William Dwight Whitney, 1827-1894

     William Dwight Whitney, was born on February 9, 1827 in Northampton, Massachusetts.  Both William and his brother, Josiah were bequeathed with their paternal grandmother’s maiden name, Dwight, via their middle names.  In addition to sharing the same middle name, William shared his involvement with Harvard College with his brother, Josiah.

     In 1845, William earned an undergraduate degree at Williams College.  In 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War, Whitney was graduated from the University of Breslau with a PhD. 

     He preceded his brother at Harvard.  William began teaching at Harvard in 1854, eleven years before Josiah joined him in 1865.  William served as a professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology. 

     In 1869, William served as the first president of the American Philological Society.  The society was founded to promote the study of the Ancient Greek, and Romance languages, literatures, and civilizations, in the United States.

     Whitney shared his curiosity regarding and knowledge of the origin and usage of world languages through his prolific body of written work.  In 1867, explored the study and growth of language in his book,  Language and the Study of Language.  He continued in that same line in 1875, when he published, The Life and Growth of Language.

     In 1877, William published Essentials of English grammar : for the use of schools.  This book gave Whitney credence as the first modern grammarian.  His book focused on how usage directs language change.

One year later, the man of 5’7 ¼ inches, with gray eyes, sandy-colored hair, with a white beard, traveled from his academic work at Harvard to study in Europe.  His wife, and three daughters were a part of his journey.

     In 1888, two years after my grandparents were born, William published, German Grammar at Yale College. 

     William Dwight Whitney died in 1894 at the age of 66.

Two years following his death, the third edition of his book, A Sanskrit grammar : including both the classical language, and the older dialects, of Veda and Brahmana,  was published simultaneously in German and in English.

     William’s influence on language—his body of work—outlived his physical body.  In 1904, ten years  following his death,  The Century Dictionary And Cyclopedia; A Work Of Universal Reference In All Departments Of Knowledge, With A New Atlas Of The World (1904). was published.

     In 2005, Stephen G. Alter described William as "the most important and influential American Orientalist” of the nineteenth century in his book, William Dwight Whitney and the Science of Language.