Editing Alexander Gode

{{short description|American linguist}}

{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Alexander Gode
| image             =
| image_size        = 230px
| caption           = Alexander Gode, 1953
| birth_date        = October 30, 1906
| birth_place       = [[Bremen]], [[Imperial Germany]]
| death_date        = {{death-date and age| August 10, 1970|October 30, 1906}}
| death_place       = [[Mount Kisco, New York]], [[United States]]
| residence         =
| citizenship       = [[United States|American]]
| nationality       =
| ethnicity         =
| field             = [[Language]]
| work_institutions = [[University of Chicago]]<br>[[Columbia University]]
| alma_mater        = [[Columbia University]]
| doctoral_advisor  =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for         =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| prizes            =
| religion          =
| footnotes         =
}}

'''Alexander Gottfried Friedrich Gode-von Aesch''' (October 30, 1906 – August 10, 1970) was a German-born American [[linguistics|linguist]], [[translation|translator]] and the driving force behind the creation of the [[International auxiliary language|auxiliary language]] [[Interlingua]].

==Biography==
Born to a German father and a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] mother, Gode studied at the [[University of Vienna]] and the [[University of Paris]] before leaving for the U.S. and becoming a citizen in 1927. He was an instructor at the [[University of Chicago]] as well as [[Columbia University]], where he received his Ph.D. in [[Germanic languages|Germanic Studies]] in 1939.

Alexander Gode died of cancer in hospital. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Johanna. Gode was survived by two daughters from his first marriage, his second wife Alison, and their two children.

==Interlingua==
Gode was involved with the [[International Auxiliary Language Association]] (IALA) from 1933 on, sporadically at first. In 1936 the IALA began development of a new [[international auxiliary language]] and in 1939 Gode was hired to assist in this work.

After [[André Martinet]] was brought in to head the research in 1946, the two men's views came into conflict as Gode thought that Martinet was trying to schematize the new language too much, conflating it with [[Interlingue|Occidental]]. Gode saw no need to invent a language, as a product of some a-priori design. Instead, he and the former director of research, <span style="white-space: nowrap">[[Ezra Clark Stillman]]</span>, wanted to record the ''international vocabulary'' that, in their view, already existed. This would be done &ndash; and was being done before Martinet &ndash; by systematically extracting and modifying words from the existing control languages in such a way that they could be seen as dialects of a common language, with their own specific peculiarities. When Martinet resigned in 1948 over a salary dispute, Gode took up leadership and got full reign in implementing this vision. The result was [[Interlingua]], the [[Interlingua-English Dictionary|dictionary]] and [[Interlingua: A Grammar of the International Language|grammar]] of which were published in 1951.<ref>[http://starter5.aitcom.net/interlinguaus/pakupaku/uploads//GodeManifestodeInterlingua.pdf Gode's Interlingua Manifesto] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326175115/http://starter5.aitcom.net/interlinguaus/pakupaku/uploads//GodeManifestodeInterlingua.pdf |date=2009-03-26 }} published in 1959</ref>

In 1953, the role of IALA was assumed by the Interlingua Division of [[Society for Science and the Public|Science Service]], and Gode became the division director. He continued his involvement with Interlingua until his death by translating scientific and medical texts into it. He won awards for this from the [[American Medical Writers Association]] and the [[International Federation of Translators]].<ref>[http://www.interlingua.com/historia/biographias/gode.htm A history of Interlingua in Interlingua] Union Mundial pro Interlingua</ref>

==American Translators Association==
Gode was one of the founders and first president of the [[American Translators Association]] (1960–1963). In his honor, this organization awards the '''Alexander Gode Medal''' "for outstanding service to the translation and interpreting professions".<ref>[http://www.atanet.org/membership/honorsandawards_gode.php Alexander Gode Medal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611131516/http://atanet.org/membership/honorsandawards_gode.php |date=2007-06-11 }} American Translators Association website</ref>

==Selected publications==

===Scholarly works===
{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Natural Science in German Romanticism
  | url = https://archive.org/details/naturalsciencein00gode
  | url-access = registration
  | publisher = Columbia University Press
  | year = 1941
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Portuguese at Sight
  | publisher = Thomas Y. Crowell Co
  | year = 1943
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Interlingua English Dictionary
  | url = https://archive.org/details/interlinguaengli00inte
  | url-access = registration
  | publisher = Storm Publishers
  | year = 1951
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = A Brief Grammar of Interlingua for Readers
  | publisher = Storm Publishers
  | year = 1951
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Interlingua a Prime Vista
  | publisher = Storm Publishers
  | year = 1954
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  |author2=Blair
  | title = Interlingua: A Grammar of the International Language
  | publisher = Storm Publishers
  | year = 1955
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = French at Sight
  | publisher = Ungar Pub Co
  | year = 1962
  | isbn = 978-0-8044-6181-8}}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Anthology of German Poetry Through the 19th Century
  | publisher = Ungar Pub Co
  | year = 1972
  | isbn = 978-0-8044-6241-9  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Un Dozena de Breve Contos
  | publisher = Beekbergen
  | year = 1975
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Discussiones de Interlingua
  | publisher = Beekbergen
  | year = 1980
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  | title = Dece Contos
  | publisher = Beekbergen
  | year = 1983
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Gode
  | first = Alexander
  |author2=Kraus, Wright
  | title = Last Days of Mankind
  | publisher = Ungar Pub. Co
  | year = 2000
  | isbn = 978-0-8044-6366-9 }}

===Translations===
{{cite book
  | last = Frankl
  | first = Oscar Benjamin
  | others = Gode
  | title = Theodor Herzl, the Jew and the Man: A Portrait
  | url = https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.87776
  | publisher = Storm
  | year = 1949
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Giedion-Welcker
  | first = Carola
  |author2=Herder
  | others = Gode
  | title = Paul Klee
  | publisher = Viking Press
  | year = 1952
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Nettl
  | first = Paul
  | others = Gode
  | title = National Anthems
  | url = https://archive.org/details/nationalanthems0000unse
  | url-access = registration
  | publisher = Storm
  | year = 1952
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Szczesny
  | first = Gerhard
  | others = Gode
  | title = The Case Against Bertold Brecht
  | publisher = Ungar Pub. Co
  | year = 1969
  | isbn = 0-8044-2847-6 }}

{{cite book
  | last = Petersen
  | first = Caron
  | others = Gode
  | title = Albert Camus
  | url = https://archive.org/details/albertcamus0000pete
  | url-access = registration
  | publisher = F. Ungar
  | year = 1969
  }}

{{cite book
  | last = Daim
  | first = Wilfried
  | others = Gode
  | title = The Vatican and Eastern Europe
  | url = https://archive.org/details/vaticaneasterneu00daim
  | url-access = registration
  | publisher = Frederick Ungar
  | year = 1970
  | isbn = 978-0-8044-5272-4
 }}.

==See also==
{{Interlingua sidebar|expanded=History}}
*[[Language education]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/ger107.htm Alexander Gode von Aesch Papers] - Biographical information, photographs, and correspondence collected by the University Library at Albany State University, [[New York (state)|New York]]
*[http://www.interlingua.com/historia/biographias/gode.htm Biographias - Alexander Gottfried Friedrich Gode-von Aesch] - Biography in Interlingua
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050326221840/http://www.amwa.org/default/history/newsletters/nov70.pdf November 1970 newsletter from the American Medical Writers Association] - Obituary (in [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] format)
* [http://www.interlingua.com/ Union Mundial pro Interlingua]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gode, Alexander}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1970 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century German linguists]]
[[Category:Interlingua]]
[[Category:Interlingua speakers]]
[[Category:Constructed language creators]]
[[Category:20th-century American translators]]
[[Category:20th-century American linguists]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Translators Association]]