William Davey

Biography

Having completed a PhD with a specialization in medieval literature, Bill Davey taught courses in Old and Middle English, and the History of the English Language for twenty-three years in the Department of Languages and Letters before retiring in 2009, when he became Senior Scholar with the Department. Since retiring, he has been working on defining stage of the Dictionary of Cape Breton English, which will be published with Richard MacKinnon as co-editor by the University of Toronto Press in early 2016. The study of these early varieties of English sparked his interest in language studies, and consequently has contributed twenty articles on various topics: Old English, regional lexicography, the historical development of place names, and nickname patterns. These papers have appeared in Onomastica Canadiana, Papers of the Annual Meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association, Acadiensis, Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, Mediaeval Studies, English Quarterly, and chapters in books. He has also co-edited three collections of the Papers of the Annual Meeting Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association. Because of these research interests, he has served for over fifteen years on the executives of both the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association and the Canadian Society for the Study of Names.

Research Interest

Mediaeval Studies