May Butcher (26 August 1886,

Great Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linc ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

- 21 December 1950,

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

) was an English-born Maltese writer who translated several works from the

Maltese language Maltese ( mt, Malti, links=no, also ''L-Ilsien Malti'' or '), is a Semitic language derived from late medieval Sicilian Arabic with Romance superstrata spoken by the Maltese people. It is the national language of Malta and the only offic ...

into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

. Butcher was the fourth of nine children of Colonel Henry Townsend Butcher and Annie Susan Dalrymple-Hay.Family of Henry Townsend Butcher/Annie Susan Dalrymple-Hay
at FamilySearch.com She translated the words of the Maltese national anthem (

L-Innu Malti "" ("The Hymn of Malta") is the national anthem of Malta. It is written in the form of a prayer to God. Officially adopted in 1964 upon independence from the United Kingdom, it was composed by Robert Samut, and the lyrics were written by Dun K ...

), and translated the biography of Mikiel Anton Vassalli. One of her most important works is the book ''Elements in Maltese'', published in 1938, which provides details not only on the Semitic aspect of the Maltese language, but also gives importance to the Romantic aspect. A street in Iklin,

bears her name.

References

1886 births 1950 deaths Maltese writers Maltese–English translators 20th-century translators {{Malta-writer-stub