Owen Connellan (1797 – 4 August 1871) was an Irish scholar who translated the
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Flood myt ...
into English in 1846.
Life
He was born in County Sligo, the son of a farmer who claimed descent from
Lóegaire mac Néill
Lóegaire ('' floruit'' fifth century) (reigned 428–458 AD, according to the Annals of the Four Masters of the Kingdom of Ireland)(died c. 462), also Lóeguire, is said to have been a son of Niall of the Nine Hostages. The Irish annals and king ...
,
High King of Ireland in the fifth century. He studied Irish literature and obtained employment as a scribe with the
Royal Irish Academy. Over the following twenty years he copied a great part of the Books of
Lecan and
Ballymote
Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, approx. 24 km south east of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is located in the north-west of Ireland. Ballymote lies in the barony of Corran. A commuter town with a st ...
.
When King
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
visited Ireland Connellan translated his "Letter to the Irish people" into Irish, and was appointed Irish historiographer to the king. When
Queen's College was opened he was appointed professor of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
at Cork. Despite some issues with the college president,
Robert Kane, he held the chair until 1863. He lived for many years in Dublin and died at his house in Burlington Road in 1871.
His most important work was ''Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe, or, The proceedings of the great Bardic Institution'', which relates how
Senchán Torpéist
Senchán Torpéist (c. 560–649 AD) was a Gaelic-Irish poet.
Background
Seanchan Torpest was the Chief Poet of Connacht c.640 AD when he succeeded Dallán Forgaill as Chief Ollam of Ireland. He died in c.649 AD.
His father was Cuairfheartaig ...
recovered the
Táin Bó Cúailnge
(Modern ; "the driving-off of the cows of Cooley"), commonly known as ''The Táin'' or less commonly as ''The Cattle Raid of Cooley'', is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "The Irish Iliad", although like most other early Iri ...
, one of the most famous tales of the Irish bards.
Dispute with Henry Monck Mason
In 1830 Henry J. Monck Mason, founder of
Irish Society for Promoting the Education of the Native Irish through the Medium of Their Own Language, dedicated to spreading the Scripture in Ireland through the means of the Irish language, published a ''Grammar of the Irish Language''. In the preface of this book he acknowledged that he was not acquainted with Irish as a colloquial but only as a written language. Little notice was taken of the book until he was rash enough to print in the ''Christian Examiner'' for September 1833 a long letter on "The Irish Language", ostensibly a critique of Owen Connellan's edition of the Irish prayer-book, but in reality a personal attack upon him and
Thady Connellan
Thady Connellan ( ga, Tadhg Ó Coinnialláinn) (1780–1854) was an Irish school-teacher, poet and historian.
Life
He was born in Skreen, County Sligo, and was a relative of the scholar Owen Connellan. He started a school of his own, but had ...
, a relative. Owen Connellan replied, as far as the editor of the magazine would allow him, in the October number (pp. 729–732). He showed that Mason's Grammar was a mass of errors, and that the pocket edition of
Bishop Bedell's ''Irish Bible'', issued by the Irish Society under Mason's supervision, was just as inaccurate.
[Christian Examiner, October 1833, pp. 729-732] In these strictures Connellan was supported by
Dr. Charles Orpen and
John O'Donovan. Connellan soon afterwards printed his reply in its unmutilated form as ''A Dissertation on Irish Grammar'', 1834.
Works
*''Grammatical Interlineary Version of the Gospel of St. John'' 1830
*''Grammatical Praxis on the Gospel of St. Matthew'' 1830
*''Dissertation on Irish Grammar'' 1834
*
A Practical Grammar of the Irish Language' 1844
*Translation of ''
The Annals of Ireland from the Irish of the Four Masters'' 1846
*Translation of ''Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe, or, The proceedings of the great Bardic Institution'' (1860)
See also
*
John O'Donovan
References
;Attribution
External links
Front cover of Annals
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connellan, Owen
1797 births
1871 deaths
Academics of Queens College Cork
19th-century Irish historians
Linguists from Ireland
People from County Sligo
Irish scribes