Prof Deborah Hayden
Early Irish (Sean-Ghaeilge), Arts and Humanities Institute, School of Celtic Studies
Gaeilge agus fáilte
Biography
I completed a BA in Liberal Arts, with a double major in French and Latin, at Wellesley College and the Université de Provence Aix-Marseille before taking a second undergraduate degree in Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic at the University of Cambridge. I then completed an MPhil (2006) and PhD (2010) in the same department, funded by a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and a UK Overseas Research Studentship. From 2011-2013 I held a postdoctoral Junior Research Fellowship at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and from 2013-2015 I was a postdoctoral O'Donovan Scholar at the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. In 2016 I earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Modern Irish Translation (Dioplóma Iarchéime san Aistriúchán) from Coláiste na hÉireann/Gaelchultúr.
I was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Early Irish at Maynooth in 2015, and in the 2021/22 academic year I was a Visiting Researcher in the Department of Celtic Languages & Literatures at Harvard University. I became Head of the Department of Early Irish at Maynooth in September 2022.
Research Interests
My research interests centre on medieval Irish, Latin and Welsh language, literature and textual culture, in particular the history of education and linguistic thought in classical and medieval tradition; premodern Irish medical writing and its wider European context; early Irish lexicography; Irish and Welsh legal tradition; and translation literature. I am currently Lead Editor of the journal Language & History.
From 2022-2026 I am Principal Investigator of the project LEIGHEAS: Language, Education and Medical Learning in the Premodern Gaelic World, funded by a Consolidator Laureate Award from the Irish Research Council. The central aim of LEIGHEAS is to advance our knowledge of
the nature and scope of medical learning in the premodern Gaelic world by charting
the vernacular translation and transmission of medical texts across Ireland and
Scotland, ca 1350–1700. The project will integrate innovative digital tools for network analysis of all scribes, locations and texts attested
in the extant vernacular medical sources of this region with detailed
philological and historical research on a subset of manuscripts associated with
Connacht, Ireland. It is argued that the sources at the heart of this case
study shed new light on the relationship between Irish-language medical learning
and other aspects of contemporary literary culture, including narrative, legal,
religious and historical writing. The project
aims to illuminate the social, pedagogical and
manuscript context for the production and
circulation of medical texts throughout the Gaelic world, while also
positioning this corpus firmly within a wider intellectual framework by
exploring the complex
multilingual and cross-cultural interactions that shaped the development of
scientific writing
across northern Europe more broadly.
From 2021-25 I am also Co-Investigator of the IRC/AHRC-funded UK-Ireland Digital Humanities project OG(H)AM: Harnessing Digital Technologies to Transform Understanding of OghamWriting, from the 4th Century to the 21st, as part of which I am researching the use of ogam in manuscript sources from the medieval to modern periods. In 2024 we received follow-on funding from the AHRC for the Impact and Engagement project Ogham Palaeography+, as part of which I am working with two artists, Thomas Keyes and Chris Judge to increase public awareness of the ogham script.
I have recently been involved in two other major projects that have now concluded: from 2020-21 I was a Co-Investigator of the IRC/AHRC-funded networking project Developing a Digital Framework for the Medieval Gaelic World, and from 2018–21 I was Principal Investigator for the project Medieval Irish medicine in its north-western European context: a case study of two unpublished texts (MIMNEC), funded by a Starting Laureate Award from the Irish Research Council.
Postdoctoral and postgraduate supervision, past and present:
Postdoctoral:
Dr Siobhán Barrett, postdoctoral researcher for LEIGHEAS: Language, Education and Medical Learning in the Premodern Gaelic World (IRC Consolidator Laureate Award Project, 2022-2026)
Dr Siobhán Barrett, A Triad of Medical Glossaries (IRC Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2020-2022)
Dr Siobhán Barrett, postdoctoral researcher for MIMNEC: Medieval Irish Medicine in its North-western European Context (IRC Starting Laureate Award Project, 2018-2021)
Postgraduate:
Truc Ha Nguyen (co-supervised with Prof. David Stifter), A critical edition of Airec Menman Uraird mac Coisse (funded by a John & Pat Hume Scholarship)
Emer Kavanagh, Concepts of magic and the supernatural in medieval Ireland (funded by a John & Pat Hume Scholarship from 2019-21 and by an IRC Postgraduate Scholarship from 2021-23)
Mairéad Finnegan (co-supervised with Dr Michael Potterton), Dress, clothing and textiles in medieval Ireland (funded by a John & Pat Hume Scholarship)
Dylan Bailey, Different Visions: an investigation into the depiction and perception of the physically abnormal within early Irish learned texts (funded by an IRC Postgraduate Award through the LEIGHEAS project)
Benedetta D'Antuono, Ireland and Europe: cultural intersections and literary transitions in a late-medieval manuscript (funded by a John & Pat Hume Fellow Scholarship)
I welcome inquiries from prospective postgraduate and postdoctoral scholars interested in working on any aspect of the literature or intellectual history of medieval Ireland and the wider Insular world.
Research Projects
Edited Book
Edited Journal Issue
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Deborah Hayden (ed.) (2020) The History of Linguistic Ideas in Medieval Ireland and Wales - Proceedings of the 2018 Henry Sweet Society Colloquium in Memory of Professor Anders Ahlqvist (Language & History 63.1 - Special Issue). Colchester: [Edited Journal Issue] [Link] |
Editorial
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden (Lead Editor) (2024) Language & History Volume 67 (266 pp.). [Editorial] [Link] | |
| 2023 | Deborah Hayden (Lead Editor) (2023) Language & History Volume 66 (294 pp.). [Editorial] [Link] | |
| 2022 | Deborah Hayden (Lead Editor) (2022) Language & History Volume 65 (255 pp.). [Editorial] [Link] | |
| 2021 | Deborah Hayden (Lead Editor) (2021) Language & History Volume 64 (220 pp.). [Editorial] [Link] | |
| 2020 | Deborah Hayden (Lead Editor) (2020) Language & History Volume 63 (239 pp.). [Editorial] [Link] |
Peer Reviewed Journal
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Deborah Hayden and David Stifter (2025) 'Ogam, Cryptography and Healing Charms in the Nineteenth Century: Observations on ‘The Minchin Manuscript'. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, 125C . | |
| 2022 | Deborah Hayden and David Stifter (2022) 'The Lexicography and Etymology of OIr. eclas'. North American Journal of Celtic Studies, 6 (2):236-250. [Full-Text] | |
| 2022 | Hayden D. (2022) 'Old English in the Irish Charms'. Speculum, 97 (2):349-376. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
| 2021 | Hayden D. (2021) 'Medieval Irish Medical Verse in the Nineteenth Century: Some Evidence from Material Culture'. Irish Historical Studies, 45 (168):159-177. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
| 2021 | Deborah Hayden (2021) 'A Sixteenth-century Irish Collection of Remedies for Ailments of the Male Reproductive Organs'. Celtica, 33 :248-276. [Full-Text] | |
| 2019 | Deborah Hayden (2019) 'The Lexicon of Pulmonary Ailment in Some Medieval Irish Medical Texts'. Zeitschrift fur Celtische Philologie, 66 :105-129. [Link] [Full-Text] | |
| 2019 | Hayden D. (2019) 'Attribution and Authority in a Medieval Irish Medical Compendium'. Studia Hibernica, (45):19-51. [DOI] [Full-Text] | |
| 2019 | Deborah Hayden (2019) 'A Versified Cure for Headache and Some Lexicographical Notes'. KELTISCHE FORSCHUNGEN, 8 :7-22. [Link] https://doi.org/10.25365/kf-8-2019-7-22 [Full-Text] | |
| 2017 | Deborah Hayden (2017) 'A Medieval Irish Commentary on the Magister'. Celtica, 29 :90-108. [Full-Text] | |
| 2014 | Deborah Hayden (2014) 'On the Meaning of Two Medieval Irish Medical Terms: derg dásachtach and rúad (fh)rasach'. ÉRIU, 64 :1-21. [Full-Text] | |
| 2011 | Deborah Hayden (2011) 'Poetic Law and the Medieval Irish Linguist: Contextualising the Vices and Virtues of Verse Composition in Auraicept na nÉces'. Language and History, 54 (1):1-34. [Full-Text] |
Book Chapter
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Deborah Hayden (2026) 'The Pathology of Love in Two Medieval Irish Tales' In: Emotions, Illness and Medicine in the Medieval North. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. | |
| 2026 | Sarah Baccianti, Deborah Hayden and Emily Kesling (2026) 'Medical Theory in the Middle Ages' In: Emotions, Illness and Medicine in the Medieval North. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. | |
| 2025 | Deborah Hayden (2025) 'Premodern Irish Rituals for Conception and Childbirth in their Insular Context' In: Medicine in the Medieval North Atlantic World. Vernacular Texts and Traditions. Turnhout : Brepols. | |
| 2025 | Deborah Hayden and Sarah Baccianti (2025) 'Cultural Crossroads and Medical Learning in the Medieval North Atlantic World' In: Medicine in the Medieval North Atlantic World. Vernacular Texts and Traditions. Turnhout : Brepols. | |
| 2025 | Deborah Hayden (2025) 'Textual Transfer, Irish Remedy Collections and the Vernacularization of Medical Learning in Late-medieval Europe' In: An Eoraip: Ireland in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Leiden : Brill. | |
| 2025 | Deborah Hayden (2025) 'Wisdom Literature in the Book of Ballycummin' In: The Book of Ballycummin. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy. | |
| 2025 | Deborah Hayden (2025) 'The Context and Obscure Language of Medical Charms in a Sixteenth-century Irish Remedy Book: Four Case Studies' In: Obscuritas in Medieval Irish and Welsh Literature. Dublin : Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. | |
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden (2024) 'From the “King of the Waters” to Curative Manuscripts: Water and Medicine in Medieval Irish Textual Culture' In: The Elements of the Medieval World. Interdisciplinary Perspectives: Water. Leiden : Brill. | |
| 2023 | Deborah Hayden (2023) 'Orthaí, deasghnátha agus galair na mban i lámhscríbhinní leighis na Gaeilge' In: Léann Feimineach agus Inscne na Gaeilge (Léachtaí Cholm Cille 53). Má Nuad : An Sagart. | |
| 2023 | Deborah Hayden (2023) 'Auraicept na nÉces and the Art of Medicine' In: Glossing Practice: Comparative Perspectives. Lanham, MD : Lexington Books. | |
| 2023 | Deborah Hayden (2023) 'Auraicept na nÉces and the Study of Language in the Book of Uí Mhaine: Textual Transmission and Scribal Context' In: The Book of Uí Mhaine/Leabhar Uí Mhaine. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy. | |
| 2020 | Deborah Hayden (2020) 'Téacs leighis ó thuaisceart Chonnacht: comhthéacs, foinsí agus struchtúr' In: Téamaí agus Tionscadail Taighde (Léachtaí Cholm Cille 50). Maynooth : An Sagart. | |
| 2018 | Deborah Hayden (2018) 'Three Versified Medical Recipes Invoking Dían Cécht' In: Fír Fesso: A Festschrift for Neil McLeod. Sydeny : Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney. [Full-Text] | |
| 2018 | Deborah Hayden (2018) 'The Book of Ballymote and the Grammar of Irish' In: The Book of Ballymote/Leabhar Bhaile an Mhóta. Dublin : Royal Irish Academy. | |
| 2017 | Deborah Hayden (2017) 'A Medieval Irish Dialogue between Priscian and Donatus on the Categories of Questions' In: Dá dTrian Feasa Fiafraighidh: Essays on the Irish Grammatical and Metrical Tradition. Dublin : Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. | |
| 2016 | Deborah Hayden (2016) 'Observations on the 'Doors of Death' in a Medieval Irish Medical Catechism'' In: Rosa Anglica: Reassessments. London : Irish Texts Society Subsidiary Series 28. [Full-Text] | |
| 2016 | Deborah Hayden and Paul Russell (2016) 'Editors' Introduction' In: Grammatica, Gramadach and Gramadeg: Vernacular Grammar and Grammarians in Medieval Ireland and Wales. Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins. | |
| 2016 | Deborah Hayden (2016) 'Cryptography and the Alphabet in the 'Book of Ádhamh Ó Cianáin'' In: Grammatica, Gramadach and Gramadeg: Vernacular Grammar and Grammarians in Medieval Ireland and Wales. Amsterdam/Philadelphia : John Benjamins. [Full-Text] | |
| 2014 | Deborah Hayden (2014) 'Anatomical Metaphor in Auraicept na nÉces' In: Authorities and Adaptations: The Reworking and Transmission of Textual Sources in Medieval Ireland. Dublin : Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. [Full-Text] | |
| 2014 | Elizabeth Boyle and Deborah Hayden (2014) 'Introduction: Authority and Adaptation in Medieval Ireland' In: Authorities and Adaptations: The Reworking and Transmission of Textual Sources in Medieval Ireland. Dublin : Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. | |
| 2014 | Deborah Hayden (2014) 'Some Notes on the Transmission of Auraicept na nÉces' In: Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 32. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press. [Full-Text] | |
| 2013 | Deborah Hayden (2013) 'Two Fragments of Auraicept na nÉces in the Irish Franciscan Archive: Context and Content' In: Celts and their Cultures at Home and Abroad: A Festschrift for Malcolm Broun. Sydney : Sydney Series in Celtic Studies 15. |
Electronic Publication
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Deborah Hayden (2017) Language and Linguistics in Medieval Europe (Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics). [Electronic Publication] [Link] |
Blog
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden (2024) The First Physicians of Ireland. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden (2024) Lovesickness and Medieval Irish Medical Tradition. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden (2024) Literary Attributions in 'The Book of Ogam'. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden (2024) Irish Medical Manuscripts in Kildare. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2024 | Deborah Hayden and David Stifter (2024) Medieval Manuscripts and ScribalStyles: Team OG(H)AM Hosts Artist Thomas Keyes. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2023 | D. Stifter, K. Forsyth, N. White and D. Hayden (2023) The Periods of Ogam Usage. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2023 | Deborah Hayden (2023) Ogam Script in Irish Medical Tradition. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2023 | Deborah Hayden (2023) 'Byrhtferth's Ogam Signature' and Oxford, St John's College MS 17. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2022 | Deborah Hayden (2022) In Lebor Ogaim, 'The Book of Ogam'. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2022 | David Stifter; Deborah Hayden (2022) Ogam and Trees. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2022 | Deborah Hayden (2022) Ogam Script in the RIA Library Collections (Royal Irish Academy Library blog). Dublin: [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2022 | Deborah Hayden (2022) The Origins of Manuscript Ogam and Medieval Irish Grammatical Tradition. [Blog] [Link] | |
| 2018 | Deborah Hayden (2018) What Was it Like to Go to the Doctor in Medieval Ireland? (RTÉ Brainstorm). [Blog] [Link] |
Published Report
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Stifter, David, Nina Cnockaert-Guillou, Beatrix Färber, Deborah Hayden, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Joanna Tucker and Christopher Guy Yocum (2022) Developing a Digital Framework for the Medieval Gaelic World: Project Report. IRC/AHRC, . [Link] https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/15674/ | |
| 2021 | Deborah Hayden (2021) Medieval Irish Medicine in its North-western European Context: A Case Study of Two Unpublished Texts (MIMNEC): Project Report. Kelten, . [Link] https://kelten.vanhamel.nl/k89-2021-hayden-mimnec-irish-charms |
Book Review
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Rachel Moss, Felicity O’Mahony and Jane Maxwell (eds) (2021) An Insular Odyssey. Manuscript Culture in Early Christian Ireland and Beyond. [Book Review] [Link] | |
| 2021 | Daniel, Henry; E. Ruth Harvey, M. Teresa Tavormina, and Sarah Star (2021) Liber Uricrisiarum: A Reading Edition. [Book Review] [Link] | |
| 2020 | Caoimhín Breatnach, Meidhbhín Ní Urdáil and Gordon Ó Riain (2020) Lorg na Leabhar: A Festschrift for Pádraig A. Breatnach. [Book Review] | |
| 2020 | Steven J. Livesey (2020) Science in the Monastery: Texts, Manuscripts and Learning at Saint-Bertin. [Book Review] | |
| 2020 | Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair (2020) Anathomia Gydo. [Book Review] | |
| 2020 | Pádraic Moran (2020) De Origine Scoticae Linguae (O'Mulconry's Glossary): An Early Irish Linguistic Tract, Edited with a Related Glossary, Irsan. CHICAGO: [Book Review] [DOI] | |
| 2019 | Elke Krotz and Michael M. Gorman (2019) Grammatical Works Attributed to Peter of Pisa, Charlemagne's Tutor. HOBOKEN: [Book Review] [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Aidan Doyle and Kevin Murray (2017) In Dialogue with the Agallamh. Essays in Honour of Sean O Coileain. EDINBURGH: [Book Review] [DOI] | |
| 2017 | Elva Johnston (2017) Literacy and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland. [Book Review] | |
| 2016 | Eoin Mac Cárthaigh (2016) The Art of Bardic Poetry. A New Edition of Irish Grammatical Tracts I. ABERYSTWYTH: [Book Review] | |
| 2015 | Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon and Westley Follett (2015) Gablánach in scélaigecht: Celtic Studies in Honour of Ann Dooley. [Book Review] | |
| 2014 | Dónall Ó Baoill, Donncha Ó hAodha and Nollaig Ó Muraíle (2014) Saltair saíochta, sanasaíochta agus seanchais: a Festschrift for Gearóid Mac Eoin. [Book Review] | |
| 2012 | James Acken (2012) Structure and Interpretation in the Auraicept na nÉces. [Book Review] |
Biographical-Item
| Year | Publication | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Hayden, D (2020) Anders Ahlqvist (17 February 1945-23 August 2018) IN MEMORIAM. ABINGDON: [Biographical-Item] [DOI] |
Conference Contribution
Employment
Education
Honors and Awards
Committees
Professional Associations
Teaching Interests
I have taught modules for all levels of the undergraduate and postgraduate
programmes in the Department of Early Irish, including the following:
- SG 152 - Gender & Sexuality in the Celtic World
- SG 207/SG 291 - Old Irish 1/Sean-Ghaeilge 1
- SG 208/SG 292 - Old Irish 2/Sean-Ghaeilge 2
- SG 228 - King Arthur's Britain: Medieval Welsh Literature
- SG 256 - Space, Place and Otherworlds in Medieval Irish Literature
- SG 300 - Undergraduate Dissertations
- SG 307 - Old Irish 3
- SG 308 - Old Irish 4
- SG 325 - Medieval Irish Poetry
- SG 342 - Readings from Early Irish Literature
- SG 613 - Learned Literature of Medieval Ireland
- SG 619 - Outreach and Public Engagement
- SG 625 - Middle Welsh Language
- SG 641 - Readings from Early Irish Literature 1
- SG 642 - Readings from Early Irish Literature 2
I have also supervised MA and PhD students researching various aspects of medieval Irish history and literature. I currently serve as Postgraduate Coordinator for the Department of Early Irish, and welcome inquiries from prospective students wishing to apply for our Postgraduate Diploma, Taught MA, MLitt and PhD programmes.