Nationality Scottish Role Celtic scholar Name Donald MacKinnon | Known for Celtic Studies Occupation Professor of celtic Died 1914 | |
 | ||
Born 18 April 1839 ( 1839-04-18 ) Kilchattan, Colonsay, Argyll, Scotland Spouse(s) Catherine MacPhee MacKinnon (m. 1873) (1842–1917) Children 5
Malcolm * Catherine (d. 1949) * Mary (d. 1960) * Neil (d. 1884) * Duncan (d. 1918) | ||
Donald MacKinnon (1839–1914), born on Colonsay, an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, was a Celtic scholar, the first elected Professor of Celtic languages, literature, history and antiquities at Edinburgh University, a chair he occupied from 1882 to the year of his death in 1914. He is known particularly for his edition and translation of the so-called Glenmasan manuscript, and also catalogued the manuscripts in the Advocates Library collection.
Contents
Education
He enrolled in the local Sean Sgoil (The Old School), and at the age of eighteen, attended the Church of Scotland Training College. He was Clerk to the Church of Scotland's Educational Scheme (1869). Continuing his study at Edinburgh University he obtained the degree of M.A. in 1870. Later he became clerk and treasurer to the School Board of Edinburgh.
Writings
He began publishing essays in An Gaidheal (which ran from 1871 to 1877). Later he wrote his observations entitled "Place Names and Personal Names in Argyll", in the The Scotsman (Newspaper) Nov–Jan 1888, in eighteen serialised parts.
He edited, translated, and annotated the fifteenth century Glenmasan MS. (formerly Adv. Lib. MS. LIII, now National Library of Scotland (Adv.MS.72.2.3), an important codex containing a later romance version of the Deirdre story besides other material. A list of his works is given in the #Bibliography section.
Genealogy
Some recently published writings by Sheets and Ray indicate a resurgence of interest in the connection between the MacKinnons who migrated to Canada and the family of the professor in Scotland who was their kinsman.