Francis Andrew March (October 25, 1825 in Millbury, Massachusetts –September 9, 1911 in Easton, Pennsylvania) was an American polymath, academic, philologist, and lexicographer. He graduated from Amherst College in 1845. He is considered the principal founder of modern comparative linguistics in Anglo-Saxon. March applied the methods of studying the Latin and Greek classics towards the study of English literature, and led the way for the first scientific study of the English language. Born in Millbury, Massachusetts, March occupied the chair of English language and comparative philology at Lafayette College (located in Easton, Pennsylvania) from 1857 to 1907. It was the first post of its kind. March was one of the first professors to advocate and teach English in colleges and universities. Amongst other subjects taught botany, French, German, Greek, Latin, "mental philosophy", political economy, the Constitution, and law. He also served as president of the American Philological Association (1873-1874; 1895-1896); the Spelling Reform Association (after 1876); and of the Modern Language Association (1891-1893).
Works
- In 1870, March published A Comparative Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language (reprinted, 1977). Based on ten years of intensive research, the work examines the relationship of Anglo-Saxon to Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and five Germanic languages.
- March served as editor of the Douglass Series of Christian Greek and Latin Writers, to which he contributed Latin Hymns.
- In 1881, he wrote The Spelling Reform, a contribution to the reform of English orthography.
- With his son Francis Andrew March (1863–1928), he edited A Thesaurus Dictionary of the English Language (1903; 2nd ed., 1980).
- He was the first American superintendent over the volunteer reading programme of the Oxford English Dictionary, thus providing valuable support to James Murray in the compilation of this monumental work.
Death and Legacy
March died at Easton, Pennsylvania. A chaired professorship now exists at Lafayette College to honor his achievements in the field of English. Francis A. March Elementary School, near the Lafayette Campus, is named in his honor.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Francis March
- Lafayette: Academic News
- Simon Winchester, The Meaning of Everything (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003).
