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T. F. O'Rahilly

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"Tomás Ó Rathile" redirects here. Not to be confused withTomás Ó Raghallaigh.

Thomas Francis O'Rahilly
Tomás Ó Rathile
Born(1882-11-11)11 November 1882
Listowel, County Kerry,Ireland
Died16 November 1953(1953-11-16)(aged 71)
Rathgar, Dublin
Known forWork inGoidelicphonology,historical linguistics
SpouseMary Buckley
Academic background
EducationUniversity College Dublin
Academic work
DisciplineLinguistics,Celtic studies
Notable worksIrish Dialects Past and Present: With Chapters on Scottish and Manx

Thomas Francis O'Rahilly(Irish:Tomás Ó Rathile;11 November 1882 – 16 November 1953)[1]was an influential Irish scholar of theCeltic languages,particularly in the fields ofhistorical linguisticsandIrishdialects.He was a member of theRoyal Irish Academyand died inDublinin 1953. He is the creator of O'Rahilly's historical model, which has since been discredited.

Early years and education[edit]

He was born inListowel, County Kerry,Ireland to Thomas Francis Rahilly ofBallylongford,County Kerry and Julia Mary Rahilly (néeCurry) ofGlin,County Limerick.[1]He was the seventh of his parents fifteen children. His younger sister was the scholarCecile O'Rahilly.

He received his secondary education atSt. Michael's College, Listowel,and later atBlackrock CollegeinDublinat the same time as future Irish politicianÉamon de Valera.[2][3]He took an interest in Irish and Celtic languages early in his life, buying Irish language newspaperAn Claidheamh Soluiswith his pocket money while still a school boy.[4]De Valera commented on this unusual sight:

An Claideamn Soluis

If O'Rahilly had been reading Greek I would not have been too surprised; I could attempt that myself. But to be reading Gaelic from a newspaper - that was something extraordinary indeed in those days.[3]

He was educated at theRoyal University of Ireland,and received his B.A. in Irish and Classics in 1905. He spent a year teaching Irish atUniversity College Dublin,before taking up a permanent position as a clerk in theFour Courtsin 1906, where he stayed until 1919.[4]

On 17 October 1918 he married Mary Buckley inCarrigtwohill,County Cork. They had no children.[5]

Academic career[edit]

O'Rahilly worked full-time in the Irish civil service as a clerk in the Four Courts. He founded and edited journalGadelica: a Journal of Modern Irish Studies which"sought to pursue and promote investigation into the area of Celtic studies, including philology".[6]The journal was short-lived due to a shortage of subscriptions and four issues were published between 1912 and 1913.[1]He completed his MA thesisThe Accentuation of Gaelicin 1916.[1]

Fellow Celtic languages scholar and lecturer ofTrinity College, DublinEleanor Knottdescribed his work during this period:

His unsurpassed knowledge of modern Irish dialects and manuscript literature was acquired in his early manhood when as a civil servant his chosen studies had perforce to be relegated to evenings, weekends and vacations. Unceasing application during this period together with recurrent attacks of influenza brought about a definite decline in his health and this should be taken into account in considering a characteristic asperity in criticising the work of other scholars.[7]

In 1919 he entered academic life in a full-time capacity upon taking up his first professorship in Irish at Trinity College, Dublin (1919-1929). He was appointed research professor in Celtic languages in 1929 atUniversity College Corkand stayed in this position until 1935.[8]He returned to academic life in Dublin as professor of Celtic languages at University College Dublin (1935-1941). He was director of the School of Celtic Studies at theDublin Institute for Advanced Studiesfrom 1942 to 1947. He received an honorary degree in D.Litt.Celt. from theNational University of Irelandin 1928 and D.Litt. from Trinity College, Dublin in 1948.[1]

O'Rahilly editedCeltica,a journal of the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, between 1946 and 1950.[4]Other publications by O'Rahilly include a series of anthologies of Irish language poetry publish in the 1920s.[9]

Later years[edit]

O'Rahilly retired from academia in 1948. He suffered from poor health for many years and died suddenly on 16 November 1953 at his home.[4][7]He was buried inGlasnevin Cemetery.His wife believed that his death was due to overwork and burned many of his remaining papers at their home.[1]

Some of his surviving papers are held by School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. His collection of books, correspondence, and Irish manuscripts, including an annotated draft of the 1937Constitution of Ireland,were bequeathed to theQueen's University of Belfast.[8]

Controversial theories[edit]

O'Rahilly was known for his sometimes controversial theories of Irish history. In his bookEarly Irish History and Mythology(1946), O'Rahilly developed a model ofIrish prehistorybased on his analysis of early Irish literature and language, especially theLebor Gabála Érenn.He suggested that there were four waves ofCelticmigrations or invasions: theCruthin(c. 700–500 BC), theÉrainnorBuilg(c. 500 BC), theLaigin,Domnainnand Gálioin (c. 300 BC), and theGaels(c. 100 BC). He argued that the first three groups spokeBrittonic languages,and that many of Ireland's 'pre-Gaelic' peoples flourished for centuries after 100 BC.[10]Although highly influential, O'Rahilly's theory has been challenged by historians, archaeologists and linguists—such asKenneth H. Jackson[11]andJohn T. Koch[12]—and it is no longer accepted.[13][14]

In 1942 his lecture where he proposed that there were twoSaint Patricks,[15]was published. Irish authorJames Plunkettdescribed the controversy caused by O'Rahilly's theory:

I can still recall the great scandal of 1942, when a book calledThe Two Patrickswas published by a learned Irish Professor who advanced the theory that there was one Patrick (Palladius Patrick) whose mission lasted from 432-461, and another who arrived in 462 and died about 490. The suggestion caused a national unheaval. If the careers of the two Patricks, through scholarly bungling, had become inextricably entangled, who did what? And worse still - which of them was the patron saint? If you addressed a prayer to one, might it not be delivered by mistake to the other? There was a feeling abroad that any concession to the two Patricks theory would lead unfailingly to a theory of no Patrick at all.[16]

His views onlanguage contactandbilingualismwere equally controversial. InIrish Dialects Past and Present(1932) he wrote the following about theManx language:

From the beginning of its career as a written language English influence played havoc with its syntax, and it could be said without much exaggeration that some of the Manx that has been printed is merely English disguised in a Manx vocabulary. Manx hardly deserved to live. When a language surrenders itself to foreign idiom, and when all its speakers become bilingual, the penalty is death.[17]

This view has more recently been challenged byNicholas Williams,who suggests that Manx is Gaelic pidginized by early contact withNorse,long before there was any English spoken on theIsle of Man.

Family[edit]

His sisterCecile O'Rahillywas also a Celtic scholar, and published editions of both recensions of theTáin Bó Cúailngeand worked with her brother in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.[18]Their brotherAlfred O'Rahilly,himself a noted academic, was President of University College Cork andTeachta Dála(TD) forCork City.[19]

His first cousinMichael O'Rahilly(better known as The O'Rahilly) was a founding member of theIrish Volunteersand died in theEaster Rising.

Published works[edit]

  • Dánta Grádha: An Anthology of Irish Love Poetry (1350-1750)(1916)
  • Dánfhocail - Irish Epigrams in Verse (1921)
  • A Miscellany of Irish Proverbs(1922)
  • Papers on Irish Idiom by Peadar Ua Laoghaire, together with a translation into Irish of part of the First Book of Euclid (1922)
  • Laoithe Cumainn (1925)
  • Búrdúin Bheaga: Pithy Irish Quatrains (1925)
  • Measgra Dánta I: Miscellaneous Irish Poems(1927)
  • Duanta Eoghain Ruaidh Mhic an Bhaird(1930)
  • Irish Dialects Past & Present, with Chapters on Scottish and Manx(1932)
  • The Goidels and their Predecessors(1936)
  • Desiderius, otherwise called Sgáthán an chrábhaidh, by Flaithrí Ó Maolchonaire (Florence Conry)(1941)
  • The Two Patricks: A Lecture on the History of Christianity in Fifth-century Ireland(1942)
  • Early Irish History and Mythology.Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1946.

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefÓ Sé, Diarmuid. "O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis (‘T. F.’)".Dictionary of Irish Biography.(ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
  2. ^UK Census 1901 held in the National Archives in the Republic of IrelandO'Rahilly is listed as Rahilly and de Valera as Edward.
  3. ^abFarragher, Sean P. (1984).Dev and His Alma Mater: Eamon de Valera's Lifelong Association with Blackrock College, 1898-1975.Dublin: Paraclete Press. p. 21.ISBN9780946639014.
  4. ^abcdBreathnach, Diarmuid; Ní Mhurchú, Máire."Ó RATHILE, Tomás (1882–1953)".Ainm.ie.Retrieved25 August2020.
  5. ^Humphrys, Mark."T.F. O'Rahilly".Humphrys Genealogy.Retrieved23 August2020.
  6. ^"Description of Gadelica: A Journal of Modern Irish Studie".JSTOR.Retrieved28 August2020.
  7. ^abKnott, Elenor (1955). "Thomas Francis O'Rahilly 1883–1953".Ériu.17:147.
  8. ^abThomas Francis O'Rahilly Papers 1883-1953.Queen's University Belfast Special Collections & Archives. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  9. ^"Thomas F. (Thomas Francis) O'Rahilly b. 1883–d. 1953".CODECS: Collaborative Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies.Retrieved28 August2020.
  10. ^O'Rahilly 1946,p.264; pp. 154 ff.
  11. ^Jackson, Kenneth H. (1953).Language and History in Early Britain.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  12. ^Koch, John T. (1991)."Ériu, Alba, Letha: When Was a Language Ancestral to Gaelic First Spoken in Ireland?".Emania.9– via Academia.
  13. ^Brady, Ciaran; O'Dowd, Mary; Mercer Walker, Brian, eds. (1989).Ulster: An Illustrated History.Batsford Books.pp. 22–23.T. F. O'Rahilly, whose historical conclusions have been questioned by archaeologists and historians. In particular, O'Rahilly's thesis on the chronology of the invasion has been subject to serious revision and, consequently, as explained in more detail below, his views on the ethnic makeup of early Ireland are no longer accepted.
  14. ^Dillon, MylesandChadwick, Nora.The Celtic Realms: History and Civilization.Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1967. p. 5.He distinguished four successive immigrations: the Cruthin some time before 500 BC; the Érainn (Fir Bolg) perhaps in the fifth century; the Laigin (with Domnainn and Gálioin) in the third century; the Goidil who came c. 100 BC.... O'Rahilly's most novel suggestion is that his first three groups spoke Brythonic dialects... His demonstration is not convincing, and the notion that this more archaic language was brought latest, by a migration of the Quariates from south-east Gaul, is inherently improbable.
  15. ^O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis (1942).The Two Patricks: A Lecture on the History of Christianity in Fifth-century Ireland.Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
  16. ^Hopkins, Allanah (1989).Living Legend of St. Patrick.New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 151.
  17. ^O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis (1972).Irish Dialects Past and Present: With Chapters on Scottish and Manx.Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. p. 121.
  18. ^Ní Mhunghaile, Lesa. "O'Rahilly (Ní Rathaille, Ó Rathaille), Cecile (Sisile)".Dictionary of Irish Biography.(ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
  19. ^Gaughan, Anthony J. (2016)."Alfred O'Rahilly: Creative Revolutionary".Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review.105(417): 58–66.JSTOR24871385– via JSTOR.

External links[edit]

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