Eric Partridge

Eric Partridge (1894-1979) was a lexicographer born on the North Island of New Zealand. After moving to Australia in 1905, he studied at the University of Queensland, and served in the Australian infantry during the First World War. He then studied at the University of Oxford, and lectured at the Universities of Manchester and London. In 1927 he founded the Scholartis Press, which he managed until it closed in 1931. In 1932 he became a full-time writer, and almost daily occupied the same desk (K1) in the Reading Room of the British Museum for the next fifty years. He wrote over forty books on the English language, including works on etymology and several on slang.

Works

Origins: An etymological dictionary of Modern English (1958)