Frederic G. Cassidy
Frederic G. Cassidy (October 10, 1907 – June 14, 2000) was a Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English from 1962 until his death on June 14, 2000.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica on October 10, 1907, Cassidy moved to the United States in 1918. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1930 and obtained a master's degree in 1932. By 1938, Cassidy had earned his doctoral degree at the University of Michigan, and had married Hélène Lucille Monod, a fellow student.
In 1939, Cassidy accepted a lectureship at the University of Wisconsin, and was made full professor in 1950. His first book, published in 1947, was entitled The Place Names of Dane County, Wisconsin. Cassidy then joined with Albert H. Marckwardt to produce the second edition of the Scribner Handbook of English, which was published in 1954. These works were followed in 1961 by a book recording the popular speech of Cassidy's birthplace titled Jamaica Talk and by the Dictionary of Jamaican English, co-edited with Robert B. LePage, in 1967.
Cassidy started as Chief Editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English in 1962, and saw Volume I (covering A-C) published by Harvard University Press in 1985. Volume II, in which Joan Houston Hall joined him, covered letters D-H and followed in 1991. They continued their collaboration with Volume III (I-O), published in 1996. Since Cassidy's death, Joan Houston Hall has carried on Cassidy's work as Chief Editor of what has come to be known as the DARE project. Volume IV, covering P-Sk, came out in 2002, and Volume V, covering Sl-Z,was published in 2012. Volume VI, subtitled "Contrastive Maps, Index to Entry Labels, Questionnaire, and Fieldwork Data," was released in 2013. Joining Hall for that volume was Luanne von Schneidemesser who served as Senior Editor. Late that same year, the digital version was launched.
In 1983 he was awarded the Musgrave Gold Medal for his work by the Institute of Jamaica. [1]
References
- ↑ "Musgrave Awardees". Institute of Jamaica. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
External links
- ↑ http://dare.wisc.edu
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/15/arts/frederic-cassidy-92-expert-on-american-folk-language-dies.html