Richard Cleasby (1797–1847) was an English philologist, author with
Guðbrandur Vigfússon of the first Icelandic-English dictionary.
Life
He was eldest son of Stephen Cleasby, and brother of
Anthony Cleasby, born on 30 November 1797. He was educated at a private school, and for some years assisted his father in his business, but in 1824 gave up trade and went to the continent to study philosophy and literature. After spending four years principally in Italy and Germany, he returned for a winter's term at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
, went again to the continent, and eventually settled in 1830 at
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
to study philosophy under
Friedrich Schelling and
Old German under
Johann Andreas Schmeller and
Hans Ferdinand Massmann. He made excursions into many districts of Germany, gaining a knowledge of
German dialects
German dialects are the various traditional local varieties of the German language. Though varied by region, those of the southern half of Germany beneath the Benrath line are dominated by the geographical spread of the High German consonant s ...
.
A liver complaint often sent him to
Carlsbad, and he occasionally revisited England. His first visit to Denmark and Sweden was in May 1834, and he became attracted by Scandinavian subjects. In 1839 he collated the ''
Codex Argenteus'' at
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Located north of the ca ...
, and in January 1840 he formed the plan of his ''Icelandic-English Dictionary'', starting work by April. He worked while travelling between England, German spas, and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...
, where he had amanuenses. In the summer of 1847 his health grew worse, and on 6 October he died of an attack of
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over severa ...
.
The poetical vocabulary, prepared under his direction by Sveinbjörn Egilsson, was ready for publication in 1846. In the following year Cleasby had set up in type specimens of the prose dictionary. Arrangements were made for the completion of the work at Copenhagen. After some false starts and the temporary loss of some of Cleasby's papers,
Guðbrandur Vigfússon in 1864 took over the ''Dictionary'', and
George Webbe Dasent lobbied the
Clarendon Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
for backing. The work was eventually completed in 1873, and published with a preface by
Henry Liddell
Henry George Liddell (; 6 February 1811– 18 January 1898) was dean (1855–1891) of Christ Church, Oxford, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1870–1874), headmaster (1846–1855) of Westminster School (where a house is now named afte ...
, and an introduction and memoir of Cleasby by Dasent.
References
*
External links
An Icelandic-English Dictionaryby Richard Cleasby and
Gudbrand Vigfusson, published in 1874.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleasby, Richard
1779 births
1847 deaths
Linguists from England
English philologists