Alan Bliss (1921–1985) was a noted British philologist. Much of his early work was concerned with Old and Middle English, the history of the English language, and medieval French philology (especially Anglo-Norman) and his later work with

Hiberno-English Hiberno-English (from Latin ''Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland a ...

. He was born in London, and attended Finchley Catholic Grammar School, then

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and then

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

. His academic career began at Oxford but he soon, 1953, gained an appointment as Chair of English at the

Royal University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Associatio ...

. This was followed by a professorship at the

University of Istanbul , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

. But In 1961 he took up an appointment in the Department of Old and Middle English at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

where he was to remain until the end of his career. Lucas, P. G. (1986). AJ Bliss-1921-1985. English World-Wide, 7(2), 267-268.

Selected publications

* Bliss, A. J. (1984). ''English in the south of Ireland''. Language in the British isles, 135, 51. * Bliss, A. J. (1972). Languages in contact: some problems of Hiberno-English. ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy''. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, 72, 63–82. * Bliss, A. J. (1958). ''The metre of Beowulf''. Oxford, Blackwell. * Bliss, Alan. (1996). ''A Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases in Current English''. Routledge, London. ISBN 0-415-05905-4

References

1921 births 1985 deaths 20th-century philologists 20th-century translators Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British expatriates in Malta British expatriates in Turkey British expatriates in Ireland {{UK-academic-bio-stub