Raymond Weeks (1863–1954) was an American linguist and academic. He was Chair of Romance Languages at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

from 1895 to 1908, and later taught 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 ...

in New York City.

Early life

Raymond Weeks was born on January 2, 1863, in

Tabor, Iowa Tabor is a city in Fremont County and extends northward into Mills County in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 928 at the time of the 2020 census. Geography Tabor is located at (40.896605, -95.672368). According to the United States ...

.The State Historical Society of Missouri: Raymond Weeks
/ref> He was educated at Price High School in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree 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 1890 and a master's degree in 1891.

Career

Weeks taught French at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1891 to 1893. He studied in Paris from 1895 to 1897 on a Harvard Traveling Fellowship. In 1895, he was appointed as Chair of Romance Languages at the

, where he served until 1908. During that time, he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1897. From 1908 to 1909, he was Professor of Romance Languages at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. Weeks joined the faculty at

in New York City in 1909. In 1910, he founded, in collaboration with Henry Alfred Todd and other scholars, the ''Romanic Review'', and he became general editor of the "Oxford French Series." He wrote numerous articles in Old French Literature, and was assistant editor on the ''New Standard Dictionary'' (1913). During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served in the

American Field Service AFS Intercultural Programs (or AFS, originally the American Field Service) is an international youth exchange organization. It consists of over 50 independent, not-for-profit organizations, each with its own network of volunteers, professiona ...

in France for six months. He became a Knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 1919.

Personal life

He married Mary Arnoldia in 1885.

Death

He died in 1954.

Bibliography

* ''Origin of the Covenant Vivien'' (1902) * ''La Chevalerie Vivien,'' facsimile edition (1909) * ''The N.E.A. Phonetic Alphabet'' (1912), with J. W. Bright and C. H. Grandent * ''The Hound-Tuner of Callaway,'' (1927), By Columbia University Press

References

External links

Finding aid to Raymond Weeks papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
1863 births 1954 deaths People from Tabor, Iowa Harvard University alumni University of Michigan faculty University of Missouri faculty American non-fiction writers American philologists Knights of the Legion of Honour Linguists from the United States Presidents of the Modern Language Association {{US-linguist-stub