Michael Louis Samuels (14 September 1920 – 24 November 2010) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

Ashkenazi historical linguist, responsible for the

Historical Thesaurus of English The ''Historical Thesaurus of English'' (''HTE'') is the largest thesaurus in the world. It is called a ''historical thesaurus'' as it arranges the whole vocabulary of English, from the earliest written records in Old English to the present, a ...

Life

Samuels was born 14 September 1920 in London, the son of

Harry Samuels Harry Samuels, OBE (1893 – 1976) was a British barrister and political activist. Born in Liverpool, Samuels was educated at the University of Oxford. While there, he joined the Fabian Society, and became increasingly active in the organisati ...

, and Céline Aronowitz: his sister was actress

Miriam Karlin Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in '' The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's cat ...

(1925–2011).Guardian Education 15 December 2010
Michael Samuels obituary His was an

orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...

upbringing, but he later said he was an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

.''The Jewish Chronicle'' 20 August 2009
"Where to find ‘Jew Tongo’? In biggest-ever thesaurus" He studied at St Paul's school, and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

, initially to study classics, but graduating with first-class honours in English in 1947, after wartime service with the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

. In 1950 he married Hilary, and they had a daughter Vivien. His academic career began with a research fellowship at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

followed by a lectureship at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI i ...

. He became Professor of English Language at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1959, staying until his retirement in 1990.University of Glasgow News Archive 28 June 2006
Distinguished figures from the worlds of arts, conservation and science are to be honoured by the University of Glasgow After this academic retirement he continued to work, especially on the ''Historical Thesaurus of English'', a project he had begun in 1965. In 1979 Professor Christian Kay joined the project, working with Samuels until his retirement in 1989 and continuing to work on it until publication of its first edition. ^{/sup>

The finished work was eventually published in October 2009. He died 24 November 2010 and was survived by his wife, daughter and sister.

Works

*Samuels, M. L., (1972) ''Linguistic Evolution: with special reference to English'' Cambridge University Press,
*McIntosh, Angus, Samuels, M.L. and Benskin, Michael, (1986)'' A Linguistic Atlas of Late Medieval English'' Aberdeen: University Press

References

Herald Scotland 1 Dec 2010
Prof Michael Samuels; Academic (obituary)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels, Michael
1920 births
2010 deaths
Academics of the University of Glasgow
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
English atheists
English Jews
British Ashkenazi Jews
English philologists
Jewish atheists
People educated at St Paul's School, London}