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Osborn Bergin | |
|---|---|
 Bergin,c. 1930s | |
| Born | (1873-11-26)26 November 1873 Cork, Ireland |
| Died | 6 October 1950(1950-10-06) (aged 76) Dublin, Ireland |
Osborn Joseph BerginOsborn Ó hAimhirgín (26 November 1873 – 6 October 1950) was an Irish scholar of theIrish language andearly Irish literature, who discovered what is now known asBergin's law.
Bergin was born inCork, sixth child and eldest son of Osborn Roberts Bergin and Sarah Reddin, and was educated at Queen's College Cork (nowUniversity College Cork). He then went toGermany for advanced studies inCeltic languages, working withHeinrich Zimmer at the Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin (now theHumboldt University of Berlin) and later withRudolf Thurneysen at theUniversity of Freiburg, where he wrote his dissertation onpalatalization in 1906. He then returned to Ireland and taught at theSchool of Irish Learning and atUniversity College Dublin.
Within one year of becoming Director of the School of Irish Studies in theDublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Bergin resigned both the senior professorship and his office of director. The reason for his resignation was never made public.
Bergin did not seem to have felt the need ofinstitutional religion and, during his lifetime, he rarely attended religious services. He developed Irish nationalist sympathies and remained a firm nationalist all his life but without party affiliations. From the number of Irish speakers living in Cork, Bergin quickly mastered the spoken Irish of WestMunster. By 1897, his knowledge of spoken and literary Modern Irish was so strong that he was appointed lecturer in Celtic at Queen's College, Cork. It was during this time that he became an active member of the Gaelic League.[1]
He published extensively in the journal for Irish scholarship,Ériu. He is best known for his discovery ofBergin's law, which states that while the normal order of a sentence inOld Irish isverb–subject–object, it is permissible for the verb, in theconjunct form, to be placed at the end of the sentence.[2] His friendFrank O'Connor wrote humorously that, while he discovered the law, "he never really believed in it".[3] He wrote poetry in Irish and made a number of well-received translations of Old Irish love poetry.[3]
He is celebrated inBrian O'Nolan's poemBinchy and Bergin andBest, originally printed in theCruiskeen Lawn column in theIrish Times and now included inThe Best of Myles. He was noted for his feuds withGeorge Moore andWilliam Butler Yeats, but he enjoyed a lifelong friendship withGeorge William Russell. Frank O'Connor, another good friend, describes Bergin's eccentricities affectionately in his memoirMy Father's Son.[3]
Bergin died in a nursing home in Dublin at the age of 76, having never married.
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