Henry Sweet (1845-1912) was a philologist, and is also considered to be an early linguist. He specialized in the Germanic languages, particularly Anglo-Saxon (an early version of English), Old Icelandic, and West Saxon. Sweet also published on larger issues of phonetics and grammar in language, and some of his ideas are still discussed. Some of Sweet's works are still in print and continue to be used as course texts at colleges and universities. 1845 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. ... Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies The Germanic languages form one of the branches of the Indo-European (IE) language family, spoken by the Germanic peoples who settled in northern Europe along the borders of the Roman Empire. ... Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... The Old Icelandic language was the most prominent of the Old Norse languages. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Grammar is the study of rules governing the use of language. ...

Some of the books he wrote are Handbook on Phonetics (1877), Oldest English Texts (1885), and Primer of Old Icelandic (1888). He also edited several books for the Early English Text Society. He never managed to get a position with a college, which disturbed him greatly; he had done poorly in school, he had annoyed many people through bluntness, and failed to take every effort to gather official support. George Bernard Shaw described Henry Higgins (a character in Pygmalion) to be a largely accurate portrayal of Sweet in the preface to that play. The Early English Text Society is an organization to reprint early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. ... George Bernard Shaw (George) Bernard Shaw[1] (July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950) was an Irish playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925 and an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay in 1938 for Pygmalion. ... Play cover, depicting Mrs Campbell as Eliza Pygmalion (1912) is a play by George Bernard Shaw. ...

A bibliography and Collected Papers were published by H. C. Wyld.

Further reading

Charles Leslie Wrenn, 'Henry Sweet', Transactions of the Philological Society 46.177-201 (1946) Charles Leslie Wrenn was a British scholar. ...

External link

• Works by Henry Sweet at Project Gutenberg