Cecile O'Rahilly was a scholar of the Celtic languages.
13 Facts About Cecile O'Rahilly
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Cecile O'Rahilly was the eleventh of her parents' thirteen surviving children.
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Cecile O'Rahilly received her primary education at the local national school in Listowel, before attending the Presentation Convent, in Listowel.
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Cecile O'Rahilly continued her education at the Dominican College in Eccles Street.
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Cecile O'Rahilly received a BA with double first-class honours in Celtic Studies and French from University College Dublin in 1915, and, having won a Travelling Scholarship in Celtic Studies, she moved to Bangor in north Wales and studied under Ifor Williams and John Morris-Jones.
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Cecile O'Rahilly received an MA from the University College of North Wales in 1919.
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Cecile O'Rahilly taught French at a number of schools in Wales between 1919 and 1946, publishing an edition of the Irish tale Toruigheacht Gruaidhe Griansholus in 1922, and Ireland and Wales, their historical and literary relations in 1924.
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Cecile O'Rahilly returned to Dublin to take up an assistant professorship in Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies under her brother Thomas Francis O'Rahilly in 1946, later becoming full professor sometime after 1956, the first woman to hold the post.
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Cecile O'Rahilly retired from DIAS in 1964, but continued to publish: Tain Bo Cuailnge from the Book of Leinster in 1967, and Tain Bo Cuailnge Recension 1 in 1976.
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Cecile O'Rahilly was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1966.
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Cecile O'Rahilly never married, but lived with her companion Myfanwy Williams at 17 Raglan Road in Ballsbridge, after moving to Dublin in 1951.
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Cecile O'Rahilly had been sick for much of her life, and in her later years began to lose her sight.
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Cecile O'Rahilly was sister to Alfred O'Rahilly, a noted academic, President of University College Cork and Teachta Dala for Cork City, and Thomas Francis O'Rahilly an Irish scholar of the Celtic languages.