Skeat, Walter William

Walter William (1835-), a noted British scholar. He was a native of London. He was graduated at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1858, and was connected with the university in some capacity for nearly half a century. Skeat was a noted student of languages. He edited several early English works and the Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic. His reputation rests chiefly on An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language in which he threw light on the origin and relationship of the words in daily use. Skeat tells us, for instance, that the Scotch bairn, an Anglo-Saxon word, is related to bear, birth, born, and burden; that road, another Anglo-Saxon word, is related to ride, raid, and ready; that ripe is akin to reap; suds to sodden; and wagon to wain, weigh, and weight.