Kemp Malone

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Kemp Malone

Kemp Malone (born March 14, 1889 in Minter City , Mississippi , † October 13, 1971 in Eastport , Maine ) was an American medievalist , philologist and etymologist .

Life

Malone grew up in the deep southern United States and was the oldest of eight children by a minister who has directed several women's colleges in Mississippi and Georgia during his career . The atmosphere at home was intellectually influenced and education and reading were of great importance. All seven of the eight siblings who came of age were studying, including the historian and biographer Dumas Malone .

Malone himself graduated from Emory University at the age of 18 and then worked as a high school teacher for four years . He then went to Prussia as an exchange teacher for two years , then studied briefly at the University of Copenhagen and back in America, he first taught German at Cornell University before taking up postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago and doing his doctorate there in 1919 under John Matthews Manly . After receiving his doctorate, Kemp continued his studies at the University of Iceland and Princeton University until he accepted a position at the chair of Friedrich Klaebers at Minnesota University in 1921 . Kemp then went to Johns Hopkins University in 1924 , where he succeeded James Wilson Bright as professor in 1926 , where he remained until his retirement in 1956. Even in what was supposed to be retirement, Kemp continued to be active in research and teaching and worked for, among other things two years as visiting professor at Georgetown University and later at New York University . Since 1945 he was a member of the American Philosophical Society .

Malone was married to Inez Rene Chatain from Richmond.

Malone suffered a minor stroke after October 6, 1971 and then died after a short illness within a week on October 13.

plant

Malone was considered a specialist in Chaucer and Beowulf , but dealt with the full breadth of the English language from its ancestors and beginnings to modern usage in the 20th century. At the time of his retirement (1956) he had written over 500 publications. In 1923 Malone published the monograph The Phonology of Modern Icelandic , which was long regarded as a standard work on the Icelandic language. The book The Literary History of Hamlet , published by him in the same year , which was originally conceived as the first of three volumes, but the subsequent volumes never appeared, also received greater recognition . Philologica: The Malone Anniversary Studies (1949) was published on Malone's work, a commemorative publication containing 43 articles on his work and bibliography.

Malone published two articles in 1924 and 1925 in which he first brought the legendary King Arthur into connection with the Roman officer Lucius Artorius Castus and suggested his name and life as a possible historical core of the Arthurian legend.

In addition to his work as an author, Malone was also active as an editor in several magazines and book projects. He was a member of the editorial board of Modern Language Notes from 1930 to 1956 , with the last two years also serving as editor-in-chief. Together with Louise Pound , Henry L. Mencken and Arthur Garfield Kennedy , he founded American Speech magazine in 1925 . As an editor for etymological questions, he was involved in the American College Dictionary (1947) and the Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1966), and he helped with a revised new edition of Henry L. Mencken's The American Language .

Malone was a member of several linguistic societies, which he also temporarily headed. He was president of the American Dialect Society (1944-1946), the American Name Society (1956), the Modern Language Association (1962), the Modern Humanities Research Association and the Linguistic Society of America .

Fonts (selection)

  • The Phonology of Modern Icelandic (1923)
  • The Literary History of Hamlet (1923)
  • The Historicity of Arthur . Journal of English and Germanic Philology (1924, JSTOR 27702819 )
  • Artorius . Modern Philology (1925, JSTOR 433555 )
  • The Phonemes of Modern Icelandic (1952)
  • Chapters on Chaucer (1951)
  • Studies in Heroic Legend and in Current Speech (1959)
  • Widsith (1962)

literature

  • Norman E. Eliason: Kemp Malone: ​​March 14, 1889– October 13, 1971 . American Speech, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Herbst, 1969), pp. 163-165 ( JSTOR 454579 )
  • Richard Macksey: Obituary: Kemp Malone: ​​1889–1971 . MLN, Volume 86, No. 6, Comparative Literature (Dec., 1971), p. 760 ( JSTOR 2907440 )
  • Thomas Pyles: Kemp Malone . Language, Vol. 48, No. 2 (June, 1972), pp. 499-505 ( JSTOR 412151 )
  • RW Zandvoort: In Memoriam Kemp Malone . English Studies 53 (1972), pp. 87-88
  • Albert C. Baugh, Morton W. Bloomfield, Francis P. Magoun: Kemp Malone. Speculum 47 (1972), pp. 601-03

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Thomas Pyles: Kemp Malone . Language, Vol. 48, No. 2 (June, 1972), pp. 499-505 ( JSTOR 412151 )
  2. ^ Member History: Kemp Malone. American Philosophical Society, accessed January 7, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b Norman E. Eliason: Kemp Malone: ​​14 March 1889-13 October 1971 . American Speech, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Herbst, 1969), pp. 163-165 ( JSTOR 454579 )
  4. ↑ Christopher Snyder: Arthurian Origins . In: Norris J. Lacy (Ed.): A History of Arthurian Scholarship . Boydell & Brewer, 2006, ISBN 9781843840695 , pp. 1-19, especially p. 3
  5. ↑ a b Richard Macksey: Obituary: Kemp Malone: 1889-1971 . MLN, Volume 86, No. 6, Comparative Literature (Dec., 1971), p. 760 ( JSTOR 2907440 )
personal data
SURNAME Malone, Kemp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American philologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Minter City
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1971
Place of death Eastport