Herbert Coleridge (1830-61), the
grandson of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was a scholar and lexicographer. He was
the first editor of the New English Dictionary,
the predecessor of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Scholars
of linguistic and philology around this period were all polyglot. They are versed with the idea of “comparative” philology.
Unfortunately,
Herbert Coleridge died young because of disease, although he never ceased to
work on the Dictionary to the end of his life. The last word that he is
reported to have uttered on his sick bed was splendid and so memorable.
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“I must
begin Sanskrit tomorrow”
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Philologists
should never forget such unconquerable passion for language per se.
