The death on November 14th of Prof Brian O Cuiv has robbed Ireland of one its most eminent scholars of Celtic Studies. O Cuiv He spent his life in the study of the Irish language and has left numerous books, essays and publications which are, and will remain, valued texts in their field.
Despite his advanced years he never lost his enthusiasm or dedication for study. At the time of his death, he had been compiling a bibliography of Irish manuscripts held in the Bodleain Library in Oxford.
Born in 1916, he O Cuiv was educated at the O'Connell Schools, Dublin, and at University College Dublin. From 1940 to 1942 he began what was to be an illustrious and productive academic career as a lecturer in Early and Mediaeval Irish and Welsh in Saint Patrick's College, Maynooth. While there, he married Emer de Valera, daughter of Eamon de Valera, in 1941.
From 1942 until 1944, he lectured at the School of Celtic Studies in the Institute for Advanced Studies in Dublin. He quickly gained recognition for his scholarship and was appointed assistant professor in the school in 1944. He was subsequently appointed professor in 1951, a position he held for two years before taking up a position as lecturer in Classical Irish Language and Literature at UCD in 1953.
In 1960 he was appointed Professor of Classical Irish Language at UCD and held that position until 1967 when he returned to the Institute for Advanced Studies as senior professor. He was also a member of the Royal Irish Academy. He was appointed Director of the School of Celtic Studies in the Institute between 1968 and 1971 and between 1972 and 1973. Despite his erudition, younger scholars found him approachable and generous with his expertise and time.
Where many academics limit themselves to one area of expertise, Prof O Cuiv diligently and successfully applied himself to many. He was an acknowledged expert in Classical Irish and is frequently compared to that other great scholar of Classical Irish, James Carney. He studied dialects, the history of the language and Bardic Poetry. Works such as The Irish of West Muskerry, Co Cork, Cath Muighe Tuireadh, Cnosach Focal o Bhaile Bhuirne and Irish Dialects and Irish-speaking Districts reflect this deep interest in every aspect of the language.
It would be a mistake to think, however, that he was unaware of the general public's interest in language matters. He acted as editor for a series of the Thomas Davis lectures on RTE radio. ireann.The subsequent collection of essays which he edited, A View of the Irish Language, is a seminal work and is still authoritative 30 years after it was first published.
While Prof O Cuiv's work was primarily scholarly, he never lost his belief in the importance of the Irish language as a living vernacular. Nor did he ever forget the pivotal role the Gaeltacht played in its survival. Writing in one essay, he notes: "If the spark can be kept alive in the Gaeltacht we can hope for success. One necessary ingredient is love for our country, for its nationhood, and for the most distinctive mark which our nation can have - its language.
Love of country, nationhood and language were all traits which he O Cuiv had in abundance.
Prof Brian O Cuiv: born 1916; died November, 1999