Tadhg Ó Neachtain (c.1670 – c.1752) was an Irish writer,

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing. The profession of the scribe, previously widespread across cultures, lost most of its promi ...

and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoreti ...

Origins

Described as "the

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of the coterie of

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 ...

scholars who were working 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 ...

in the early years of the eighteenth century" (2009, p. 821), Ó Neachtain was the son of Seán Ó Neachtain, who had moved from his native

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

sometime between 1670 and 1691. Tadhg was apparently his eldest son, by Seán's first wife, Una Nagle (died c. 1703), perhaps born in Dublin itself, where he was to spend most of his adult life.

The Ó Neachtain Circle

Between 1726 and 1728, Tadhg wrote an Irish poem which named twenty-six scholars of his acquaintance, all of whom are now included among what is retrospectively called ''The Ó Neachtain Circle''. They included: *

Richard Tipper Richard Tipper or Tupper ( fl. 1709 – after 1742) was an Irish scribe. Biography Richard Tipper lived at Mitchelstown, parish of Castleknock, County Dublin. According to Paul Walsh (priest) "He has left a considerable body of MSS., which ...

* John Conry * Tadhg Ó Rodaighe * John Fergus (Eoin Ó Fearghusa) *

Charles O'Conor (historian) Charles O'Conor, ( ga, Séarlas Ó Conchubhair Donn; 1 January 1710 – 1 July 1791), also known as Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, was a member of the Gaelic nobility of Ireland and antiquarian who was enormously influential as a protagonist fo ...

* Seon Mac Solaidh

Personal life

Ó Neachtain was married four times. His spouses and their children were as follows: * Caitríona Níc Fheorais, died 1714 – a son, Peter Ó Neachtain (born 1709), became a

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. * Máire Ní Chomáin – died in childbirth late in 1715. * Máire Ní Reachtagáin, died 1733. * Isabel Ní Lárrach, died 1745.

References

* ''Irish scholars and scribes in eighteenth-century Dublin'', p. 41–54, ''Eighteenth-Century Ireland'', 4, 1989. * ''Ó Neachtain, Tadhg'', p. 820-21, Dictionary of Irish Biography, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:O Neachtain, Tadhg Irish scribes Irish scholars and academics Irish lexicographers Writers from County Dublin 17th-century Irish poets 18th-century Irish poets Year of birth uncertain Irish-language writers