Ernest David Klein, (July 26, 1899, Szatmárnémeti – February 4, 1983,

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

) was a Hungarian-born Romanian-Canadian

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 ...

, author, and

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Early life and education

Klein was born to father Yitzchok (Ignac) and mother Sarah Rachel (Roza) Klein (née Friedrich) on July 26, 1899. in Szatmárnémeti (also known as Szatmar), in Partium, a region of

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

(now

Satu Mare Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. He had three sisters. Klein's father was a respected scholar known for his brilliance. He was rabbi of the Jewish Status Quo Community in Marosvásárhely (now

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; ; German language, German: ''Neumarkt am Mieresch'') is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the list of cities and towns in Romania, 16th-largest city in Romania, with 116,033 ...

) and author of over 20 books on rabbinical subjects, including the following (all were printed in Satu Mare): * Hebrew Torah Journal ''Ohel Yitzchok'' (1903–1914) * Hebrew Book ''Zichron L'Yisroel'' (1912) * Hebrew Torah Journal ''Sefer Hamagid'' (1928–1934) * Hebrew Torah Journal ''Magid Yeruchem'' (1925–1930) * Hebrew Book ''Kol Ha'chatan'' (1937) Klein's mother also had rabbinical lineage. She was one of the daughters of Chaim (Jakob) Friedrich who was rabbi of the orthodox community in Turc, Ugocsa County,

(now part of Turț,

Satu Mare County Satu Mare County (, , ) is a county (Counties of Romania, județ) of Romania, on the border with Hungary and Ukraine. The capital city is Satu Mare. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Szatmár megye'', in German language, Ge ...

, Romania).''Sages of Transylvania'', Yitzchok Yosef Cohen, pages 193 and 110–111 From early on in Klein's childhood, his greatness was already noted. At the young age of nine years, Klein was able to recite the entire Book of Psalms by heart.''The Canadian Jewish News'', Friday, September 9, 1960 As a youth in Hungary, Klein spent his free time in between classes learning new languages.''The Canadian Jewish News'', Friday, August 1, 1975, page 3 Remarkably, at the age of 15, Klein taught himself English using English language textbooks. Klein had a great talent in learning languages. In an interview by ''The Canadian Jewish News'' (August 1, 1975), Klein recalls traveling from his birthplace Satu Mare, Romania to Austria, a little uneasy at the prospect of studying in a foreign country where he did not know the language. Klein taught himself German during the few days journey, and by the end of the year he was the best pupil in his class. Over the years Klein acquired more than 40 languages. Klein passed his exams to become a rabbi in 1920 when he was 21 years old. Klein studied languages, philology and exact philosophy at the University of Budapest and the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

; he received his Doctorate of Philosophy from the latter in 1925. Fifty years later, in 1975 at a ceremony held in

by the Austrian Consulate, Klein was awarded the "Golden Ph.D." on his promotion to Doctorate of Philosophy by the University of Vienna.

Rabbinical career and deportation to Auschwitz

He was the rabbi of the

Nové Zámky Nové Zámky (; ) is a town in Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of southwestern Slovakia. Geography The town is located on the Danubian Lowland, on the Nitra River, at an altitude of 119 metres. It is located around 100 km fr ...

community,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, Érsekújvár - since 1938 part of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

- from 1931 to 1944 (today part of

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) when he was deported to Auschwitz and Dachau. His wife and young son were killed in Czechoslovakia before World War II officially commenced. His father and two of his three sisters were killed in Auschwitz. He was freed from Dachau by US troops in 1945. After the war he served briefly as the rabbi in his hometown of Satu Mare. After emigrating to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, he was a rabbi of the synagogue on Rue de Montevideo in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(1950–1951) and in 1951 he emigrated to Canada, with his sister Elizabeth and her husband. There he held the post of Rabbi of Congregation Beth Yitshak in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, founded by Hungarian-speaking

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

survivors and named for Klein's father Yitschak. He served as the community's rabbi until his death in 1983.

Author

Klein wrote three etymological dictionaries. His most famous work is ''A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language'' (1966–1967). He is also the author of ''A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English'' (1987), an English-language etymological dictionary of Hebrew to which he devoted the last ten years of his life. He wrote an etymological dictionary of medical terms which was not published.

Honors

For his scholarly work he received honorary degrees from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

and the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

in 1977. In 1978, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

Early life and education

Rabbinical career and deportation to Auschwitz

Author

Honors

Notes

Further reading