William Cabell Greet (28 January 1901, in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

– 19 December 1972, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

) was an American philologist and a professor of English. He graduated as valedictorian with a bachelor's degree in 1920 from

Sewanee Sewanee may refer to: * Sewanee, Tennessee * Sewanee: The University of the South * ''The Sewanee Review'', an American literary magazine established in 1892 * Sewanee Natural Bridge * Saint Andrews-Sewanee School See also * Suwanee (disambiguati ...

University of the South The University of the South, familiarly known as Sewanee (), is a private Episcopal liberal arts college in Sewanee, Tennessee. It is owned by 28 southern dioceses of the Episcopal Church, and its School of Theology is an official seminary of ...

. In the early 1920s he was an instructor at the University of Texas, the University of Colorado, and the University of California. 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 ...

he graduated with M.A. in 1924 and Ph.D. in 1926. He joined

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

's faculty in 1926, was appointed McIntosh Professor of English in 1953, and was department chair until he became professor emeritus in 1966. From 1931 to about 1942, Greet and George W. Hibbitt created and disseminated an audio archive of poetry readings by a number of famous American poets. (online audio) Greet was editor-in-chief of the journal ''

American Speech ''American Speech'' is a quarterly academic journal of the American Dialect Society, established in 1925 and currently published by Duke University Press. It focuses primarily on the English language used in the Western Hemisphere, but also publis ...

'' from 1933 to 1952. For 30 years, he served as a speech consultant to newscasters and correspondents of the

Columbia Broadcasting System CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

. And he was an educational adviser to the publishers of the ''Funk and Wagnalls College Dictionary'', the

American College Dictionary The ''American College Dictionary'' was the first Random House dictionary and was later expanded to create the ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language''. First published in 1947, ''The American College Dictionary'' was edited by Clarence ...

, the ''Century Encyclopedia of Names'' and the ''Thorndike‐Barnhardt Dictionary''. He was the author of ''War Words: Recommended Pronunciations'' (published in 1943 for Columbia Broadcasting System by Columbia University Press); the book gave the pronunciations of thousands of foreign words, names, and battlefields in WW II. The book was enlarged to ''World Words: Recommended Pronunciations'' (1944) and published in a 2nd edition in 1948. Greet made recordings demonstrating American vowels and diphthongs for language-teaching company

Linguaphone (company) Linguaphone is a global language training provider based in London that has provided self-study language courses since 1901. Methodology Linguaphone’s self-study courses follow Linguaphone's in-house methodology of “Listen, Understand, Speak.� ...

. He donated to Columbia University a collection of letters he received from famous American authors, including

John Mason Brown John Mason Brown (July 3, 1900 – March 16, 1969) was an American drama critic and author.Van Gelder, Lawrence (March 17, 1969). "John Mason Brown, Critic, Dead." ''The New York Times'' Life Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he graduated from Harva ...

John Cheever John William Cheever (May 27, 1912 – June 18, 1982) was an American short story writer and novelist. He is sometimes called "the Chekhov of the suburbs". His fiction is mostly set in the Upper East Side of Manhattan; the Westchester suburbs; ...

John Dos Passos John Roderigo Dos Passos (; January 14, 1896 – September 28, 1970) was an American novelist, most notable for his ''U.S.A.'' trilogy. Born in Chicago, Dos Passos graduated from Harvard College in 1916. He traveled widely as a young man, visit ...

Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. Early life Moore was born in Kirkwood, ...

, and

H.L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

, as well many public officials, including

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. S ...

George Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (December 31, 1880 – October 16, 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the US Army under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry ...

Cordell Hull Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ...

, and

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation ...

. Greet married Katherine E. Hyde on 11 September 1926 in Manhattan. Upon his death in 1971 he was survived by his widow and a daughter, Anne Greet Cushing, of Santa Barbara. His widow Katherine was born on 20 June 1897 in Elmira, New York and died in February 1986 in Santa Barbara. In 1965 Anne H. Greet married John E. Cushing (1918–2001), a biology professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1970 Anne Greet Cushing was appointed an associate professor of French and Italian at U.C. Santa Barbara. She was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1972–1973.

References

External links

Finding aid to William Cabell Greet papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greet, W. Cabell 1901 births 1972 deaths American philologists Sewanee: The University of the South alumni Columbia University alumni Barnard College faculty People from El Paso, Texas 20th-century philologists