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RR 2006/196 Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable Sean McMahon and Jo O'Donoghue Weidenfeld & Nicolson London 2004 xiv + 867 pp. ISBN 0 304 36334 0 £25/$34.95
Keywords Dictionaries, Ireland, Languages and literature
Review DOI 10.1108/09504120610664204
This is a delightful book to while away an idle hour, but it is also a serious work of scholarship. Its 6,000 A-to-Z entries include Irish mythology, literary works and characters, proverbs and phrases, place-names, persons and events, and most of these entries are justified by a definite link to "phrase and fable" rather than just reiterating the content of numerous works on Irish history and culture. Some of the entries, like some members of the Irish football team, have a connection with Ireland which might seem a little tenuous. Hardy's poem The Convergence of the Twain has an entry on the grounds that the Titanic was built in Belfast which seems to be stretching a point; likewise the Busby Babes, although only one of the Manchester United team was Irish; there is a large following in Ireland to be sure, but the same could be said of most other countries.
Words and phrases are given, according to usage, in their Irish (Lapadáil, Fáinne Óir) or anglicised forms (Strawkawling, Shoneen, Pogue Mahone). The Irish is sometimes given an English phonetic pronunciation, but this is inconsistent. There are some...