A groundbreaking new monolingual dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge that provides people with a new way to understand, use and learn the Irish language, without relying on dictionaries in English or in other languages, has gone live.
Until its publication today, anyone trying to understand an unfamiliar Irish word or phrase typically had to look it up in an Irish-English dictionary and understand it through the lens of English.
An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge (The New Irish Dictionary) is the first comprehensive monolingual "Irish-Irish" dictionary and was launched by President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly at a special Foras na Gaeilge event in the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin this evening.
"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," said President Connolly.
"This new dictionary places the Irish language and Irish speakers on an equal footing with other modern languages and communities.
"Irish-language dictionary resources are now a model of best practice for other minoritised languages around the world".
For generations, Irish speakers who encountered unfamiliar Irish words were forced to translate them into English and then search for definitions in English dictionaries.
"This tedious process not only created unnecessary barriers to learning but also shaped how Irish speakers understood the world - through the lens of English," Seán Ó Coinn, CEO of Foras na Gaeilge 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.
"This shift has the potential to transform the teaching and learning of Irish at all levels - from young children discovering new vocabulary for the first time, to advanced speakers seeking deeper linguistic insight," he added.
The monolingual Irish dictionary has several features that make it the first of its kind, such as reflecting 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 also includes definitions of foreign words that are in common use in the Irish language, such as ad hoc, al fresco, baguette, cappuccino and aide-de-camp.
Work on compiling An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge began in September 2022, with Foras na Gaeilge chief dictionary editor Pádraig Ó Mianáin and dictionary programme manager Cormac Breathnach leading the project.
An initial tranche of 20,000 entries, comprising 40,000 word senses, has gone live on Focloir.ie.
The main phase of the dictionary project is scheduled to be completed by August 2027, by which time it will comprise 30,000 entries and 80,000 senses.
