Classics and Languages

Mac Cana, Proinsias (1926–2004), Celtic scholar, was born 6 July 1926 in Belfast, son of George McCann and his wife Mary Catherine (née Mallon). He grew up in a catholic district in east Belfast, where inter-community tensions were keenly felt. He attended St Malachy's College during…

MacCarthy, Denis Florence (1817–82), Young Irelander, poet, and translator, was born 26 May 1817 at 24 Lower Sackville St., Dublin, the only son of John MacCarthy (d. 1857), a catholic woollen merchant with premises on Eden Quay, Dublin, and Sarah MacCarthy (née Courtney) (d. 1845…

MacKenna, Stephen (1872–1935), journalist and translator of Plotinus, was born 15 January 1872 in Liverpool, second child of Capt. Stephen Joseph MacKenna, a flamboyant and improvident former Irish officer in the Indian army, and Elizabeth MacKenna (née Deane), of mixed Irish and…

MacMahon, Bernard (c.1736–1816), priest, scientist, and translator, was born at Castlering, Co. Louth, one of two brothers. He was educated locally and studied for the secular priesthood at Antwerp, presumably at the Irish College there. His name appears on the 1771 list…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Madgett, Nicholas. View the original entry.

Madgett, Nicholas (d. 1813), French official and translator, was born in Co. Kerry, probably in the early 1740s. He went to France (in or before 1760), studied for the catholic priesthood at the Irish College, Toulouse (licence and doctorat, 1764), was ordained…

Maguire, Thomas (1831–89), classicist and unionist, was born 24 January 1831 in Dublin, son of Thomas Maguire, a catholic businessman. He had two sisters, Eliza and Mary. Their father became a colonial magistrate in Mauritius, where Thomas junior, after education in Dublin, lived…

Mahaffy, Sir John Pentland (1839–1919), classical scholar and provost of TCD, was born at Chapponnaire, near Vevey, Switzerland, on 26 February 1839, youngest of six children of Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy, Church of Ireland clergyman, and his wife, Elizabeth (née Pentland).…

Mailduf (d. c.675), teacher and scholar who gave his name to Malmesbury (Maeldufi urbem), is named by William of Malmesbury as the first teacher of Aldhelm (d. 709), the first Anglo-Saxon man of letters. William describes Mailduf as ‘an Irishman by birth, a…

This is a co-subject for the entry on Manchán. View the original entry.

Manchán (d. 665) of Liath Mancháin (Lemanaghan, Co. Offaly), Irish ecclesiastic and scholar, has been given contradictory genealogies, perhaps through confusion with one of the several ecclesiastics named Manchán/ Mainchín. The most reliable source states that his father was Sillán…

Mangan, James Clarence (1803–49), poet and translator, was probably born 1 May 1803 in Dublin, the second of five children of James Mangan (1765–1843) from Shanagolden, Co. Limerick, who may have been a hedge-school teacher, and Catherine (née Smith; 1771–1846), whose family owned…

Marsden, William (1754–1836), orientalist, numismatist, and secretary to the admiralty, was born 16 November 1754, probably in Verval, Co. Wicklow, youngest child among six sons and four daughters of John Marsden (d. 1801), a wealthy merchant in Dublin, who was one of the founders…

Marstrander, Carl (1883–1965), Celtic scholar and linguist, was born 26 November 1883 in Kristiansand, Norway, son of Fredric Marstrander, principal of a local college, and his wife Christiane Brodtkorb Svendrup. His interest in languages was probably encouraged at an early age by a…

Martin, James (1783–1860), poet, antiquary, and linguist, was born at Millbrook, near Oldcastle, Co. Meath, youngest son among several children of James Martin, small farmer, who owned several cabins and some plots of land in Oldcastle, and who, according to McCall (1896, 631),…

Martinus (Martin) Hiberniensis (‘the Irishman’) (819–75), scribe and master of the cathedral school at Laon, was one of the greatest of Irish Carolingian scholars. What little we know of Martin has been provided by himself in a manuscript of the Annals of Laon (‘Annales Laudunenses…

McCarthy, Janie (c.1890–1964), resistance worker and language teacher, was born in Bohereengowan, Killarney, Co. Kerry, the fourth of eight children, two boys and six girls, of Jeremiah McCarthy, mason, and Mary McCarthy, both of Co. Kerry. She appears to have been educated…

Meyer, Kuno (1858–1919), Celtic scholar, philologist and translator, was born 20 December 1858 in Hamburg, north Germany, second among four children of Eduard Meyer, a classical historian of some repute, and Henrietta Meyer. Kuno first attended the Siemsenschen Privatschule and then the…

Mo-Chuaróc (fl. 7th cent.) of the moccu Neth Sémon, scholar of the pro-Roman faction within the Irish church, belonged as his name suggests (although his parentage is unknown) to a population group known as the Semuine, whose existence is attested in the genealogies and…

Moloney, William Joseph (1885–1968), linguist and journalist, was born at South Hill Cottage in Limerick city on 28 May 1885, son of Patrick Moloney, a commercial traveller, and his wife Kate (née McCoy). He was educated in the Redemptorist College there, and in 1900 he attained first…

Monck (Monk, Molesworth), Mary (c.1678–1715), poet and translator, was one of the seventeen children, nine of whom survived to adulthood, born to Robert Molesworth (qv), landowner, writer, and politician, later 1st Viscount…

Mo-Sinnu (Sinlán, Sillán) (d. 610) of the moccu Mín, scribe and abbot of the monastery of Bangor, Co. Down, seems to have belonged to a little-known early tribal group from north-east Munster, called the Menraige. He is called by the shorter, latinised form of his name, Sinlán…

Muiredach (Muridac, Murethach) (fl. c.840), scribe, grammarian, and poet, with his contemporaries and compatriots Sedulius Scottus (qv) and John Scottus Eriugena…

Murphy, James Vincent (1880–1946), journalist and translator, was born 7 July 1880 at Bandon, Co. Cork, the third of seven children of Timothy Murphy, farmer, and his wife Hannah (née Sullivan). He was educated locally, then at the diocesan minor seminary, and finally at St Patrick's…

Neilson, William (Mac Néill, Uilliam) (1774–1821), presbyterian minister, classical and Irish-language scholar and writer, was born 12 September 1774 at Rademon, Kilmore, Co. Down, fourth among seven sons of the Rev. Moses Neilson (1739?–1823), schoolmaster and presbyterian minister of…