KENNETH H. JACKSON

'Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson' (born Croydon 1909, died 1991) was an English linguist and a translator who specialised in the Brythonic languages. He demonstrated how the text of the Ulster Cycle of tales, written down around 1100, preserves an oral tradition of some six centuries earlier and reflects Celtic Irish society of the third and fourth century AD. His ''Celtic Miscellany'' is a popular standard. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Modern Language Association.

Contents

Education

Academic Appointments

Publications

Other Activities

References

Education

Jackson's early education was at Hillcrest School Wallington (1916-19) and then at Whitgift Grammar School Croydon. He won a open scholarship to St John's College Cambridge in 1928. At Cambridge he read Classics and then studied the early cultures of the British Isles. He was then awarded a travelling scholarship during which he undertook study and fieldwork in Wales and Ireland.

Academic Appointments

Jackson returned to Cambridge in 1934 as a lecturer in Celtic. In 1939 he went to Harvard, USA and was appointed an associate professor in 1940, being the first chair of the Department of Celtic Language and Literature. He undertook war service with the Uncommon Languages section of British censorship (where he said he learnt Japanese in three weeks). Afterwards he went back to Harvard, and became a full professor in 1948. He accepted the chair of Celtic Languages, History and Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (1950-1979).

Publications

While at Edinburgh Jackson published articles and books on the ancient Celts, and the dark ages and middle ages, on all six modern Celtic languages, on folklore, placenames and dialects. A bibliography of his publications appears in Studia Celtica 14/14, pp 5-11 (1979-80). A selection of his publications is given below :-

★ Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson (1953). ''Language and history in early Britain: A chronological survey of the Brittonic languages, first to twelfth century A.D.'', Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press.

★ —— (1955). ''The Pictish Language'' in F T Wainwright (ed) ''The Problem of the Picts''. Edinburgh.

★ —— (1955). ''Contributions to the study of Manx phonology'', University of Edinburgh Linguistic Survey of Scotland Series.

★ —— (1959). "The Arthur of History" ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-811588-1.

★ —— (1959). "Arthur in Early Welsh Verse" ''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages'', Oxford: Clarendon Press.

★ —— (1961). "The international popular tale and early Welsh tradition" ''The Gregynog Lectures, 1961'', Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

★ —— (1964). ''The oldest Irish tradition: A window on the Iron Age'', Cambridge: University Press. Reprinted 1999.

★ —— (1967). ''A Historical phonology of Breton'', Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, ISBN 978-0901282538

★ —— (1969). ''The Gododdin: The Oldest Scottish poem'', Edinburgh:University Press.

★ —— (1972, etc.). ''A Celtic Miscellany : Translations from the Celtic Literature'', Penguin Paperback. ISBN 0-14-044247-2. Poetry and prose from six Celtic languages, Welsh, Irish and Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Breton and Manx.

Other Activities

Jackson was a Fellow of the British Academy (elected 1957) and a Commissioner for the ancient and historical monuments of Scotland. He held honorary degrees from universities in England, Wales, Ireland and Britany. He was awarded a CBE in 1985 for his work on Celtic studies. He was a member of the Council of the English Placename Society for over forty years, being both Vice-President and President.

References

★ Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press.

★ The English Placename Society Journal, Volume 23 pp 49-50.

★ Studia Celtica 14-15, pp 1-11, 1979-80

★ Proceedings of the British Academy 80, pp 319-32 (1993 for 1991).

★ Nomina 15, pp 127-29, 1991-2.