Proinsias (the Gaelic version of "Francis") Mac Cana was educated in
Ireland and Wales. He contributed to scholarship in four languages
(English, French, Irish, and Welsh) and he published several books on
early Celtic literature and mythology, of which he is considered one of
the world's greatest scholars. He became a professor at the Dublin
Institute of Advanced Studies and other universities, including the
Harvard School of Celtic Studies, retiring in 1997 as senior Professor
at the Dublin Institute. He also held the chairs of Welsh and Old Irish
at the National University of Ireland in Dublin. A philologist and
literary historian, his scholarship was profound and
wide-ranging.
