Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h (18 October 1926, Auray – 9 January 2012, Guilers) was a French philologist and linguist who specialised in Celtic studies.
Biography Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h was born on 18 October 1926 in Auray, Brittany (France), and grew up in a French-Breton bilingual environment. Along with his wife, Françoise Le Roux (1927–2004), he wrote numerous works on Celtic studies, including ('The Druids', 1986), ('Celtic Civilisation', 1990), ('Celtic Society', 1991) and ('Celtic Festivals', 1995). With Le Roux he edited the Rennes journal , later , which the couple developed into a publishing house. Georges Dumézil directed Le Roux's first studies and was president of the jury at Guyonvarc'h's doctorate thesis in 1980. In 1980 their revised received the Prix Amic of the Académie française.
Guyonvarc'h taught Old Irish and Breton at Rennes 2 University. He died on 9 January 2012 in Guilers.
Guyonvarc'h could speak Breton, Welsh, and Irish (in their modern and historical stages), as well as modern French, German, Dutch, and English. From 1979 to 1981, he was a member of the patronage committee of , the annual magazine of the ethno-nationalist think tank GRECE.
Works
Dictionnaire étymologique du breton ancien, moyen et moderne. Rennes, 1973. Le Catholicon, reprint of the Jehan Calvez edition owned by the city of Rennes (5 November 1499). Éditions Ogam, Rennes, 1975. Reprinted by éditions Armeline, Brest, 2005. Textes mythologiques irlandais. Rennes, Ogam-Celticum, no. 11/1 & 2, 1978. with Françoise Le Roux, Morrigan-Bodb-Macha: la souveraineté guerrière de l'Irlande. 1983. Aux origines du breton: le glossaire vannetais du Chevalier Arnold von Harff, voyageur allemand du XVe siècle. Ogam-Celticum, 1984. . with Françoise Le Roux, Les Druides. Ouest-France Université, coll. « De mémoire d'homme : l'histoire », Rennes, 1986. . with Françoise Le Roux, La Civilisation celtique. Ouest-France Université, series De mémoire d'homme : l'histoire, Rennes, 1990. . with Françoise Le Roux, La Société celtique. Ouest-France Université, series De mémoire d'homme : l'histoire, Rennes, 1991. . La razzia des vaches de Cooley (translation of the Táin Bó Cúailnge). Éditions Gallimard, 1994. . with Françoise Le Roux, Les Fêtes celtiques. Ouest-France Université, series De mémoire d'homme : l'histoire, Rennes, 1995. . Magie, médecine et divination chez les Celtes. Bibliothèque scientifique Payot, Paris, 1997. . Le Dialogue des deux Sages. Bibliothèque scientifique Payot, Paris, 1999. . with Françoise Le Roux, La légende de la ville d'Is. Ouest-France Université, series De mémoire d'homme : l'histoire, Rennes, 2000. . Les Royaumes celtiques. 2001. French translation of Myles Dillon and Nora K. Chadwick, The Celtic Realms, with an added chapter by Guyonvarc'h. Le Sacrifice dans la tradition celtique. Éditions Armeline, Brest, 2005. .
References
Bibliography