merrion street

At an event in Dublin this afternoon, Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Joe McHugh T.D., announced that Corpas na Gaeilge 1600-1926, a historical corpus of the Irish language from that period, has been launched online.
Corpas na Gaeilge is a Royal Academy of Ireland initiative and the launch was held in the Academy itself. The Corpus is a step towards the publication of Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge (The Historical Dictionary of the Irish Language). The Historical Corpus being launched today includes over 3 thousand texts and up to 19 million words, which are searchable online. The Royal Academy of Ireland in Dublin has been working on the project for some years and their staff members based in An Charraig in Co. Donegal digitise the material.
Speaking at the launch, Minister of State McHugh said:
“I am delighted to be here in your company this afternoon for this extremely important and interesting event, the official launch of Corpas Stairiúil na Gaeilge 1600-1926. The Corpas covers a huge breadth of material and Irish history, from the Flight of the Earls in 1607 to the writings of An tAthair Peadar Ó Laoghaire and Pádraig Mac Piarais in An Claidheamh Soluis, during the golden age of the language revival.
“Every aspect of this project is challenging and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the staff working on it. You are doing fantastic work in various areas including Irish history, archaeology, the Irish language, culture and science.
“I am very proud that the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is part of this valuable project. I’m pleased that my Department was in a position to provide assistance of over €1.62m for the work being done by the Academy on this dictionary over the years. As promised in the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language, the development and support will continue, in order to ensure that Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge is completed and that the modern needs of the language are met.”


Note for editors:
Foclóir Stairiúil na Gaeilge https://www.ria.ie/research-projects/focloir-stairiuil-na-gaeilge
This research project is preparing a historical dictionary of the Irish language in the period 1600-2000. The comprehensive dictionary will be based on written and oral sources from that time. The project receives support from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, via the Department’s Irish Language Support Schemes. Through these schemes, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht provides financial assistance to a range of organisations and activities that support the promotion of the Irish language outside of the Gaeltacht.