Harold Herman Bender (April 20, 1882 – August 16, 1951) was an American philologist who taught for more than forty years at Princeton University, where he served as chair of the Department of Oriental Languages and Literature.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate in philology from the University of Lithuania and was decorated by the country for his assistance in the Lithuanian Wars of Independence.
[2] Among his students was Moe Berg, who would go on to be a Major League Baseball catcher and coach before serving as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services in World War II.
[1] For the second edition of Webster's New International Dictionary (first published in 1934), Bender served as chief etymologist, overseeing a staff of seventy scholars who revised the etymologies of more than half a million words.
[2] He took an interest in criminology and lent his expertise to the New Jersey State Police in the investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping and other criminal cases.