BURROW, Thomas. Westmoreland, Leck, North Lancashire 29.6.1909 — Kidlington, Oxfordshire 8.6.1986. British Indologist. Professor in Oxford. Son of Joshua and Frances Eleanor B. Studies at Cambridge (Christ’s College) from 1927, classical and soon also Indian philology, M.A. Ph.D. 1935. In 1935-37 Research Fellow of his College. In 1937-44 Assistant Keeper of Oriental printed books and Manuscripts in British Museum. Poor eyes impended military service. In 1938-48 also an additional Lecturer in Sanskrit at S.O.A.S. From 1944 Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, retired in 1976 (emeritus fellow of Balliol College). Married 1941 Inez Mary Haley (d. 1976), no children. Died of a heart attack.
Burrow was an excellent Sanskrit scholar (esp. the famous Sanskrit Language), familiar with MIA, too, and one of the pioneers of comparative Dravidian studies. This latter he started mainly after the war, and from 1949 collected with Emeneau the D.E.D. Several trips to India gave field experience in Dravidian languages. In later years also worked much on Veda. Among his students were S. S. Janaki and Kunjunni Raja.
Publications: Diss. 1935 publ. as The Language of the Kharoṣṭhi Documents from Chinese Turkestan. 134 p. Cambridge 1937.
– A translation of the Kharoṣṭhī Documents from Chinese Turkestan. 6+151 p. James G. Forlong Fund 20. L. 1940.
– Articles on North-western Prakrits (JRAS, BSOS), Sanskrit (Tr.Philol.Soc., JRAS, BSOAS, JAOS, IIJ), and on Dravidian studies (esp. BSO(A)S 1938-48), “Some Dravidian Words in Sanskrit”, TPS 1945, 79-120; “Loanwords in Sanskrit”, TPS 1946, 1-30.
– With S. Bhattacharya: The Parji Language, a Dravidian Language of Bastar. 12+197 p. Hertford 1953; The Pengo Language. Grammar, texts, and vocabulary. 246 p. L. 1970; “A comparative vocabulary of the Gondi dialects”, JASB 4:2:2-4, 1960, 73-251).
– The Sanskrit Language. 7+426 p. L. 1955, rev. 2nd ed. L. 1973.
– With M. B. Emeneau: Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. 638 p. L. 1961 (D.E.D.); Supplement. 196 p. Oxford 1962; further supplement, JAOS 92, 1972, 397-418 & 475-491; 2nd ed. 41+853 p. 1984.
– The Problem of Shwa in Sanskrit. 10+130 p. Oxford 1979; “‘Shwa’ in Sanskrit”, TPS 1949, 22-61.
– “Cāṇakya and Kauṭalya”, ABORI 48-49, 1968, 17-31.
– “Spontaneous cerebrals in Sanskrit”, BSOAS 34, 1971, 538-559; “Sanskrit mā- ‘to approach, meet, join’; (trans.) ‘to bring to’”, BSOAS 44, 1981, 85-104 (mainly on RV); “Vedic Urvárī, ‘Lady of choice, wife”, JRAS 1984, 209-216; “The Vedic verb pávate ‘goes, moves, (wind) blows, (soma) flows’”, BSOAS 49, 1986, 292-298.
– Collected Papers on Dravidian Linguistics. 344 p. Annamalai Univ. Publ. in Linguistics 13. Annamalainagar 1968.
Sources: M.B. Emeneau, IL 47, 1986; G.R. Hart, BSOAS 50, 1987, 346-357 (with a bibliography); *G.-J. Pinault, Lex. Gramm. 1996, 150; Who’s Who 1983; photo in BSOAS 42:2, 1979; Wikipedia briefly.
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