Born: 5 September 1906, Ireland
Died: 27 August 1982
Country most active: Ireland
Also known as: NA
This biography is republished from The Dictionary of Irish Biography and was written by Lesa Ní Mhunghaile. Shared by permission in line with Creative Commons ‘Attribution’ (CC BY) licencing.
Ní Mhuiríosa, Máirín (1906–82), Irish scholar, poet and journalist, was born 5 September 1906 in Dublin, daughter of mathematics teacher Tomás Ó Muiríosa and his wife Mary Golden. Both her parents were Irish-speakers and the family spent their summer holidays in the Ring Gaeltacht in Co. Waterford. She attended schools in Monaghan and Luxemburg. As a child she was a member of Craobh Móibhí and in 1920 participated in a production of Douglas Hyde’s ‘An naomh ar iarraidh’ and Séarlot Ní Dhunnlainge’s ‘An tobar naofa’ in the oireachtas drama competition. She matriculated to University College Dublin (UCD) in 1924, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Celtic studies in 1927. She graduated Master of Arts in Welsh in 1943, also from UCD. Between 1929 and 1952 she was a member of staff of Coláiste Laighean.
Ní Mhuiríosa is best known for her work as an Irish language scholar. Her first scholarly work, an edition of Stair an Bhíobla ó lámhsgríbhinn do sgríobh Uáitéir Ó Ceallaigh tuairim na bliadhna MDCCXXVI, appeared in four volumes between 1941 and 1945. During this period she worked on the Leabhair ó Láimhsgríbhnibh series under the general editorship of Gerard Murphy. Working together with Nessa Ní Shéaghdha, she edited the Trí Bruidhne series (Bruidhean chéise coruinn, Bruidhean bheag na hAlmhan, Bruidhean eochaidh bhig dheirg, 1941) for the project. She also edited Imtheacht an dá nónbhar agus tóraigheacht Taise Taoibhghile (1954) and Comhairle Mhic Lámha (1955).
She was interested in the leaders of the early Irish-language revival movement and published a number of articles on prominent activists. Her essay on the Irish scholar Brian Ó Luanaigh appeared in Feasta (Mar.–Apr. 1969). She published a biography of Rev. Euseby Digby in the Irish Press (23 Dec. 1965) and the following year her article on the Rev. Maxwell Close appeared in Comhar. Her research in this area culminated in Réamhchonrathóirí, an account of important language activists involved in the Gaelic revival between 1876 and 1893, which appeared in 1968. An essay on the history of Wales, Gaeil agus Breatnaigh anallód, won a prize at the 1972 oireachtas competition and was published as a pamphlet in 1974. In collaboration with John Ellis Caerwyn Williams she published Traddodiad Llenyddol Iwerddon, a handbook of Irish literary history in Welsh. This was translated into Irish and appeared somewhat augmented as Traidisiún liteartha na nGael in 1979. A seminal work, it provided an account of the treasures of Irish literature from the earliest times to the twentieth century, and has remained an important reference source for students of Irish literature.
On the foundation of the Sunday Press in 1949, Ní Mhuiríosa contributed a regular column entitled ‘Eadrainn féin’. Throughout her life she was involved in a number of literary organisations and was on friendly terms with many of the leading Irish language authors of the day, including Máirtín Ó Direáin. Having joined Cumann na Scríbhneoirí in 1946, she was elected secretary two years later. She was a member of a delegation that met taoiseach Éamon de Valera in 1952, the result of which was the foundation of Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge to enable private publishers to publish books in Irish. She spent fifteen years on the board’s committee and was also a director of An Club Leabhar for over twenty years.
She won a number of Oireachtas na Gaeilge prizes for her poetry and became president of the oireachtas in 1968. During the 1960s she was a member of the Board for Higher Education and subsequently served on the Higher Education Authority.
In 1928 she married Pádraig Ó Cinnéide, secretary of the Department of Health (1948–59) and they had one son and one daughter. She died in St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin, 27 August 1982 and is interred in Glasnevin cemetery.