Brian Ó Cuív (20 November 1916 – 14 November 1999) was an Irish scholar who specialised in Celtic history and

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

Life

Ó Cuív was professor of Celtic Studies at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

and later at the

Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) () is a statutory independent research institute in Dublin, Ireland. It was established, under the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940, by the government of the then Taoiseach, Éamon de Vale ...

. His later years were devoted to the compilation of a catalogue of the Irish manuscripts in the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. The completed catalogue was published after his death. He married Emer de Valera — a daughter of

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

. They had nine children. Emer died in 2012. Their son — Éamon Ó Cuív — is a former Irish politician.

Surname

Ó Cuív's surname was changed from ''Ó Caoimh'' ( O'Keeffe) by his father, Shán Ó Cuív, a Cork journalist, who in the early 20th century changed the spelling of his surname to conform with a simplified spelling system of his own invention, which he called ''An Leitriú Shimplí''. The letter ' v' is extremely rare in Irish outside modern

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

Works

His works include: *''The Irish of West Muskerry, Co. Cork: A Phonetic Study'' (1951) *''Irish Dialects and Irish Speaking Districts: Three Lectures'' (1951) *''Parliament Na mBan'', editor (1952) *''Seven Centuries of Irish Learning: 1000–1700'' (1961) *''A View of the Irish Language'' (1969) *''The Linguistic Training of the Mediaeval Irish Poet'' (1973) *''The Impact of the Scandinavian Invasions on the Celtic-speaking Peoples c. 800–1100 A.D.'' (1983) *''Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Oxford College Libraries'' (2001-03) 2 vols. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies

Footnotes

External links

A title-index of Ó Cuív's publications, 1942 – 1971

Ó Cuív (Brian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:OCuiv, Brian 1916 births 1999 deaths Academics of University College Dublin Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Celtic studies scholars 20th-century Irish historians De Valera family Irish-language writers 20th-century Irish linguists