BABBITT, Irving. Dayton, Ohio 2.8.1865 — Cambridge, Mass. 15.7.1933. U.S. Romance Philologist interested in Pāli. Son of Edwin Dwight Babbitt and Augusta Darling. Grew up in Madisonville near Cincinnati. From 1885 educated at Harvard (A.B. 1889, A.M. 1893, including Sanskrit), also studies in Paris 1891-92 (Pāli and Buddhism at E.P.H.E.). Instructor in Romance Languages at Williams College in 1893-94, then at Harvard: Instructor in French 1894-1902, Assistant Professor 1902-12, Professor of French Literature from 1912. In 1900 married Dora May Drew, one son and one daughter. Babbitt was a religious humanist and cultural critic opposing romanticism. In politics rather conservative.
Publications: Works on French literature, philosophy, political theory, etc.
– The Dhammapada translated from Pali, with an Essay on Buddha and the Occident. 12+123 p. N.Y. 1936 (“by I.B., late Prof. of French, Harvard University”).
Sources: Who Was Who in America 1, 1897–1942 (no Asian interests mentioned); Wikipedia (long account with many further references and photo).
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