Heinrich Zimmer

Ollamh agus Ceiltíoch Gearmánach ba ea Heinrich Friedrich Zimmer (11 Nollaig 1851 – 29 Iúil 1910). Má fhágaimid Johann Kaspar Zeuss (22 Iúil 1806–10 Samhain 1856) as an áireamh, is dóigh gurb iad Zimmer, Kuno Meyer, agus Ernst Windisch an triúr Gearmánach ba cháiliúla i ndomhan an léinn Cheiltigh.

Rugadh é i dteaghlach feirmeoireachta in Kastellaun, Rheinland-Pfalz in iarthar na Gearmáine.

Tar éis oideachais i Kreuznach, rinne sé staidéar ar theangacha ársa in Ollscoil Kaiser Wilhelm in Strasbourg, agus ina dhiaidh sin, ar an Ind-Eolaíocht agus an tSanscrait faoi stiúir Rudolf von Roth in Ollscoil Tübingen.

Sa bhliain 1878, fuair sé post mar léachtóir in Ollscoil Friedrich Wilhelm i mBeirlín, áit a ndearna Ferdinand de Saussure staidéar in éineacht leis; in 1881 rinneadh Ollamh le Sanscrait agus Teangeolaíocht Chomparáideach de in Ollscoil Greifswald.

Chaith sé cuid de shamhradh 1878 i mBaile Átha Cliath agus bhí fós ann 4 Deireadh Fómhair nuair a scríobh sé an litir seo chuig Diarmuid Mac Suibhne, rúnaí Chumann Buanchoimeádta na Gaeilge: ‘Although it is the more ancient period of this language that occupies my attention, yet having determined in this summer just past to betake myself, for the advancement of my studies, directly to the place where the sources of the language of this period most abound, and to spend my holidays in discovering some of the treasures which lie buried in the libraries of Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College, and the Franciscan Convent. I doubted not for an instant that I should to a certain extent succeed in acquiring a knowledge of the spoken language by means of ten weeks’ intercourse with the people. I was, however, much disappointed. To my query, an labhran tú Gaoidhilg, I invariably received the answer, I don’t understand you. I spent two days endeavouring to find an Irishman who understood his mother tongue’ I gcló in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, Iml III Uimhir 31, 1889

D’fhan sé i dteach Pháidín Mhic Dhonncha (‘Ollscoil na Gaeilge’) in Inis Meáin in 1880 ag foghlaim Gaeilge. Bhí Cogadh na Talún ar siúl. In Oileáin Árann: stair na n-oileán anuas go dtí 1922 (1983) tagraíonn Antoine Powell dó: ‘I lar Mheán an Fhómhair thionóil an tAthair Ó Concheanainn agus an tAthair Domhnall Mac Lochlainn, an séiplíneach nua, cruinniú os comhair teach na cúirte i gCill Rónáin.... I measc na ndaoine a bhí i láthair an lá seo bhí Heinrich Zimmer.... Labhair sé leis an slua agus mhol sé dóibh seasamh le chéile chun a gcearta agus a gcuid talún a chosaint’. 

Ar 16 Meán Fómhair cuireadh tuairisc an chruinnithe chuig an Galway Vindicator, le cur i gcló 25 Meán Fómhair 1880: ‘Dr Zimmer, Professor in the Ollscoil Bheirlín, an Ghearmáin, came forward and having expressed his regret at not being able to express himself in the Irish language, said: I have travelled through a great part of Ireland but did not see any place where the soil was so poor as in the Aran Islands.... I said when I landed in Inismaan that if any person had offered me these rocks and stones (and I did not see any other thing) for £300 I would refuse to buy it but ... I heard that sixty poor families living there pay £380 rent.... All the impressions I got here were owing to the many conversations I had with the people in the Irish language.’

D’fhan sé i dteach Pháidín Mhic Dhonncha (‘Ollscoil na Gaeilge’) in Inis Meáin in 1880 ag foghlaim Gaeilge. Bhí Cogadh na Talún ar siúl. In Oileáin Árann: stair na n-oileán anuas go dtí 1922 (1983) tagraíonn Antoine Powell dó: ‘I lar Mheán an Fhómhair thionóil an tAthair Ó Concheanainn agus an tAthair Domhnall Mac Lochlainn, an séiplíneach nua, cruinniú os comhair teach na cúirte i gCill Rónáin.... I measc na ndaoine a bhí i láthair an lá seo bhí Heinrich Zimmer.... Labhair sé leis an slua agus mhol sé dóibh seasamh le chéile chun a gcearta agus a gcuid talún a chosaint’. Ar 16 Meán Fómhair cuireadh tuairisc an chruinnithe chuig Galway Vindicator le cur i gcló 25 Meán Fómhair 1880: ‘Dr Zimmer, Professor in the Ollscoil Bheirlín, an Ghearmáin, came forward and having expressed his regret at not being able to express himself in the Irish language, said: I have travelled through a great part of Ireland but did not see any place where the soil was so poor as in the Aran Islands.... I said when I landed in Inismaan that if any person had offered me these rocks and stones (and I did not see any other thing) for £300 I would refuse to buy it but ... I heard that sixty poor families living there pay £380 rent.... All the impressions I got here were owing to the many conversations I had with the people in the Irish language’.

Bhí sé ina bhall de chomhairle Aontacht na Gaeilge agus bhí litir uaidh i gcló in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge chomh luath le Nollaig 1882. Bhí sé difriúil le scoláirí móra a linne féin sa mhéid gur léir dó gur chabhair í an Nua-Ghaeilge do scoláire na Sean-Ghaeilge. Dúirt sé sa litir sin de 4 Deireadh Fómhair 1878: ‘In the course of conversation with persons here, I find there is a notion that ancient Irish is totally different from modern Irish, and, therefore, scholars who devote themselves to the old Irish deem the modern unworthy of their consideration. I need not remark how erroneous is this notion. The more I studied the Irish language of the ancient MSS., the more indispensable I found a solid knowledge of the modern Irish’.

Sa bhliain 1881 ceapadh é ina ollamh le Sanscrait agus le Teangeolaíocht Chomparáideach in Ollscoil Greifswald, An Ghearmáin. Ba é Marie Henri D’Arbois de Jubainville a bhaist ‘Tíogar Greifswald’ air toisc a ghéire a d’ionsaíodh sé scoláirí eile ar nós Whitley Stokes. Bhí sé ar dhuine de na hollúna a chabhraigh le Dubhghlas de hÍde nuair a bhí sé ag tabhairt fianaise os comhair an Choimisiúin um Oideachas Meánach in 1899. Níor fhéad sé glacadh le tairiscint go mbeadh sé féin ina iniúchóir ar scrúdaithe Bhord an Oideachais Mheánaigh. Tá litir a scríobh sé chuig de hÍde i gcló in An Claidheamh Soluis 26 Bealtaine 1899. Deir sé ann: ‘For the Simple lessons you sent me and for the Ceithre Sgeulta I express to you best thanks. I was well acquainted with them both, since I possess and have read pretty nearly everything which has appeared in the Irish language—modern Irish included—during the last twenty five years’.

Sa bhliain 1901, ceapadh é mar an chéad Ollamh le Ceiltis in Ollscoil Friedrich Wilhelm, an chéad phost dá leithéid in aon ollscoil sa Ghearmáin; ba é Rudolf Thurneysen an mac léinn ba chlúití dá chuid ann. Tháinig Kuno Meyer i gcomharbas air tar éis bhás Zimmer in 1910.)

Bhí sé ag an gComhdháil Phan-Cheilteach i mBaile Átha Cliath 23 Lúnasa 1901 agus dúirt Meyer ina thaobh: ‘I was particularly struck with his marvellous knowledge of the modern languages. Welsh especially he spoke with absolute fluency and correctness’.

Chaill sé a chnuasach breá leabhar i ndóiteán in 1903. Ghoill an tubaiste seo go géar air agus d’éirigh sé as obair go ceann cúpla bliain. Líon a chairde na bearnaí i dtreo go raibh leabharlann bhreá arís aige. Cheannaigh Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath, é ar £750. Chaith Eoin Mac Néill cúpla seachtain i bhfeighil an ghnó seo i mBerlin. Dúirt leabharlannaí an Choláiste, D. J. O’Donoghue: ‘In short, in this great collection are the materials in which generations of students will find sources of inspiration for their energies for all time’ (Irish Book Lover, Feabhra 1911). Agus ba é tuairim duine d’Uachtaráin an Choláiste, Michael Tierney (1894–1975): ‘The collection was almost unique in its value to the Irish scholar and has ever since been one of the college’s treasures. Its possession added much prestige to the new centre for Celtic Studies...’ (Eoin MacNeill: scholar and man of action, 1980).

Bhí ag teip ar shláinte Zimmer le tamall agus shíl sé féin go raibh galar doleigheasta air. Ba dhóigh le Kuno Meyer go raibh ualach róthrom oibre á iompar aige, go ndeachaigh sé thar fóir air féin ag cóipeáil coidéacs in imeacht coicíse chun go mbeadh sé ag eagarthóir faoin am a bhí ceaptha. Thagair Joseph Vendryes do ‘La terrible maladie nerveuse’.

Báigh Zimmer é féin ag Hahnenklee, in aice le Goslar, ar an 29 Iúil 1910, áit a raibh sé ag fáil cóireála le haghaidh riocht néarógach a bhí ag cur as dó le blianta fada.

Tar éis a bháis, dhíol a bhaintreach, Martha Hirt, a leabharlann ina raibh thart ar 679 mír, cuid mhaith acu saothair il-imleabhar neamhchoitianta, le UCD, go páirteach chun bac a chur ar mhian a beirt mhac leanúint i gcéimeanna a n-athar i staidéir Cheilteacha. Rinneadh oirthearaí de chlú mór dá mhac, Heinrich Zimmer freisin.

 Saothar 
 (Strassburg: K. J. Trübner, 1876)
 (Beirlín: Weidmann, 1881)
 (Preussische Jahrbücher, 1887)

Naisc sheachtracha
The Irish Element in Medieval Culture by H.Zimmer, translated by Jane Loring Edmunds, 1891
Zimmer, Heinrich
ZIMMER, Heinrich (1851–1910)
Tagairtí

Catagóir:Básanna i 1910
Catagóir:Daoine a rugadh i 1851
Catagóir:Scoláirí an Léinn Cheiltigh
Catagóir:Daoine a chuir lámh ina mbás féin
Catagóir:Scoláirí Gaeilge