Output details

A Supplement to the Dictionary of the Irish Language

The aim of this output was to provide an up-to-date lexicographical resource for scholars working on fields relating to medieval Gaelic. The original Dictionary was published in 22 separate fascicles between 1913 and 1976 and was in need of substantial revision. Project staff read all major journals in Celtic and linguistics for the period 1932-2012. Priority was given to journals as the richest resource and the most difficult for researchers to cover individually but other relevant works, including critical editions such as McLaughlin’s Early Irish Satire, monographs such as Kelly’s Early Irish Farming, and festschrifts were also covered.

Linguistic discussion of lexical items has appeared in scholarly works throughout the period under consideration. In addition, research into a wide range of domains such as law, religion, material culture, economy, medicine, history and literature, is also relevant to the lexicon and so all outputs in these areas were examined. Material was also collected on the etymology of derivatives and borrowings.

All the new evidence from this collection phase was analysed and evaluated within the context of the existing entry, particularly the supporting citations in the Dictionary. New evidence, such as examples of usage or particular lexemes that were unknown to the original editors, was also considered. Changes were made to the structure of entries, headwords, etymologies, and definitions as required. Supporting citations were added where the Dictionary lacked sufficient or early examples of a particular usage, and translations of citations were corrected.

The revised electronic edition published in 2013 has considerable overlap with the 2007 electronic edition but almost 4000 entries have been added or revised since publication of the 2007 edition. The new material was published both as a separate Supplement and as an integral part of the revised edition.

This is the primary outcome of a major AHRC-funded lexicographical project which employed 2 full-time PDRAs over a 5-year period. Corrections and additions to the Dictionary of the Irish Language were generated from a thorough analysis of a substantial body of material, including all significant journals in Celtic Studies and linguistics for the period 1932-2012 and other key sources (monographs, festschrifts, etc.). The language of the source texts was often particularly early, obscure or cryptic (glossaries, legal texts, roscada). The research resulted in the revision in whole or in part of almost 4000 entries in the Dictionary.