Discusses in particular the sources and extent of the knowledge of Hebrew in medieval Ireland, through an analysis of words cited as Hebrew in early Irish glossaries. In Appendix: [A list of] Hebrew words cited in Irish glossaries (with references).
Investigates the pronunciation of Greek in medieval Ireland based on a examination of Greek words in early Irish glossaries (O’Mulconry’s glossary, Sanas Cormaic, Dúil Dromma Cetta).
On the origin and meaning of the word gast in Irish, attested in Tochmarc Étaine III §17 (cf. ZCP 12.137 ff.) and in a glossary in MS H 3. 18 (cf. ZCP 13.61 ff.).
On the anart entries in Sanas Cormaic (Corm. Y §37) and Dúil Dromma Cetta (CIH ii 605.15), focusing on the meaning of the citation dath don dich irt, which is interpreted as ‘because death comes’. In Appendix discusses two further instances of conjunction dath ‘because’ from Dúil Dromma Cetta.
Argues that Cormac’s derivation of OIr. gall ‘standing stone’ (Corm. Y 683) < Gall (= L Gallus) is unfounded and criticises the view that this entry provides evidence for an Irish tradition of Gaulish settlement in Ireland.
Pettit (Edward): Three variations on the theme of the dog-headed spear in medieval Irish: Celtchar’s lúin, Conall Cernach’s Derg Drúchtach, Lugaid’s flesc.
Considers the legal material attested in early Irish glossaries, and studies in particular the citations from Senchas már and Bretha nemed extant in Cormac’s Glossary, arguing that groups of glossae collectae extracted from the manuscripts containing these texts intervened in its compilation.
Discusses the use and spread of the differentia as a definition formula in medieval Irish culture. I. Le concept de differentiae dans les glosses de Saint-Gall; II. Les différences dans les glossaires [A. Cormac; B. O’Davoren]; III. L’Auraicept na n-éces.
I. ceimesdin/cemeas [Corm. LB 10.31; H 3. 18, 67c36 = CIH ii 611.12 (Dúil Dromma Cetta)] ; II. ord [Corm. Y 1030]; III. minarba [Corm. Y 901]; IV. bíail [Corm. Y 126]; V. rot [Corm. Y 1120]; VI. loscuirn [Corm. Y 838]; VII. bradán [Corm. Y 158]; VIII. lon [H 3. 18, 76a36 = CIH ii 622.31].
Examines the definitions of bel, belltaine and oimelc in Cormac’s Glossary and criticises the received assumptions concerning the festivals of Beltaine and Imbolg which derive from a wrong interpretation of these particular glosses.
Discusses (1) the sources of Séamus Ó Broin’s Irish glossary (in MS Egerton 158), (2) mistakes copied from E. Lhuyd’s Irish glossary in Archaeologia Britannica (1707), (3) Egerton as a source in DIL.
On lathirt (Corm. LB 27.8-9). Proposes that in this version of ‘Cormac’s glossary’ the lemma was reinterpreted as either ‘milk of death’ (laith irt) or ‘death of a warrior’ (láithirt).
Investigates the textual history of Dúil Dromma Cetta and examines the relationship of this text to Sanas Cormaic.
Appendix 1 contains (a) a transcription of the legible parts of Egerton 1782 fol. 15 and (b) a transcription of TCD H 1. 13 pp. 361-362;
Appendix 2 contains a sample concordance to Dúil Dromma Cetta.
Discusses the native medieval Irish etymological tradition (bélrae n-etarscartha) with examples taken from the Auraicept [ros], Sanas Cormac [cánóin, fiadnaise, prull], Aided Cheltchair meic Uthechair [Semuine], etc.
On some of the incorrect and misleading meanings in Irish and Scottish dictionaries derived from glosses in Míchéal Ó Cléirigh’s dictionary, Focloir no Sanasan Nua (1643). 1. acht ‘danger’; 2. ailcith ‘a strand stone’; 3. aincheas ‘danger’; 4. aineach ‘horsemanship’; 5. airmid ‘a swan’; 6. aitheallach ‘a second proof’; 7. aithréos ‘manure’; 8. ala(dh) ‘a trout’; 9. argad ‘a hindrance’; 10. bacat ‘a captive’; 11. béim ‘a nation’; 12. coibhchiogh ‘ravenous, fierce’; 13. coichmhe ‘an udder’; 14. díchealtair ‘a park’; 15. fé fiadha ‘a park’; 16. fec ‘a weakness’; 17. feothán ‘a dormouse’; 18. glinn, grinn ‘a fort’, ‘a garrison’; 19. meirceann ‘a finger’; 20. rae ‘a salmon’; 21. rear ‘provision’; 22. samhlat ‘active’; 23. sithbhe ‘a city’; 24. soma ‘a flock of swans’; 25. talchara ‘a generous lover’; 26. tealgadh ‘eating, consuming’; 27. urghais ‘suppression of antiquities’.
Claims that in this glossary archaic Ir. -ch ‘and’ was used
to join the Ogham value of an initial letter with the remainder of its word; vs. R. Thurneysen, Du langage secret dit Ogham, in RC 7 (1886), pp. 369-374 (Best¹, p. 51).
Mac Amhlaigh (Liam): Foclóirí agus foclóirithe na Gaeilge.
Baile Átha Cliath: Cois Life, 2008. ix + 147 pp.
1. Foclóir no Sanasan nua (1643), by Micheál Ó Cléirigh; 2. Vocabularium Latinum et Hibernicum (1662), by Risteard Pluincéad; 3. Foclóir Gaoidheilge-Shagsonach, by Edward Lhuyd; 4. The English-Irish dictionary = An foclóir Béarla-Gaoidheilge (1732), by Conchubhar Ó Beaglaoich and Aodh Buidhe Mac Cruitín; 5. Foclóir Gaedhilbhéarlach (1739), by Tadhg Ó Neachtain; 6. Focalóir Gaoidheilge-Sax-Bhéarla (1768, 1832), by John O’Brien; 7. An English-Irish dictionary intended for the use of schools (1814), by Thaddæus Connellan; 8. Sanas Gaoidhilge-Sagsbhéarla = An Irish-English dictionary (1817, 1821, 1864), by Edward O’Reilly; 9. Foclóir Gaoidhilge-Sacs-bhéarla (1849), by Thomas de Vere Coneys; 10. An English-Irish dictionary intended for the use of students of the Irish language (1855), by Daniel Foley; 11. An English-Irish dictionary and phrase book (1903), by Edmund Fournier d’Albe; 12. Lane’s Irish English dictionary (1904, 1915), by Timothy O’Neill Lane; 13. Foclóir Gaeilge agus Béarla (1904, 1927), by Patrick Dineen; 14. Foclóir Béarla agus Gaedhilge (1935), by Lambert McKenna; 15. English-Irish dictionary (1959), by Tomás de Bhaldraithe; 16. Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977), by Niall Ó Dónaill.
Rev. by
Seán Ua Súilleabháin, in ECI 24 (2009), pp. 210-211.
Russell (Paul): ‘Read it in a glossary’: glossaries and learned discourse in medieval Ireland.
Hughes lectures, 6. Cambridge: Hughes Hall & Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, University of Cambridge, 2008. iii + 32 pp. (Kathleen Hughes memorial lectures, 6).
Focuses on Sanas Cormaic, Dúil Dromma Cetta and O’Mulconry’s glossary.