Thomas Bertram Wallace Reid (10 July 1901 – 30 August 1981), more commonly referred to as T. B. W. Reid, was a British Romance philologist from

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, who spent most of his life in England. He was a professor at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

and was Professor of the Romance Languages at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, 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 List of oldest un ...

between 1958 and 1968. Reid coined the term "

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), ...

" in 1956 to describe how people use language differently in different social situations.

Life

Thomas Bertram Wallace Reid was born in

in 1901. His parents, Thomas Ebeneezer Reid (1869–1948) and Annie M. Reid (1876–1941), were Presbyterian Christians, and his father worked for Armagh County Council. Reid taught at the University of Manchester for much of his early career before moving to

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, where he was the Professor of the Romance Languages between 1958 and 1968. Reid was the president of the

Anglo-Norman Text Society The Anglo-Norman Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1937 by Professor Mildred K. Pope. The founding aim of the society was to promote the study of Anglo-Norman language and Anglo-Norman literature by facilitating the publicati ...

(ANTS), a society founded by fellow Romance philologist Mildred K. Pope to promote the study of

Anglo-Norman literature Anglo-Norman literature is literature composed in the Anglo-Norman language and developed during the period of 1066–1204, as the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of England were united in the Anglo-Norman realm. Introduction The Norman langu ...

. Reid's edition of ''The Romance of Horn'' was published through the society. After retiring from academic duties in 1968, Reid remained involved with ANTS, primarily by editing texts for publication. During the 1970s, he helped to edit the Anglo-Norman Dictionary, and he completed a study of ''The Tristan of

Béroul Béroul (or Beroul; Norman ) was a Norman or Breton poet of the mid-to-late 12th century. He is usually credited with the authorship of ''Tristran'' (sometimes called ''Tristan''), a Norman language version of the legend of Tristan and Iseult, o ...

'', which was published in 1972. Reid died from cancer on 30 August 1981, aged 80. One obituary described Reid as "one of the outstanding philologists of istime". After Reid's death, ANTS published a memorial volume in his honour.

Selected works

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, T. B. W. 1901 births 1981 deaths 20th-century British philologists Romance philologists Academics of the University of Manchester Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford