Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Searbhfhoghantaidhe?

One of the reasons why I recommend to you to use the unabridged version of the Ó Dónaill dictionary, rather than the abridged one (Gearrfhoclóir), is the fact that the very reason why you need such a big Irish-English dictionary is to be able to read native literature and folklore. That sort of Irish is always somewhat non-standard, and actually I am sure that while I am not trying to imitate Ulster writers any more, my own Irish substantially differs from standard Irish because of influences from many writers and seanchaís. So, you might need Ó Dónaill even to understand my Irish.

Sometimes Ó Dónaill does stretch it a little, though. For searbhónta, "servant", it lists the abomination searbhfhoghantaidhe. Yes, you read it correctly:

searbhfhoghantaidhe.

This is the sort of thing that does not have anything resembling a justification, etymological, historical, or phonological. I can only explain it with something found in one single manuscript from the dark centuries.

Probably it was included as a copyright trap. This I have written into the English-language Wikipedia years ago; while it has been deleted from there, it has started to circulate on the net, and I have since then even seen it in a printed book.

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