Dictionary - very similar words with identical meanings

[Ionatan]

Could @akerbeltz or any other knowledgeable person help me with a question about dictionaries please.

As a beginner, I dive into dictionaries a lot, mostly the one at LearnGaelic which I now know is based off Am Faclair Beag. When I look up a spelling, I am often presented with several words that have absolutely identical definitions and sound very similar but don't appear to be special cases of each other. For example: If I look up 'more' I get:

tuilleas masc -> 1 more, addition, additional quantity, 2 (as adv.) anymore
tuille masc -> 1 more, addition, additional quantity, 2 (as adv.) anymore
tuillidh masc -> 1 more, addition, additional quantity, 2 (as adv.) anymore
tuilleadh masc -> 1 more, addition, additional quantity, 2 (as adv.) anymore

In Can Seo they use the Skye accent/dialect as their reference (though they do get people from elsewhere to do cameos so you can hear other dialects and accents). They use the second variant 'tuille'.

Are all these variations dialect differences or do they signify something else?

[faoileag]

If you consult Am Faclair Beag itself, rather than LearnGaelic, you'll see that relative frequency of use / recognition by users is indicated (colour bars). In addition, if you click on the word itself, e.g. tuilleadh, you will see maps that show its distribution in Scotland and Nova Scotia.

This is an invaluable extra added by akerbeltz, and one you should get into the habit of using.

If in doubt, as a learner without a regional dialect you identify with, probably best to go with the most widely-used versions.


(And as akerbeltz probably wouldn't remind you himself, I will: this is all a huge labour of love, and there's a Donate button on the site (bottom right) for grateful users! )

[Ionatan]

As a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) scientist, I'm a sucker for a map and have just consumed half an hour looking at the distribution of words I know and their variants. I was fascinated to see that tuille seemed to be a 'minority' word in Scotland and unheard of in Nova Scotia compared to say tuilleadh (the former being the word taught in Can Seo). It would be really interesting to analyse geographical clustering of words not just to delineate dialects but, taking an historical perspective, migration of people and, today, the migration of the language as people are reviving it.

I don't think I should start contributing to the "I know and use" section in the database, because I am just a rank beginner from the East Coast and it would skew the results. I know there was once a dialect called Aberdeenshire Gaelic, but I can lay no claim, not even through ancestry, to knowing anything about it (other than apparently it was very "clipped" whatever that means and the last speaker died in the 1980s - more recent than I'd ever have guessed). Random aside: Gaelic has a very emotional battle in these parts vs Doric. Just to mention that you are learning Gaelic around here can start a heated discussion as to why you aren't learning Doric and the unfairness of government funding.

If in doubt, as a learner without a regional dialect you identify with, probably best to go with the most widely-used versions.

Good point. See comments above re Aberdeenshire Gaelic! So, I'll probably also just have to become sensitive to variations.

(And as akerbeltz probably wouldn't remind you himself, I will: this is all a huge labour of love, and there's a Donate button on the site (bottom right) for grateful users! )

I have just used said button Beginners lean heavily on resources like this. TBH I'd assumed all this and the BBC materials was funded/promoted via the Bord na Gàidhlig or other similar central cash.

[ithinkitsnice]

TBH I'd assumed all this and the BBC materials was funded/promoted via the Bord na Gàidhlig or other similar central cash.

Anything BBC / MG ALBA (inc. LearnGaelic) is publicly funded; Akerbeltz's site is independent.