New Irish dictionary aims to end need to understand words 'through the lens of English'

President Catherine Connolly launched 'An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge' on Tuesday. File picture: Eamon Ward

A new first-of-its-kind dictionary has been launched aimed at ending the need to understand Irish words “through the lens of English”.

President Catherine Connolly was among those hailing the monolingual “Irish-Irish” dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge as she launched it on Tuesday.

The State body said the dictionary, which is free to access online at Fócloir.ie, is aimed at giving a new way to understand and use the Irish language without relying on dictionaries in English or in other languages.

“For generations, Irish speakers who encountered unfamiliar Irish words were forced to translate them into English and then search for definitions in English dictionaries,” Foras na Gaeilge chief executive Seán Ó Coinn said.

“The new monolingual Irish dictionary changes this paradigm. Instead of asking ‘What’s the English for X?’, speakers will now be empowered to ask ‘What does X mean?’ in their own language.” 

An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge  is being billed as the first comprehensive monolingual dictionary in Irish, with work beginning to create it in September 2022.

The project was led by the organisation’s chief dictionary editor Pádraig Ó Mianái and dictionary programme manager Cormac Breathnach, from an initial tranche of 20,000 entries comprising 40,000 word senses.

The main phase of the dictionary is set to be completed by August 2027, with 30,000 entries and 80,000 senses.

Foras Na Gaeilge said it “reflects Irish as a living language by including real-world, every-day, contemporary usage, aiming to re-affirm current good practice in the standard language as well as recognising common dialectal forms”.

It has definitions of foreign words commonly used in the Irish language, such as ad hoc, al fresco, baguette, cappuccino, and aide-de-camp.

The organisation said it would help those less confident with Irish on how to pronounce words and phrases and provide guidance where needed on the intricacies of Irish grammar.

President Connolly said: “A contemporary monolingual dictionary is an essential resource in any living language, in which the language itself and its uniqueness are defined in its own words and by its own community, instead of constantly being defined through the medium of another language.

“This new dictionary places the Irish language and Irish speakers on an equal footing with other modern languages and communities."