A new monolingual dictionary will allow Irish speakers and learners to explore the meaning of Irish language words without having to rely on English language translations.
Speaking at the launch event at the home of the Epic Irish Emigration museum in Dublin’s CHQ building on Tuesday evening, President Catherine Connolly said “an important and historic goal” has been achieved with the publication of An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge.
Published by Foras na Gaeilge, and the product of three years of work, the new dictionary allows users to look up a word or phrase in Irish and understand the meaning without having to interpret the English language equivalent.
Before the publication of the new dictionary, Irish speakers typically relied on bilingual (Irish–English, English–Irish) dictionaries and learned the meaning of a word usually through reading about its English counterpart.
RM Block
Paying tribute to the team of lexicographers who spent three years collecting, researching and storing words, President Connolly described the dictionary as a work “whose impact will be felt for years to come.”
The dictionary offers readers detailed information in Irish about the meaning, usage, dialects, and nuance of words and phrases. It also includes information about related words and phrases as well as real-world, everyday, contemporary usage.
Additionally, the dictionary features usage notes and examples that illustrate different points of grammar.
Pádraig Ó Mianáin, chief dictionary editor of An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge, described the publication as “a significant step” in the development of dictionary resources.
“We have observed increasing demand for a monolingual dictionary from our users worldwide and we are delighted to finally take the first step in meeting this need,” he said.
“We look forward to adding to and developing the dictionary over the remaining two years of the project,” he added.
Work on compiling An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge began in September 2022, with Pádraig Ó Mianáin and dictionary programme manager Cormac Breathnach leading the project.
An initial tranche of 20,000 entries, comprising 40,000 word senses, went live at lunchtime on Tuesday.
The main phase of the dictionary project is scheduled to be completed by August 2027, by which time it will comprise 30,000 entries and 80,000 senses.
Foreign words that are in common use in the Irish language such as ad hoc, al fresco, baguette, pizza, cappuccino and aide-de-camp, also feature.
CEO of Foras na Gaeilge, Seán Ó Coinn said: “For generations, Irish speakers who encountered unfamiliar Irish words were forced to translate them into English and then search for definitions in English dictionaries.
“This tedious process not only created unnecessary barriers to learning but also shaped how Irish speakers understood the world – through the lens of English.”
Funded principally by the Department of the Gaeltacht in Dublin and the Department for Communities in Belfast, the project is also in receipt of additional support from the Department of Education in Dublin.
An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge is available to access free of charge online at Focloir.ie
