Seán Ó hEinirí (26 March 191526 July 1998), known in English as John Henry, was an Irish ("traditional storyteller" or "bearer of the old lore") and a native of Cill Ghallagáin in County Mayo.

Early life

Ó hEinirí was born in Cill Ghallagáin (Kilgalligan),

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

, to Micheál Ó hEinirí and Máire Uí Einirí (née Ní Chonghalaigh). He was from an early age determined to collect as many ancient legends and traditional stories as he could, describing himself as "greedy for stories." He was a

currach A currach ( ) is a type of Irish boat with a wooden frame, over which animal skins or hides were once stretched, though now canvas is more usual. It is sometimes anglicised as "curragh". The construction and design of the currach are unique ...

-using fisherman, and a skilled rower.

Contributions to the Irish language

He became known as a talented

seanchaí A seanchaí ( or ; plural: ) is a traditional Gaelic storyteller or historian, serving as an oral repository. In Scottish Gaelic the word is (; plural: ). The word is often anglicised as shanachie ( ). The word , which was spelled (plural ...

, and the folklorist Proinnsias de Búrca (1904–1996) collected from him in the days of the

Irish Folklore Commission The Irish Folklore Commission () was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland. History Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy) founded ''An Cumann le Béaloideas Éir ...

(1935–1971). In later years, his stories were recorded by Séamas Ó Catháin of the Department of Irish Folklore from 1975 onwards for more than ten summers. A great deal of this work was published in "Scéalta Chois Cladaigh" ("Stories of Sea and Shore") in 1983 by the Folklore of Ireland Council (Comhairle Bhéaloideas Éireann). Ó hEinirí also provided a large number of words and expressions to the

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

Tomás de Bhaldraithe, who incorporated these into his influential ''English-Irish Dictionary'', published in 1959. In addition to this, he gave over 800 minor place-names to Patrick O'Flanagan of the Folklore Commission for the 1974 book ''The Living Landscape, Kilgalligan, Erris''.

TV appearances

Ó hEinirí was filmed for the 6-part BBC documentary '' In Search of the Trojan War'', which was broadcast in 1985. According to the documentary, he was illiterate. He also featured on a Morning Ireland report broadcast on 25 July that year. In 1986 Ó hEinirí featured in Episode 8 of the Emmy-award winning series '' The Story of English'', also produced by the BBC, which discussed the Irish influence on the English language.

Linguistic significance

It was estimated by Whitley Stokes that there were around 800,000

monolingual Monoglottism ( Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...

Irish speakers in 1800, which had declined to about 320,000 by the end of

the famine The Famine was an American death metal band formed in Arlington, Texas, in 2006. They were signed to Solid State Records. History Formation and three-song EP The band initially formed with three of the original members of Embodyment i ...

, and to less than 17,000 by 1911. Monolingual speakers remained in the 1950s, but by the 1980s and 1990s they had all but disappeared. Ó hEinirí is considered by many to be one of, if not the last monolingual speaker of the Irish language.

Later life and death

He remained in the village of Cill Ghallagáin, where he was known as a ('old-timer, original inhabitant'). He died on 26 July 1998 and was survived by his wife, Máire (who died in 2001). He is buried in Kilgalligan Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OHEiniri, Sean 1915 births 1998 deaths Irish folklorists Irish storytellers People from County Mayo