Arthur Middleton Reeves
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Arthur Middleton Reeves (1856 – 1891) was an American author and
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...
, known for his work related to Icelandic and Old Norse studies.


Biography

Reeves was born October 7, 1856, in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, and spent his early childhood in that city. Later his family located to
Richmond, Indiana Richmond () is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana, United States. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,720. It is the principal c ...
, where they belonged to the Society of Friends (a
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
institution). In his late teens he established a printing business in Richmond, which was later combined with the ''
Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...
'' newspaper. Reeves attended
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, where he was an editor of the ''Cornell Era'' and ''The Cornelian'' yearbook. While a student, Reeves developed an interest in languages, acquiring knowledge of several, and excelling at Icelandic. Influenced by
Willard Fiske Daniel Willard Fiske (November 11, 1831 – September 17, 1904) was an American librarian and scholar, born on November 11, 1831, at Ellisburg, New York. He was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership in 1895. Biography Fiske s ...
, Reeves focused his studies on the
Nordic languages The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also r ...
. His 1878 graduation thesis was written on Esaias Tegnér's version of
Frithiof's Saga Frithiof's Saga () is a legendary saga from Iceland which in its present form is from ca. 1300. It is a continuation from ''The Saga of Thorstein Víkingsson'' (''Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar''). It takes place principally in Norway during the ...
. After graduation he traveled extensively in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, including
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
. Upon his return to the United States, he was tasked by his father to care for a farm of , which he called Grasmere. On February 25, 1891, Reeves was killed in a train derailment. The train, whose
coupling rod A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunter locomotives, also have them. The coupling ro ...
had dropped, jumped the tracks near
Hagerstown, Indiana Hagerstown is a town in Jefferson Township, Wayne County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,681. History Hagerstown was laid out and platted in 1832. The town was named after the city of Hagerstown, M ...
, and the car Reeves was riding in was thrown down an embankment, breaking his neck. At the time of his death, Reeves was working with on a translation of ''
Laxdæla saga ''Laxdæla saga'' (), Old Norse ''Laxdœla saga'' (Old Norse pronunciation ) or ''The Saga of the People of Laxárdalur'', is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Written in the 13th century CE, it tells of people in the Breiðafjörður area in weste ...
'', of which only eighteen chapters had been completed. He was buried in
Spring Grove Cemetery Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. At a size of 733 acres (2.97 km2), it is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverto ...
in Cincinnati, Ohio. His headstone, which includes carved
runes Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...
, was brought from Iceland. Following his death, Reeves' mother made a monetary donation—in memory of Reeves and his father—to the local Richmond
library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
(currently known as the Morrisson-Reeves Library). A 1904
bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
portrait of Reeves, created by
Janet Scudder Janet Scudder (October 27, 1869 – June 9, 1940), born Netta Deweze Frazee Scudder, was an American Sculpture, sculptor and painter from Terre Haute, Indiana, who is best known for her memorial sculptures, Relief#Bas-relief or low relief, bas-r ...
, hangs in the library's Historic Courtyard.


Works

* ''Tegner's "Frithiof's Saga"'', thesis, Cornell University, 1878 *
The finding of Wineland the Good: The History of the Icelandic Discovery of America
', London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1890 ** Reeve's translations of the ''
Saga of Erik the Red The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different versions in two manuscripts: ''H ...
'' and the ''
Saga of the Greenlanders ''Grœnlendinga saga'' () (spelled ''Grænlendinga saga'' in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Like the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', it is one of the two main sources on t ...
'' (as published in ''The finding of Wineland the Good'') have been republished numerous times, including in
The Norse Discovery of America
', published by the
Norrœna Society The Norrœna Society was an early 20th-century publishing house dedicated to Northern European culture. It published expensively produced reprints of classic 19th-century editions, mostly translations, of Old Norse literary and historical works, No ...
. * ''Jan: a Short Story'', Chicago: Unknown publisher, 1892 *
The finding of Wineland the Good: The History of the Icelandic Discovery of America
', London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1895 (Second edition, published posthumously) *
Biography and Correspondence of Arthur Middleton Reeves
', London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1895 (Posthumously published by Reeves's brother-in-law, William D. Foulke)


As translator

*
Lad and Lass: a Story of Life in Iceland
', London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1890 (Translation of original work by Jón Þórðarson Thóroddsen)


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeves, Arthur Middleton Old Norse studies scholars Linguists from the United States 1856 births 1891 deaths Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery Cornell University alumni Railway accident deaths in the United States