Nicholas Boson (1624–1708) was a writer in, and preserver of, the

Cornish language Cornish (Standard Written Form: or ) , is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language family. It is a revived language, having become extinct as a living community language in Cornwall at the end of the 18th century. However, ...

. He was born in Newlyn to a landowning and merchant family involved in the

pilchard "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the I ...

fisheries. Nicholas's mother had prevented their neighbours and servants speaking Cornish to him, so he only became fluent in the language when he needed it for business with fishermen. He assisted both

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 ...

and

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 ...

in their recording of Cornish. Boson wrote three significant texts in Cornish: ''"Nebbaz gerriau dro tho Carnoack"'' ("A Few Words about Cornish"), between 1675 and 1708; ''"Jowan Chy-an-Horth, py, An try foynt a skyans"'' ("John of Chyannor, or, The three points of wisdom"), published by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, though according to Lhuyd written about forty years earlier; and ''The Dutchess of Cornwall's Progress'', partly in English and now known only in fragmentary quotations. The first two are the only known surviving Cornish prose texts from the seventeenth century. He is buried in Paul

churchyard In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...

, where his son

John Boson John Boson was a cabinet maker and carver whose work is associated with that of William Kent. It is said that if he had not died at such a relatively young age then his place would have been assured in the history of furniture making in the Unit ...

and cousin

Thomas Boson Thomas Boson (1635–1719) was a writer in the Cornish language and the cousin of Nicholas and John Boson. Thomas helped William Gwavas in his Cornish language research, and wrote an inscription in Cornish for Gwavas's hurling ball. He also mad ...

, fellow writers in Cornish, also rest.

References

*Matthew Spriggs, ‘Boson family (per. c.1675–1730) ’,

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 200
accessed 11 Oct 2007

External links

1624 births 1708 deaths Burials in Cornwall People from Newlyn Cornish language activists Cornish-language writers {{Cornwall-stub