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'Dr. Jakob (properly Jákup) Jakobsen' (1864-1918), Faroese philologist, is a key figure in Shetland's culture.
As John J. Graham writes in his preface to the 2nd edition, his "Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland is the unrivalled source-book of information on the origins and usage of the Shetland tongue. Based on Jakobsen's fieldwork in Shetland during 1893-95 it first appeared in Danish in four volumes between 1908 and 1921, and was subsequently published in English in two volumes, 1928 and 1932. The Dictionary has established itself internationally as a major work of scholarship in Scandinavian philology." In 1985 The Shetland Folk Society, of which Graham was President at the time, succeeded in finding funds to reprint the two volume English edition in facsimile.
When Jakobsen left Faroe for Leith, his only knowledge of the language of Shetland was drawn from Thomas Edmondston's glossary and those parts of George Stewart's ''Shetland Fireside Tales'' that are written in dialect. In Edinburgh he met Gilbert Goudie, and there he read "a valuable manuscript supplement" to Edmondston's work written by Thomas Barclay. During his fieldwork in the isles, he interviewed a large number of Shetlandic speakers and scholars, including Haldane Burgess, James Stout Angus, John Irvine, Robert Jamieson (1827-1899), James Inkster, John Nicolson, and Laurence Williamson.
Jakobsen's correspondence with Goudie was edited by E. S. Reid Tait and published in 1953. In 1981, Roy Grønneberg published a study entitled ''Jakobsen and Shetland''.

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Bibliography in English

External Link

Sources

Bibliography in English

★ ''The Dialect and Place Names of Shetland. Two Popular Lectures'', Lerwick: T. & J. Manson, 1897, 1926; reprinted as ''The Place Names of Shetland'', 1936 London/Copenhagen; reprinted 1993, Shetland Library

★ ''An etymological dictionary of the Norn language in Shetland'', London, 1928-1932; reprinted Lerwick: The Shetland Folk Society, 1985

External Link

★ John J. Graham's poem to Jakob Jakobsen is here

Sources

★ This article is based on http://shetlopedia.com/Jakob_Jakobsen a GFDL wiki.