Proinsias Mac Cana

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Proinsias Mac Cana
Born(1926-07-06)July 6, 1926
Belfast, Northern Ireland
DiedMay 21, 2004(2004-05-21) (aged 77)
Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Academic work
DisciplineCeltic studies
InstitutionsUniversity College Dublin
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Proinsias Mac Cana (6 July 1926 – 21 May 2004) was an academic and Celtic scholar. He held professorships at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and University College Dublin.

Career

Proinsias Mac Cana was born in

lectureship. While there, he taught Old and Middle Welsh. In 1961, he was appointed Professor of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and two years later became Professor of Welsh at University College Dublin where he became Professor of Early Irish in 1971. In 1985, he returned to the Dublin Institute to take up a senior professorship, and retired in 1996 afterwards being appointed to emeritus professorship. He had been President of the Royal Irish Academy between 1979 and 1982.[1][2]

According to The Irish Times, Mac Cana's "main field of research was early Irish tales, and the mythology informing them, and in this field he was pre-eminent. ... He broadened and deepened the understanding of the links between the languages, cultures and traditions of the Celtic peoples of Ireland and Britain. And through his scholarship and teaching he was an interpreter of the Irish to the Welsh and of the Welsh to the Irish."[1] Mac Cana published widely and in retirement worked to restore the Collège des Irlandais in Paris. He died on 21 May 2004.[1][2]

Honours and awards

Mac Cana was a member of

honorary doctorates by several universities,[2] and was presented with a Festschrift: Ildánach Ildírech in 1999.[4]

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ a b c d "A respected scholar of the Celtic languages, culture and traditions", The Irish Times, 29 May 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d W. J. McCormack,"Professor Proinsias Mac Cana", The Independent, 2 June 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Derek Allen Prize", British Academy. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
  4. ^ John Carey, John T. Koch and Pierre-Yves Lambert (eds.), Ildánach Ildírech (Celtic Studies Publications, 1999).

Further reading

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