Edward Stevens Sheldon

Background

He was born on November 21, 1851 at Waterville, Maine, United States, a son of the Rev. David Newton and Rachel Hobart (Ripley) Sheldon, and a brother of Henry Newton Sheldon.

Education

After preliminary studies at the Waterville (later Coburn) Classical Institute and at Colby College, Waterville, where he spent one year, Sheldon went to Harvard College and graduated in 1872.

Soon after, he was appointed proctor in the College, at the same time teaching Greek in a school for young ladies in Boston, and in the spring of 1873 he was instructor in Spanish and Italian at Harvard.

Returning to the United States, he became in 1877 an instructor in modern languages and then a tutor in German at Harvard University.

Career

He was appointed proctor in the Harvard College, at the same time teaching Greek in a school for young ladies in Boston, and in the spring of 1873 he was instructor in Spanish and Italian at Harvard.

Later he received a traveling fellowship, which enabled him to develop an already large linguistic equipment by three years' work at the Universities of Berlin, Leipzig, and Paris, 1874-77. During this sojourn he prepared himself for his life work in English lexicology and the teaching of Romance linguistics; he also gave much attention to Germanics and the history of the Greek and Latin languages. In Germany he profited particularly by his relations with the noted professor of Romance philology, Adolf Tobler.

Returning to the United States, he became in 1877 an instructor in modern languages and then a tutor in German at Harvard University. With the year 1884, when he was appointed assistant professor of Romance philology, his labors at Harvard were fixed for good and all.

In 1894 he became professor of Romance philology, a position he held until his retirement in 1921. His activities brought him very naturally into connection with various learned societies. He served as president of the Modern Language Association of America in 1901, and of the Dante Society from 1909 to 1915. Over a stretch of years Sheldon performed scholarly work of a monumental sort, which is represented by his revision of the etymologies in Webster's International Dictionary for its issues of 1890 and later.

His writings, apart from minor articles in various learned reviews, include A Short German Grammar (1879), which went through several editions, Concordanza delle opere italiane in prosa e del Canzoniere di Dante Alighieri (1905), in collaboration with A. C. White, and "Some Remarks on the Origin of Romance Versification".

He died in Cambridge, Massachussets.

Achievements

• Edward Stevens Sheldon helped to found the American Dialect Society, was one of the best informed of all the specialists who have ever studied the general subject of French contributions to the English vocabulary. He was famous for revision of the etymologies in Webster's International Dictionary for its issues of 1890 and later. His well-known publications: "Some Specimens of a Canadian French Dialect Spoken in Maine", "The Origin of the English Names of the Letters of the Alphabet".

Works

More photos

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  • A Short German Grammar for High Schools and Colleges

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • An Grammar for High Schools and Colleges (Classic Reprint)

    (In the preparation of this Grammar it has been my object ...)

Membership

He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Connections

On April 2, 1884 he married Katherine Hamlin Hinckley of Poughkeepsie, New York, by whom he had one daughter.

Father:

David Newton Sheldon

Mother:

Rachel Hobart (Ripley) Sheldon

Spouse:

Katherine Hamlin Hinckley

influencer:

Adolf Tobler

coworker:

A. C. White

Brother:

Henry Newton Sheldon