Thomas Hewitt Key, FRS (20 March 179929 November 1875) was an English

classical scholar Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

Life

Grave of Thomas Hewitt Key in Highgate Cemetery

He was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and educated at St John's and

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

Colleges, Cambridge, and graduated 19th wrangler in 1821. From 1825 to 1827 he was the founding professor of Pure

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

in the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

; Key owned at least one slave during his time there. After his return to England was appointed in 1828 professor of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

in the newly founded

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In 1832 he became joint headmaster of the school founded in connection with that institution (the

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

); in 1842 he resigned the professorship of Latin, and took up that of comparative grammar, together with the undivided headmastership of the school. These two posts he held until his death. A few years before his death, he also took the position of secretary to the College of Preceptors in London (later known as the College of Teachers). Key is best known for his introduction of the crude-form (the uninflected form or stem of words) system, in general use among

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

grammarians, into the teaching of the classical languages. This system was embodied in his ''Latin Grammar'' (1846). In ''Language, its Origin and Development'' (1874), he upheld the

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...

theory. Key was prejudiced against the German Sanskritists, and the

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

portion of his ''Latin Dictionary'', published in 1888, was severely criticized on this account. He was a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

and president of the

Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to "investigate and promote ...

, to the ''Transactions'' of which he contributed largely. Key was the great-grandfather of British authors

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was a British author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus (novel), Black Narcissus'' in 194 ...

and Jon Godden. He was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

Bibliography

* ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'', vol. xxiv. (1876) * Robinson Ellis in the ''Academy'' (Dec. 4, 1875) * J. P. Hicks, ''T. Hewitt Key'' (1893), where a full list of his works and contributions is given. *

Notes

References

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Thomas Hewitt 1799 births 1875 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Writers from London English classical scholars University of Virginia faculty Fellows of the Royal Society Classical scholars of the University of London English slave owners Headmasters of University College School Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge