The West Limerick Man Who Wrote a Dictionary: T. O'Neill Lane

Four Irish dictionaries were published in the years of the 20th century leading up to the foundation of the Irish Free State, and half of them were published by a remarkable and remarkably talented man known as T. O'Neill Lane of Templeglantine West (1852-1915), one of the most intriguing figures from a Gaelic Revival period which engendered its fair share of eccentrics. The second of his dictionaries, Lane's Larger English-Irish Dictionary / Focloir Bearla-Gaedhilge (1916), was the first major English-Irish dictionary published in the 20th century. He died the day after he saw it materialise before him. And then he was forgotten, and for no good reason. This book relates the entire story, looking at his family life, career, and legacy. Also included is a glossary of West Limerick Irish compiled from the various clues interspersed throughout O'Neill Lane's ever informative dictionary entries; a rare insight into the spoken Irish of a county for which little other sources exist.