Laurence Urdang
Laurence Urdang | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 21, 1927 Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Died | August 21, 2008 (aged 81) Branford, Connecticut |
| Occupation | Lexicographer, dictionary editor |
Laurence Urdang (March 21, 1927 – August 21, 2008) was a
Urdang was born in
Educated at Columbia University (where he restricted himself to Russian, German, Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and Polish), Urdang was a linguistics lecturer at New York University from 1956 to 1961. Although he never wrote the dissertation that would have completed his graduate degree, the Random House Dictionary filled the void amply: "He always said he considered the Random House dictionary his dissertation," said Nicole Urdang.[2]
Urdang made his debut in the publishing industry as an associate editor in the dictionary department at Funk & Wagnalls and developed a vast vocabulary. Not averse to making fun of his profession, he wrote in the introduction to Misunderstood, Misused, & Mispronounced Words:
This is not a
orexiswill find more than fugacious fulfillment among its felicific pages.
He died on August 21, 2008, of congestive heart failure in Branford, Connecticut.[1]
Bibliography
- Urdang, Laurence: ISBN 978-1-57912-060-3.
- Urdang, Laurence: Dictionary of Differences. Bloomsbury Publishing. London. Revised 1992. ISBN 0-7475-1222-1
Notes
- ^ a b Weber, Bruce, "Laurence Urdang, Language Expert Who Edited Dictionaries, Dies at 81," The New York Times, 2008-08-26.
- ^ Quoted in Weber 2008.
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