Sir William Alexander Craigie (13 August 1867 – 2 September 1957) was a philologist

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...

 and a lexicographer.

A graduate of the University of St Andrews

University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...

, he was the third editor of the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...

 and co-editor (with C. T. Onions

Charles Talbut Onions

Charles Talbut Onions was an English grammarian and lexicographer and the fourth editor of the Oxford English Dictionary....

) of the 1933 supplement. From 1916 to 1925 he was also Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon

Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon

The Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon, until 1916 known as the Rawlinsonian Professorship of Anglo-Saxon, was established by Richard Rawlinson of St. John's College, Oxford, in 1795. The Chair is associated with Pembroke College. 'Bosworth' was added to commemorate Joseph...

 in the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. He married Jessie Kinmond Hutchen of Dundee, born 1864 or 65, died 1947, daughter of William.

He lectured on lexicography at the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 while working on the Dictionary of American English

Dictionary of American English

A Dictionary of American English on Historical Principles is a dictionary of terms appearing in English in the United States that was published in four volumes from 1938 to 1944 by the University of Chicago Press...

and the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue

Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue

The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue is a 12-volume dictionary that documents the history of the Scots language covering Older Scots from the earliest written evidence in the twelfth century until the year 1700...

, a project he pioneered. Many twentieth-century American lexicographers studied under Craigie as a part of his lectureship, including Clarence Barnhart

Clarence Barnhart

Clarence Lewis Barnhart was an American lexicographer best known for writing the Thorndike-Barnhart series of graded dictionaries, which were based on word lists developed by psychological theorist Edward Thorndike....

, Jess Stein, Woodford A. Heflin, Robert Ramsey, Louise Pound

Louise Pound

Louise Pound was a distinguished American folklorist and college professor at the University of Nebraska.-Early life:...

, and Allen Walker Read

Allen Walker Read

Allen Walker Read was an American etymologist and lexicographer, best known for his studies into the words "okay" and "fuck."...

.

Craigie was also fluent in Icelandic

Icelandic language

Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...

 and an expert in the field of rímur

Rímur

In Icelandic literature, a ríma is an epic poem written in any of the so-called rímnahættir . They are rhymed, they alliterate and consist of two to four lines per stanza...

. He made many valuable contributions in that field. His interest was awakened by a winter of study in Copenhagen, then the centre of Norse philology. He compiled the complete Oxford edition of Hans Andersen

Hans Andersen

Hans Andersen may refer to:*Hans Christian Andersen , Danish fairy tale writer*Hans Henrik Andersen , Danish physicist*Hans N. Andersen , Danish speedway rider...

's fairy tales, with hitherto untranslated tales being supplied by his wife. He befriended many of the great Norse philologists of the time and came across Skotlands rímur, dealing with the Gowrie Conspiracy. Being a Scotsman himself, there was no way back, and he continued research in that field till the end of his life.

External links

• Oxford English Dictionary website entry for William Craigie
• WorldCat's list of books he authored . He was a prolific author.