Best Irish/English English/Irish Dictionary on the market?

Trotter

Hi all,

I'm looking for a very good quality Irish/English, English/Irish dictionary. The one by De Bhaldraithe has been recommended but is English to Irish only.

I'd ideally like something that works both ways.

Any recommendations you can give me are gratefully received!

dranoel

I don't think there is a good two-way dictionary.

The best dictionary I've found is the Ó Dónaill Irish-English dictionary. It was produced in '77 but remains the best dictionary out there. Generally if an English-Irish dictionary (such as DeBhaldraithe) suggests an Irish word or phrase that I'm not familiar with, I'd check it in Ó Dónaill to see if the translation is right.


For modern terms not covered by Ó Dónaill I'd use focal.ie

Trotter

Thanks a lot.

Maybe buying both of those dictionaries would be a good investment so?

Gael

Trotter wrote:

Thanks a lot.

Maybe buying both of those dictionaries would be a good investment so?

Yes it would. You'd be well covered with both of them. And and dranoel said, internet dictionaries like focal.ie have all the latest up to date terminology not found in those two.

Grudaire

Aren't they making/reseaching a new one now? any idea when it'll be out?

dranoel

They've only just finished the planning stage, it's going to be several more years before it is ready. www.foclóir.ie

Grudaire

That soon!?:)

Kwekubo

The best two-way dictionary out there is probably something like the Foclóir Póca by An Gúm, but obviously there's a limit to what you'll find in it. Go for Ó Dónaill and de Bhaldraithe dictionaries for the moment; Ó Dónaill is the absolute bible of Irish and nothing's likely to replace it for some time.