G 236

English-Irish Glossary and Phrase-book

19th cent. Paper. 19 × 11 cms. Self-indexing ruled note-book. 278 pp. ([i-iv], 1-14, 14(A)-14(D), 15-46, 47-270 cancelled and replaced by 99-332) with one blank leaf before each head letter, two after front cover and twenty-six before back cover. One leaf of smaller dimension and a bifolium have been pasted on blank leaves at the end of the manuscript (for contents see below). Scribe: C.P. Bushe, 1886 (for biographical details see Eóin Mac Néill, Béaloideas XIII [1943], 277). A subsequent owner, Valentine J. Coppinger, `77 Wellington Road [5 Penbroke Road cancelled] Dublin' (p. ii), wrote notes in pencil here and there in the manuscript, and on one of the binder's blank leaves at the end he copied, in part, a etter from `An Craoibhín' to Bushe (for which see below); the remainder of that letter is by an unidentified hand.

Two other volumes by the same scribe, `Vol. I Irish Press Phrases A-O, Vol. II Irish Phrases P-Z', at the time of cataloguing in the possession of Mr. Patrick O'D. Fox, Bangor, Co. Down, and here several times referred to by the same scribe e.g. `Letter A - continued - Front page ii', p. 14 [D], etc., are more probably the `two manuscript volumes of words and phrases' mentioned by Mac Néill (ibid.) and not the present volumes as stated by B. Ó Cuív, Béaloideas xxii (1953), 119, G 237 below lists a mere 70 words (A-H), all of which are in the present volume, and more copiously treated here. G 237 would appear to be the compiler's earlier attempt at a glossary which he subsequently abandoned; the manuscript was later used by Coppinger and the unidentified scribe of the present manuscript (see G 237 below). For other compilations by Bushe see G 237.

Bound in leather with marbled endpapers and `Irish Words and Phrases / Bushe / A to LA' in gold on spine; `364', `C', `C.P. Bushe / 1886' in pencil on verso of front endpaper. Purchased from Bennetts for four shillings and nine pence.

Page

iii Title page: `Focla agus Ráidhte Gaedhilge mar tá an teanga sin labhartha faoi láthair i gConnachtaibh; cruinnighthe le mac léighin Gaedhilge. / Irish Words and Phrases, as that tongue is now spoken in Connaught; collected by an Irish student (in the year 1886 and subsequent years). / The phraseology &c, where not otherwise indicated is that of West Connaught'.

1 English-Irish Glossary and Phrase-book Beg. Aasleagh: Easliath. Grey waterfall. Name of a Lodge at the head of the Killeries ... formerly the residence of the Honorable David Plunket ... Also called by the people Baur Ass: Bárr Eas. Ends (p. 322) Latter or later: níos deireannaighe-nees derrinee.

The compiler, inseveral cases, gives the initials of his informants, the most frequent being `J<sup>s</sup>. M.' (`Interpreter, Connaught' is given for him on p. 165 in connection with the word `fiadhnuise'), no doubt the Séamus Morris, from Spiddal, who according to Mac Néill (ibid.) was `employed in street-cleaning under the Dublin Corporation'. In a couple of cases the informants' names are given in full (`John Maley' of Cong [passim], `Rev. Mr. Goodman', p. 172) There is evidence here of the extensive use made by the compiler of the dictionaries and grammars available to him at the time (e.g. [O'] Molloy's, Neilson's, O'Brien's and Canon Bourke's Grammars; Coneys', O'Brien's and O'Reilly's Irish-Eng. Dictionaries) as well as other printed sources (e.g. Joyce's Irish names of places, G[aelic] J[ournal], `Diarmuid and Grainne' [Ossianic Soc. Trans.]).

Although the material here is of Connaught provenance (`Connemara', `Cong', `tuam', `Kylemore' etc.) there are several references `to the pronunciation of words' in `Munster', `Cork', `Meath'.

The letter (copy) written on a blank leaf towards the end of the manuscript (see introductory remarks above) contains Hyde's reply to certain criticism made by Bushe of his (Hyde's) spellings etc. in the `Sgeuluidhe Gaodhalach'. Hyde's address is given as `69 Lr Mount St' and that of Bushe `2 St Josephs Terrace, Sandford Road Dublin'; the date is `Feb. 5 '96'.

The leaf of smaller dimension pasted on a blank leaf (see introductory remarks) contains An ghaoth i dtuaith bíonn sí fuar. 8 lines with variants. The bifolium (see introductory remarks) has grammatical etc. notes headed `An sgeulaidhe Gaodhalach / the following examples from the stories told by Martin Forde [of Galway in pencil above] and other appear to differ from the vernacular of West Connaught'.