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‘An ascetic man, totally dedicated to his work’

Honorary professor at Grand Forks, North Dakota, Demetrios Georgacas (1908-1990) was one of the last great figures in historical linguistics. Georgacas was born in Messenia, Greece. After studying at Athens University (1926-31) he pursued postgraduate studies in Germany. He was one of the most productive editors of the Center of the Historical Lexicon of the Academy of Athens, where he worked from 1934 to 1946. Then he migrated to the United States, where made a career teaching the classics. he began as a lecturer at the University of Chicago (1948-1951), became assistant professor at the University of Utah (1951-1953) and full professor at North Dakota (1953-1975). Among the many distinctions he received during his career were two awards from the Guggenheim Foundation (1957-58 and 1965-1966). «Georgacas’s output on linguistics would have been even more productive – though it comprises around 170 titles, including eight full-length books – if he had not devoted his time from 1961 compiling the material for Modern Greek-English Dictionary.» said I.N. Kazazis, professor of classical literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. «He was an ascetic man, totally dedicated to his work, like the great researchers of the past.»

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