Anna Morpurgo Davies, 10 years on

27 September 2024

Ten years ago today our friend, colleague and former President of the Society, Anna Morpurgo Davies, passed away. To celebrate her life and long-lasting legacy we have assembled here some personal memories by former colleagues and students together with other material that records her scholarly achievements and her professional activities – not to mention her love of cats and gardens!

We start with the moving essay by Andrew Garrett specially composed for this anniversary, which brings together both the personal and the scholarly dimension, highlighting in particular the importance for Anna’s career of her links with fellow figures on the other side of the Atlantic.

There follow two pieces by Anna herself. The first is her autobiographical essay from the Society’s collection Linguistics in Britain: Personal Histories (2002), in which she outlines the main stages of her career and the individuals who were important to her. Unlike most of the contributors to that volume, she pays special attention to learning about the administrative organization of the institutions that employed her and the contribution that understanding had when it came to developing, promoting and integrating her fields of teaching and research.

The second piece is a dramatic and harrowing account of her experience of the holocaust years in Italy and her family’s narrow escape.

Details of Anna’s academic career and personal recollections come together in the obituary by her former student and later Oxford colleague, Philomen Probert.

Anna was not only President of the Society but played a key role in developing its national and international profile as documented in this tribute by Peter Matthews, himself a subsequent President.

Anna was particularly keen to build the links between the Society and the British Academy, where she was an active Fellow and section chair, a commitment which is reflected in the ongoing series of lectures named in her memory.

At Oxford, too, Anna was a staunch advocate for the Society and its historical legacy, the Oxford English Dictionary, when the editorial vision for the second edition (and thus the future) of the OED was put in peril. John Simpson, Chief Editor of the OED from 1993 until 2013, gives an account of Anna's role in safeguarding the 'Society's Dictionary'.

We include here the details of the book Per Anna which brings together memories and tributes from a broad range of scholars in Italy, where she continued to be known for the most part simply as Anna Morpurgo. Two of the contributors to that volume – the general linguist and historian of linguistics Giorgio Graffi and the Anatolianist Clelia Mora – describe here how they were affected, both jointly and individually, through their friendship with her.

We conclude with a series of personal reflections and tributes: by former Oxford colleagues Martin Maiden and Aditi Lahiri; Fellows of Somerville College like Frans Plank; and by Anna’s students, Eleanor Dickey, now professor of Classics at the University of Reading, and Mark Newbrook. 

If anyone reading this page would like to add a personal memory or tribute (maximum 250 words) please send it to Nigel Vincent.