A View of the Irish Language

by Brian Ó Cuív (Editor), Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson (Contributor), Tomás Ó Fiaich (Contributor)

Irish language and the languages of the world / by Kenneth H. Jackson --
Irish as a vernacular before the Norman invasion / by David Greene --
Changing form of the Irish language / by Brian Ó Cuív --
Irish literary tradition / by Proinsias Mac Cana --
Irish oral tradition / by Seán Ó Súlleabháin --
Twentieth-Century Irish literature / by Gearóid S. Mac Eoin --
Language, personality and the nation / by Martin Brennan --
Decline of the Irish language / by Maureen Wall --
Irish revival movements / by Tomás Ó hAilin --
Language and political history / by An tAthair Tomás Ó Fiaich --
Gaeltacht / by Caoimhin Ó Danachair --
Irish in the modern world / by Brian Ó Cuiv.

Genres: Ireland

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Brian Ó Cuív was a Celtic scholar who specialised in Irish history and philology.

Ó Cuív was professor of Celtic Studies at University College Dublin and later at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. His later years were devoted to the compilation of a catalogue of the Irish manuscripts in the University of Oxford. The completed catalogue was published after his death.

He married Emer de Valera - who would become the last surviving daughter of Éamon de Valera - with whom he had nine children.

Reviews

[Ann-Kathrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're into the Irish language history then you're in for a treat. Every single lecture is so interesting and it's definitely worth spending time on (even if some of the research is outdated it this time).

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

These twelve short lectures, though published almost fifty years ago, provide a very readable and informative survey of the Irish language. Those on the history of Irish are still very relevant, whilst the extensive captions to the black and white illustrations at the end of the book make interesting reading as a chapter in their own right. The lectures describing the state of the Irish language as it was half a century ago can make for depressing reading, as a catalogue of neglect and decline under the relentless pressure of English, but there were then also reasons for optimism.