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Monday,
22 October 2001
David
Neil MacKenzie, linguist: born London 8 April
1926; Lecturer in Kurdish, Soas, London University
1955-61, Lecturer in Iranian Languages 1961-65,
Reader 1965-75; Professor, Göttingen University
1975-94 (Emeritus); FBA 1996; married 1951 Gina
Schaefer (three sons, one daughter; marriage
dissolved 1981), 1981 Gabriela Hoffmann (marriage
dissolved 1988); died Bangor, Gwynedd 13 October
2001.
D.
N. MacKenzie was a polyglot whose linguistic
knowledge was remarkable in both range and depth.
Generally recognised as the world's leading
authority on modern Kurdish and medieval
Khwarezmian, he also made distinguished
contributions to the study of many other Iranian
languages, including Pashto, Pahlavi and Sogdian,
at the same time displaying enviable competence in
non-Iranian languages such as Arabic and Chinese.
Neil
MacKenzie – he never used his first name, David
– was born in London in 1926 and attended a
succession of schools in Slough, Windsor and
Cambridge before enlisting as a "boy
soldier" in 1943. During the two years
preceding the partition of India in 1947 he was
stationed in the North-West Frontier Province,
where he learned Pashto and thus became interested
in the Iranian family of languages.
On
his return to civilian life he enrolled at the
School of Oriental and African Studies in London,
where he graduated with a BA in Persian and an MA
in Old and Middle Iranian. After fieldwork in
Kurdistan, MacKenzie obtained his PhD in 1957 with
a thesis later published as Kurdish Dialect
Studies (1961-62). This work provided for the
first time a sound basis for a classification of
the numerous dialects of Kurdish. Together with a
series of early articles on the history of Kurdish
and its relationship to other West Iranian
languages it immediately established MacKenzie's
reputation both as an Iranist and as a general
linguist.
MacKenzie
had been appointed Lecturer in Kurdish at Soas in
1955, but the title did not do justice to the
breadth of his interests. In 1961 it was changed
to Lecturer in Iranian Languages and in 1965 he
was promoted to Reader. During the Sixties he
wrote and published important books on Pashto
literature and on the Gorani dialect of Awroman as
well as on Kurdish, his ever- expanding range
giving the lie to a former colleague's description
of "poor MacKenzie" as "the man who
knows all the dialects and none of the
languages", a phrase that he enjoyed quoting.
At
the same time he began to turn his attention to
earlier Iranian languages, immersing himself
successively in Middle Persian or Pahlavi
(together with Judaeo-Persian and other archaic
forms of Persian), Sogdian and Khwarezmian.
A
particularly important achievement was his
elaboration of the first scientific system of
transcribing Pahlavi. This system, presented in
two modestly titled works, "Notes on the
Transcription of Pahlavi" (an article in the
Soas Bulletin, 1967) and A Concise
Pahlavi Dictionary (1971), has since been
widely adopted. The modesty was typical of a
scholar who never took his scholarship too
seriously and who once wrote of his work:
At
times I think that etymology should be classed as
a "social disease" – perhaps requiring
one to ring a little bell to warn the healthy.
In
1975 MacKenzie was appointed to the Chair of
Oriental Philology at the University of Göttingen,
an appointment which was all the more gratifying
because he thus became the successor (at several
removes) of F.C. Andreas, the teacher of his own
much-revered mentor, W.B. Henning. During his 20
years in Göttingen his productivity continued
unabated, and by 1990 he had 10 books to his
credit as sole or joint author.
MacKenzie's
scholarly output was substantial by any standards.
It would surely have been even more so if he had
not devoted so much of his time to the work of
others. He was the de facto editor of many
important publications, though seldom credited as
such on the title-page. Having acquired a personal
computer earlier than most in his field, he came
to be known as an expert in the production of
camera-ready copy, a chore which he generously
undertook for many pupils and colleagues.
An
upholder of the highest standards of scholarship,
MacKenzie was fearsome as an examiner or reviewer.
His criticism could be caustic, since he detested
sloppiness and had no time for tactful
circumlocutions; but those who had the courage to
submit their work to him in advance of publication
knew that it would be worth their while to endure
a certain amount of mortification for the sake of
his penetrating comments. A friend once wrote that
MacKenzie's "spirited directness of
speech" was respected by those who knew him
well as an indication of his personal integrity.
One aspect of this integrity was to apply the same
standards to his own work as to others', to accept
criticism and admit mistakes, often with self-
deprecating humour.
After
his retirement in 1994 MacKenzie settled in North
Wales. His return to Britain was immediately
followed by his election as a Fellow of the
British Academy. He had already been honoured in
1991 by a Festschrift, Corolla Iranica, and
in 1999 his collected papers, Iranica Diversa,
were published in two volumes. In retirement he
was not content to rest on his laurels but
continued to seek new challenges, investigating
the little-known Zaza language at the same time as
working on a longstanding project, the compilation
of a Khwarezmian dictionary.
It
is a matter of extreme regret that the latter
remains unfinished.
Professor
Nicholas Sims-Williams
Source:
The Independent
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