John Keigwin (1641–1716) was a Cornish antiquary, born at

Mousehole Mousehole (; kw, Porthenys) is a village and fishing port in Cornwall, England, UK. It is approximately south of Penzance on the shore of Mount's Bay. The village is in the civil parish of Penzance. An islet called St Clement's Isle lies ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. He was a leading member of a group of antiquaries in west

Penwith Penwith (; kw, Pennwydh) is an area of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after ...

: this group also included

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and Thomas Boson, William Gwavas, Thomas Tonkin,

William Borlase William Borlase (2 February 169631 August 1772), Cornish antiquary, geologist and naturalist. From 1722, he was Rector of Ludgvan, Cornwall, where he died. He is remembered for his works ''The Antiquities of Cornwall'' (1754; 2nd ed., 1769) ...

, Oliver Pender, and James Jenkins of Alverton. His teacher was John Boson. In addition to Cornish and English, Keigwin had a command of the French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages.

Family background

Keigwin was the son of Martin Keigwin and his second wife, Elizabeth, Scawen. This made him the nephew of

William Scawen William Scawen (1600–1689) was one of the pioneers in the revival of the Cornish language. He was a politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Life Scawen was the son of Robe ...

, another scholar of the Cornish language.

Works

Keigwin undertook translations of '' Pascon agan Arluth'' and ''Creacon of the World''. These were later published by

Davies Gilbert Davies Gilbert (born Davies Giddy, 6 March 1767 – 24 December 1839) was an English engineer, author, and politician. He was elected to the Royal Society on 17 November 1791 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1827 to 1830. He ...

in 1826 and 1827 respectively. He also translated into Cornish King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

's letter to the people of Cornwall, written at Sudeley Castle in 1643.

Criticism

The scholars

Edward Lhuyd Edward Lhuyd FRS (; occasionally written Llwyd in line with modern Welsh orthography, 1660 – 30 June 1709) was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also named in a Latinate form as Eduardus Luidius. Life ...

and

described Keigwin's knowledge of the Cornish language as "profound and complete", but later commentators have been more critical.

Henry Jenner Henry Jenner (8 August 1848 – 8 May 1934) was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival. Jenner was born at St Columb Major on 8 August 1848. He was th ...

noted "extraordinary mistakes" in Keigwin's translations of ''Pascon'' and ''Creacon''.

(1904). ''Handbook of the Cornish Language.'' Elsewhere, Jenner and Peter Berresford Ellis observed that, in his translation of King Charles's letter, Keigwin used the Hebrew word for war, ''milchamath'', instead of ''bresel''.

Robert Morton Nance Robert Morton Nance (1873–1959) was a British writer and leading authority on the Cornish language, a nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society. Nance wrote many books and pamphlets on the Cornish language, inclu ...

regarded Keigwin's Cornish as poor. However, E. G. Retallack Hooper maintained that criticism resulted in part from the way Davies Gilbert had edited his writings: Gilbert did not understand any Cornish himself, and was unable to read Keigwin's handwriting properly. Although Keigwin's reputation in Cornwall was good, his work was neglected until it was reexamined by

Whitley Stokes Whitley Stokes, CSI, CIE, FBA (28 February 1830 – 13 April 1909) was an Irish lawyer and Celtic scholar. Background He was a son of William Stokes (1804–1878), and a grandson of Whitley Stokes the physician and anti-Malthusian (1763� ...

and others.

Legacy

John Boson wrote Keigwin's epitaph in 1716, given here in a later orthography: :En Tavaz Greka, Lathen ha’n Hebra, :En Frenkock ha Carnoack deskes dha, :Gen ol an Gormola Brez ve dotha :Garres ew ni, ha Neidges Ewartha. Or in English: "In tongue Greek, Latin and Hebrew / In French and Cornish, learned well / With all the Glory of Mind was to him / Has left us, and fled is he on high." Keigwin's manuscripts are divided between the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

, the Bodleian Library and the National Library of Wales. They include a transcription of the ''Ordinalia'' written about 1707, which is accompanied by an English translation and a Latin preface.Ellis (1974); p. 91 & fn

Footnotes

External links

* Texts of:
the letter of King Charles
**

' {{DEFAULTSORT:Keigwin, John Cornish language English antiquarians 17th-century antiquarians 18th-century antiquarians People from Mousehole 1641 births 1716 deaths