THE study of the Modern Irish Language, which has received such an impetus in recent years, has been greatly hampered by the want of a convenient lexicon. Nothing but the urgent necessity that existed for such a lexicon could have induced me to abandon more congenial studies and devote my energies to the development and completion of the work so laudably undertaken by the Council of the Irish Texts Society. As I proceeded with the revision of the material supplied me the work grew imperceptibly under my hands. In preparing the work, I went through the whole of Peter O'Connell's MS. Dictionary, and also, though more rapidly, through the MS. Dictionary compiled by O'Naughton. The Gaelic Journal and the principal modern published texts were also laid under contribution, as well as several lists of words received from various parts of the country Not the least valuable part of the work is what I was able to remember from the days of my childhood, the rich vocabulary employed by my father and mother and the inhabitants of my native Sliabh Luachra, the snatches of song, of story, of proverb, the allusions and rhymes and exclamations which mingled with their conversation, as well as the precise and accurate use of phrase and idiom which distinguished them. In spite of many defects, it is claimed for this work that it contains a larger number of words used in the living Irish language and in the more modern written compositions than any Irish Dictionary yet published; that it gives the various words fuller grammatical treatment; that it explains them more in detail and with greater precision and accuracy; that it gives a fuller account of local usage and pronunciation; that it treats more fully the more important words which form the basis of the main idioms that constitute the core of the language; that it gives a greater number of peculiarly poetical expressions; a fuller list of technical words and a more copious supply of examples drawn from the living speech of the people; that it has a more abundant list of references to modern standard works; that it deals more exhaustively and with fuller illustration with the various particles whose uses and functions are calculated to puzzle the student. It is claimed that the book gives a fairly accurate explanation in English of the main stream of words, idioms and forms that constitute the Modern Irish Language. Absolute completeness, either in the list of words or in the idioms, is not claimed, the time and space limits and other circumstances affecting the production of the work rendering such completeness impossible. In the insertion of compound words, which form an important factor in the language, space had to be economized.

It is obvious that in an unsettled language like Irish, which has not been cultivated to any extent since the use of print became general, many orthographical difficulties present themselves to the lexicographer. Complete uniformity of spelling is certainly a great desideratum. Indeed, it is impossible to conceive a flourishing literature in an age of printing like the present without a uniform orthography of some kind.

The science of grammar becomes a mockery where there is not some show of uniformity in the written forms of the words, and students of the language are disheartened by an unsettled and ever varying orthography. The circumstance that the language has been growing apace, as all languages grow, for the last couple of hundred years, without in many parts of the country the check of a written or printed literature, has resulted in its forming itself into two or three more or less clearly defined dialects which differ from one another in several points. The Irish spoken in the Extreme North of Ireland differs from that spoken in Munster, and that spoken in Connaught differs from both. The Irish of South Connaught approaches that of Munster, while that of North Connaught resembles that of Ulster. As regards the orthography employed, perhaps the only item that will seem somewhat radical is the uniform use of sc, sp, st, in preference to sg, sb, rd, respectively, but especially the use of sc for sg. On this point it may be observed that these sets of letter-combinations in general follow the same law, and that it is desirable to adopt a uniform system. In our books and dictionaries there is great confusion between the combinations sc and sg, and the time seemed to have come for writing uniformly one or the other. The question was, which should be selected. The selection of sc is only the natural lexicographical evolution. O'Naughton, the author of our earliest modern dictionary (finished 1727), writes sc for the most part, and devotes only a few pages to words beginning with sg. O'Brien (1767) states in his dictionary that sc and sg are absolutely identical, and that words spelled with sc will not be repeated under sg. O'Reilly made much the same observation, while Peter O'Connell (1826), whose work is most laborious, systematic, and comprehensive, writes sc in, every case. Of the living authorities who were consulted on this question opinion was divided. I may mention that Dr. Standish Hayes O'Grady, Professor Strachan, and Dr. Joyce, approved of the exclusive use of sc, while Father Peter O'Leary, Mr. Bergin, Mr. Lloyd, and others, favoured sg. There can be no question, of course, that sg is far more common in modern manuscripts, and up to a recent date at least was more common in books. As regards the sound of the language used at the present day opinion also differs, some maintaining that the sound after s is g, and others that itis c. I think that the sound is in many cases sc, and in most other cases approaches nearer to sc than to sg. It seems to me that in words like scéal, scéimh, scilling, where sc is followed by a slender vowel, the s is more affected than the c, the s becomes sh rather than c g. This sh sound of s, I believe, makes many think that a g-sound and not a c-sound is heard. In words like scoil, to my ear at least, the sound is c. With regard to plural forms like páistidhe, which some now write páistí, and prátaidhe, which they write prátaí, only the longer form is given in these pages. That form is given as being the best established, though it is undoubtedly cumbrous and awkward to a degree. Both forms would have been given except that it seemed a needless waste of space to do so, and hence the exclusion of the shorter form is not to be regarded as prejudicing its claims. There can be no doubt that the tendency will always be in the direction of retrenching unsounded letters, and making the spelling square with the pronunciation. But the process must be gradual and, as it were, imperceptible. The diphthong éa has been used throughout instead of eu. I have followed Peter O'Connell in writing -idheacht or -aidheacht as the termination of abstract nouns, thus tromaidheacht, not tromuigheacht, though the verb is written tromuighim.

The diphthong eo and not eó is written throughout except in a few cases, and triphthongs are not in general accented. The diphthong ea is used in preference to io in unaccented syllables, thus Éireann not Éirionn. It has been found convenient for lexicographical order to observe the caol le caol law even in compounds, though there are some instances of departure from it, But it should be noted that the observance of this law is not intended to prejudice the pronunciation. Words like leith-scéal, leith-cheann are largely but not universally pronounced as if written leath-scéal and leath-cheann; thus we say deis-bhéalach and not deas-bhéalach, etc. Though many hints regarding the pronunciation of words are scattered through the book, it was found impossible to treat the pronunciation of each word in a systematic manner, without unduly enlarging the work.

The more important verbals are given a separate heading; sometimes they have uses distinct from those of the corresponding verbs. The verbs are given under their first singular indicative,as this arrangement is generally adopted in modern vocabularies. The unsettled state of orthography of the language often necessitated the repetition of the same word under different forms, and recourse was had to phonetic spelling when the origin or etymology of the word was uncertain.

An effort has been made, as far as the limits of the work permitted, to give examples of the principal idioms that involve the prepositions and other important words, but it is obvious that there are many idioms depending on the collocation of words which can be learned only by practice.

The treatment of local words, some of which are of very doubtful genuineness, was a matter of some anxiety. In some parts of the country certain English words have got an extraordinary twist, and in the mouths of Irish speakers pass for genuine Irish words. Moreover, words that are really Irish are sometimes very much corrupted locally, and the corrupted forms are of doubtful advantage to a lexicon. The local use of words, however, when properly ascertained, is of great assistance in determining their origin and meaning. A word may be said about modern loan words. They are practically all taken immediately from the English, though many are loan words even in English. Some have been introduced with scarcely any change of pronunciation, but with a somewhat altered or extended meaning.

Thus scéiméir is from schemer, but is used in a peculiar way in Irish; sórt is from sort, but not identical in use with the English word. Many English words get an Irish terminal form as crúca from crook, and the termination -áil, of the verbal noun is often added to English verbs ag teindeáil, tending, and the like. Of forms like these, some have got a footing in the language, while others, as the one just quoted, must be regarded as barbarous.

With regard to the general question of the insertion of loan words in a dictionary or their use in the spoken and written language, it is to be said that words that ar established in the written language, being used by good authors, or words in everyday conversational use, should find a place in a dictionary, from whatever source they may be derived. The lexicographer may deplore the introduction of loan words, but he is bound to recognise their existence. Of course, words not well established or not widely used, have not the same claim to recognition. In the following pages I have in general given those loan words which have a footing in the spoken or written language, especially when they have acquired a new shade of meaning. In writing the language, words only recently borrowed and for which there are Irish equivalents, should be sparingly used. It is otherwise with words that have already a life of a couple of hundred years in the language. Every tongue borrows from other tongues, and it is a sign of health and vigour when a language can assimilate a crop of foreign words and reduce them to subjection by the rigorous application of its own syntax and of its own inflexional forms. Want of space prevented my treating of the derivation of the bulk of the words in the dictionary, or of tracing their relationship to words in kindred tongues. It need scarcely be stated here that modern Irish is substantially the same language as Scotch Gaelic and as Manx, that it bears to the Welsh and Breton languages a kinship similar to that which exists between modern English and modern German, that it is a development of a language which was cognate to the earlier forms of the great family of languages spoken and written in modern Europe, that though its vocabulary has been considerably influenced by Latin within historic times, and by English within the last three centuries, it has preserved its own syntax and its own characteristic inflexional system practically untampered with even to this day. Its syntactical and inflexional systems have, indeed, been subject to a development similar to the development which takes place in the successive stages of every living and cultivated speech, but neither its syntax nor its inflexional system has been influenced to any great extent by neighbour tongues.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend, Mr. John J. O'Kelly, for the tireless energy which he devoted to the work from the outset. His extensive knowledge of the living language rendered his co-operation particularly valuable.

My friend, Mr. J. H. Lloyd, looked over all the MS. and read the proofs carefully, and the work owes much to his extensive knowledge of local forms and his critical acumen. The following gentlemen, all of whom are well skilled in the living language, kindly looked over the proofs and noted local usages, etc.: Messrs. John J. O'Kelly, P.O'Shea (Glengarriff), P. J. O'Shea ("Conán Maol"), J. C. Ward (Killybegs), J. Craig, J. Rogers (Barrow-in-Furness), T. Concannon, R. A. Foley, M. Breathnach. Messrs. J. J. Doyle and M. O'Malley looked over a portion of the proofs. Special mention should be made of Mr. Richard Foley's keen interest in the work from the beginning, and of the zeal with which he sought out and recorded local usages.

Among those who helped by supplying lists of words I may mention Rev. M. McGrath, St. Mary's, Rathmines; Messrs. D. O'Callaghan (Aran), O'Donnell (Newport, O'Doherty (Cruit Island), R. A. Foley, John J. O'Kelly, J. C. Ward (Killybegs), Seamus O'Kelly, (Belfast, M. O'Brien (Ballyvourney), D. D. Murphy (Valentia), T. Hayes, P. O'Daly. Dr. J. P. Henry also took a great interest in the work all through its progress, and furnished useful lists of local words.

To Miss Eleanor Hull, Hon. Sec. of the Irish Texts Society, who took a keen personal interest in the work from the beginning, I am indebted for much sympathetic encouragement and many useful suggestions.

I wish to record my appreciation of the kindness I received from Mr. J. J. MacSweeney and assistants of the Royal Irish Academy, Mr. Lyster and assistants of the National Library of Ireland, Mr. De Burgh, Mr. Hall and assistants of Trinity College Library.

The labour of seeing the work through the press was considerably lightened by the intelligence and efficiency displayed by the staff of Messrs. Sealy, Bryers and Walker. Although this work was laid on my shoulders quite unexpectedly, it is curious to recall that the production of an Irish Dictionary was one of the dreams of my boyhood. If the realisation of that dream be not as splendid as the original conception, it is some compensation to reflect that the work, in spite of many imperfections, will be useful to thousands of students, and will help on the work of cultivating the rich and vigorous, but sadly neglected, language of the Gael.