William McGuckin de Slane

William McGuckin (also Mac Guckin and MacGuckin), known as Baron de Slane (Belfast, Ireland, 12 August 1801 - Paris, France, 4 August 1878) was an Irish orientalist. He became a French national on 31 December 1838. and held the post of the Principal Interpreter of Arabic of the French Army from 1 September 1846 until his retirement on 28 March 1872. He is known for publishing and translating a number of important medieval Arabic texts.

Biography

De Slane was born in Belfast, the son of James McGuckin and Euphemia Hughes. After graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1822 he moved to Paris and studied oriental languages under Silvestre de Sacy.

In 1828 he was admitted to the Société Asiatique, a French learned society. The society financed Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and de Slane to prepare a critical edition of the Arabic text of Abu'l-Fida's Takwin al-Buldan. This was published in 1840.

Between 1843 and 1846 he was sent on a mission by the French Government to catalogue important documents in the libraries of Algiers and Constantine. In 1846 he was appointed as Principal Interpreter for the French African army. He served as Professor of Arabic at the École de langues orientales in Paris and from 1849 also taught Turkish. He was also commissioned by the Bibliothèque Nationale to catalogue their Arabic manuscripts.

Slane

Slane (Irish: Baile Shláine, meaning Town of Sláine mac Dela) is a village in County Meath, in Ireland. The village stands on a steep hillside on the left bank of the River Boyne at the intersection of the N2 (Dublin to Monaghan road) and the N51 (Drogheda to Navan road). In 2006 Slane's population was 1,099, having grown from 823 in 2002. The population of the village and the surrounding rural area was 1,587 in 2006, up from 1,336 in 2002. The village centre dates from the 18th century. The village and surrounding area contains many historic sites dating back over 5,000 years.

The village

This village was founded by the family line of the Flanders (now Fleming). They abandoned the Estate when they emigrated to America. The village centre, laid out as a model village by the Conynghams is a good example of 18th-century town planning. At the centre of the village stand four nearly identical Georgian houses. The four houses stand at the intersection of the two main streets in the village. The four houses and four streets form an octagon. This feature is known as The Square. The two main streets in the village feature 18th century grey limestone buildings with slate roofs, oriel windows and stone steps and archways. At present there is a comprehensive Village Development Plan in operation. In 2007 Meath County Council proposed that both Slane village and the mill be recognised as Architectural Conservation Areas and protected according.

Slane (disambiguation)

Slane may refer to: