Patrick Stephen Dinneen ( ga, Pádraig Ua Duinnín; 25 December 1860 – 29 September 1934) was an Irish lexicographer and historian, and a leading figure in the

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival ( ga, Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century Romantic nationalism, national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including Irish folklore, folklore, Iri ...

Life

Dinneen was born near

Rathmore, County Kerry Rathmore () is a small town in Kerry, Ireland, lying immediately west of the border with Cork. Rathmore is divided into two parts, one being the main commercial centre, and the other being the administrative centre where the schools and church ...

. He was educated at Shrone and Meentogues National Schools and at St. Brendan's College in Killarney. He earned second class honours

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ye ...

and master's degrees from the Royal University of Ireland. The BA (1885) was in

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

mathematical science The mathematical sciences are a group of areas of study that includes, in addition to mathematics, those academic disciplines that are primarily mathematical in nature but may not be universally considered subfields of mathematics proper. Statisti ...

, the MA (1889) was in

. He joined the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

in 1880 and was ordained a priest in 1894, but left the order in 1900 to devote his life to the study of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

while still remaining a priest. After his ordination, he taught Irish, English,

, and mathematics in three different

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

colleges, including

Clongowes Wood College Clongowes Wood College SJ is a voluntary boarding school for boys near Clane, County Kildare, Ireland, founded by the Jesuits in 1814, which features prominently in James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Yo ...

, a Jesuit boarding school near Clane, County Kildare. He was a leading figure in the Irish Texts Society, publishing editions of Geoffrey Keating's , poems by Aogán Ó Rathaille,

Piaras Feiritéar Piaras Feiritéar (; 1600? – 1653), or Pierce Ferriter, was an Irish clan Chief of the Name, Chief, and Irish poetry, poet. Although best known for his many works of Bardic poetry in the Irish language, Feiritéar is also a widely revered folk ...

Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin (c. 1715 – 1795), known in English as Timothy O'Sullivan, was a composer of mostly Christian poetry in the Irish language whose ''Pious Miscellany'' was reprinted over 40 times in the early 19th century. Early l ...

, and other poets. He also wrote a novel and a play in Irish, and translated such works as

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas C ...

'' into Irish. His best known work, however, is his Irish–English

dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...

, , which was first published in 1904. The stock and plates of the dictionary were destroyed during the

Easter Rising The Easter Rising ( ga, Éirí Amach na Cásca), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the a ...

of 1916, so Dinneen took the opportunity to expand the dictionary. A much larger second edition, compiled with the assistance of

Liam S. Gógan Liam is a short form of the Irish language, Irish name Uilliam or the old Germanic name William (given name), William. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helm ...

, was published in 1927. Dinneen's request to the Irish Texts Society to include Gogan's name on the title page was refused. Gogan continued to work on the collection of words up to his death in 1979. This complementary dictionary was published online in 2011. Fr. Dinneen died in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

at the age of 73 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.Location: Plot No: CH 83.5, St Bridget's, CPS Coordinates: 53°22'19.48"N 6°16'44.04"W

Bibliography

References

External links

* *
Scans of Dinneen's Irish-English dictionary (first edition of 1904)

Searchable version of 1927 edition of Dinneen's Irish-English dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinneen, Patrick S. 1860 births 1934 deaths 19th-century Irish Jesuits 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish lexicographers 19th-century Irish historians 20th-century Irish historians People educated at St Brendan's College, Killarney People educated at Clongowes Wood College Former Jesuits Irish-language writers

Life

Bibliography

See also

References

External links