He was born in Valencia on February 8, 1908. is family moved to Madrid when he was eight.

By 1930, he had earned his professorship (cátedra) for his work on the medieval dialect of the western Asturias.

He had met Pilar Lago de Couceiro while both were students.

In addition, during the Civil War, he taught classes of republican soldiers how to read and write.

There, he participated on the Diccionario histórico de la lengua española.