The Work of David Winton Thomas as a Hebrew Scholar1

Abstract

At the time of writing it is twenty years, almost to the day, since David Winton Thomas died on 18 June 1970, and it seems an appropriate time to review his contribution to Hebrew studies. Thomas was a modest man and, if I have understood him correctly, he would not have regarded himself as standing in the front rank of innovative Hebrew scholars like his teacher G. R. Driver, but as one of the conscientious followers who travel circumspectly along the paths pioneered by others, seeking to extend their work by applying their methods to further problems. Precisely the work of such a Hebraist can serve as an example of a particular kind of scholarship in a particular period of the twentieth century, a period that is already part of the history of scholarship, a period that is the background to our work to-day. The present article is not intended as a biography or an obituary,2 and yet a brief biographical sketch is appropriate for a study of Thomas's work. He was born on 26 January 1901, the son of a Welsh Anglican clergyman who was the Principal of a teachers' training college in North London. Although Thomas's upbringing and education were entirely in England, he was conscious of his Welsh ancestry, and he acquired at least a reading knowledge of the Welsh language. Many years later, it gave him great pleasure when the University of Wales conferred on him an honorary doctorate, and in his will he left his books to the University College of North Wales in Bangor.