Roberta Frank (born 1941) is an American

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

specializing in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

language and

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

. She is

Marie Borroff Marie Edith Borroff (September 10, 1923 – July 5, 2019) was an American poet, translator, and the Sterling Professor of English emerita at Yale University. Life Borroff was born in New York City in 1923, the daughter of professional musicians ...

Professor Emeritus of

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 ide ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Career

Frank received a B.A. in comparative literature from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

(1962) and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in comparative literature from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1968), with a

doctoral dissertation A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

on ''Wordplay in Old English Poetry''. Frank taught at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

beginning in 1968, from 1978 as a full professor and from 1995 as University Professor. She was awarded a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in 1985. At Toronto, she was involved with the Dictionary of Old English project and served as Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies (1994–99). In 2000, she joined the Department of English Language and Literature at Yale University, first as the Douglas Tracy Smith Professor of English and then, in 2008, as the Marie Borroff Professor of English. She is also a senior research fellow at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. Frank was elected a fellow of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...

in 1989, serving as the President of that Academy in 2006, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1995. She co-founded the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (now the International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England) in 1981 serving as First Vice-President (1985-1986), then as its president (1986–87).

Personal life

Frank was born in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. She is married to the medieval historian

Walter Goffart Walter Goffart (born February 22, 1934) is a German-born American historian who specializes in Late Antiquity and the European Middle Ages. He taught for many years in the History Department and Centre for Medieval Studies of the University of Tor ...

Research

Frank's research draws upon archaeological as well as literary and

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

evidence to analyze aspects of early English and Scandinavian texts. Her work has focused on the poetry of England and Scandinavia, including numerous publications on skaldic verse, the early North, and '' Beowulf''. Two festschriften in her honor have been published: ''Verbal Encounters: Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse Studies,'' ed. Antonina Harbus and Russell Poole (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005) and ''The Shapes of Early English Poetry: Style, Form, History,'' ed. Eric Weiskott and Irina Dumitrescu (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 2019). Her latest book, ''The Etiquette of Early Northern Verse,'' appeared in early 2022.

Selected works

“Some Uses of Paronomasia in Old English Scriptural Verse” (1972)
* Co-editor, ''A Plan for the Dictionary of Old English'' (1973) *
Old Norse Court Poetry

(1978)

“The ''Beowulf'' Poet’s Sense of History” (1982)

“Germanic Legend in Old English Literature” (1991)
* * “The Search for the Anglo-Saxon Oral Poet” (1993)
“Like a Bridge of Stones” (2011)

“Siegfried and Arminius: Scenes from a Marriage” (2013)
* *

External links

Yale University faculty page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Roberta Linguists from the United States 1941 births Living people Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Women linguists Old Norse studies scholars New York University alumni Women medievalists American women academics 21st-century American women