Walter W. Skeat (1) (1835–1912)
Author of The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology
For other authors named Walter W. Skeat, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Walter William Skeat, English philologist, was born in London on November 21,1835, 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 show more glass painter Francis Skeat. Skeat's principal achievement was his Etymological English Dictionary. While preparing the dictionary he wrote hundreds of short articles on word origins for the London-based journal: Notes and Queries. Skeat is responsibel for coining the meaning of a "ghost word" --- 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. His other works include: 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); and A Primer of Classical and English Philology (1905). Skeat died in 1912. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Walter W. Skeat [credit: Find A Grave user julia&keld]
Series
Works by Walter W. Skeat
The student's Chaucer, being a complete edition of his works (1894) — Editor; Editor — 35 copies, 1 review
Specimens of Early English, Part 2: From Robert of Gloucester to Gower. A.D. 1298-A.D. 1393 (1882) 19 copies
Joseph of Arimathie : otherwise called The Romance of the Seint Graal, or Holy Grail (1871) — Editor — 14 copies, 1 review
Specimens of Early English, Part 1: From 'Old English Homilies' to 'King Horn.' A.D. 1150-A.D. 1300 (1879) 13 copies
Specimens of English literature from the 'Ploughmans crede' to the 'Shepheardes calendar,' A.D. 1394-A.D. 1579; wit (2015) 11 copies
Aelfric's Lives of Saints, volume one, parts 1 and 2 (Early English Text Society Original Series) (2004) 7 copies
The Chaucer canon, with a discussion of the works associated with the name of Geoffrey Chaucer (2015) 5 copies
The Gospel according to Saint Mark in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian versions synoptically arranged with collations exhibi (2004) 5 copies
The Gospel according to Saint John in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian versions synoptically arranged with collations exhibi (2022) 4 copies
A student's pastime : being a select series of articles reprinted from "Notes and queries" (1896) 3 copies
The Gospel according to Saint Luke in Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian versions synoptically arranged, with collations exhib (2006) 3 copies
Notes on English etymology; chiefly reprinted from the Transactions of the Philological society 3 copies
The Gospel according to Saint Matthew in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and old Mercian versions synoptically arranged, with (2010) 3 copies
The Place-Names of Hertfordshire 3 copies
Langland 1 copy
The Bruce by John Barbour vols II and III (Early English Text Society Extra Series) (Vol 2 & 3) (2002) 1 copy
The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer Edited From Numerous Manuscripts: Volume V, Notes to the Canterbury Tales (1900) 1 copy
A Moeso-Gothic glossary: with an introduction, an outline of Moeso-Gothic grammar, and a list of Anglo-Saxon and old and (1868) 1 copy
On the History of Spelling 1 copy
XXIII. Isle of Wight words; (English dialect society. [Pub. 32.] Series C. Original glossaries) (1881) 1 copy
Associated Works
The Complete Poetry and Prose of Geoffrey Chaucer (1933) — Editor, some editions — 712 copies, 4 reviews
Chaucer : the prologue, the knightes tale the nonne preestes tale from the Canterbury tales (2005) — Editor, some editions; Editor, some editions — 92 copies, 1 review
Aelfric's Lives of saints: being a set of sermons on saints' days formerly observed by the English Church (2018) — Editor, some editions — 16 copies, 1 review
Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Vol. III: The House of Fame: The Legend of Good Women, The Treatise on the Astrolabe with an Account of the Sources of the Canterbury Tales (in… (2008) — Editor, some editions — 13 copies
The complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer 2 Boethius and Troilus (2003) — Editor, some editions — 12 copies
Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Vol. VII: Chaucerian and Other Pieces, Being A Supplement to the Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (in seven volumes) (2009) — Editor, some editions — 11 copies, 1 review
The tale of Gamelyn : from the Harleian ms. no. 7334, collated with six other mss (1884) — Editor, some editions; Editor, some editions — 8 copies
The Tale of the Man of lawe;: The Pardoneres tale; the Second nonnes tale; the Chanouns yemannes tale, from the Canterbu (1879) — Editor, some editions — 7 copies
The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman By William Langland (or Langley) (2020) — Editor, some editions — 7 copies
A history of English rhythms — Editor, some editions — 4 copies
An English miscellany : presented to Dr. Furnivall in honour of his seventy-fifth birthday — Contributor — 3 copies, 1 review
Parallel extracts from twenty-nine manuscripts of Piers Plowman — Editor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Skeat, Walter W.
- Legal name
- Skeat, Walter William
- Birthdate
- 1835-11-21
- Date of death
- 1912-10-06
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Christ's College, University of Cambridge (BA|1858)
- Occupations
- philolgist
Anglican deacon
professor - Organizations
- University of Cambridge
- Awards and honors
- Fellow, British Academy (1902)
Church of England (ordained deacon 1860) - Relationships
- Skeat, T.S. (grandson)
- Nationality
- England
- Birthplace
- London, England, UK
- Places of residence
- Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
- Place of death
- Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
- Burial location
- Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK
Members
Reviews
English Dialects from the Eighth Century to the Present Day by W.W. Skeat is a slim volume (only about 120 small pages). The main part of the book discusses the 4 major dialects of Old English, giving many examples and many citations to published texts. The remainder of the book looks at how the dialects changed until the beginning of the 20th century, but in much less detail.
The comments and discussion on the Old English dialects constitute a very important part of the study of Old English. show more Dr. Skeat was eminently qualified to studied the dialects. One of the most valuable, although now a bit dated, parts is the references to various published manuscripts or collections of Old English writings.
Unfortunately, the book is a slim volume. It does not present a comparative grammar of the dialects, but word lists and a few brief comparisons. Dr. Skeat seemingly assumes the reader will be familiar with Old English and only needs to have some of the differences pointed out, which is a bit frustrating if one's Old English is rusty.
Overall, this is a useful book, but not a thorough one. It whetted my appetite to look at the early history of English, but left much of the work to be done on my own. show less
The comments and discussion on the Old English dialects constitute a very important part of the study of Old English. show more Dr. Skeat was eminently qualified to studied the dialects. One of the most valuable, although now a bit dated, parts is the references to various published manuscripts or collections of Old English writings.
Unfortunately, the book is a slim volume. It does not present a comparative grammar of the dialects, but word lists and a few brief comparisons. Dr. Skeat seemingly assumes the reader will be familiar with Old English and only needs to have some of the differences pointed out, which is a bit frustrating if one's Old English is rusty.
Overall, this is a useful book, but not a thorough one. It whetted my appetite to look at the early history of English, but left much of the work to be done on my own. show less
This is a treasure trove of the English language that traces the history and multi-varied senses behind each word. Though it was overshadowed by the OED, it still stands as a monumental work of scholarship in its own right, one that highlights many surprising and wonderful connections between words (peculiar and pecuniary, e.g.). I can get blissfully lost in this volume.
Transactions of the Philological Society. 1880-1. Part 2 = A rough list of English words found in Anglo-French : especially during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with numerous references / by Walter W. Skeat by Walter W. Skeat
Skeat's rough list constitutes Appendix V of the the Transactions for this year.Ex-lib. MED (no. 435 (1881)).
Includes: Romaunt of the Rose, Minor Poems, Boethius de Consolatione Philosophiae, Troilus and Criseyde, The Hous of Fame, The Legend of Good Women, The Treatise on the Astrolabe, and The Canterbury Tales
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Statistics
- Works
- 67
- Also by
- 19
- Members
- 914
- Popularity
- #28,064
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 13
- ISBNs
- 105
- Languages
- 2
