Dictionary editor Cassidy dies at 92
Memorial services will be held June 18 for Frederic Cassidy, editor-in-chief of the Dictionary of Regional American English (DARE). Cassidy died June 14 of complications following a stroke. He was 92.
 Cassidy Related story: Romancing the word: The unfinished adventure of a dictionary maker’s life – from the fall 1999 issue of On Wisconsin.
Related Web site: Services for Cassidy will be held Sunday, June 18, at 2 p.m. at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Rd., Madison. Memorials can be sent to the Frederic G. Cassidy DARE Fund, UW–Madison, 6131 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St., Madison, WI 53706. |
Cassidy joined the Department of English immediately after receiving his doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1939. A native of Jamaica, he studied at Oberlin College in addition to his work at Michigan.
Cassidy began compiling DARE in 1963 as a record of vanishing regional speech idioms. According to Joan Houston Hall, associate editor of DARE, some of his favorites were “quill pig,” a Northeastern name for a porcupine; “ragged robin,” or cornflower; and “sirsee,” a hostess gift that remains an etymological puzzle.
Hall has managed the day-to-day operations of the dictionary for the last decade. Cassidy has designated her as his successor. Hall and the staff of 12 editors, production specialists and office personnel will work with students and volunteers in completing the project in Cassidy’s honor.
The first volume of DARE, covering A-C, appeared in 1985 and has sold about some 16,000 copies to date. Volumes II and III followed in 1991 and 1996. The next installment, covering the letters P through the middle of S, is due out in 2002. The final volume is scheduled for 2007, with supplementary data appearing shortly thereafter, Hall says.
“Fred’s zest for life and his infectious enthusiasm for language meant that people enjoyed being with him and were proud to be associated with him,” she says. “The number of linguists around the country and around the world who consider him their mentor testifies to his continuing influence on the field of language studies.”
Cassidy himself summed up his love of language in an interview last year: “A word is an encyclopedia,” he said. “It tells you about the people who use it, where they come from and what their lives are like.”
Services for Cassidy will be held Sunday, June 18, at 2 p.m. at Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Rd., Madison. Memorials can be sent to the Frederic G. Cassidy DARE Fund, UW–Madison, 6131 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St., Madison, WI 53706.