Owen Connellan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1797 |
| Died | 4 August 1871 |
| Resting place | Mount Jerome Cemetery |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation(s) | Translator, Professor of Irish |
| Employer | Royal Irish Academy |
| Known for | Translation of the Annals of the Four Masters into English |
Owen Connellan (1797 – 4 August 1871) was an Irish scholar who translated theAnnals of the Four Masters into English in 1846.
He was born in County Sligo, the son of a farmer who claimed descent fromLóegaire mac Néill,High King of Ireland in the fifth century. He studied Irish literature and obtained employment as a scribe with theRoyal Irish Academy. Over the following twenty years he copied a great part of the Books ofLecan andBallymote.[1]
When KingGeorge IV visited Ireland Connellan translated his "Letter to the Irish people" into Irish, and was appointed Irish historiographer to the king. WhenQueen's College was opened he was appointed professor ofIrish 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.[2]
His most important work wasImtheacht na Tromdhaimhe, or, The proceedings of the great Bardic Institution, which relates howSenchán Torpéist recovered theTáin Bó Cúailnge, one of the most famous tales of the Irish bards.[1]
In 1830 Henry J. Monck Mason, founder ofIrish 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 aGrammar 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 theChristian 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 andThady Connellan, 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 ofBishop Bedell'sIrish Bible, issued by the Irish Society under Mason's supervision, was just as inaccurate.[3] In these strictures Connellan was supported byDr. Charles Orpen andJohn O'Donovan. Connellan soon afterwards printed his reply in its unmutilated form asA Dissertation on Irish Grammar, 1834.[1]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Moore, Norman (1887). "Connellan, Owen". InStephen, Leslie (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 21.
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