Robert Atkinson (philologist)

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Robert Atkinson
Born(1839-04-06)April 6, 1839
DiedJanuary 10, 1908(1908-01-10) (aged 68)
Academic work
Main interestsphilologist and textual scholar

Robert Atkinson (6 April 1839 – 10 January 1908) was an Anglo-Irish academic, known as a philologist and textual scholar.

Life

Born at

Trinity College, Dublin, on 2 July 1856. He spent the years 1857 and 1858 mainly at Liège. On his return to Ireland he worked as a schoolmaster in Kilkenny till he won a Trinity College scholarship in 1862. He graduated B.A. on 16 December 1863, M.A. in 1866, and LL.D. in 1869. In 1891 he received the honorary degree of D.Litt.[1]

In 1869 Atkinson became university professor of the Romance languages, and from 1871 till near his death also had the chair of Sanskrit and comparative philology. He taught the Romance languages but also Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and other Indian vernacular languages. He was a Hebrew scholar, and knew Persian, Arabic, and some other languages of Central and Western Asia. In his later years he studied Chinese.[1] Among his students was George Abraham Grierson, who reported Atkinson's practical interest in martial arts including jujutsu.[2]

On 11 January 1876 Atkinson was elected a member of the

Gaelic League.[5]

Atkinson was also a botanist and amateur violinist. In 1907 his health failed. He died on 10 January 1908 at his residence, Clareville, Rathmines, near Dublin, and was buried at Waltonwrays cemetery, Skipton, Yorkshire.[1]

Works

Atkinson was largely interested in the structure of a language, and his teaching anticipated Karl Brugmann. In the Romance languages his major work was a scholarly edition of a Norman-French poem attributed to Matthew Paris, the Vie de Seint Auban (1876). In Coptic studies he was a critic of the work of Urbain Bouriant and Francesco Rossi.[1]

The Book of Leinster, to which Robert Atkinson wrote an introduction for the facsimile edition

His connection with the Royal Irish Academy drew Atkinson into Celtic studies. He edited The Passions and Homilies from the Leabhar Breac, with translation and glossary (Dublin 1887, with the Todd Introductory Lecture on Irish Lexicography), and

Whitley Stokes. He also wrote a paper On the use of the Subjunctive Mood in Welsh (Trans. Royal Irish Acad. 1894).[1]

Family

On 28 December 1863 Atkinson married, at Gateshead, Hannah Maria, fourth daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Whitehouse Harbutt of the town. Their only child, Herbert Jefcoate Atkinson, became a civil engineer.[1]

References

  • David Greene, Robert Atkinson and Irish studies, Hermathena No. 102 (Spring 1966), pp. 6–15. Published by: Trinity College Dublin

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/23039787

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Lee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Atkinson, Robert" . Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ^ Greene, p. 8.
  3. ^ Greene, p. 9.
  4. .
  5. ^ Greene, p. 9–11.
Attribution

Wikisource This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainLee, Sidney, ed. (1912). "Atkinson, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). Vol. 1. London: Smith, Elder & Co.