Minister Calleary announces over €1.1 million for the Historical Dictionary of Irish
- Published on: 26 February 2025
- Last updated on: 27 February 2025
- Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge project will produce authoritative dictionary for modern Irish, based on material from 1600 to the present day
- database of Irish-language texts and collections will be made freely available online, with full open access
Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Dara Calleary today announced funding of €1,133,196 over four years for Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge (the Historical Dictionary of Irish). The historical dictionary is a research project of the Royal Irish Academy aimed at producing an authoritative dictionary for modern Irish, based on material from 1600 to the present day.
The Irish language – folklore, placenames, literature, dialects and more – has an extremely rich historic and contemporary heritage. A major gap in the lexicography of Irish to date, as a contemporary European language, is that it does not have an authoritative historical dictionary. The Royal Irish Academy has taken upon itself to rectify this situation, with the support of the department.
The funding announced today will be spent on the Academy's development plan for the Dictionary, and by the end of the funding period the first tranche of the Dictionary will be made available to the public,. The database of Irish-language texts, dialect collections and other collections produced by the Academy's researchers will also be made publicly available.
All materials will be made freely available online, with full open access.
In announcing this significant funding, Minister Dara Calleary said:
“I'm delighted my department is in a position to continue its support for the Historical Dictionary. As a result of this lexical work under the Royal Irish Academy, Irish will be put in a similar position to other European languages, which have comprehensive historical dictionaries.
“The Historical Dictionary of Irish, and the historical subcorpora to be generated in association with it, will be a resource for the public, for academia, for young people learning Irish with modern technology, and will be an important platform for Gaeltacht communities and the richness of their dialects.”
Dr. Charles Dillon, Editor of the Historical Dictionary of Irish said:
“This significant funding will help advance our research programme at the Royal Irish Academy and in providing outputs to the public. These will include dictionaries based on the dialects of Irish, and new digital sources for the public, providing a fresh perspective on Irish as it was spoken and written in previous times.
“The RIA is committed to the objective of providing a full authoritative dictionary for Modern Irish, being a specific objective of the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language. We greatly appreciate the continued support from the department and look forward to the work ahead.”
The development of the Historical Dictionary for Modern Irish is specified as an objective in the government's 20 Year Strategy for Irish, and with the assistance of the department the RIA has already developed digital resources for dealing with historical texts, manuscripts and dialects of Irish. Further information about the research programme and publications is available on the RIA website.