360
AN GAODHAL.
"A new Vocabulary or Glossary, in which are
explained some part of the difficult words of the
Gaedhlic, written in alphabetical order, by the
poor rude friar Michael O'Clery, of the Order of
Saint Francis, in the College of the Irish friars at
Louvain, and printed by authority in the year
1643."
The Dedication is as follows. —
"To my honored Lord and friend, Baothghalach
(Latinized Boetius) Mac Ægan, Bishop of Ailfinn
(Elphinn).
"Here is presented to you, my lord, a small
gleaning of the hard words of our native tongue,
collected out of many of the ancient books of our
country, and explained according to the under¬
standing and glosses of the chief authors of our
country in the latter times, to whom the explana¬
tion of the ancient Gaedhlic peculialy belonged.
"I know not in our country many to whom this
should be first offered before yourself. And it is
not alone because that our [conventual] habit is
the same (a reason which otherwise would be suf¬
ficient to point our attention to you above all oth¬
ers), that has made us to make you the patron of
this book, but along with that, and especially be¬
cause of your own excellence, and the hereditary
attachment of your family to this profession. And
further that a man of your name and surname
Baothghalach Ruadh [Boetus the Red] Mac Ægan
is one of the chief authorities whom we follow in
the explanation of the words which are treated of
in this book.
"We have not, however, desired more than to
give a little knowledge to those who are not well
versed in their mother tongue, and to excite the
more learned to supply such another work as this,
but on a better and larger scale."
After this Dedication follows the Preface, or
Address to the reader. —
"Let the reader who desires to read this little
work, know four things. — the first is, that we have
not set down any word of explanation or gloss of
the hard words of our mother tongue, but the
words which we found with other persons, as ex¬
plained by the most competent and learned mas¬
ters in the knowledge of the difficult words of the
Gaedhlic in our own days. Among these, more
particularly, were Boetius Roe Mac Aegan, Torna
O'Mulconry, Lughaidh O'Clery, and Maelseach¬
lainn 'the moody' O'Mulconry. And though each
of these was an accomplished adept, it is Boetius
Roe that we have followed the most, because it
was from him we ourselves received, and we have
found written with others the explanations of the
words of which we treat. And, besides, because
he was an illustrious and accomplished scholar in
this [the antiquarian] profession, as is manifest in
the character which the other scholar before men¬
tioned, Lughaidh O'Clery, gave of him after his
death, as may be found in the verses, —
"Athairne, father of learning.
Dallan Forgaill, the prime scholar,
To compare with him in intelligence would be
[unjust,
Nor Neide, the profound in just laws.
"Obscure history, the laws of the ancients,
The occult language of the poets;
He, in a word, to our knowledge,
Had the power to explain and analyze, etc.
"We have known able professors of this science
and even in the latter time, such as the late John
O'Mulconry [of Ardchoill in the County of Clare]
the chief teacher in history of those we have al¬
ready named, and indeed of all the men of Erinn
likewise in his own time; and Flann, the son of
Cairbrey Mac Aegan [of Lower Ormond in Tippe¬
rary], who still lives; and many more that we do
not enumerate. But because we do not happen to
have at this side of the sea, where we are in exile
the ancient books which they glossed, except a
few, we could not follow their explanation but to
a small extent.
"In the second place, be it known to you, O
reader! that the difficult ancient books, to which
the ancient authors put glosses, and from which
we have taken the following words, with the far¬
ther explanation of the parties mentioned above,
who taught in these latter times, were; the Amh¬
ra [or Elegy] on the death of Saint Colum Cille;
the Agallamh, or Dialogue of the two Sages; the
Felire, Festology of the Saints; the Martyrology
of Marianus O'Gorman; the Liber Hymnorum,
or Book of Hymns; the Glossary of the (Tripart¬
ite) Life of Saint Patrick; an ancient Scripture on
vellum, and a certain old paper book, in which
many hard words were found, with their explana¬
tions; the glossary called Forus Focal (or, 'The
True Knowledge of Words'); and the other gloss¬
ary, called Deirshiur don Eagna an Eigse (or
'Poetry is the Sister of Wisdom'). And, for the
greater part of the book from that out, we receiv¬
ed the explanation from the before mentioned Bo¬
etus.
"Be it known to the reader, thirdly, that we
have only desired, when proposing to write this
little work, to give but a little light to the young
and the ignorant, and to stimulate and excite the
professors and men of knowledge to produce a
work similar to this, but on a better and larger
scale. And the reason why we have not followed
at length many of the various meanings which
poets and professors give to many of these words
is because it is to the professors themselves it more
particularly belongs, and the people in general
are not in as great need of it, as they are in need
of assistance to read and understand the ancient
books.
"Fourthly. Be it known to the young people,
and to the ignorant, who desire to read the old
books (which is not difficult to be learned of our
