Library acquires copy of famous dictionary

IT is accepted that Peter O’Connell died on February 24, 1826 and was buried in the old graveyard at Burrane in the parish of Killimer but the year of his birth cannot be certain, 1746 or 1755.
One thing that is certain is he compiled a number of manuscripts, including a transcript of Cormac’s Glossary, a translation of a history of the wars of Thomond, which was composed by John McGrath in 1459 and two works jointly with another Clare man, Theophilus O’Flanagan, the first secretary of the Gaelic Society.
Both works are of great interest and are called Egerton 113 and 125. In Maynooth College  library, two manuscripts by O’Connell are known as c99 and c111. The best known of his manuscripts, Egerton 83, which he spent about 40 years compiling, contains an Irish-English dictionary which Eugene O’Curry believed was the most comprehensive Irish- English dictionary in existence. Copies of that dictionary are in the Royal Irish Academy and also in Trinity College.
On August 28 last, Brother Sean had the privilege of seeing the copy of O’Connell’s dictionary in the manuscripts and archives reading room of Trinity College. This copy, consisting of two large volumes, was compiled by Mark Prendergast in 1841.
Many years ago, while living in Dublin, thanks to the the late and good friend of Brother Sean’s, Eric J McAuliffe, he saw the copy in the Royal Irish Academy. Since that time and also due to an excellent article by another friend Tim Killeen, published in The Clare Champion on January 28, 1967, Brother Sean made efforts to secure a copy for the County Library in Ennis.
Early in May of this year, he visited the constituency office of  Deputy Michael MacNamara and explained to his secretary, Edel Carroll, the interest in O’Connell’s dictionary. She promptly wrote to Trinity College who replied that they would be happy to make arrangements for a digital copy to be sent to Ennis Library. She then got in contact with  Peter Beirne at the Local Studies Centre in Ennis and he in turn contacted Trinity College. As a result, there is now a copy of the dictionary there.
Brother Sean’s most recent visit to Trinity College was on September 9, to view another dictionary Focalóir Gaoidhilge-sax-Beárla, which contains 516 pages, known as Manuscript 4441. The man associated with it is John O’Brien and it was published in Paris in 1768. Trinity College got a copy of it from John O’Daly on May 25, 1859. According to the account book (1862-1865) it cost £5.50. The handwritten notes in ink on the side of the various pages are by Peter O’Connell.
O’Connell was born  in 1746 according to the plaque at his grave. However, little is known about  him other than he may have had one brother called Patrick.
Were it not for another Clare native, Eugene O’Curry, little if anything would be known  about O’Connell. Mr O’Curry described him as about 6ft 2ins tall, straight, venerable and dignified in his old age, which reached to over 80 years. He also stated that O’Connell was always a welcome guest  “in my father’s house in Doonaha”. Around 1806, O’Connell had a hedgeschool and one of  his pupils was Mr O’Curry’s brother, Malachy “who helped Peter compile the dictionary”.
From O’Curry we learn that “almost all the words and passages written in Irish in the Irish characters in this volume were written by my brother and I, myself, was very well acquainted with O’Connell and contributed a good many local words and phrases to his work, about the year 1817”.
In 1842, John O’Donovan described Peter O’Connell as “a very good Irish scholar and author of the best dictionary extant, though never published”.
O’Connell travelled through Scotland, the Hebrides, Wales and the Orkneys collecting material for his dictionary. Having failed to get his dictionary published during his lifetime, the manuscript was pawned in Tralee by his nephew Anthony. Later, it was secured by James Hardiman, who sold it to the British Museum, where it still is.
Those that helped Brother Sean in procuring the dictionary include Deputy Michael MacNamara; Edel Carroll; Peter Beirne and Brian Doyle at the Local Studies Centre; Dr Bernard Meehan and his staff, especially Ellen O’ Flaherty, in Trinity College and Mrs Mary Crowe.
A number of words from O’Connell’s dictionary are on display in Ennis Bookshop.