Richard Cleasby (1797–1847) was an English philologist, author with

Guðbrandur Vigfússon Guðbrandur Vigfússon, known in English as Gudbrand Vigfusson, (13 March 1827 – 31 January 1889Jón þorkelsson, "Nekrolog över Guðbrandur Vigfússon" in ''Arkiv för nordisk filologi'', Sjätte bandet (ny följd: andra bandet), Lund, 18 ...

of the first Icelandic-English dictionary.

Life

He was eldest son of Stephen Cleasby, and brother of

Anthony Cleasby Sir Anthony Cleasby (27 August 1804 – 6 October 1879) was a British judge. Life Cleasby was the third son of Stephen Cleasby, a Russia broker, who carried on a prosperous business at 11 Union Court, Broad Street, in the city of London, and died ...

, born on 30 November 1797. He was educated at a private school, and for some years assisted his father in his business, but in 1824 gave up trade and went to the continent to study philosophy and literature. After spending four years principally in Italy and Germany, he returned for a winter's term at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, went again to the continent, and eventually settled in 1830 at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

to study philosophy under

Friedrich Schelling Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him be ...

and

Old German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

under

Johann Andreas Schmeller Johann Andreas Schmeller (6 August 1785 in Tirschenreuth – 27 September 1852 in Munich) was a German philologist who initially studied the Bavarian dialect. From 1828 until his death he taught in the University of Munich. He is considered the ...

and

Hans Ferdinand Massmann Hans Ferdinand Massmann (german: Maßmann; 15 August 1797 – 3 August 1874) was a German philologist, known for his studies in Old German language and literature, and for his work introducing gymnastics into schools in Prussia. Biography Massma ...

. He made excursions into many districts of Germany, gaining a knowledge of German dialects. A liver complaint often sent him to Carlsbad, and he occasionally revisited England. His first visit to Denmark and Sweden was in May 1834, and he became attracted by Scandinavian subjects. In 1839 he collated the ''

Codex Argenteus The Codex Argenteus (Latin for "Silver Book/Codex") is a 6th-century illuminated manuscript, originally containing part of the 4th-century translation of the Christian Bible into the Gothic language. Traditionally ascribed to the Arian bis ...

'' at

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

, and in January 1840 he formed the plan of his ''Icelandic-English Dictionary'', starting work by April. He worked while travelling between England, German spas, and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where he had amanuenses. In the summer of 1847 his health grew worse, and on 6 October he died of an attack of

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

. The poetical vocabulary, prepared under his direction by Sveinbjörn Egilsson, was ready for publication in 1846. In the following year Cleasby had set up in type specimens of the prose dictionary. Arrangements were made for the completion of the work at Copenhagen. After some false starts and the temporary loss of some of Cleasby's papers,

in 1864 took over the ''Dictionary'', and

George Webbe Dasent Sir George Webbe Dasent, D. C. L. (1817–1896) was a British translator of folk tales and contributor to ''The Times''. Life Dasent was born 22 May 1817 at St. Vincent, British West Indies, the son of the attorney general, John Roche Dasent. Hi ...

lobbied the

Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

for backing. The work was eventually completed in 1873, and published with a preface by Henry Liddell, and an introduction and memoir of Cleasby by Dasent.

References

External links

An Icelandic-English Dictionary
by Richard Cleasby and

Gudbrand Vigfusson Gudbrand is a given name. Notable people with the given name include: *Gudbrand Bøhn (1839–1906), Norwegian violinist, concertmaster, and music teacher *Gudbrand Granum (1893–1984), Norwegian politician * Gudbrand Gregersen de Saág (1824–19 ...

, published in 1874. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleasby, Richard 1779 births 1847 deaths Linguists from England English philologists