William Abbott Oldfather

William Abbott Oldfather ( born October 23, 1880 in Urmia in Persia, † May 27 1945 in Homer, Illinois) was an American classical scholar, who was a professor of Classics at the University of Illinois from 1909.

Life

William Abbott Oldfather was born on October 23, 1880 in Urmia in Persia. His parents Jeremiah M. Oldfather and Felicia Oldfather Narcissa Rice were Presbyterian missionaries. His younger brother was the philologist and historian Charles Henry Oldfather ( 1887-1954 ).

Oldfather studied at Hanover College and Harvard University, where he in 1901 and 1902 Bachelor's Master's degree completed. He then worked from 1903 to 1906 as a lecturer at Northwestern University and then went to Europe at the University of Munich in order to deepen his studies and to perfect his scientific work. In 1908 he was at Otto Crusius with the dissertation Lokrika: doctorate Tell Historical studies that appeared in the magazine Philologus (Vol. 67, pp. 411-473 ).

After his return to the United States Oldfather was initially Assistant Professor ( Research Assistant ) for Latin Studies at Northwestern University. In 1909 he was an Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois, where he taught until his death and researched. He was one of the last representatives of his science in the United States who had received their scientific training in Germany. Even after the First World War, when the scientific exchange between Germany and the rest of the world declined, represented Oldfather the methods of his teacher in Munich and thus contributed to the rise of classical philology in the USA. He was also active for the acquisition of extensive private library of John Vahlens (1913 ), which added the holdings of the university with 10,000 books and 15,000 reprints of the 19th century. 1926 Oldfather director of the Institute of Classical Studies. From 1933 to 1934 he was Sather Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley (one year before Werner Jaeger ). From 1935 to 1942 he was chairman of the Institute of Language and Literature at the University of Illinois. Oldfather was also from 1937 to 1938 president of the American Philological Association. On May 27, 1945, he died at Homer Park: During a canoe trip with his graduates he drowned.

Since the September 22, 1902 Oldfather was married to Margaret Agnes Giboney.

Services

William Abbott Oldfather was one of America's leading classical scholars of his time. He has published over 250 independent journals and nearly 500 articles for the Realencyclopädie of classical archeology. His involvement in this company shows its claim to promote international cooperation classical philology. He seemed particularly in the U.S. as scientific organizer and formed a philological school at the University of Illinois, emerged from the in 37 years 46 dissertations.

Oldfather devoted his research work of the Latin language research, particularly in the area of ​​lexis. He promoted international cooperation on Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and published indices verborum (word lists ) to various Roman authors who still form the current state of research.