Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h (18 October 1926,

Auray Auray (; , or simply ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Morbihan Departments of France, department, Regions of France, administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, northwestern France. Inhabitants of Auray are cal ...

– 9 January 2012, Guilers) was a French

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

and linguist who specialised in

Celtic studies Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celts, Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art h ...

Biography

Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h was born on 18 October 1926 in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

(

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

), and grew up in a French- Breton bilingual environment. Along with his wife, (1927–2004), he wrote numerous works on Celtic studies, including ('The Druids', 1986), ('Celtic Civilization', 1990), ('Celtic Society', 1991), ('Celtic Festivals', 1995), and ('The Celtic Kingdoms', 2001).

Georges Dumézil Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...

directed Le Roux's first studies and was president of the jury at Guyonvarc'h's doctorate thesis in 1980. Guyonvarc'h taught

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

and Breton at Rennes 2 University. He died on 9 January 2012 in Guilers. Guyonvarc'h could speak Breton, Welsh, and Irish (in their modern and historical stages), as well as modern French,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Dutch, English. From 1979 to 1981, he was a member the patronage committee of , the annual magazine of the ethno-nationalist think tank, GRECE.

Works

* ''Dictionnaire étymologique du Breton ancien, moyen et moderne'', Rennes, 1973 *''Textes Mythologiques Irlandais'', Rennes, Ogam-Celticum, n° 11/1 & 2, 1978 *''Morrigan-Bodb-Macha : la souveraineté guerrière de l'Irlande'' (1983) * ''Aux origines du breton : Le glossaire vannetais du Chevalier Arnold von Harff, voyageur allemand du XVe'', Ogam-Celticum, 1984, , study realized by Christian J. Guyonvarc'h * ''Les Druides'', with Françoise Le Roux, Ouest-France Université, coll. « De mémoire d’homme : l’histoire », Rennes, 1986 * ''La Civilisation celtique'', with Françoise Le Roux, Ouest-France Université, series ''De mémoire d’homme : l’histoire'', Rennes, 1990 * ''La Société celtique'', with Françoise Le Roux, Ouest-France Université, series ''De mémoire d’homme : l’histoire'', Rennes, 1991, * '' La razzia des vaches de Cooley'' (translation of 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 earl ...

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003, it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by G ...

, 1994, * ''Les Fêtes celtiques'', with Françoise Le Roux, Ouest-France Université, series ''De mémoire d’homme : l’histoire'', Rennes, 1995 * ''Magie, médecine et divination chez les Celtes'', Bibliothèque scientifique Payot, Paris, 1997 * ''Le Dialogue des deux Sages'', Bibliothèque scientifique Payot, Paris, 1999, * ''La légende de la ville d'Is'', with Françoise Le Roux, Ouest-France Université, cseries ''De mémoire d'homme : l'histoire'', Rennes, 2000 *''Les Royaumes Celtiques'' (2001) * ''Le Catholicon'', reprint of the Jehan Calvez edition owned by the city of

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

(5 November 1499), éditions Ogam, Rennes, 1975, reprinted by éditions Armeline, Brest, 2005 * ''Le Sacrifice dans la tradition celtique'', éditions Armeline, Brest, 2005,

References

Bibliography

* * People from Auray 1926 births 2012 deaths French philologists French lexicographers Breton-language writers Linguists of Breton {{France-linguist-stub