Klara H. Collitz (30 May 1863 – 22 November 1944) was a German-American

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 ...

Education and career

In 1895, Collitz (née Hechtenberg) gained first class honors in the Oxford final examination (

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

) after two years of study at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. In 1896 she was lecturer in Romance Languages at Victoria College in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. From 1897 to 1899, she was in charge of the Department of

German Philology German studies is an academic field that researches, documents and disseminates German language, German literature, literature, and culture in its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies therefore often focus on Culture ...

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...

. She attended lectures at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

during the summer of 1897 and spent 1898 at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

. After two years at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

she took her Ph.D. (

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

) in 1901, with a dissertation entitled ''Das fremdwort bei Grimmelshausen; ein beitrag zur fremdwörterfrage des 17. jahrhunderts''. From 1901 to 1904, she returned to

as lecturer in German Philology for Women Students. After her marriage to

Hermann Collitz Hermann Collitz (February 4, 1855 – May 13, 1935) was a German and American historical linguist and Indo-Europeanist. He emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1886, taking a position at the newly founded Bryn Mawr College, where he ...

in 1904, she immigrated to the United States. Although she never again held an academic position, she continued to conduct research and contribute to scholarly journals in the United States and abroad. She participated in the first meeting of the

Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...

and became a member in its third year (1928). She participated actively in the annual meetings, maintaining her membership until her death in 1944.

Personal life and legacy

On August 13, 1904, she married

, who became the first President of the Linguistic Society of America. Upon her death, in 1944, she left most of her estate to the Linguistic Society of America to found the Hermann and Klara H. Collitz Professorship in Comparative Philology. She left her own and her husband's papers to

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Selected works

* Das Fremdwort bei Grimmelshausen (1901). University of Heidelberg dissertation. * ''Fremdwörterbuch des 17 Jahrhunderts'' (1904). Berlin: B. Behr. * ''Verbs of Motion in their Semantic Divergence'' (1931). ''Language'' ''Monograph'' 8.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collitz, Klara Hechtenberg American women linguists 1863 births 1944 deaths German philologists 19th-century German linguists American philologists Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States Heidelberg University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford 20th-century German linguists