Patrick Stephen Dinneen (; 25 December 1860 – 29 September 1934) was an Irish

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

and historian, and a leading figure in the

Gaelic revival The Gaelic revival () was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including folklore, mythology, sports, music, arts, etc.). Irish had diminished as a sp ...

Life

Dinneen was born near

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

. He was educated at Shrone and Meentogues National Schools and at St. Brendan's College in

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

. He earned

second class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

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

and master's degrees from the

Royal University of Ireland The Royal University of Ireland was a university in Ireland that existed from 1879 to 1909. It was founded in accordance with the University Education (Ireland) Act 1879 as an examining and degree-awarding university based on the model of the ...

. The BA (1885) was in

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

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. Statist ...

, the MA (1889) was in

. He joined the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

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 Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

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

, and mathematics in three different

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

colleges, including

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

, a Jesuit boarding school near

Clane Clane (; ) is a town in County Kildare, Ireland, from Dublin. With a population of 8,152 in 2022, it is the ninth largest town in Kildare and the 66th largest in Ireland. The town is on the River Liffey. Clane gives its name to the associate ...

, County Kildare. He was a leading figure in the

Irish Texts Society The Irish Texts Society () was founded in 1898 to promote the study of Irish literature. It is a text publication society, issuing annotated editions of texts in Irish language, Irish with English language, English translations and related Litera ...

, publishing editions of

Geoffrey Keating Geoffrey Keating (; – ) was an Irish historian. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and is buried in Tubrid Graveyard in the parish of Ballylooby-Duhill. He became a Catholic priest and a poet. Biography It was generally believed unt ...

's , poems by

Aogán Ó Rathaille Aodhagán Ó RathailleVariant Irish spellings of his name include ''Aogán'' and ''Ua Rathaille'' or Egan O'Rahilly (c.1670–1726), was an Irish language poet. He is credited with creating the first fully developed Aisling. Early life It is tho ...

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

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 novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

'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. It recounts the ...

'' 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 Alphabetical order, alphabetically (or by Semitic root, consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical-and-stroke sorting, radical an ...

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

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), 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 aim of establishing an ind ...

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 Germanic name William, or its Irish variant Uilliam. Etymology The original name was a merging of two Old German elements: ''willa'' ("will" or "resolution"); and ''helma'' ("helmet"). The juxtaposition of these e ...

, was published in 1927. Dinneen's request to the

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 is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

at the age of 73 and is buried in

Glasnevin Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland which opened in 1832. It holds the graves and memorials of several notable figures, and has a museum. Location The cemetery is located in Glasnevin, Dublin, in two part ...

, 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