A review of Darach Ó Séaghdha’s 'Motherfoclóir: Dispatches from a not so dead language'

with the express intent of aiding Gaelic Leaguers in
their study of poetry from bygone centuries. Many of
the words given in Motherfoclóir therefore are not
only irrelevant to modern day speakers of Irish, but
are also entirely unintelligible to them. Sure the bean
an tí will only be laughing at you!
Rather than making a conscientious disclaimer, for
example, about the original context of Pádraig
Dinneen’s archaic words, it is Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla,
the most recently published Irish-English dictionary,
that Ó Séaghdha accuses of being “dated”. At least
Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla accompanies obsolete words
with the abbreviation “Lit.” as in the case of the word
‘meabhlach’ in which entry the ancient meaning
‘disgraceful’ is given alongside its current meaning,
‘attractive’.
“Who thinks like this anymore”, exclaims an
exasperated Ó Séaghdha who, having glossed over
the clear instruction that one of the meanings was
now obsolete, now rallies against the perceived
existence of two opposing meanings for this word.
Then, he arrives at the false premise that the Irish
language is guilty of an inhibitive, old-fashioned
worldview by which all that which is “attractive” is
also “disgraceful”.
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