Ramón Menéndez Pidal (13 March 1869 - 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian. He worked extensively on the history of the Spanish language and Spanish folklore. His main topic was the legend of The Cid.

He was born in A Coruña (Galicia), Spain. His father, Juan Menéndez Fernández, was a lawyer and a magistrate, originally from Asturias. His mother was Ramona Pidal, also an Asturian.

He studied at the University of Madrid (Universidad de Madrid). In 1899 he obtained the chair in Romance Philology in the same university, an appointment that he held until his retirement.

He was elected to the Spanish Royal Academy (Real Academia Española) in 1901.

In 1925 he was elected director of the Spanish Royal Academy. However, he resigned this position in 1939 as a protest to the political climate in Spain at the time.

During the Spanish Civil War he was exiled to France, Cuba and the United States.

[edit] Works (selection)

• La leyenda de los siete infantes de Lara (1896)
• Crónicas generales de España (1898)
• Manual elemental de Gramática histórica española (1904)
• El dialecto leonés (1906)
• Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario (1908-1912)
• Orígenes del español (1926)
• La España del Cid (1929)
• La idea imperial de Carlos V (1938)
• Reliquias de la poesía épica española (1952)
• Romancero hispánico (1953)
• En torno a la lengua vasca (1962), recolle traballos anteriores
• El padre Las Casas: su doble personalidad (1963)

This Spanish biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article on a linguist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e