Nicholas Williams
Encyclopedia
Nicholas Jonathan Anselm Williams (born October, 1942 in Walthamstow
, Essex
now London
, England
), writing as Nicholas Williams or sometimes N.J.A. Williams, is a leading expert on the Cornish language
.
, Essex
, Williams taught himself Cornish and became a bard
of the Cornish Gorseth
while still in his teens, taking the bardic name
Golvan ('Sparrow'). He read classical languages, English language
and Celtic in Oxford. After short periods in the universities of Belfast
(where he received his PhD) and Liverpool
, he was appointed lecturer in Irish
in University College Dublin
in 1977. In 2006, he was appointed Associate Professor in Celtic Languages there. He married Patricia Smyth from Portadown
, County Armagh
in 1976. They have three children, Benedict, Jerome, and Dominica who are bilingual in English
and Irish
.
and their literatures
. His works on Irish include the editions The Poems of Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe (1980) and Pairlement Chloinne Tomáis (1981); I bPrionta i Leabhar (1986), an account of Protestant writing in Irish during the seventeenth century; Díolaim Luibheanna (1993) a discussion of Irish plant names and plant lore; and Armas, a handbook of Irish heraldry
in Irish, which he illustrated himself. He also was joint editor of Stair na Gaeilge (‘the History of Irish’, Maynooth
, 1994) for which he contributed chapters on the Irish dialects of Leinster
and on Manx
.
As P. Berresford Ellis points out, Williams was the first professional Celtic scholar to study revived Cornish in depth. In 1990 Williams published an article "A problem in Cornish phonology", demonstrating that the phoneme
s represented by the graphemes /tj/ and /dj/ had never been part of the language and should therefore be removed from Kernewek Kemmyn
. He continued his critique of this variety of Cornish in Cornish Today (Kernewek Dre Lyther 1995) in which he also set out his own emended Unified Cornish (Unified Cornish Revised or UCR). Williams elaborated UCR in Clappya Kernowek (Agan Tavas
, 1997) and in his English-Cornish Dictionary (Agan Tavas, 2000). Spyrys a Gernow published his Testament Noweth, the first complete Cornish translation of the New Testament from the original Greek
in 2002. He gave the O’Donnell lectures in Oxford in May 1998, when he spoke on consecutive days on Manx and then Cornish. This was the first time that an O’Donnell lecture had ever been devoted to the Cornish language.
Among important articles by Williams Cornish one might include the following: "'Linguistically sound principles': the case against Kernewek Kemmyn", Cornish Studies, 4, (1997); "Pre-occlusion in Cornish", Studia Celtica 32 (1998); "Indirect Statement in Cornish and Breton", Cornish Studies 6, (1998); "Saint in Cornish", Cornish Studies 7 (1999) and the review, "'A modern and scholarly Cornish-English dictionary': Ken George’s Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn (1993)", Cornish Studies, 9 (2001). Williams together with Graham Thomas edited the Middle Cornish play Bewnans Ke
, which had been donated to the National Library of Wales
, Aberystwyth
, in 2000. Their edition was published by Exeter University Press in association with the National Library of Wales in October 2006.
Williams was awarded first prize in the Gorsedd literary competition three times in the early 1960s. More recently he won first prize for Cornish poetry in the Cornish Gorsedd in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 1974 Berresford Ellis wrote, "Probably the most able young writer in the language today is N.J.A. Williams (Golvan), a worthy successor to Edwin Chirgwin." Some of Williams’s poetry in Cornish was published by Tim Saunders in The Wheel (1990) and Nothing Broken (2006). The Welsh critic Bobi Jones
says in the introduction to this anthology, "Nicholas Williams, the well-known scholar, is also the T. Gwynn Jones of Cornwall -- polished, classical, rather conservative, soundly rooted in medieval romanticism
." Williams’s "Ancow Arthur", a translation of Tennyson
’s "Morte D'Arthur", published in Delyow Derow 15 (1996) is an example of his verse.
Nicholas Williams is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London and was awarded honorary membership of the Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association for his Cornish New Testament. He has translated four books in the series the Letts Pocket Guides into Irish, Mammals, Insects, Medicinal Plants and Edible Plants. His translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
into Irish (2003) received excellent reviews. In November 2004, he published his Irish translation of Through the Looking-Glass
. He is currently working on a translation of The Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
.
Williams's coat of arms
was granted
by the Chief Herald of Ireland
on 1 November 2006. The escutcheon's formal blazon
is in Irish, translated here as Argent two piles throughout gules three cinquefoils counterchanged ('On white, two red triangles throughout the shield, three cinquefoils in the reverse colour'); the colours are those of the City of London
, and the piles form a W. Along with this was granted a crest
, On a wreath of the colours a pied wagtail
bearing in its beak ragged robin
all proper ('On a red and white wreath, a pied wagtail bearing in its beak ragged robin, all in their natural colours'). "Willie wagtail" is common name used for this bird in Ireland
. The motto is Grásta Dé a bhfuil agamsa "The Grace of God is all I have"—a pun, where a bhfuil agamsa ə wɪlʲ ˈɑːmsə plays on Williams.
Walthamstow
Walthamstow is a district of northeast London, England, located in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It is situated north-east of Charing Cross...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
now London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), writing as Nicholas Williams or sometimes N.J.A. Williams, is a leading expert on the Cornish language
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
.
Life
While a pupil at Chigwell SchoolChigwell School
Chigwell School is an English co-educational independent school/public school in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It was founded in 1629 by Samuel Harsnett, a former Archbishop of York . There are around 730 pupils aged between 7 and 18 years...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, Williams taught himself Cornish and became a bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
of the Cornish Gorseth
Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow is a non-political Cornish organisation, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:...
while still in his teens, taking the bardic name
Bardic name
A bardic name is a pseudonym, used in Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement....
Golvan ('Sparrow'). He read classical languages, English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Celtic in Oxford. After short periods in the universities of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
(where he received his PhD) and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, he was appointed lecturer in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
in University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
in 1977. In 2006, he was appointed Associate Professor in Celtic Languages there. He married Patricia Smyth from Portadown
Portadown
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 23 miles south-west of Belfast...
, County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
in 1976. They have three children, Benedict, Jerome, and Dominica who are bilingual in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
.
Work
Williams has written widely on the Celtic languagesCeltic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
and their literatures
Celtic literature
In the strictly academic context of Celtic studies, the term Celtic literature is used by Celticists to denote any number of bodies of literature written in a Celtic language, encompassing the Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Breton languages in either their modern or earlier...
. His works on Irish include the editions The Poems of Giolla Brighde Mac Con Midhe (1980) and Pairlement Chloinne Tomáis (1981); I bPrionta i Leabhar (1986), an account of Protestant writing in Irish during the seventeenth century; Díolaim Luibheanna (1993) a discussion of Irish plant names and plant lore; and Armas, a handbook of Irish heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
in Irish, which he illustrated himself. He also was joint editor of Stair na Gaeilge (‘the History of Irish’, Maynooth
Maynooth
Maynooth is a town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to a branch of the National University of Ireland, a Papal University and Ireland's main Roman Catholic seminary, St. Patrick's College...
, 1994) for which he contributed chapters on the Irish dialects of Leinster
Leinster
Leinster is one of the Provinces of Ireland situated in the east of Ireland. It comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Mide, Osraige and Leinster. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the historic fifths of Leinster and Mide gradually merged, mainly due to the impact of the Pale, which straddled...
and on Manx
Manx language
Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
.
As P. Berresford Ellis points out, Williams was the first professional Celtic scholar to study revived Cornish in depth. In 1990 Williams published an article "A problem in Cornish phonology", demonstrating that the phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s represented by the graphemes /tj/ and /dj/ had never been part of the language and should therefore be removed from Kernewek Kemmyn
Kernewek Kemmyn
Kernewek Kemmyn is a variety of the revived Cornish language.Kernewek Kemmyn was developed, mainly by Ken George, from Unified Cornish in 1986. It takes much of its inspiration from medieval sources, particularly Cornish passion plays, as well as Breton and to a lesser extent Welsh...
. He continued his critique of this variety of Cornish in Cornish Today (Kernewek Dre Lyther 1995) in which he also set out his own emended Unified Cornish (Unified Cornish Revised or UCR). Williams elaborated UCR in Clappya Kernowek (Agan Tavas
Agan Tavas
Agan Tavas is a society which exists to promote the Cornish language, and is represented on the Cornish Language Partnership. It was formed in 1987 to promote the use of Cornish as a spoken language. At that time only those observed to be using the language fluently could become members by...
, 1997) and in his English-Cornish Dictionary (Agan Tavas, 2000). Spyrys a Gernow published his Testament Noweth, the first complete Cornish translation of the New Testament from the original Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
in 2002. He gave the O’Donnell lectures in Oxford in May 1998, when he spoke on consecutive days on Manx and then Cornish. This was the first time that an O’Donnell lecture had ever been devoted to the Cornish language.
Among important articles by Williams Cornish one might include the following: "'Linguistically sound principles': the case against Kernewek Kemmyn", Cornish Studies, 4, (1997); "Pre-occlusion in Cornish", Studia Celtica 32 (1998); "Indirect Statement in Cornish and Breton", Cornish Studies 6, (1998); "Saint in Cornish", Cornish Studies 7 (1999) and the review, "'A modern and scholarly Cornish-English dictionary': Ken George’s Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn (1993)", Cornish Studies, 9 (2001). Williams together with Graham Thomas edited the Middle Cornish play Bewnans Ke
Bewnans Ke
Bewnans Ke is a Middle Cornish play on the life of Saint Kea or Ke, who was venerated in Cornwall, Brittany, and elsewhere. It was written around 1500, but survives only in an incomplete manuscript from the second half of the 16th century. The play was entirely unknown until 2000, when it was...
, which had been donated to the National Library of Wales
National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales , Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales; one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies.Welsh is its main medium of communication...
, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
, in 2000. Their edition was published by Exeter University Press in association with the National Library of Wales in October 2006.
Williams was awarded first prize in the Gorsedd literary competition three times in the early 1960s. More recently he won first prize for Cornish poetry in the Cornish Gorsedd in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 1974 Berresford Ellis wrote, "Probably the most able young writer in the language today is N.J.A. Williams (Golvan), a worthy successor to Edwin Chirgwin." Some of Williams’s poetry in Cornish was published by Tim Saunders in The Wheel (1990) and Nothing Broken (2006). The Welsh critic Bobi Jones
Bobi Jones
Emeritus Professor Robert Maynard Jones , generally known as Bobi Jones, is a Welsh Christian academic, one of the most prolific writers in the history of the Welsh language. A versatile master of poetry, fictional prose and criticism, he is now in his seventies and still producing work of a high...
says in the introduction to this anthology, "Nicholas Williams, the well-known scholar, is also the T. Gwynn Jones of Cornwall -- polished, classical, rather conservative, soundly rooted in medieval romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
." Williams’s "Ancow Arthur", a translation of Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
’s "Morte D'Arthur", published in Delyow Derow 15 (1996) is an example of his verse.
Nicholas Williams is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London and was awarded honorary membership of the Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association for his Cornish New Testament. He has translated four books in the series the Letts Pocket Guides into Irish, Mammals, Insects, Medicinal Plants and Edible Plants. His translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
into Irish (2003) received excellent reviews. In November 2004, he published his Irish translation of Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
. He is currently working on a translation of The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
.
Coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
was granted
Grant of Arms
A grant of arms is an action by a lawful authority, such as an officer of arms, conferring on a person and his or her descendants the right to bear a particular coat of arms or armorial bearings...
by the Chief Herald of Ireland
Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland
The Genealogical Office is an office of the Government of Ireland containing genealogical records. It includes the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland , the authority in the Republic of Ireland for heraldry. The Chief Herald authorises the granting of arms to Irish bodies and Irish people,...
on 1 November 2006. The escutcheon's formal blazon
Blazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
is in Irish, translated here as Argent two piles throughout gules three cinquefoils counterchanged ('On white, two red triangles throughout the shield, three cinquefoils in the reverse colour'); the colours are those of the City of London
Flag of the City of London
The flag of the City of London is based on the flag of England, having a centred red St George's Cross on a white background, with the red sword in the upper hoist canton . The sword is believed to represent the sword that beheaded Saint Paul who is the patron saint of the city...
, and the piles form a W. Along with this was granted a crest
Crest (heraldry)
A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....
, On a wreath of the colours a pied wagtail
White Wagtail
"Pied Wagtail" redirects here. For the related African bird, see African Pied Wagtail.The White Wagtail is a small passerine bird in the wagtail family Motacillidae, which also includes the pipits and longclaws. This species breeds in much of Europe and Asia and parts of north Africa...
bearing in its beak ragged robin
Ragged Robin
Lychnis flos-cuculi, commonly called Ragged Robin, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is species is native to Europe, where it is found along roads and in wet meadows and pastures...
all proper ('On a red and white wreath, a pied wagtail bearing in its beak ragged robin, all in their natural colours'). "Willie wagtail" is common name used for this bird in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. The motto is Grásta Dé a bhfuil agamsa "The Grace of God is all I have"—a pun, where a bhfuil agamsa ə wɪlʲ ˈɑːmsə plays on Williams.
Publications
- “An Mhanainnis”, in K. McCone, Damian McManus, Cathal Ó Hainle, Nicholas Williams, Liam Breatnach, Stair na Gaeilge (Maynooth, 1994) 703–44
- Cornish Today: an examination of the revived language. first and second editions (Sutton Coldfield: Kernewek dre Lyther 1995)
- “‘Linguistically sound principles’: the case against Kernewek Kemmyn”, in Cornish Studies Second series: Four. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Pp. 64–87. ISBN 0-85989-523-8
- Clappya Kernowek: an introduction to Unified Cornish Revised (Agan Tavas, Portreath 1997, ISBN 1-901409-01-5)
- “Pre-occlusionPre-occlusionPre-occlusion is a phonological process, involving the insertion of a very short plosive consonant before a sonorant consonant. In Manx, this applies to stressed monosyllabic words , and is also found in Cornish on certain stressed syllables. The inserted consonant is homorganic with the following...
in Cornish”, Studia Celtica 32, 129-54 - “Nebbaz gerriau dro tho Curnoack” (O’Donnell lecture given in Oxford, May 1998)
- “Indirect statement in Cornish and Breton”, Cornish Studies. Second series: Six. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Pp. 172–82. ISBN 0-85989-610-2
- “Saint in Cornish”, in Cornish Studies. Second series: Seven. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Pp. 219–241. ISBN 0-85989-644-7
- “Middle and Late Cornish”, in Kim McCone, Compendium Linguarum Celticarum (Reichert Verlag)
- “‘A modern and scholarly Cornish-English dictionary’: Ken George’s Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn (1993)”, in Cornish Studies. Second series: Nine. Exeter: University of Exeter Press. Pp. 247–311. ISBN 0-85989-702-8
- Cornish Today: an examination of the revived language, third edition (Westport: Evertype 2006, ISBN 978-1-904808-07-7)
- Writings on Revived Cornish (Westport: Evertype 2006, ISBN 978-1-904808-08-4)
- “A problem in Cornish phonology” in Writings on Revived Cornish, 1–25
- “Which Cornish?” in Writings on Revived Cornish, 26–37
- “‘Linguistically sound principles’: the case against Kernewek Kemmyn”, in Writings on Revived Cornish 38–64
- “Pre-occlusion in Cornish” in Writings on Revived Cornish 65–92
- “Nebbaz gerriau dro tho Curnoack: A few words about Cornish” in Writings on Revived Cornish 93–110
- “Indirect statement in Cornish and Breton” in Writings on Revived Cornish 111–119
- “Saint in Cornish”, in Writings on Revived Cornish 120–137
- “‘A modern and scholarly Cornish-English dictionary’: Ken George’s Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn (1993)”, in Writings on Revived Cornish 138–185
- “Place-name inconsistencies in George’s Gerlyver Kernewek Kemmyn”, in Writings on Revived Cornish 186
- “Bewnans KeBewnans KeBewnans Ke is a Middle Cornish play on the life of Saint Kea or Ke, who was venerated in Cornwall, Brittany, and elsewhere. It was written around 1500, but survives only in an incomplete manuscript from the second half of the 16th century. The play was entirely unknown until 2000, when it was...
: Implications for Kernowek Kemyn”, in Writings on Revived Cornish 187–196
- Towards Authentic Cornish (Westport: Evertype 2006, ISBN 978-1-904808-09-1)