Walter William Skeat
Encyclopedia
Walter William Skeat English
philologist, was born in London
on the 21st of November 1835, and educated at King's College School
(Wimbledon
), Highgate School, and Christ's College, Cambridge
, of which he became a fellow in July 1860. His grandsons include the noted palaeographer T. C. Skeat and the stained glass painter Francis Skeat
.
at Cambridge
. He completed Mitchell Kemble
's edition of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels, and did much other work both in Anglo-Saxon and in Gothic
, but is perhaps most generally known for his labours in Middle English
, and for his standard editions of Chaucer and Langland
's Piers Plowman
.
As he himself generously declared, he was at first mainly guided in the study of Chaucer by Henry Bradshaw
, with whom he was to have participated in the edition of Chaucer planned in 1870 by the University of Oxford
, having declined in Bradshaw's favour an offer of the editorship made to himself. Bradshaw's perseverance was not equal to his genius, and the scheme came to nothing for the time, but was eventually resumed and carried into effect by Skeat in an edition of six volumes (1894), a supplementary volume of Chaucerian Pieces being published in 1897. He also issued an edition of Chaucer in one volume for general readers, and a separate edition of his Treatise on the Astrolabe, with a learned commentary.
His edition of Piers Plowman in three parallel texts was published in 1886; and, besides the Treatise on the Astrolabe, he edited numerous books for the Early English Text Society
, including the Bruce of John Barbour, Pierce the Ploughman's Crede
, the romances of Havelok the Dane
and William of Palerne, and Ælfric
's Lives of the Saints (4 vols.). For the Scottish Text Society he edited The Kingis Quair, usually ascribed to James I of Scotland
, and he published an edition (2 vols., 1871) of Chatterton
, with an investigation of the sources of the obsolete words employed by him.
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground
in Cambridge.
. Skeat was also a pioneer of place-name studies.
His other works include:
Somewhat incidentally in the perspective of his main body of work, Skeat coined the term ghost word
and was a leading expert in this treacherous and difficult subject.
and other medieval English authors as part of his national heritage and objected to the numerous German professors' incursions into English textual territory. Frustrated by the successes of his German counterparts, he exclaimed, sarcastically, that though perhaps "to some extent disqualified, as being merely a native of London, in which city Chaucer himself was born," he should be allowed to contribute scholarship on the father of English poetry without constant German interference.
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...
philologist, was born in 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...
on the 21st of November 1835, and educated at King's College School
King's College School
King's College School, commonly referred to as KCS, King's, or KCS Wimbledon, is an independent school for day pupils in Wimbledon in south-west London. The school was founded as the junior department of King's College London and occupied part of its premises in Strand, before relocating to...
(Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
), Highgate School, and Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
, of which he became a fellow in July 1860. His grandsons include the noted palaeographer T. C. Skeat and the stained glass painter Francis Skeat
Francis Skeat
Francis Walter Skeat is an English glass painter who has created over 400 stained glass windows in churches and cathedrals, both in England and overseas. Skeat is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, and a member of the Art Workers...
.
Life
In 1878 he was elected Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-SaxonElrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon
The Elrington and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon is the senior professorship in Anglo-Saxon at the University of Cambridge.The chair was founded in 1878 when an earlier gift from Joseph Bosworth, Rawlinsonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, had increased in value sufficiently to support...
at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. He completed Mitchell Kemble
John Mitchell Kemble
John Mitchell Kemble , English scholar and historian, was the eldest son of Charles Kemble the actor and Maria Theresa Kemble....
's edition of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels, and did much other work both in Anglo-Saxon and in Gothic
Gothic language
Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the Codex Argenteus, a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizable Text corpus...
, but is perhaps most generally known for his labours in Middle English
Middle English
Middle English is the stage in the history of the English language during the High and Late Middle Ages, or roughly during the four centuries between the late 11th and the late 15th century....
, and for his standard editions of Chaucer and Langland
Langland
-People:* Joseph Langland, an American poet* Tuck Langland, an American sculptor* William Langland, a 14th-century English poet-Places:* Langland Bay, near the village of Langland on the Gower Peninsula of south-west Wales.* Langland, Caithness, in Scotland...
's Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman
Piers Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman is the title of a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus"...
.
As he himself generously declared, he was at first mainly guided in the study of Chaucer by Henry Bradshaw
Henry Bradshaw (scholar)
Henry Bradshaw was a British scholar and librarian.Henry Bradshaw was the son of Joseph Hoare Bradshaw, a banker. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow in 1853...
, with whom he was to have participated in the edition of Chaucer planned in 1870 by the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, having declined in Bradshaw's favour an offer of the editorship made to himself. Bradshaw's perseverance was not equal to his genius, and the scheme came to nothing for the time, but was eventually resumed and carried into effect by Skeat in an edition of six volumes (1894), a supplementary volume of Chaucerian Pieces being published in 1897. He also issued an edition of Chaucer in one volume for general readers, and a separate edition of his Treatise on the Astrolabe, with a learned commentary.
His edition of Piers Plowman in three parallel texts was published in 1886; and, besides the Treatise on the Astrolabe, he edited numerous books for the Early English Text Society
Early English Text Society
The Early English Text Society is an organization to reprint early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes are in Middle English and Old English...
, including the Bruce of John Barbour, Pierce the Ploughman's Crede
Pierce the Ploughman's Crede
"Pierce the Ploughman's Crede" is a medieval alliterative poem of 855 lines, savagely lampooning the four orders of friars.-Textual History:Surviving in two complete forteenth-century manuscripts and two early printed editions, the Crede can be dated on internal evidence to the short period between...
, the romances of Havelok the Dane
Havelok the Dane
Havelok the Dane, also known as Havelok or Lay of Havelok the Dane, is a Middle English romance considered to be part of the Matter of England. The story, however, is also known in two earlier Anglo-Norman versions. Most scholars place Havelok the Dane at the end of the thirteenth century, between...
and William of Palerne, and Ælfric
Ælfric of Eynsham
Ælfric of Eynsham was an English abbot, as well as a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as Ælfric the Grammarian , Ælfric of Cerne, and Ælfric the Homilist...
's Lives of the Saints (4 vols.). For the Scottish Text Society he edited The Kingis Quair, usually ascribed to James I of Scotland
James I of Scotland
James I, King of Scots , was the son of Robert III and Annabella Drummond. He was probably born in late July 1394 in Dunfermline as youngest of three sons...
, and he published an edition (2 vols., 1871) of Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton
Thomas Chatterton was an English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry. He died of arsenic poisoning, either from a suicide attempt or self-medication for a venereal disease.-Childhood:...
, with an investigation of the sources of the obsolete words employed by him.
He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground
Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge
The Ascension Parish Burial Ground, formerly St Giles and St Peter's Parish, is a cemetery just off Huntingdon Road near the junction with Storey's Way in the northwest of Cambridge, England. It includes the graves of many Cambridge academics and non-conformists of the 19th and early 20th century...
in Cambridge.
Work
In pure philology, Skeat's principal achievement is his Etymological English Dictionary (4 parts, 1879-1882; rev, and enlarged, 1910). While preparing the dictionary he wrote hundreds of short articles on word origins for the London-based journal Notes and QueriesNotes and Queries
Notes and Queries is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to "English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism". Its emphasis is on "the factual rather than the speculative"...
. Skeat was also a pioneer of place-name studies.
His other works include:
- The Holy Gospels in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Old Mercian Versions (1871)
- Specimens of English from 1394 to 1597 (1871)
- Specimens of Early English from 1298 to 1393 (1872), in conjunction with Richard MorrisRichard Morris (philology)Richard Morris , was an English philologist.Morris was born in London. In 1871 he was ordained in the Church of England, and from 1875-1888 was head master of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys, near London...
- Principles of English Etymology (2 series, 1887 and 1891)
- A Concise Dictionary of Middle English (1888), in conjunction with A. L. Mayhew
- A Student's Pastime (1896), a volume of essays
- The Chaucer Canon (1900)
- A Primer of Classical and English Philology (1905)
- "A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words" (1914) with A. L. Mayhew
- The place-names of Cambridgeshire (1901)
- Place-names of Huntingdonshire (1902)
- Place-names of Hertfordshire (1904)
- Place-names of Bedfordshire (1906)
- Place-names of Berkshire (1911)
- Place-names of Suffolk (1913)
Somewhat incidentally in the perspective of his main body of work, Skeat coined the term ghost word
Ghost word
A ghost word is a meaningless word that came into existence or acceptance, not by being derived through long-standing usage, nor by being coined at need, but only as the result of an error. In the best-known examples such an error will have caused the word to be published in a dictionary or...
and was a leading expert in this treacherous and difficult subject.
International relations
Skeat was one of the very few scholars in English studies who had sufficient expertise to compete with the state-employed and tenured colleagues from German universities. Like Henry Sweet, he regarded Geoffrey ChaucerGeoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
and other medieval English authors as part of his national heritage and objected to the numerous German professors' incursions into English textual territory. Frustrated by the successes of his German counterparts, he exclaimed, sarcastically, that though perhaps "to some extent disqualified, as being merely a native of London, in which city Chaucer himself was born," he should be allowed to contribute scholarship on the father of English poetry without constant German interference.
External links
- A Moeso-Gothic glossary Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.