Thomas Oden Lambdin

{{Short description|American linguist (1927–2020)}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}

Thomas Oden Lambdin (October 31, 1927 – May 8, 2020) was an American linguist and scholar of the Semitic and Egyptian languages.{{cite web |title=Thomas Oden Lambdin |url=https://csnh.com/obituary/thomas-oden-lambdin/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124214947/https://csnh.com/obituary/thomas-oden-lambdin/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2021 |publisher=Cremation Society of New Hampshire |access-date=May 1, 2021}} He received his Ph.D. in 1952 from the Johns Hopkins University Department of Near Eastern Studies, where his advisor was William Foxwell Albright; his dissertation was on "Egyptian Loanwords and Transcriptions in the Ancient Semitic Languages."{{Cite book|title=The Published Works of William Foxwell Albright: A Comprehensive Bibliography|location=Boston|publisher=American Schools of Oriental Research|year=1975|pages=223|author=Freedman, David Noel}} He was appointed as an associate professor of Semitic Languages at Harvard University in 1964.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1964/4/7/six-linguists-named-to-strengthen-dept/|title=Six Linguists Named To Strengthen Dept. |website=The Harvard Crimson|accessdate=April 8, 2017|date=1964-04-07|first=Hendrik|last=Hertzberg}} He retired from Harvard in 1983 and served as Professor Emeritus until his death.{{cite web|url=http://www.thecrimson.harvard.edu/article/1983/3/22/semitic-scholar-lambdin-to-leave-university/|title=Semitic Scholar Lambdin To Leave University Post|work=The Harvard Crimson|accessdate=February 11, 2012}} He was admired not only for his research{{Cite web|url=http://www.colindsmith.com/blog/tag/thomas-lambdin/|title=Linguist Lambdin|website=Colin D Smith blog|accessdate=April 8, 2017}} and his "tireless teaching",{{Cite journal|last=Smith|first=Mark S.|date=1989|title="Working With No Data": Semitic and Egyptian Studies Presented to Thomas O. Lambdin|url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA325327694&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=fulltext&issn=01464094&p=AONE&sw=w&authCount=1&isAnonymousEntry=true|journal=Hebrew Studies|volume=30|pages=134–}} but for the quality of his introductory textbooks on Biblical Hebrew, Coptic, Ge'ez and Gothic language. His Festschrift, Working with No Data: Semitic and Egyptian Studies Presented to Thomas O. Lambdin (ed. David M. Golomb and Susan T. Hollis; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1987) includes a full bibliography of his publications, as well as chapters by John Huehnergard and Richard J. Clifford about their experiences as his students.