Kurath, Hans

(born Dec. 13, 1891, Villach, Austria—died Jan. 2, 1992, Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. linguist. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1907. He is best known as the chief editor of the Linguistic Atlas of New England, 3 vol. (1939–43), the first linguistic atlas of a region of the U.S. His other works include A Word Geography of the Eastern United States (1949) and The Pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States (1961). Kurath was later editor in chief (1946–62) of the Middle English Dictionary.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica