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Liam Ó Rinn

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Liam Ó Rinn (20 November 1886 – 3 October 1943;[1] born William J. Ring, also known by the pen name Coinneach)[1] was a civil servant and Irish-language writer and translator, best known for "Amhrán na bhFiann", a translation of "The Soldier's Song", the Irish national anthem, which has largely eclipsed Peadar Kearney's English-language original.[1][2][3][4][5]

Life and career

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Ó Rinn was born in Ballybough, Dublin, one of five sons and one daughter of Patrick Ring, a Dublin Metropolitan Police officer from Kilkenny, and his wife Elizabeth (née Griffith) from Laytown, County Meath.[1] He attended St. Joseph's C.B.S. in Fairview, leaving aged 14 to work as a solicitor's clerk.[1] He studied Irish with the Gaelic League, where he worked from c.1907 to 1920.[1] He took part in the Easter Rising and was interned at Frongoch until December 1916.[1] He was interned for a year in the Irish War of Independence.[1] He wrote articles in Irish from 1914 and published books from 1920. He translated news stories in the Freeman's Journal in 1922–24, when he went to work in the Free State Oireachtas' translation department, producing Irish versions of official documents, including the 1922 constitution and the current 1937 constitution. He learned French, German, Spanish, Welsh, and Russian, and translated works from several Continental authors.[1] He married Ellen Fennelly in 1920; they had several children.[1]

Piaras Béaslaí said of Ó Rinn:[6]

He did not write many original works, but the integrity of his critical opinion was unequalled; unswayed by consensus, applying his own reflection, examination, and judgment to every question relating to promoting Irish or to literature in Irish.

Art Ó Maolfhábhail noted his influence in writing about the modern urban world, including coining many new terms.[7]

Amhrán na bhFiann

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Main article: Amhrán na bhFiann

Although Ruth Sherry says Ó Rinn's translation of "The Soldiers' Song" was first published in An tÓglach (the magazine of the Irish Defence Forces) on 3 November 1923,[3] an almost identical text was printed in the Freeman's Journal on 3 April 1923, under Ó Rinn's pen name "Coinneach".[8] Other translations had already been made into literary Classical Irish, whereas Ó Rinn favoured the living vernacular spoken in Gaeltacht areas.[8] The Gaelic Athletic Association adopted Ó Rinn's version in the 1930s to be sung before all its matches, and it gradually eclipsed the English-language version in general use.[3] Although the Irish version was never formally adopted by the state,[3][9] both the English and Irish texts appear in Facts about Ireland, published by the Department of Foreign Affairs,[3][10] and on the official website of the Department of the Taoiseach.[11]

Works

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Translations into Irish
Original works
  • "Cad ba dhóbair dó" agus sgeulta eile[1][o 8]
  • Turus go Páras[o 9]
  • Peann agus Pár[1][o 10]
  • Mo chara Stiofán[o 11]
  • Ó Rinn, Liam (October 1942). "Scath fearthana...". Comhar. 1 (6): 10. doi:10.2307/20547592. JSTOR 20547592.
  • Ó Rinn, Liam (January 1945). "Smaointe Nua ar Shean-Sgeal". Comhar. 4 (1): 1, 4. doi:10.2307/20547945. JSTOR 20547945.
Other

Sources

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References

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General
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Breathnach & Ní Mhurchú, 2015
  2. ^ Connell, Joseph E.A. (March–April 2013). "Countdown to 2016: A Soldier's Song/Amhrán na bhFiann". History Ireland. 21 (2): 66. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e Sherry, Ruth (Spring 1996). "The Story of the National Anthem". History Ireland. 4 (1). Dublin: 39–43.
  4. ^ Sherry, Ruth (1998). "The Uses of the National Anthem". In Westarp, Karl-Heinz; Böss, Michael (eds.). Ireland: Towards New Identities?. Aarhus University Press. ISBN 87-7288-380-4.
  5. ^ De Paor, Louis (2006). "Review: "Gaelic Prose & the Irish Free State."". English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. 49 (1): 99–103.
  6. ^ Ó Maolfhábhail 1953 p.25 ("Níor scríobh sé aon radhaise de leabhair nua-ceaptha, ach ní raibh a shárú de mheasadóir mhisniúil, nár ghéill do ghnath-thuairimi ach do dhein a mhachnamh, a scrúdú agus a bhreithniú féin ar gach ceist a bhaineann le hobair na Gaeilge agus le litríocht na Gaeilge.")
  7. ^ Ó Maolfhábhail 1953, p.26
  8. ^ a b Coinneach (3 April 1923). "Roinnt Versaiochta". Freeman's Journal (in Irish). p. 2.
  9. ^ de Bréadún, Deaglán (27 February 1991). "Tuarascáil: Téacs 'Amhrán na bhFiann' in amhras fós". The Irish Times (in Irish). p. 13.
  10. ^ Facts about Ireland. Department of Foreign Affairs. 2001. ISBN 0-906404-28-2.
  11. ^ "National Anthem". Department of the Taoiseach "Youth Zone" web page. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  12. ^ "List of lectures for 1921–22". Cosaint na Sláinte. Dublin: Cumann Leigheacht an Phobail. 1921. p. 17. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
WorldCat
  1. ^ OCLC 839068834, OCLC 697952292, OCLC 20879687, OCLC 839068834
  2. ^ OCLC 504705500
  3. ^ OCLC 5190029, OCLC 561710905
  4. ^ OCLC 820737573
  5. ^ OCLC 811956908, OCLC 810935204, OCLC 809340962
  6. ^ OCLC 561710905
  7. ^ OCLC 6261287
  8. ^ OCLC 6367002
  9. ^ OCLC 5097074
  10. ^ OCLC 30246693, OCLC 561912573
  11. ^ OCLC 5072037
  12. ^ OCLC 17517675, OCLC 820743827
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