Tá cuntas ar an scoláire Gaeilge seo ag Proinsias Mac Cana in Ériu XXXVIII, 1987 mar aon le clár a shaothair ag Rolf Baumgarten. I mBaile Átha Cliath ar 9 Meitheamh 1910 a rugadh an chéad duine clainne seo ag Ernest Samuel Quin agus Dorothy Malcolm. Baintreach fir ba ea Ernest Samuel, de réir thaifead an phósta, nuair a phós sé Dorothy ar 13 Lúnasa 1909. Ní rabhthas in ann teacht ar thaifead beireatais Ernest Gordon. I nDaonáireamh 1911 taispeántar gur ag 40 Ascaill Windsor, Fionnradharc, Baile Átha Cliath, a bhí cónaí ar an teaghlach, gur taistealaí tráchtála (‘commercial traveller for a biscuit company’) é Samuel agus gur mar Quinn a litrigh sé a shloinne. Baill d’Eaglais na hÉireann an lánúin agus i mBaile Átha Cliath a rugadh iad.

Cuireadh oideachas air i Scoil Mountjoy agus i gColáiste na Tríonóide. Fuair sé an chéad áit sa Bhéarla agus sa Ghaeilge sa chéim BA in 1932. Rinne sé staidéar i bPáras agus, faoi Carl Marstrander, in Osló. In 1934 ceapadh é ina léachtóir leis an Sanscrait agus leis an bhFocleolaíocht Chomparáideach i gColáiste na Tríonóide, post a bhí aige gur éirigh sé as obair in 1980. Comhuaineach leis an bpost sin, bhí sé ina Léachtóir leis na Teangacha Ceilteacha ó 1939. Bhí sé ina Léachtóir san Fhoghraíocht agus sa Teangeolaíocht 1941-64. Ceapadh é ina chomhollamh in 1967. Bhí sé ina chomhalta sóisearach den choláiste ó 1944 agus ina chomhalta sinsearach ó 1975. Ceapadh é ina bhall de bhord Scoil an Léinn Cheiltigh, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath, in 1943.

Ó na luathdhaichidí bhí baint aige le hobair fhoclóir Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, Dictionary of the Irish language (1913-76); bhí sé ina eagarthóir ginearálta ó 1953 agus chomhoibrigh le David Greene, Máirín Ní Dhálaigh, Áine Ní Chróinín, Maud Joynt agus scoláirí eile chun fasciculi éagsúla a réiteach. Deir Mac Cana: ‘Since the departure of Marstrander the work of compilation and publication had languished and it was a happy accident, if accident it was, that caused Gordon Quin to take on the editorial responsibility once discharged with such verve and scholarship by his former teacher. He had of course a small, dedicated team of collaborators to assist him, but had it not been for his own quiet energy and determination it is very doubtful indeed whether such an ambitious project could have been brought to a successful conclusion with such slender resources as he had at his disposal. The final fasciculus, accompanied by Gordon’s historical note, appeared in 1975, and the magnitude of his achievement was appropriately recognised when the National University of Ireland conferred on him a DLitt Celt honoris causa in 1979.’ Ba é freisin a bhí i bhfeighil an t-eagrán comhdhlúth a thabhairt amach in 1983. Thug sé péire de léachtaí Dáibhíseacha RTÉ: ‘Longas mac nUisnig’ in 1955 (i gcló in Irish sagas, 1959 in eagar ag Myles Dillon); ‘The collectors of Irish dialect material’ in 1973 (i gcló in The English language in Ireland, 1977 in eagar ag Diarmaid Ó Muirithe).

Thairg sé an tSanscrait a mhúineadh do Mhac Cana agus do Phádraig Ó Fiannachta: ‘Such remarkable generosity needs no further explanation than as a trait of character, but I think it is also true that Gordon so enjoyed teaching receptive students that he was ever willing and ready to take on extra pedagogic committments which encroached seriously on the time available for his personal research. For however high his standing as a master of the early Irish language, it is as lexicographer and as teacher that he is best remembered by many people in Ireland and abroad .... The method which he had developed over the years for presenting Old Irish, complete with its exercises in translating from English to Old Irish, was finally cast into printed form in 1975 and is now an almost essential vade mecum for those who set out on the rocky but rewarding pilgrim’s path to early Irish’ (Mac Cana); sin é Old Irish workbook (1975) a d’fhoilsigh Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann. Chuir sé eagar ar Stair Ercuil ocus a bás. The life and death of Hercules (1939) (Cumann na Scríbheann nGaedhilge). In Ériu, Hermathena, Irish Historical Studies, Éigse, Irish Geography, Celtica is mó a d’fhoilsítí a shaothar. Bhí sé ina chomheagarthóir ar Ériu le Mac Cana ar feadh tamaill de blianta agus thug seisean taitneamh do stíl a phróis: ‘The feeling for clean well-ordered style tempted him, as it had tempted Osborn Bergin and his teacher Eleanor Knott before him, to try on at least one occasion to emulate the craftsmanship of dán díreach verse.’ Is aistriúchán ar ‘So we’ll go no more a-roving’ le Lord Byron na véarsaí sin agus tá siad i gcló in Hermathena, 1947. Ar feadh i bhfad chuireadh sé eagar ar fhéilire an choláiste. Bhí dúil ar leith aige sa chruicéad agus bhí de mhéid a eolais agus a chleachtaidh ar an ngarraíodóireacht go n-iarrtaí air a bheith ina mholtóir ag comórtais; thugadh sé léachtanna ar luibheanna. D’éag sé 29 Lúnasa 1986 agus tá sé curtha i reilig Chill Bharróg, Baile Átha Cliath. Níor phós sé; deirtear gurbh éigean dó aire a thabhairt dá mháthair ina seanaois. Deirtear freisin go mba bhuanchara leis bean a bhí ag obair san Acadamh Ríoga, agus go raibh sé croíbhriste nuair a fuair sise bás.

Diarmuid Breathnach

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