikanischer Sprachforscher, Orientalist und Sanskritist. Whitney studierte seit 1849 im Yale College zu… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • William D. Whitney — William Dwight Whitney William Dwight Whitney (Northampton, Massachusetts, 9 de febrero de 1827 New Haven, Connecticut, 7 de junio de 1894), filólogo, lingüista y orientalista estadounidense. Hijo de un banquero y de la hija de un importante… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Whitney — Whitney, William Dwight ► Monte del SO de E.U.A., en el estado de California, pico culminante de Sierra Nevada; 4 418 m. * * * (as used in expressions) Morrow, Dwight W(hitney) Whitney, Amos Whitney, Eli Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, John …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • WHITNEY (W. D.) — WHITNEY WILLIAM DWIGHT (1827 1894) Linguiste américain, William D. Whitney étudie d’abord à Yale, puis en Allemagne, en particulier à Berlin où il a pour professeur le comparatiste Franz Bopp. En 1854, il est professeur de sanskrit à Yale, puis,… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

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