Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable

Contemporary Review, April, 2005

Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable. Sean McMahon and Jo O'Donoghue. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. [pounds sterling]25.00. xv + 867 pages. ISBN 0-304-36334-0. The Irish language, or at least its speakers, are world famous for a certain facility of expression. In this comprehensive guide the authors have included some 6000 entries.

The aim was to 'cover as many as possible of the printable aspects of Ireland and Irish life' from prehistory to the twenty-first century. They draw on the languages of Ireland: Irish (old, middle and modern), Latin, English, Hiberno-English and Ulster-Scots. 'Nothing Irish', the authors insist, 'is alien to this dictionary, good or bad, honourable or shameful'. It is a 'record of people, places, events, aspirations'. The entries do, indeed, come from a very wide range: the first entry is Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle because Irish scholars arrived there in the ninth century. While there is a very large number of phrases and fables there are also numerous places, people, terms and work which have little to do with either but with Irish history and culture. In effect this is a handbook to Ireland, her history and her people whether in the island or dispersed round the globe. (P.P.F.)