In the death of William Safire, the world has lost an eminent philologist, nay, etymologist. I loved his column in Frontline. It fascinated me. I used to admire his in-depth knowledge of words and their origins. His expositions were witty but eloquent and had a rationale behind them. A fitting tribute to Safire would be to establish an institute of philology and phonology which were dear to his heart.
R. Soundararajan,
Nagapattinam