Walter William Skeat - Work

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 Queries. 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 Morris
  • 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 and was a leading expert in this treacherous and difficult subject.

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