Elizabeth Mary Wright (10 October 1863 – 1958) was an English

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

Biography

Elizabeth Mary Lea was born in the East End of London on 10 October 1863, the eldest daughter of an Anglican clergyman. After a year in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, the family moved in 1873 to Tedstone Delamere in

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

. After a period at boarding school Elizabeth lived at home "a very easy and pleasant life, though uneventful and rather useless", until Sophie Weisse, the older sister of her brother's schoolfriend, encouraged her to "aim at more profitable employment of my time and such talents as I possessed." At her father's suggestion she applied to

Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Lady Margaret Hall (LMH) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, located on a bank of the River Cherwell at Norham Gardens in north Oxford and adjacent to the University Parks. The ...

, where she was accepted, matriculating in October 1887. She first encountered Joseph Wright in her second year at Lady Margaret Hall, when she attended his

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

lectures. During her third year, he enquired about her willingness "to do eventually some original work" and she subsequently worked under him to prepare a grammar of the dialect of

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

. Elizabeth and Joseph married in 1896. Together the Wrights compiled ''

The English Dialect Dictionary ''The English Dialect Dictionary'' (''EDD'') is the most comprehensive dictionary of English dialects ever published, compiled by the Yorkshire dialectologist Joseph Wright (1855–1930), with strong support by a team and his wife Elizabeth Mary ...

'' in six volumes between 1898 and 1905. Elizabeth undertook most of the secretarial work for the dictionary which included numerous letters and "50,000 prospectuses". On 2 July 1934 Wright was awarded an honorary degree of

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

. After Joseph's death in 1930, Elizabeth published a two-volume biography of him. In Joseph Wright's

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

entry they are recorded as being described by contemporaries as "the happiest couple in Oxford". They had two children who died in childhood. She died in 1958 and was buried in

Wolvercote Cemetery Wolvercote Cemetery is a cemetery in the parish of Wolvercote and district of Cutteslowe in Oxford, England. Its main entrance is on Banbury Road and it has a side entrance in Five Mile Drive. It has a funeral chapel, public toilets and a small a ...

Publications

Books

* *
Vol. 1
an
Vol. 2
) with Joseph Wright * * (Abridgement of preceding work.) * *

Articles

* * * * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Elizabeth Mary 1863 births 1958 deaths Linguists from England British women linguists Historical linguists English philologists Alumni of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford British women folklorists