Maud Joynt

Maud Joynt (7 March 1868 – 24 July 1940) was an Irish Celtologist, linguist and teacher. Joynt's father was a brigade surgeon in the Bombay army, and was later appointed Deputy Surgeon-General of the British Indian Army. Joynt was one of 10 siblings, and was the paternal cousin of the engineer and Irish-language enthusiast Earnán De Siúnta (né Ernest Edwin Joynt; 1874–1949).

Joynt spent part of her childhood in India. By the age of five, Joynt had been taught a small amount of Greek by her father. She attended a private school in Bray, County Wicklow in 1881, going on to attend Alexandra College from 1882. She attained first place in both grades of the intermediate examinations of 1883–4. Joynt entered the Royal University of Ireland (RUI) in 1886 and went on to graduate with first-class honours in modern literature, a Bachelor of Arts in 1889 followed by a Master of Arts in 1890.

In 1911 she entered "disenfranchised" as her disability and despite her brother being a Methodist minister the census return recorded her religion as "no church". The enumerator tried to "correct" some of her details although she recorded that she could speak English and with modesty "some Irish" as she was working on the Irish Dictionary.

She went on to edit two volumes in the Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series: Tromdámh Gùaire (1932) and Feis Tighe Chonáin (1936). She also contributed to Alexandra College Magazine, Celtica, Celtic Review, Ériu, and New Ireland Review. Joynt was one of the contributors of Kuno Meyer's 1912 Miscellany edited by Osborn Bergin and Carl Marstrander. From 1902, Joynt was an active committee member of the Women Graduates and Candidate Graduates Association, a group advocating for women's rights in higher education. She served as the honorary secretary from 1907 to 1913. She resigned in 1913 due to her own workload, with the group disbanding in the same year. Joynt was accepted into the Gorsedd at an Eisteddfod, for her contributions to Celtic scholarship. She was awarded a Doctor of Letters by the National University of Ireland in 1937 for her scholarly work and her advocacy of women in university education. Joynt was a supporter of the Irish literary revival, a regular attendee of the early Abbey Theatre and lectures of the Irish Literary Society. She was vice-president of the Irish Vegetarian Society.

Joynt went deaf in old age, but she continued studying until her death. She lived most of her adult life in Ranelagh and Rathmines, but her last address was 69 St Stephens Green. Joynt died on 24 July 1940, in a Portobello nursing home. She is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

Selected works Golden Legends of the Gael (1924) The Life of St Gall (1927) Christianity in Celtic lands: A History of the Churches of the Celts, their Origin, their Development, Influence and Mutual Relations (1932) - translation of Chrétientés celtiques by Dom Louis Gougaud