William Gunion Rutherford

William Gunion Rutherford ( born July 17, 1853 in Mountain Cross, Peeblesshire, † July 19, 1907 in Little Halland in Bishopstone, East Sussex ) was a Scottish classical scholar and 1883-1901 Head ( Headmaster ) of Westminster School.

Life and work

William Gunion Rutherford, the son of a clergyman, who attended high school in Glasgow and studied natural sciences and Classical Philology, first at the University of St Andrews (with Lewis Campbell), in 1872 at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a master.

From 1876 Rutherford taught at St Paul 's School in London and dealt in passing with the Attic grammar and style, especially with the verbal inflection. His aim was a scientific sound Greek language teaching in schools, because at that time the Greek mediated instruction in English schools not only non-classical, but also linguistically impossible shapes and twists. Rutherford Elementary Greek Grammar (1878 ) had considerable influence on the methods in teaching Greek. A few years later his annotated edition of the grammarian Phrynichus that a study of the classical Attic language use was simultaneously and was far beyond known to experts but also appeared. In the following years, Rutherford has issued a further commented editions and translations, including Babrius (1883 ), Thucydides ( fourth book, 1889), Herodas (1892 ) and the Epistle to the Romans ( 1900). The University of St Andrews awarded him for his services an honorary doctorate ( LL.D. ).

1883 Rutherford received two offers: a job as a tutor at Oxford, and the management of the Westminster School. He opted for Westminster and worked there 18 years. His scientific work he continued uninterrupted and met for this purpose with foreign philologists in contact, including Carel Gabriel Cobet and Hans Graeven who compared different Aristophanes manuscripts in Italy for him. Rutherford's biggest project was an edition of Aristophanes scholia, for the years he collected material. About the incessant work and the critical responses to the first two volumes of the edition (1892 ), his health deteriorated rapidly, so that he retired in 1901. He moved with his family at his country house near Little Halland Bishopstone, East Sussex. His research, he continued until he died shortly after his 54th birthday.

Writings (selection )

  • First Greek Grammar: accidence and syntax. London 1878. Numerous reprints
  • The new Phrynichus. Being a revised text of the Ecloga of the grammarian Phrynichus. London 1881. Reprint Hildesheim 1968
  • Babrius. Edited with introductory dissertations, critical notes, commentary, and lexicon. London 1883
  • The fourth book of Thucydides: a revision of the text Illustrating the principal Causes of corruption in the manuscripts of the author. London 1889
  • Ἡρώνδου Μιμίαμβοι / Herondas: A first recension. London 1891
  • Scholia Aristophanica: Being seeking comments adscript to the text of Aristophanes as have been preserved in the Codex Ravenna, Arranged, emended, and translated. Three volumes, London 1896-1906
  • St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans: a new translation with a letter analysis. London 1900
  • The Key of Knowledge: sermons preached in Westminster abbey to boys. London 1901
  • St. Paul 's Epistles to the Thessalonians and to the Corinthians: a new translation. London 1908
Stylistics (field of study) Phrynichus Arabius Integrated Authority File
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