Thomas Hewitt Key, FRS (20 March 179929 November 1875) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

Life

Grave of Thomas Hewitt Key in Highgate Cemetery

He was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and educated at St John's and

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

Colleges, Cambridge, and graduated 19th wrangler in 1821. From 1825 to 1827 he was the founding professor of Pure

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

in the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

; Key owned at least one slave during his time there. After his return to England was appointed in 1828 professor of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

in the newly founded

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. In 1832 he became joint headmaster of the school founded in connection with that institution (the

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_hea ...

); in 1842 he resigned the professorship of Latin, and took up that of comparative grammar, together with the undivided headmastership of the school. These two posts he held until his death. A few years before his death, he also took the position of secretary to the College of Preceptors in London (later known as the

College of Teachers The Chartered College of Teaching is a learned society for the teaching profession in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1846, the college was incorporated by Queen Victoria into a royal charter as the College of Preceptors in 1849. A supplemental cha ...

). Key is best known for his introduction of the crude-form (the uninflected form or stem of words) system, in general use among

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

grammarians, into the teaching of the classical languages. This system was embodied in his ''Latin Grammar'' (1846). In ''Language, its Origin and Development'' (1874), he upheld the

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...

theory. Key was prejudiced against the German Sanskritists, and the

etymological 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 form of words and ...

portion of his ''Latin Dictionary'', published in 1888, was severely criticized on this account. He was a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

and president of the

Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered Charitable organization, charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to ...

, to the ''Transactions'' of which he contributed largely. Key was the great-grandfather of British authors

Rumer Godden Margaret Rumer Godden (10 December 1907 – 8 November 1998) was an English author of more than 60 fiction and non-fiction books. Nine of her works have been made into films, most notably ''Black Narcissus'' in 1947 and '' The River'' in ...

and Jon Godden. He was buried on the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Bibliography

* ''Proceedings of the Royal Society'', vol. xxiv. (1876) *

Robinson Ellis Robinson Ellis, FBA (5 September 1834 – 9 October 1913) was an English classical scholar. Ellis was born at Barming, near Maidstone, and was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, Rugby School, and Balliol College, Oxford. He took a Firs ...

in the ''Academy'' (Dec. 4, 1875) * J. P. Hicks, ''T. Hewitt Key'' (1893), where a full list of his works and contributions is given. *

Notes

References

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Key, Thomas Hewitt 1799 births 1875 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery Writers from London English classical scholars University of Virginia faculty Fellows of the Royal Society Classical scholars of the University of London British slave owners Headmasters of University College School Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge