Subject
John Keigwin, Cornish Language Scholar, Translation of Cornish Texts, Cornish Language Preservation, Contributions to Cornish Language Studies, Migration to America, Cornish Language Decline and Revival, Multilingual Proficiency

Domains
Linguistique, Dictionnaire

Description

John Keigwin was a scholar of the Cornish language, born in Mousehole, Cornwall in 1642. He was the nephew of William Scawen, who advocated for the preservation of the Cornish language. Keigwin married Mary Penrose in 1666 and they had at least eight children. Their last-born child, John Keigwin, migrated to America and married Hannah Brown in 1700. [1] Keigwin translated several Cornish texts, including 'Pascon agan Arluth' and William Jordan's 'Creation of the world'. His translations have been criticized for being over-literal and confused, but he worked with limited resources. Keigwin was praised for his knowledge of Cornish and other languages, including Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French. He was considered the most skilled judge of the Cornish language in his time. Keigwin was buried in Paul, Cornwall in 1716, alongside his wife Mary

Keywords

Language
English (en-GB)

Creators
Spriggs, Matthew

Contributors

Sources
Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Relation
https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/15253

Coverage

Name of newspaper