The Hungarian Academy of Sciences will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2025. Among its members are many distinguished students and teachers who have left their mark not only on the Academy but also on the history of our institution. Dezső Pais (1886–1973) linguist, university professor was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1941.
Pais attended secondary school in Zalaegerszeg, then graduated as a teacher of Hungarian, Latin and Greek at the Budapest University as a member of the József Eötvös Collegium. His years at the Collegium were decisive for him. After his graduation he had engaged in research in linguistics at the archives of Zalaegerszeg, then he became a grammar school teacher in Sopron, Cegléd and finally in Budapest. From 1924 he was teaching at the Hungarian Royal Péter Pázmány University. He was a teacher of the Eötvös Collegium between 1933 and 1937. From 1937 till 1959 he was the leader and professor of the Department of Hungarian Linguistics. From 1928 he was a co-editor, and from 1943 the only editor of the journal entitled Magyar Nyelv (Hungarian language). He was a member of several committees affiliated with the academy, the university or the ministry. He dealt with almost all branches of linguistics, however, his favourite fields were the etymology and history of words. It was him who systematised the theory of Hungarian onomatology. The interpretation of language relics was another field he was active in. He was not only transferring the intellectual heritage of his predecessors to his students, but established a school as a scholar and a teacher as well. His rich collection of papers can be found in our archives.