Thomas Hewitt Key

Thomas Hewitt Key, FRS (20 March 1799 – 29 November 1875) was an English classical scholar.

[1] He was born in London and educated at St John's and Trinity Colleges, Cambridge, and graduated 19th wrangler in 1821.

[2] From 1825 to 1827 he was the founding professor of Pure mathematics in the University of Virginia; Key owned at least one slave during his time there.

[citation needed] Key is best known for his introduction of the crude-form (the uninflected form or stem of words) system, in general use among Sanskrit grammarians, into the teaching of the classical languages.

[4] Key was prejudiced against the German Sanskritists, and the etymological portion of his Latin Dictionary, published in 1888, was severely criticized on this account.