Thomas Northcote Toller

Thomas Northcote Toller (born September 1, 1844 in Kettering , † March 2, 1930 in Manchester ) was the first professor of English at the University of Manchester and an important lexicographer as the editor of the dictionary of Anglo-Saxon started by Joseph Bosworth .

Life

Toller began studying at Christ's College in Cambridge in 1862, graduating first as a Bachelor of Arts (1866) and then as a Master of Arts (1869). In 1872 he was accepted as a fellow at Christ's College. In the same year he took a position as assistant lecturer at Owens College, Manchester, with Adolphus Ward, the professor of English and history there. In 1875 he was appointed lecturer for the English language there. Finally, in 1880, the year Owens College was transformed into a university, Toller became a professor of English there. In 1903 he resigned from his chair and became emeritus.

dictionary

In 1878, Toller accepted a request from Clarendon Press. The publisher had asked if they would be willing to revise the incomplete dictionary of Anglo-Saxon published by Joseph Bosworth in 1838. In 1898 Toller's revised edition appeared, which was supplemented by a volume with supplements in 1921.

Fonts (selection)

• An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth . Oxford 1898
• An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth. Supplement . Oxford 1921
• Outlines of the History of the English Language . Cambridge 1900

literature

• Joana Proud: Thomas Northcote Toller. "This fearless and self-sacrificing knight of scholarship" . In: Donald Scragg (Ed.): Textual and Material Culture in Anglo-Saxon England. Thomas Northcote Toller and the Toller Memorial Lectures. (Publications of the Manchester Center for Anglo-Saxon Studies 1) Cambridge 2003, pp. 333-345.

Web links

• Digital edition of the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary