Page:An Irish-English dictionary, being a thesaurus of words, phrases and idioms of the modern Irish language, with explanations in English.djvu/7

 COUNCIL'S PREFACE.

Dictionary of the modern Irish language, with explanations in English, is the outcome of a project conceived a few years ago by the members of the Council of the Irish Texts Society. On the initiation of Mr. G. A. Greene, M.A., then Vice-Chairman of the Council, they decided to compile, with the assistance of Irish speakers and scholars throughout Ireland and Great Britain, and under the direction of competent Editors, a small Irish-English Pocket Dictionary for the use of students of the modern tongue. As a foundation for this work, about 12,000 words were collected from existing glossaries, from the spoken language and from modern writings, and sorted into slip form. The Editors who were asked to carry out the task of editing this material, Father O'Leary and Mr. David Comyn and, at a later stage, Mr. John MacNeill, found themselves, through the pressure of other work, unable to fulfil their intention, and the help of Father Dinneen was eventually secured.

In carrying out his views as Editor, Father Dinneen found it necessary to make many alterations on the slips handed to him, involving labour which would not have been incurred had he been appointed in the first instance. Indeed, Father Dinneen has so amended and expanded the fragmentary materials submitted to him, that the present work may be regarded as practically his creation, and the Council gladly acknowledges its