Bogumił Andrzejewski

Bogumił Witalis Andrzejewski (born February 1, 1922 in Posen , † December 2, 1994 near London ) was a Polish poet and linguist who researched the Cushitic languages .

Life

Andrzejewski first attended high school in Poznan and from 1937 to 1939 in Zakopane . His mother died in 1939 after an illness. During the Second World War , he came to Hungary in the autumn of 1940 and to Palestine in 1941 . There he joined the Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade ( Polish Samodzielna Brygada Strzelców Karpackich ) and was injured during the siege of Tobruk . After recovering at the Alexandria hospital , he went to Gaza , where he briefly attended an officers' school. Instead of pursuing an officer career, he volunteered to escort German prisoners of war from the port of Suez to New York . During this time he made his debut as a poet with the poems Koledze, Upiór and Zegar in the magazine Przy Kierownicy w Tobruku . He published further poems and prose from 1942 to 1945 in exile newspapers such as Kurier Polski w Bagdadzie, Polska Walcząca and Nowa Polska .

After the Second World War he lived in Great Britain , where he married Sheila Muriel Weekes in 1946 and studied English and Old Norse at Oriel College , Oxford . He obtained his bachelor's degree in 1947 and from 1948 to 1949 studied general linguistics and Arabic at the School of Oriental at African Studies University of London . After completing his studies, from 1950 to 1951 he conducted scientific research into the Somali language in British Somaliland with the aim of introducing an orthography for this language. From 1952 to 1964 he taught Cushitic languages ​​and literature. With the work Declensions of Somali Nouns he received his doctorate in 1962 under Malcolm Guthrie . From 1964 to 1980 he lectured on Cushitic languages ​​at the University of London, where he was appointed professor in 1980. He published his linguistic work in English in the journals African Language Studies and Ethiopianist Notes (later Northeast African Studies ). After his retirement in 1982 he continued to publish academic papers and poems.

Andrzejewski died on December 2, 1994 near London.

Poetry

Poetry

• Na wszelki wypadek , 1957
• Podróż do krajów legendarnych. Poematy i opowieści , 1985; 2nd edition 2000

Non-fiction

• Declensions of Somali Nouns , 1964

Editing

• Muuse Haaji Ismaaiil Galaal: Hikmad Soomali , 1956
• Literatures in African languages. Theoretical issues and sample surveys , 1985

Translations

• Hassan Sheikh Moomin : Leopard among the women , 1974
• Faarax MJ Cawl : Ignorance is enemy of love , 1982
• An anthology of Somali poetry , 1993

Awards

• 1988: Order of Commander of the Star of Somalia

literature

• Beata Dorosz: Andrzejewski Bogumił Witalis . In: Współcześni polscy pisarze i badacze literatury . Tom pierwszy: A – B. Wydawnictwo Szkolne i Pedagogiczne Spółka Akcyjna, Warsaw 1994, ISBN 83-02-05445-3 , p. 44-45 .
• Beata Dorosz: Andrzejewski Bogumił Witalis . In: Współcześni polscy pisarze i badacze literatury . Tom dziesiąty: Ż i uzupełnienia do tomów 1–9. Fundacja Akademia Humanistyczna, Warsaw 2007, ISBN 978-83-8934894-4 , p. 104-105 .
• Martin Orwin: Professor Bogumił Witalis Andrzejewski 1922–1994 . In: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London . tape 59 , no. 1 , 1996, p. 125-128 , JSTOR : 619393 .