Ceist ri thaobh faclairean

[iolair]

Madainn mhath,

Tha ceist mu fhaclairean.

Ann urrainn dha a duine sam bith faclar a mholadh anns a bheil earrann math airson Gàidhlig gu Beurla?

Nuair a thoisich mi a dh'ionnsachadh, cheannaich mi faclairean bheag, agus an uair sin thug mo bhean Dwelly's agus Colin Mark's dhomh.

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Good morning,

I have a question about dictionaries.

Can anyone recommend a dictionary that has a good English to Gaelic section?

When I first started learning, I picked up a couple of small dictionaries. Later my wife gave me Dwelly's and Colin Mark's Gaelic to English dictionaries.

Sometimes when I go to look up the Gaelic for an English word in the books I currently have, the entries are either not there or are so brief and ambiguous that I'm not sure if it is the correct word to use.

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Taing is buidheachas,
Iolair

[*Alasdair*]

I am on the search of a good English-Gaelic dictionary too!

I have just bought Angus Watson's Gaelic-English one*, and he has a English-Gaelic one too - it is £20 though:
https://lsh507.securepod.com/gaelicbook ... cts_id=143 - Although it may be named wrongly here...
There are many Gaelic-English dictionaries out there, but not many good English-Gaelic ones. This is criticised often.

The only thing i can really recommend is Stòr Data online: http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/faclair/sbg/lorg.php Just be careful about the words you chose from it. Have a look at a few before you pick one to use as sometimes their meanings vary immensely!

* https://lsh507.securepod.com/gaelicbook ... ucts_id=26 - It seems very good.

[neoni]

the teach yourself one has served me excellently. it's small, cheap and easy, no need to waste your money on the more expensive ones.

once you feel your good enough, richard cox's faclair don bhun-sgoil (gàidhlig - gàidhlig) will be very good.

[eideard]

I agree with Neoni; the Teach Yourself Gaelic Dictionary is good value for the money, i.e. inexpensive, yet quite comprehensive. The front part of the book is Gaelic to English, the back part English - Gaelic.

One other that I have used for quite a while is The New English-Gaelic Dictionary by Derick S. Thomson (Gairm Publications). Mine is full of additions and notations that I've made over the years.

[*Alasdair*]

Another vote for TYG Dictionary. Cheap, easy to use and is very useful. Has place names, personal names and a little grammar in it too

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaelic-Dictiona ... 691&sr=8-1

What ever you do, do NOT buy this dictionary:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gaelic-Dictiona ... 691&sr=8-1

It is very old fashioned and is very hard to use and read... It is just the original 1902 version in a new cover...

[*Alasdair*]

Turns out silly old me bought the wrong dictionary The one i have just bought seems great but it is not the one i wanted...

The one i wanted was in Waterstones but i refused to pay £20 for it. It was about 450pages long, blue cover, has small sized text inside, is a Gaelic-English dictionary, and after the word in Gaelic it gives a pronunciation of it (A rather good one tbh). It must be an reprinted ersion as they still have things like "Di-Luain" and "An-dràsda".

Can anyone help me work out which dictionary it is! The only other option is to phone the store or go back into town and see.

[neoni]

no idea, but it would be a mistake to buy a pre-goc dictionary

[faoileag]

Have a look at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h ... &x=18&y=20

You can see that the Angus Watson Eng - Gaelic is now available in paperback, and used even cheaper.

I personally like this one, along with the rightly praised TYG one, as being more idoimatic and up to date than the others, and with greater depth in the definitions/examples/tran.....s tha TYG.

It's not quite as good as his Gaelic - Eng. version, as I suspect it was done fairly quickly to respond to demand. There's some notable omissions - but if you have TYG as well, you'll be OK. The more, the merrier! You always find yourself cross-referencing anyway. (I certainly do!)


Maybe the one you saw, Alistair, is a new-blue-cover edition of the Maclennan Dict. I think I have seen it in blue - my older one is green. If so, it's definitely on the old side.

[Tearlach61]

Eventually though, one will get a Dwelly's which is of course pre-goc. Not the easiest dictionary to use because the letters are so small, but it's a wealth of information. There is really no other dictionary that is its equal.

What I think would be most useful is if Dwelly's were on-line in a searchable format.

[neoni]

the copyright on it runs out very soon, and a new version will be printed. i believe that it will also be made available online.

wouldnae rush to get one now

[yellow-ceitidh]

It is very old fashioned and is very hard to use and read... It is just the original 1902 version in a new cover...

My Great Grandad had that dictionary - in fact I found it OK (compared to my Lomond Books one), just don't put it in your backpack because it weighs the same as a small elephant. And it is the green one. I use my £3 Lomond Books dictionary and StòrData.

[GunChleoc]

I use the Watsons, Stor-Dàta and Akerbeltz, then I check the Colin Mark to make sure I've picked the right word.

[faoileag]

The one i wanted was in Waterstones but i refused to pay £20 for it. It was about 450pages long, blue cover, has small sized text inside, is a Gaelic-English dictionary, and after the word in Gaelic it gives a pronunciation of it (A rather good one tbh). It must be an reprinted ersion as they still have things like "Di-Luain" and "An-dràsda".

Can anyone help me work out which dictionary it is! The only other option is to phone the store or go back into town and see.

Alasdair, could it be that it is Dwelly you saw in Waterstones? It seems to have acquired a light-blue cover and would answer your description, I think:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Illustrated-Gae ... 56&sr=8-19

If so, see other people's comments on Dwelly. It's actually more an encyclopedia than a dictionary, and probably less help to a learner than TYG at the moment.


Anyway, which one did you buy by mistake??