Born in London in 1850 into a Welsh merchant family, Frederick Powell graduated with a first-class degree in Law and Modern History in 1872. Two years later he was called to the Bar, but returned to his university as a lecturer in law at Christ Church. His interests, however, were very varied and he published on historical and literary topics, and lectured at Oxford on law, history, political economy, Old English, Old French and Old German. His attention to European languages was always at the fore of his work, and his translations of Icelandic literature introduced the great sagas of that land to many British readers; his Icelandic Prose Reader (1879) is a model of its kind.
In later years, Powell turned to new languages, such as Maori, Irish and the Romani dialects, and in...
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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Frederick York Powell". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3622, accessed 09 June 2026.]
