William J. Watson

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William J Watson.PNG

William J. Watson (* 1865 in Milntown of New Tarbat, Easter Ross , today's Milton ; † March 9, 1948 ) was one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century. He was a toponomist and the first scholar to put the study of Scottish place names on a solid linguistic basis.

Life

Watson's father was the blacksmith Hugh Watson and his mother tongue was Gaelic . First he was trained in the study of Gaelic and classical antiquity by his uncle James Watson . William attended the University of Aberdeen and the University of Oxford .

It worked as a teacher in Glasgow , Inverness and finally in Edinburgh , In Inverness he began to participate in the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness and the Celtic Review . He married the daughter of Alexander Carmichael , Ella Carmichael. In 1914 he took over the chair of Celtic at the University of Edinburgh , although he had not previously held a university post. He remained in his prestigious position until he paved the way for his son James Carmichael Watson in 1938. William Watson died at the age of 83 on March 9, 1948. In 1910 he was elected a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

Watson is best known for his 1926 work The Celtic Place-names of Scotland , which was based on 30 years of work. Watson's work is still the authoritative scientific reference work on the subject today. The book is based on Watson's extensive notes, which remain unpublished in the possession of Edinburgh University. Watson's great work was republished by Birlinn in 2004.

Fonts

  • Place-Names of Ross and Cromarty. Inverness 1904.
  • Prints of the past around Inverness. Inverness 1909. 2nd revised edition: Inverness 1925.
  • Rosg Gàidhlig. Inverness 1915. 2nd edition: Glasgow 1929.
  • Bàrdachd Gàidhlig. Inverness 1915.
  • The Picts: their original position in Scotland. Inverness 1921.
  • Ross and Cromarty. Cambridge 1924.
  • The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland. Edinburgh 1926.
    • Republished with foreword, bibliography and corrections by Simon Taylor: Edinburgh 2004.
  • Scottish Verse in the Book of the Dean of Lismore . Edinburgh 1937.

literature

  • Steve Savage: William J Watson: Scottish Place-Name Papers. London 2002.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 20, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Watson, William J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Watson, William John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish toponomy
DATE OF BIRTH 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Milntown of New Tarbat, Easter Ross , present-day Milton
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 1948