Bibliography

Proinsias
Mac Cana
b. 1926–d. 2004

94 publications between 1956 and 2013 indexed
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2013

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Húas mo lebrán ind línech: Welsh and Irish cognates”, in: Dónall Ó Baoill, Donncha Ó hAodha, and Nollaig Ó Muraíle (eds), Saltair saíochta, sanasaíochta agus seanchais: A festschrift for Gearóid Mac Eoin, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. 117–123.

2011

work
Mac Cana, Proinsias, The cult of the sacred centre. Essays on Celtic ideology, Dublin: School of Celtic Studies, DIAS, 2011. viii + 344 pp.

2007

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Ireland and Wales in the Middle Ages: an overview”, in: Karen Jankulak, and Jonathan M. Wooding (eds), Ireland and Wales in the Middle Ages, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007. 17–45.

2004

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Praise poetry in Ireland before the Normans”, Ériu 54 (2004): 11–40.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Ériu 1904-2004”, Ériu 54 (2004): 1–9.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 54 (2004), Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.

2003

journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 53 (2003), Royal Irish Academy.

2002

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “The ingen moel”, Ériu 52 (2002): 217–227.  
abstract:
The close collocation of ingen 'girl' and the adjective moel/mael occurs in a relatively small number of extant texts, but the instances are such as to suggest that it once enjoyed a certain currency as a term or set phrase in literary, and perhaps popular, discourse. It is found in the legal tract Bretha Étgid, the collection of triads known as Trecheng breth Féne, the Manx bible, and several other miscellaneous literary texts. However, they use it as a known item needing no further elaboration, and while some of its connotations are evident, it is still difficult to give it a precise, inclusive definition.
abstract:
The close collocation of ingen 'girl' and the adjective moel/mael occurs in a relatively small number of extant texts, but the instances are such as to suggest that it once enjoyed a certain currency as a term or set phrase in literary, and perhaps popular, discourse. It is found in the legal tract Bretha Étgid, the collection of triads known as Trecheng breth Féne, the Manx bible, and several other miscellaneous literary texts. However, they use it as a known item needing no further elaboration, and while some of its connotations are evident, it is still difficult to give it a precise, inclusive definition.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Teicht do Róim”, in: Máirtín Ó Briain, and Pádraig Ó Héalaí (eds), Téada dúchais: aistí in ómós don ollamh Breandán Ó Madagáin, Indreabhán, Conamara: Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2002. 71–89.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Notes on the legend of Louernios”, in: Michael Richter, and Jean-Michel Picard (eds), Ogma: essays in Celtic studies in honour of Próinséas Ní Chatháin, Dublin: Four Courts, 2002. 138–144.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 52 (2002), Royal Irish Academy.

2001

work
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Collège des Irlandais Paris and Irish studies, Dublin: DIAS, 2001.

2000

journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 51 (2000), Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “The motif of trivial causes”, in: Alfred P. Smyth (ed.), Seanchas. Studies in early and medieval Irish archaeology, history and literature in honour of Francis J. Byrne, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000. 205–211.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Notes of structure and syntax in Fled Bricrenn”, in: Pádraig Ó Riain (ed.), Fled Bricrenn: reassessments, 10, London: Irish Texts Society, 2000. 70–91.

1999

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Varia III. Variation on a proverb”, Ériu 50 (1999): 173–176.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 50 (1999), Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Varia IV. By way of analogy”, Ériu 50 (1999): 177–178.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Syntax and style in Middle Welsh prose: notes on periphrasis and epitaxis”, Celtica 23 (1999): 157–168.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “J. E. Caerwyn Williams: 1912–1999”, Studia Celtica 33 (1999): 354–357.

1998

journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 49 (1998), Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Complex adjectival predicates in Insular Celtic”, in: Jay H. Jasanoff, H. Craig Melchert, and Lisi Oliver (eds), Mír curad: studies in honor of Calvert Watkins, Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, University of Innsbruck, 1998. 439–450.

1997

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Notes on periphrasis with verbal noun and verb ‘to do’ in Middle Welsh”, in: Séamus Mac Mathúna, and Ailbhe Ó Corráin (eds), Miscellanea Celtica in memoriam Heinrich Wagner, 2, Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 1997. 183–196.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Prosimetrum in Insular Celtic literature”, in: Joseph Harris, and Karl Reichl (eds), Prosimetrum: crosscultural perspectives on narrative in prose and verse, Cambridge: Brewer, 1997. 99–130.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Ir. ba marb, W. bu farw ‘he died’”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 49–50 (1997): 469–481.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 48 (1997), Royal Irish Academy.

1996

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Narrative openers and progress markers in Irish”, in: Kathryn A. Klar, Eve E. Sweetser, and Claire Thomas (eds), A Celtic florilegium: studies in memory of Brendan O Hehir, 2, Lawrence, Massachusetts: Celtic Studies Publications, 1996. 104–120.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Y canu mawl yn Iwerddon cyn y Normaniaid”, in: Morfydd E. Owen, and Brynley F. Roberts (eds), Beirdd a thywysogion: barddoniaeth llys yng Nghymru, Iwerddon a’r Alban: cyflwynedig i R. Geraint Gruffydd, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. 122–142.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 47 (1996), Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, and Dónall P. Ó Baoill, “On the extended use of ag before verbal nouns”, Ériu 47 (1996): 185–191.

1995

journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 46 (1995).
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Mythology and the oral tradition: Ireland”, in: Miranda J. Green (ed.), The Celtic world, London, New York: Routledge, 1995. 779–784.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Composition and collocation of synonyms in Irish and Welsh”, in: Joseph F. Eska, R. Geraint Gruffydd, and Nicolas Jacobs (eds), Hispano-Gallo-Brittonica: essays in honour of professor D. Ellis Evans on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1995. 106–122.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Notes on the English edition of Culhwch and Olwen”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 29 (Summer, 1995): 53–57.

1994

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Notes sur les analogues insulaires de la légende de Mélusine”, in: Danièle Conso, Nicole Fick, and Bruno Poulle (eds), Mélanges François Kerlouégan, 515, Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1994. 419–437.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 45 (1994), Royal Irish Academy.

1993

journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 44 (1993), Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Ir. buaball, W. bual ‘drinking horn’”, Ériu 44 (1993): 81–93.

1992

work
Mac Cana, Proinsias, The Mabinogi, 2nd ed., Writers of Wales, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1992.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 43 (1992), Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “On the early development of written narrative prose in Irish and Welsh”, Études Celtiques 29 (1992): 51–67.  
abstract:
[FR] Sur les premiers développements de la prose narrative écrite en irlandais et en gallois.
Passant en revue les plus anciennes attestations de l’écriture dans les littératures celtiques médiévales, l’auteur se réfère à des études récentes suggérant qu’il y avait déjà un certain degré de culture écrite latine en Irlande, dès avant la christianisation, et que cela a pu faciliter, en son temps, le passage du vernaculaire à l’écriture. Il examine aussi les études qui ont cherché à établir, sur la base des textes conservés de la plus ancienne littérature, l’époque où les langues vernaculaires ont commencé à être écrites à des fins littéraires. En Irlande comme en Galles, la poésie traditionnelle paraît avoir été enregistrée bien plus tôt que la prose narrative, le décalage chronologique étant d’ailleurs plus grand au Pays de Galles. En fait la recherche récente tend à considérer que la tradition écrite du Hengerdd (la poésie galloise la plus ancienne) a commencé bien plus tôt qu’on ne l’a supposé jusque ici. Il aborde la question des rapports entre proses didactique et narrative, entre proses orale et écrite, en insistant sur l’importance d’une analyse stylistique et syntactique plus serrée pour la détermination du rôle de «la fonction» (function) et du «moyen-d’expression» (medium) dans la formation de la narration en prose du Moyen Age irlandais et gallois.

[EN] In his survey of the earliest evidence for the written text in the medieval Celtic literatures the author adverts to recent studies suggesting that there was a degree of Latin literacy in Ireland even in pre-Christian times and that this may have facilitated the eventual introduction of writing in the vernacular. He also reviews those studies which have sought, on the basis of the extant texts of the earliest surviving literature, to establish when the vernaculars began to be written for literary purposes. In both Ireland and Wales traditional verse appears to have been recorded considerably earlier than narrative prose, the chronology disparity being much greater in Wales. Indeed recent research tends to see the written tradition of the earliest Welsh verse, the Hengerdd, as beginning much earlier than was hitherto supposed. He touches upon the relationship of didactic and narrative prose on the one hand and of oral and written prose on the other, emphasizing the importance of closer stylistic and syntactic analysis for determining the role of function and medium in shaping medieval Irish and Welsh prose narrative.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 29, 1992: <link>
abstract:
[FR] Sur les premiers développements de la prose narrative écrite en irlandais et en gallois.
Passant en revue les plus anciennes attestations de l’écriture dans les littératures celtiques médiévales, l’auteur se réfère à des études récentes suggérant qu’il y avait déjà un certain degré de culture écrite latine en Irlande, dès avant la christianisation, et que cela a pu faciliter, en son temps, le passage du vernaculaire à l’écriture. Il examine aussi les études qui ont cherché à établir, sur la base des textes conservés de la plus ancienne littérature, l’époque où les langues vernaculaires ont commencé à être écrites à des fins littéraires. En Irlande comme en Galles, la poésie traditionnelle paraît avoir été enregistrée bien plus tôt que la prose narrative, le décalage chronologique étant d’ailleurs plus grand au Pays de Galles. En fait la recherche récente tend à considérer que la tradition écrite du Hengerdd (la poésie galloise la plus ancienne) a commencé bien plus tôt qu’on ne l’a supposé jusque ici. Il aborde la question des rapports entre proses didactique et narrative, entre proses orale et écrite, en insistant sur l’importance d’une analyse stylistique et syntactique plus serrée pour la détermination du rôle de «la fonction» (function) et du «moyen-d’expression» (medium) dans la formation de la narration en prose du Moyen Age irlandais et gallois.

[EN] In his survey of the earliest evidence for the written text in the medieval Celtic literatures the author adverts to recent studies suggesting that there was a degree of Latin literacy in Ireland even in pre-Christian times and that this may have facilitated the eventual introduction of writing in the vernacular. He also reviews those studies which have sought, on the basis of the extant texts of the earliest surviving literature, to establish when the vernaculars began to be written for literary purposes. In both Ireland and Wales traditional verse appears to have been recorded considerably earlier than narrative prose, the chronology disparity being much greater in Wales. Indeed recent research tends to see the written tradition of the earliest Welsh verse, the Hengerdd, as beginning much earlier than was hitherto supposed. He touches upon the relationship of didactic and narrative prose on the one hand and of oral and written prose on the other, emphasizing the importance of closer stylistic and syntactic analysis for determining the role of function and medium in shaping medieval Irish and Welsh prose narrative.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “The petite patrie in modern Irish and Welsh literature”, Irish University Review 22:1 (1992): 13–32.

1991

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Irish maccóem, Welsh makwyf”, Ériu 42 (1991): 27–36.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Further notes on constituent order in Welsh”, in: James Fife, and Erich Poppe [eds.], Studies in Brythonic word order, 4.83, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1991. 45–80.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 42 (1991), Royal Irish Academy.

1990

article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, and Dónall Ó Baoill, “The prepositional relative in Irish”, Celtica 21 (1990): 253–264.
journal volume
Mac Cana, Proinsias, Rolf Baumgarten, and Liam Breatnach (eds), Ériu 41 (1990), Dublin: Royal Irish Academy.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “Word-order in Old Irish and Middle Welsh: an analogy”, in: Ann T. E. Matonis, and Daniel F. Melia (eds), Celtic language, Celtic culture: a festschrift for Eric P. Hamp, Van Nuys, California: Ford & Bailie, 1990. 253–260.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “On the uses of the conjunctive pronouns in Middle Welsh”, in: Martin J. Ball, James Fife, Erich Poppe, and Jenny Rowland (eds), Celtic linguistics / Ieithyddiaeth Geltaidd: readings in the Brythonic languages. Festschrift for T. Arwyn Watkins, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 4.68, Amsterdam: Benjamins, 1990. 411–434.
article
Mac Cana, Proinsias, “On the accusative of destination”, Ériu 41 (1990): 27–36.

As honouree

Carey, John, John T. Koch, and Pierre-Yves Lambert (eds), Ildánach Ildírech. A festschrift for Proinsias Mac Cana, Celtic Studies Publications, 4, Andover and Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 1999..

About the author

Lambert, Pierre-Yves, “Proinsias Mac Cana”, Études Celtiques 36 (2008): 197–198..