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AN GAODHAL.
St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 30, 1889.
M. J. Logan, Esq., Editor AN GAODHAL,
Dear Sir.
In the last issue of your most estimable pa¬
per you speak of the necessity for a good Irish-
English and English-Irish Dictionary at a moder¬
ate price. I propose to see what I can do to assist
you in the production of one. If my own busi¬
ness affairs prosper, I will gladly furnish, indivi¬
ually, the funds needed for the compilation and
publication of the same. And if from any circum¬
tances beyond my control, I should be unable to
do this, I shall endeavor to raise at least a portion
of the means required. To save time and expense
I would suggest the following plan; First select
some standard pocket English dictionary. Divide
it into twenty or more parts, send a copy of the
dictionary selected to each one of twenty or more
of your friends and subscribers who are good Gael¬
ic scholars, with the request that each copy into
manuscript all the words contained in the subdi¬
vision already made and then write opposite each
word the word of a corresponding meaning in
Gaelic. Having completed this, let each one again
copy off all the Gaelic words thus obtained, ar¬
ranging them alphabetically, and then opposite
each Gaelic word, write the corresponding word
in English, together with the sound of each Gael¬
ic word expressed in the proper letters of the Eng¬
lish alphabet. Thus with only a small amount
of labor for each individual you have the manu¬
script of a good English Gaelic and Galic Eng¬
lish pronouncing dictionary. All that would then
remain to be done would be to have the work re¬
vised by you, assisted perhaps by some others
whose ideas of pronunciation and exact shades of
meaning of words accorded with your own, and
the work would be ready for setting up and print¬
ing. The time and labor required by each one of
the compilers would of course depend upon the
number engaged in the work, and I trust that
quite a number would be found among your
friends, who would be willing to give the neces¬
sary time to it, gratis, to help on the cause, with
the honor of having their names published with
the book as the authors of the first dictionary of
the kind.
Will you kindly let me know what you think of
my plan, and at the same time send me a conserv¬
ative estimate of the cost of revising, printing and
binding in neat cloth covers, an edition of one
thousand copies of such a dictionary, supposing
the compilation were done as I suggest, also the
cost of additional editions of one thousand copies
after the first lot.
In my own study of Gaelic, to which I perse¬
veringly give on an average of not less than one
hour a day, I find the want of a good dictionary
my greatest obstacle,
I sincerely hope AN GAODHAL will become a
weekly, and that at least one full page in each
copy will be devoted to lessons in pronunciation,
and that a copy of the alphabet both in printing
and script will appear in each number, giving the
sounds of the letters, for it must be remembered
that each new subscriber may be a beginner, and
therefore the work can only be progressive as to
the character of the matter and not as to the suc¬
cessive numbers. I would gladly increase my
subscription five or even ten-fold for a weekly,
and do not neglect to remind me when my yearly
subscription becomes due.
This letter is already long, but I must say one
word about the language itself.
The use of the language of a conquering people
by a conquered nation, marks that nation with the
brand of slavery. If the Irish race have no high¬
er ambition than to kiss the heel that stamps them
under foot, and to become the cringing apes of a
nation whose institutions are founded and fostered
by men who hate and despise every thing Irish,
then the sooner the National League is abolished
the better, for it at once becomes a misnomer, and
an egregious farce. A people without a language
can never be a nation distinct from those of simi¬
lar language. It is the similarity of the language
which causes us in the United States, so readily
to imbibe the faults, prejudices and failings of the
British race, which, otherwise would be impossi¬
ble. The nationality of the people of Ireland is
inseparably bound up in her language, her relig¬
ion and the ancient traditions of her race, nor do I
think that any amount of familiarity with the vul¬
garity and impurity of Shakespeare, which more
than counterbalances much that is good in his
writings, or the substitution of Milton or Words¬
worth for the old bards of Ireland would compen¬
sate the race for a title of what they would lose
in forsaking their grand old language, in which
St. Patrick taught, and in which Hugh O'Neil
and Dan O'Connell taught. Let the great work of
saving Irishmen from themselves, go on, and the
day will yet come, when Gaelic will be the offi¬
cial and usual language on the Old Sod, which is
the earnest daily prayer of your sincere friend.
RALSTON J. MARKOE
The foregoing letter from Counsell¬
or Markoe has the right ring in it. We
have not as yet ascertained the prob¬
able cost of such work but will in a
few weeks. In the meantime, we hope
to hear from others in the same strain
Let the readers of An Gaodhal bring
the matter before our millionoire Irish
men so that the burthen will not fall
altogether on patriotic individuals. All
