Alan Bliss (1921–1985) was a noted British philologist. Much of his early work was concerned with Old and Middle English, the history of the English language, and medieval French philology (especially Anglo-Norman) and his later work with

Hiberno-English Hiberno-English or Irish English (IrE), also formerly sometimes called Anglo-Irish, is the set of dialects of English native to the island of Ireland. In both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, English is the first language in e ...

. He was born in London, and attended Finchley Catholic Grammar School, then

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

, and then

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

. His academic career began at Oxford but he soon, 1953, gained an appointment as Chair of English at the

Royal University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association, ...

. This was followed by a professorship at the

University of Istanbul Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, it was reformed as the fi ...

. But In 1961 he took up an appointment in the Department of Old and Middle English at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

where he was to remain until the end of his career.Lucas, P. G. (1986). AJ Bliss-1921-1985. English World-Wide, 7(2), 267-268.

Selected publications

* Bliss, A. J. (1984). ''English in the south of Ireland''. Language in the British isles, 135, 51. * Bliss, A. J. (1972). Languages in contact: some problems of Hiberno-English. ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy''. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, 72, 63–82. * Bliss, A. J. (1958). ''The metre of Beowulf''. Oxford, Blackwell. * Bliss, Alan. (1996). ''A Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases in Current English''. Routledge, London. ISBN 0-415-05905-4

Editorial Works

* Bliss, A. J., ed. (1954; 2nd ed., 1966). ''Sir Orfeo''. Oxford, Clarendon. * Bliss, Alan, ed. (1982). J. R. R. Tolkien. ''Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode''. London, George Allen & Unwin.

References

1921 births 1985 deaths 20th-century British philologists 20th-century British translators Anglo-Saxon studies scholars Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British expatriates in Malta British expatriates in Turkey British expatriates in Ireland {{UK-academic-bio-stub