Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh

Senior Lecturer in Celtic Linguistics

Background

I was educated at the University of Galway, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Edinburgh where I completed my PhD with the support of a National University of Ireland Travelling Studentship. That doctoral dissertation was awarded the Johann Kaspar Zeuß Prize of the Societas Celtologica Europaea. Before returning to Edinburgh as Senior Lecturer in Celtic Linguistics in 2023,  I was Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer in the Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University from 2015 to 2022. Before that I spent a year teaching Modern Irish at Maynooth University. I have also held research fellowships in the School of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (2017-18) and in the Arnamagnæan Institute at the University of Copenhagen (2020-22). Along with colleagues in University College Dublin, I edit the peer-reviewed journal ComharTaighde. 

 

Fhuair mi m' fhoghlam ann an Oilthigh na Gaillimhe, Oilthigh Notre Dame agus ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann far an do rinn mi PhD le taic bho Staidéaracht Taistil Ollscoil na hÉireann. Chaidh duais Johann Kaspar Zeuß an Societas Celtologica Europaea a bhuaileachadh ar an tràchdas PhD sin. Mus tàinig mi air ais a Dhùn Èideann ann an 2023, bha mi nam Òraidiche agus nam Àrd-òraidiche ann an Roinn na Cuimris agus na Ceiltis, Oilthigh Aberystwyth eadar 2015 agus 2022 agus roimhe sin a-rithist, chuir mi seachad bliadhna a' teagasg Gàidhlig na h-Èireann ann an Oilthigh Mhá Nuad an Èirinn. Bha mi cuideachd nam neach-rannsachaidh ann an Sgoil na Ceiltis ann an Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath (2017-18) agus an Den Arnamagnæanske Samling ann an Oilthigh København (2020-22). Tha mi nam neach-deasachaidh air an iris lèirmheasta le seise, ComharTaighde, còmhla ri co-obraichean ann an Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath. 

 

Gaeilge agus fáilte!

Hapus i siarad Cymraeg!

Mit Dansk er ikke så godt! 

Qualifications

BA in Modern Irish, University of Galway

MA in Old and Middle Irish, University of Galway 

MSc in Celtic,  University of Edinburgh 

PhD in Celtic, University of Edinburgh

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Responsibilities & affiliations

Co-editor of ComharTaighde (2020 to date)

Member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College (2020 to date)

External Examiner for Gaelic, University of the Highlands and Islands (2018-2023)

Member of the Executive Council of the British Association for Irish Studies (2021 to date)

Member of the Executive Council of the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society (2021 to date)

International Representative for the Celtic Studies Association of North America (2023 to date)

Member of the Editorial Board for the Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium (2024 to date)

 

 

Undergraduate teaching

Linguistics and the Gaelic Language (pre-Hons)

Gaelic Dialectology (Hons)

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Areas of interest for supervision

I welcome inquiries from students interested in doing doctoral research on Gaelic languages and linguistics and Irish/Gaelic Manuscript Studies. 

Current PhD students supervised

Daithí Knowles (primary supervisor)

Saul Farrell (co-supervised with Prof. Enda Delaney , Modern Irish History)

Research summary

My research falls into two broad categories which sometimes intersect: 

Linguistic variation and change in the Gaelic-speaking world. This strand of my research covers aspects of the historical dialectology of Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx and the historical sociolinguistics of the Gaelic languages. I've written on topics as diverse as language contact between Irish and Latin in the Milan Glosses and dialect differentiation in Ulster Irish.  

Manuscript Studies and the literature and literary history of Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx from circa 1550 to 1900. I have a special interest in Gaelic intersections between Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in this period and in Irish and Scottish Gaelic diasporas in North America and the Caribbean.  

Current research interests

Current research and articles in progress includes: Manuscript sermons from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Manx and the other Gaelic languages; Lexical variation in Scottish Gaelic; script-switching and code-switching in Irish manuscripts.

View all 16 publications on Research Explorer