John Huehnergard (born March 16, 1952) is a Canadian-American specialist in
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...
, notable for his work on
categorization
Categorization is the ability and activity of recognizing shared features or similarities between the elements of the experience of the world (such as Object (philosophy), objects, events, or ideas), organizing and classifying experience by a ...
,
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
, and
historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
.
Early life and education
Huehnergard was born in
Kitchener, Ontario
)
, image_flag = Flag of Kitchener, Ontario.svg
, image_seal = Seal of Kitchener, Canada.svg
, image_shield=Coat of arms of Kitchener, Canada.svg
, image_blank_emblem = Logo of Kitchener, Ontario.svg
, blank_emblem_type = ...
, Canada, and was raised in the nearby city of
Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (formerly Waterloo County, Ontario, Waterloo County). Waterloo is situated about west-southwest of Toronto. Due to the c ...
. He graduated from the
Kitchener–Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School
Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School, commonly called Kitchener Collegiate Institute or KCI, is a public secondary school in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. It is a member of the Waterloo Region District School Board. The school dat ...
in 1970. He received a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
from
Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...
in 1974 and a
Ph.D
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1979, where he studied with
William L. Moran
William Lambert Moran (August 11, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American Assyriologist. He was born in Chicago, United States.
In 1939, Moran joined the Jesuit order. He then attended Loyola University in Chicago, where he received his ...
,
Thomas O. Lambdin, and
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross Jr. (1921–2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 ''magnum opus'' ''Canaanite Myth and ...
.
Career
Huehnergard began his teaching career at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
as assistant professor there from 1978–1983. He was hired at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1983 as an associate professor and received tenure in 1988. He remained at Harvard as Professor of Semitic
Philology
Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
until 2009, during which time he spent a year at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
; from Harvard he moved to
The University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
. He retired from teaching in May 2017.
Scholarship
Huehnergard is probably best known for his ''A Grammar of
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
,'' now in its third edition. He is the author or editor of 9 other books, a special issue of the ''
Journal of Language Contact
The ''Journal of Language Contact'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published in English and French. It covers research on language contact, use, and change. This includes linguistic, anthropological, historical, and cognitive factors. The jou ...
'', and over 100 articles and a dozen reviews on topics spanning the languages and cultures of the ancient Near East, particularly focused on categorization,
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
, and
historical linguistics
Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include:
# to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages
# ...
. He supplied the etymologies of all English words with Semitic origins to the 4th edition of
''The American Heritage Dictionary'' ''of the English Language'' (2000, revised in the 5th edition, 2011), plus the Appendix of Semitic Roots and the article, "Proto-Semitic Language and Culture," in both editions. In 2019 he co-edited ''The Semitic Languages,'' and wrote the chapter on
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical reconstructed proto-language ancestral to the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the Proto-Semitic '' Urheimat''; scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant ( ...
, summarizing a lifetime of research on the topic.
He is known to an entirely different audience as one of the authors of ''Henry David Thoreau: Speaking for Nature,'' and in the same vein an article on the “Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle.”
Honors and awards
Huehnergard was a fellow at the
Israel Institute for Advanced Studies
The Israel Institute for Advanced Studies (; IIAS, or IAS in Israel) is a research institute in Jerusalem, Israel, devoted to academic research in physics, mathematics, the life sciences, economics, and comparative religion. It is a self-governi ...
in 2002 and held a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
in
2005–2006. He was honored with a
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
on his 60th birthday (''Language and Nature'', ed. N. Pat-El and R. Hasselbach; University of Chicago Press, 2012). He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Chicago in 2014 and the
Edward Ullendorff Medal from the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
in 2018.
"John Huehnergard Awarded 2018 Edward Ullendorff Medal by the British Academy", August 20, 2018
/ref> He was President of the American Oriental Society
The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship.
The Society encourages basic ...
in 2017–2018.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Huehnergard, John
1952 births
Living people
Harvard University alumni
Harvard University faculty
People from Kitchener, Ontario
University of Texas at Austin faculty
Wilfrid Laurier University alumni
Linguists from Canada