PREFACE
Aim of the dictionary
The aim of this dictionary is to bring together the most common Modern Irish vocabulary and its English definition.
Words were included for which there was available evidence that they are in normal use today. Additionally, particular words were included from old literature in Modern Irish, which are not used commonly today, but whose meanings would be needed by people reading such literature. The abbreviation Lit: was added to such words to convey that they were only found in that literature. In the same way, Lit: was added to any particular meaning of a word which is not found today except in old literature, e.g. scanradh…1. Lit: Rout; scattering…2. Fright, etc.
Also included were many modern technical terms that would not be expected in an ordinary dictionary, because a no large terminological dictionary has been compiled in the language yet.
Word definitions
There are many words which only required to be given an suitable English definition. That applies particularly to a good deal of compound words and words of a technical flavour, e.g. eagarfhocal…Editorial; baincéireacht…Banking. As regards the most common words, however, there are usually many subsidiary meanings or metaphorical meanings connected with them that arose as a result of continual use. In the case of those words use was made of the numbers 1, 2, etc., to indicate divisions of meanings and, within them, the letters (a), (b), etc., were used to show minor differences in meaning or usage. The usual rule followed in the definition is to give the most basic meaning of a word first and, then, the subsidiary meanings that grew out of it one by one, e.g. cáilíocht…1. Quality…2. Disposition…3. Qualification. When the basic meaning of the word was unclear first place was given to the meaning that is most common in the language of today. In particular cases a single English words was accepted as a simple translation and, after that, a presentation of the range of use of the Irish word was attempted, e.g. lá…Day. 1. (a) Daytime…(b) Daylight, dawn…etc.
Forms and spelling
The defined words are given in their standard forms. Those forms are based on the rules laid down in the booklet Gramadach na Gaeilge agus Litriú na Gaeilge: An Caighdeán Oifigiúil (B.Á.C. 1958–60). Of course, the multitude of words having variant versions not mentioned in that booklet required standardising. The standardisation of those words was decided by Rannóg an Aistriúcháin and the Dictionary Staff in concert. As a result of the research that comes with dictionary work it was necessary to change the odd form that had been previously decided and devise a few additional subsidiary rules. Where new technical terms are concerned it was the Coiste Téarmaíochta na Roinne Oideachais (Terminology Committee of the Education Department) that decided the standard forms.
As well as the standard forms, variant forms that are common in the language were included, as follows:
Where there were three or more headwords in alphabetical order between the standard form and the variant form, the variant form was made into a separate headword and a cross-reference was added to the standard headword, e.g. béama = bíoma. In all other cases the variant form is at the end of the definition, between parentheses, with the abbreviation Var: , e.g. malartach…( Var: malairteach).
The old spelling of any word that has internal changes in the standard spelling was included, e.g. ahdbhar = ábhar. Affixes that are standardised according to a rule, like ‑aidhe (‑aí), ‑amhail (‑úil), ‑achaí (‑acha), ‑annaí (‑anna), ‑éaracht (‑éireacht), etc., were not included.
Morphology and grammar
Nouns: The gender of a nouns is given after it, and then (in parentheses) the genitive singular and the plural, e.g. bata, m. ( gs. ~, pl. ~í); fuinneog, f. ( gs. ‑óige, npl. ~a, gpl. ~).
Adjectives: One of the symbols a1, a2, a3, is added to an adjective that is declined regularly.
a1 means that the adjective is declined like
| (i) | bán, gsm. báin, gsf. & comp. báine, npl. ~a, gpl. ~, |
| (ii) | glic, gsm. ~, gsf., npl. & comp. ~e, gpl. ~, nó |
| (iii) | cleasach, gsm. ‑aigh, gsf. & comp. ‑aí, npl. ~a, gpl. ~. |
a2 means that the adjective is declined like misniúil, gsm. ~, gsf., npl. & comp. ‑úla, gpl. ~.
a3 means that the form of the adjective is not changed in the genitive or the plural or in the comparative.
[In the case of a1 and a2 the nominative plural form is also used in the genitive plural, if the nominative plural and the genitive plural of the noun that the adjective qualifies, are the same, e.g. na mballaí bána.]
In case where the adjective is declined regularly except in the comparative it is indicated like so, mór, a1. ( comp. mó).
When the declension of an adjective does not agree with the above rules the adjective’s inflection is given in full, e.g. deacair, a. ( gsm. ~, gsf., npl. & comp. ‑cra).
Verbs: Verbs are included under their root form, the second person singular of the imperative. The inflection of truly regular verbs, such as mol nó beannaigh is not mentioned. In the case of other verbs the forms that do not agree completely with the inflection of that verb are mentioned, e.g.
buail…( vn. bualadh);
cuir…( vn. cur, pp. curtha);
dóigh…( pres. dónn, fut. dófaidh, vn. dó, pp. dóite);
abair…( pres. deir, p. dúirt, p. aut. dúradh, fut. déarfaidh, vn. rá, pp. ráite).
Once again, irregular forms are included as headwords, with a cross-reference to the original verb, e.g. deir : abair. In the case of particular prominent verbs that extend their meaning when a preposition or adverb is added to them, an indented headword is made of the verb and the qualifying word together, e.g. bain amach, bain as, etc. Verbal nouns and verbal adjectives that have a range of use beyond the usual use of the verb, were made into separate headwords.
Pronouns and prepositions: Personal pronouns and their emphatic forms were included as separate headwords, e.g. é, eisean, sé, seisean. The prepositional pronoun forms were included under their matching prepositions, e.g. ag, prep. ( Pron. forms: agam, agat, etc.).
Prefixes and suffixes: There is no limit to the number of compound words it is possible to construct by adding prefixes like an- (intensive) to nouns or adjectives, droch- to nouns, etc., or ró- to adjectives, etc. Productive prefixes like these were made into separate headwords and their meanings were defined. Only the most common of the compound words that grew out of them were included as headwords following them. (Similarly, only the most common of the innumerable compound words that it is possible to compose from adjectives and nouns together, were included).
Some suffixes like ‑áit, ‑ít, which have particular use in technical terminology were made headwords, as were the emphatic suffixes ‑sa, ‑san, ‑se, ‑sean, that are used with nouns, adjectives, verbs and pronouns, and the diminuative suffix ‑ín.
As regards the many nouns to which ‑ín can be attached, the diminuative version was only included in these cases: (i) words which do not have a version without ‑ín, e.g. coinín, (ii) words where the diminuative of the original word has an additional meaning, e.g. paidrín, (iii) the most common words where ‑ín causes a fundamental change in an internal vowel, e.g. firín.
Comharthaí:
| : | between two headwords, showing that the first word is to be found under the second word, e.g. mná : bean. |
| = | between two headwords, showing that the meaning of the two words is the same and that the second word is the standard one, e.g. casán = cosán. |
| ~ | stands for the complete headword when it is mentioned again in the definition. |
| - | (hyphen) at the beginning of a word segment, it stands for the part of the headword that is the same in the oblique form up until the first letter of the segment, e.g. bacach, m. ( gs. & npl. ‑aigh) [i.e. ‑aigh stands for bacaigh]. In the case of a cross-reference in small capitals, it stands for the word directly before it, e.g. aibí, ‑ocht. |
