# James B. Greenough

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American classical scholar (1833–1901)

James B. Greenough Born James Bradstreet Greenough (1833-05-04)May 4, 1833 Portland, Maine Died October 11, 1901(1901-10-11) (aged 68) Cambridge, Massachusetts Education Harvard Law School Occupations Lawyer, classical scholar Spouses Mary Battey Ketchum ​ ​ (m. 1860; died 1893)​ Harriet Sweetzer Jenks ​ ​ (m. 1895)​

**James Bradstreet Greenough** (May 4, 1833 – October 11, 1901) was an American [classical scholar](/source/Classical_scholar).

## Life

James B. Greenough was born in [Portland, Maine](/source/Portland%2C_Maine) on May 4, 1833.[1] He graduated at [Harvard](/source/Harvard_University) in 1856, studied one year at the [Harvard Law School](/source/Harvard_Law_School), was admitted to the Michigan bar and practised in [Marshall, Michigan](/source/Marshall%2C_Michigan), until 1865, when he was appointed tutor in [Latin](/source/Latin) at Harvard. In 1873 he became assistant professor.[2]

He advocated for the admission of women to Harvard, and in 1882 became a director of the society which later founded [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College).[1]

He married Mary Battey Ketchum in 1860. She died in 1893, and he remarried to Harriet Sweetzer Jenks two years later.[1]

In 1883 he became a professor of Latin, a post which he resigned hardly six weeks before his death at his home in [Cambridge, Massachusetts](/source/Cambridge%2C_Massachusetts) on October 11, 1901.[2][1]

He was survived by two sons; surgeon and cancer specialist Dr. [Robert B. Greenough](/source/Robert_B._Greenough) and James Jay Greenough of [Noble and Greenough School](/source/Noble_and_Greenough_School).[1]

## Works

Following the lead of Goodwin's *Moods and Tenses* (1860), he set himself to study Latin historical [syntax](/source/Syntax), and in 1870 published *Analysis of the Latin [Subjunctive](/source/Subjunctive_mood)*, a brief treatise, privately printed, and in many ways coinciding with [Berthold Delbrück](/source/Berthold_Delbr%C3%BCck)'s *Gebrauch des Conjunctivs und Optativs in Sanskrit und Griechischen* (1871), which, however, quite overshadowed the *Analysis*.[2]

In 1872 appeared *A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges, founded on Comparative Grammar, by Joseph H. Allen and James B. Greenough*, a work done with great critical care with [Joseph Henry Allen](/source/Joseph_Henry_Allen). His theory of cum-constructions is that adopted and developed by [William Gardner Hale](/source/William_Gardner_Hale). In 1872-1880 Greenough offered the first courses in [Sanskrit](/source/Sanskrit) and [comparative philology](/source/Comparative_philology) given at Harvard.[2]

His able scholarship was evident in his editing of the Allen and Greenough Latin Series of text-books. Also, he occasionally contributed to *Harvard Studies in Classical Philology* (founded in 1889 and endowed at his instance by his own class) papers on Latin syntax, [prosody](/source/Prosody_(linguistics)) and [etymology](/source/Etymology) — a subject on which he planned a long work on Roman archaeology and on Greek religion at the time of the [New Comedy](/source/New_Comedy).[2]

He assisted in the founding of [Radcliffe College](/source/Radcliffe_College). An able English scholar and an excellent [etymologist](/source/Etymologist), he collaborated with Professor George L Kittredge on *Words and their Ways in English Speech* (1901).[2]

### Light verse

- *The Blackbirds*, a comedietta, first published in *The Atlantic Monthly* (vol. xxxix. 1877);

- *The Rose and the Ring* (1880), a [pantomime](/source/Pantomime) adapted from [William Makepeace Thackeray](/source/William_Makepeace_Thackeray);

- *The Queen of Hearts* (1885), a dramatic fantasia;

- *[Old King Cole](/source/Old_King_Cole)* (1889), an operetta.[2]

### Other publications

- *Selections from the Poems of Ovid* (1882)

- *Select Orations of Cicero* (1886)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-Dead_1-4) ["Prof James B. Greenough Dead"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119044264/prof-james-b-greenough-dead/). *[The Boston Globe](/source/The_Boston_Globe)*. October 12, 1901. p. 11. Retrieved February 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEChisholm1911_2-6) [Chisholm 1911](#CITEREFChisholm1911).

- See the sketch by [George L. Kittredge](/source/George_Lyman_Kittredge) in *Harvard Studies in Classical Philology*, vol. xiv. (1903), pp 1–17 (also printed in *Harvard Graduates Magazine*, vol. x., December 1901, pp. 196–201).

- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm), ed. (1911). "[Greenough, James Bradstreet](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Greenough,_James_Bradstreet)". *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 550.

## External links

- [James B. Greenough](https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/8745-greenough-james-bradstreet) at the Database of Classical Scholars

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