Ruairí Ó hUiginn
Photographer: Seán Ó Mainnín
Usage rights: COMHAR
Date: 20 November 2018
Setting: The Library, School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies
Genres: Critic, Linguist, Academic writer, Historian, Editor
Is as Baile Átha Cliath do Ruairí Ó hUiginn a rugadh i 1955. Bhí sé ar an meánscoil i gColáiste Mhuire, Cearnóg Pharnell agus rinne staidéar ina dhiaidh sin ar an Léann Ceilteach sa Choláiste Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath, mar ar bhain sé céimeanna BA agus MA amach. Bhronn Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste, PhD air i 1989. Tá tréimhsí caite le léachtóireacht aige in Ollscoil Uppsala sa tSualainn, i Roinn na Nua-Ghaeilge i gColáiste na hOllscoile, Gaillimh, sa Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität i mBonn na Gearmáine agus in Ollscoil na Banríona, Béal Feirste. Ceapadh ina Ollamh sa Nua-Ghaeilge i gColáiste Phádraig, Maigh Nuad (Ollscoil na hÉireann, Má Nuad ó 1997) sa bhliain 1993, agus ina Ollamh Sinsearach i Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh in Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath sa bhliain 2016.
Tá spéis ar leith aige i stair na Gaeilge ón bhfianaise is luaithe atá again anuas go dtí canúintí an lae inniu agus i ngnéithe den litríocht, litríocht na Luath-Ghaeilge agus na Nua-Ghaeilge Moiche go háirithe, agus mórán foilseachán dá réir aige sna réimsí sin. Ina eagarthóir roimhe seo ar Léachtaí Cholm Cille agus Ainm, agus ina chomheagarthóir ar Bliainiris agus ar Celtica, iris Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh. Toghadh ina bhall d’Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann é sa bhliain 2007. Tá sé ina Chathaoirleach ar Choiste Bainistíochta agus ar Choiste Eagarthóireachta Fhoclóir Stairiúil na Nua-Ghaeilge in Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann agus ina Chathaoirleach ar an gCoiste Logaimneacha.
Ruairí Ó hUiginn is a native of Dublin. He received his primary and secondary education at Coláiste Mhuire, Parnell Square and afterwards took a BA in Celtic Studies and an MA in Early Irish at UCD. He was awarded a PhD in Celtic Studies by the Queen’s University of Belfast (1989). He has spent periods lecturing in Uppsala University, Sweden; the Dept of Modern Irish, University College Galway (now the National University of Ireland Galway), the Department of Linguistics at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität in Bonn, Germany and in the Celtic Dept of the Queen’s University of Belfast. In 1993 he was appointed Professor of Modern Irish at St Patrick’s College Maynooth (the National University of Ireland since 1997) and as a Senior Professor in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in 2016, becoming Director of the School a year later.
His main interests lie in the history and development of the Irish language from earliest sources down to present-day dialects, and in aspects of Irish literature, especially the literature of the Early and Early Modern periods. He has many publications in these fields of Study. He has been editor of Ainm and of Léachtaí Cholm Cille, and is co-editor of Bliainiris and of Celtica, the journal of the School of Celtic Studies. He was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 2007. He is Chairman of the Management and Editorial Committees of the Academy’s Foclóir Stairiúil na Nua-Ghaeilge and is Chair of Coiste na Logainmneacha.
