Benjamin Eli Smith, L.H.D. (February 7, 1857 – March 18, 1913)
/ref> was an American editor and the son of

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

. Born in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

(now Beirut,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

), he graduated from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

(A.B., 1877; A.M., 1881), earning the degree of L.H.D. in 1902. He was managing editor of the first edition of the ''

Century Dictionary ''The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia'' is one of the largest encyclopedic dictionaries of the English language. It was compared favorably with the ''Oxford English Dictionary,'' and frequently consulted for more factual information than woul ...

'', and editor-in-chief of the revised edition after the death of editor

William Dwight Whitney William Dwight Whitney (February 9, 1827June 7, 1894) was an American linguist, philologist, and lexicographer known for his work on Sanskrit grammar and Vedic philology as well as his influential view of language as a social institution. He was ...

in 1894. As the editor, he was also responsible for the ''Century Cyclopedia of Names'' (1894), the ''Century Atlas'' (1897), the two-volume ''Century Dictionary Supplement'' (1909), and the revised and enlarged ''Century Dictionary, Cyclopedia, and Atlas'' (twelve volumes, 1911). He translated Schwegler's ''History of Philosophy'' and Cicero's ''De Amicitia'', as well as edited selections from other works.

References

External links

The Century Dictionary Online Help
at www.leoyan.com American lexicographers American book editors 1857 births 1913 deaths American expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Amherst College alumni Writers from Beirut German–English translators Latin–English translators 19th-century American translators {{US-editor-stub