Carlow native at heart of first-of-its-kind new Irish dictionary launched by President

A Carlow native is playing a key role in a landmark new Irish language dictionary that experts say could transform how the language is learned, used and understood.

Tinryland man Cormac Breathnach is programme manager of An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge, a first-of-its-kind monolingual Irish dictionary developed by Foras na Gaeilge and officially launched by the President of Ireland, Catherine Connolly.

The new resource allows Irish speakers and learners to understand words and phrases entirely through Irish, without relying on English translations, something that has never been available on a comprehensive scale before.

An initial tranche of 20,000 entries, covering more than 40,000 word senses, is now live and freely accessible on Focloir.ie, with the full project scheduled for completion in 2027.

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Cormac, a former student of Gaelcholáiste Cheatharlach, has been working on the ambitious project since September 2022 alongside chief editor Pádraig Ó Mianáin and a dedicated editorial team.

When complete, the dictionary will contain around 30,000 entries and 80,000 senses.

Launching the dictionary at the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin, President Catherine Connolly described a monolingual dictionary as “an essential resource in any living language”.

“This new dictionary places the Irish language and Irish speakers on an equal footing with other modern languages and communities,” she said, adding that it could act as a model for other minoritised languages worldwide.

Foras na Gaeilge CEO Seán Ó Coinn said the project marks a major shift for Irish speakers, including those in Carlow.

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“For generations, Irish speakers who encountered unfamiliar Irish words were forced to translate them into English,” he said. “The new monolingual Irish dictionary changes this paradigm.”

Instead of asking “What’s the English for X?”, learners can now ask “What does X mean?” in Irish, a shift he said has the potential to transform Irish language education at all levels.

The dictionary reflects Irish as a living, modern language, incorporating contemporary usage, idioms, proverbs and even foreign words commonly used in Irish, such as “baguette” and “cappuccino”, alongside detailed grammar and pronunciation guidance.

An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge is available free of charge at Focloir.ie and is funded by government departments in both Dublin and Belfast.