Sylvester Primer

Sylvester Primer (1842–1912) was an American linguist and philologist known for his pioneering work in 1887 on the dialect of the European-American residents of Charleston, South Carolina. He published language studies in both English and German, and an 1880 work in German was reprinted in 2010. He also published several annotated scholarly editions of important German-language and Spanish-language dramas from the 18th and 19th centuries. He taught for more than 20 years at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also headed the Romance language department as well as a new German-language department.

Primer grew up in western New York state and served with its units in the American Civil War. After the war, he completed preparatory studies, followed by his undergraduate degree at Harvard University. He did graduate studies in linguistics in Germany, where he received his PhD at the University of Strasbourg. He taught first at Brown University, then a decade at the College of Charleston, and briefly at Colorado College before joining the faculty in Texas.

Born in Geneva, Wisconsin on December 14, 1842, as the son of Archibald and Eleanor (Jacoby) Primer, Sylvester moved in 1850 as a child with his family to New York. They settled in the western part of the state in Genesee County. He attended local schools as a child.

His higher education was interrupted by his serving in the American Civil War. Afterward Primer completed studies at Leroy (N.Y.) Academy until 1868 and the Phillips Exeter Academy until 1871. He went to college, studying languages at Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1874 and was Phi Beta Kappa. He went to Europe to study with scholars there and worked at Leipzig, Göttingen, and Strasbourg, where he received his PhD in 1880.

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