Alexander Harkavy
Encyclopedia
Alexander Harkavy was a Russian-born American
writer
, lexicographer and linguist
.
Alexander was educated privately, and at an early age evinced a predilection for philology
. In 1879 he went to Vilna
, where he worked in the printing-office of the Romm
Brothers. In 1882 he went to the United States
, in 1885 to Paris
; he subsequently returned to America, and settled in New York, where he resided in 1903.
He was one of the contributors to the Jewish Encyclopedia
.
. His Yiddish dictionaries show that its vocabulary is as ample as that of the average modern language, and that, if lacking in technical terms, it is richer in idiomatic and characteristic expressions.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, lexicographer and linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
.
Alexander was educated privately, and at an early age evinced a predilection for philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
. In 1879 he went to Vilna
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, where he worked in the printing-office of the Romm
Romm
Romm is a surname that may refer to:Romm:*Joseph J. Romm*Mikhail RommRomme:*Gianni Romme*Gilbert Romme*Marius Romme...
Brothers. In 1882 he went to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in 1885 to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; he subsequently returned to America, and settled in New York, where he resided in 1903.
He was one of the contributors to the Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia
The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
.
Work on Yiddish
It is partly due to Harkavy that Yiddish is now recognized as a languageLanguage
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
. His Yiddish dictionaries show that its vocabulary is as ample as that of the average modern language, and that, if lacking in technical terms, it is richer in idiomatic and characteristic expressions.
Works
Alexander Harkavy's most important works are:- "Complete English-Jewish Dictionary" (1891);
- "Dictionary of the Yiddish Language: Yiddish-English" (1898);
- pocket editions of English-Jewish and Jewish-English dictionaries;
- "Amerikanischer Briefsteller" (English and Judæo-German, 1899);
- "Ollendorf's Method of English: in Yiddish" (1893);
- "Uchebnik Angliskavo Yazyka" (1892);
- "Torat Leshon Anglit", an English grammar in Hebrew (1894);
- "Ha-Yesh Mishpaṭ Lashon li-Sefat Yehudit?" (1896), in which he shows that Yiddish has the essential elements and forms of a living language;
- "Don Kichot", a Judæo-German translation (1897–98);
- Yiddish-English (6th edition), English-Yiddish (11th edition) Dictionary (1910)
- Yiddish-English-Hebrew Dictionary (4th ed 1928) republished 1968;
- The Holy Scriptures (1936) reprinted in 1951