Alexander Allen (23 September 1814 – 6 November 1842) was an English writer and linguist who specialised in studies of

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Biography

He was the son of John Allen, born at Hackney 23 September 1814. He was educated at his father's school (the

Madras House Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school, ...

, at Hackney) and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

. On his father's death he carried on the grammar school. Allen obtained, in 1840, the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. In the dedication of his ''Analysis of Latin Verbs'' to

Thomas Hewitt Key Thomas Hewitt Key, FRS (20 March 179929 November 1875) was an English classical scholar. Life He was born in London and educated at St John's and Trinity Colleges, Cambridge, and graduated 19th wrangler in 1821. From 1825 to 1827 he was t ...

, he mentions that many of his philological principles were derived from Key; he also acknowledges, in his ‘Essay on Teaching Greek,’ his obligations to his friend William Wittich, teacher of German in

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. In the last years of his life he paid attention to

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

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, Danish, Icelandic, and

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languages, with a view to a comprehensive work on the history and structure of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

. He left many notes upon this subject, but not in a state fit for publication. Allen died on 6 November 1842.

Works

His chief works, of which, considering the early age at which he died, the number is extraordinary, are an ‘Etymological Analysis of Latin Verbs,’ London, 1836, 8vo; ‘Constructive Greek Exercises, for teaching Greek from the beginning by Writing,’ 1839; ‘Eclogæ Ciceronianæ,’ 1839; ‘A New Greek Delectus, translated from the German of Dr. Kühner,’ 1839; ‘A New Latin Delectus,’ 1840; ‘A New English Grammar,’ 1841; an Essay on teaching Greek, published in vol. I of the ‘Papers of the Central Society of Education;’ an Essay on writing Latin and Greek Exercises, in No. 18 of ‘Journal of Education,’ and one on Parsing, in No. 20. These essays show Dr. Allen's skill as a teacher. He also contributed articles to the ‘Penny Cyclopædia’ and Smith's ‘Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities’ and ‘Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.’

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Alexander Linguists from England English essayists People from Hackney Central 1814 births 1842 deaths