The Best Gaelic Dictionary for You – And How To Use It
You’re learning Scottish Gaelic, and you need to buy a Gaelic dictionary. Which one is the best for you?
A web search on “Scottish Gaelic dictionary” yields very mixed results. There are online dictionaries, some legit and some not really. Amazon lists a confusing array of new and used books for sale, and the real Gaelic bookstores may not pop up in your search at all.
No dictionary is perfect, but there are good and bad Gaelic dictionaries out there. Sometimes a dictionary that looks shiny and new is actually obsolete.
I’ve informally surveyed some Gaelic language teachers and scholars in Nova Scotia and Scotland on which dictionaries they prefer. Based on their experience and my own, I’ll recommend which dictionaries to spend your precious money on, which ones to avoid, and the best way to use a dictionary as a tool for learning.
All Dictionaries Are Not Alike
There are many different kinds of Gaelic dictionaries: small portable ones with everyday vocabulary, basic language learner dictionaries, desktop reference tomes, specialty dictionaries with new words, and dictionaries and lists of words unique to certain dialects.
Because different dictionaries serve different purposes, you’ll probably end up buying more than one! Not every dictionary contains every word, and sometimes it’s wise to triangulate, in other words to check multiple sources to verify that you have the best definition or translation.
Most dictionaries are bidirectional, with both Gaelic-English and English-Gaelic sections. In one section you can look up a Gaelic word to find the English equivalent, and the other section you can look up an English word to find the Gaelic equivalent. Not all of the popular dictionaries are bidirectional, however – some are only Gaelic-English – so be aware of this when you make your selection.
When you’re browsing titles online, it can be hard to tell the difference between different dictionaries. Not only are the titles similar, but also a title can change when the dictionary is reprinted, along with the cover design, and even the publisher. Because of this, I’ll identify the dictionaries in this blog post mainly by the last names of the authors.
If you’re taking a Gaelic language course, the dictionaries you’ll be using the most fall into two categories on the basis of size and cost: “pocket” and “desktop.” The pocket ones are smaller and cheaper (hence easier to carry to class or while traveling), while the desktop ones are larger and more expensive, but also contain more entries (that is, more words).
Basic Dictionaries Part 1: Pocket-Sized
There are two powerhouse pocket dictionaries:
R. W. Renton & J. A. MacDonald
The original 1979 edition was known as “the little white dictionary” or by its title Abair!. If you’re lucky to find a used copy of the little white book, about 10x14cm in size, it’s worth buying, although the print is tiny – only about 1mm high! There is also a 1994 reprint for sale online, with a different title and a cover illustration of a castle reflected in the water. Unfortunately this edition is also out of print, according to Trueman Matheson, proprietor of the online Gaelic bookstore Sìol Cultural Enterprises in St. Andrews, Nova Scotia.
An excerpt from Renton & MacDonald’s Abair! (alternatively titled Scottish Gaelic-English/English-Scottish Gaelic Dictionary)
This is a good dictionary to carry back and forth to class, or to a destination language learning course. Gaelic teacher Davine Sutherland points out that despite its more limited range of words, this little dictionary contains a lot of useful information: up to four forms for each noun (nominative singular, nominative singular with definite article, genitive singular with definite article, and nominative plural); for the verbs, both the second person singular imperative (which is also the root form), and the verbal noun with preposition at (a’/ag); for adjectives, the simple and comparative forms; and for prepositions, an indication of which ones are followed by aspiration and the dative or genitive case.
Boyd Robertson & Iain MacDonald
This one is known as either “the Teach Yourself Gaelic Dictionary” (2004, with a dark cover and a big yellow lower-case ‘g’), or by its second edition title, The Essential Gaelic Dictionary (2011, with a white cover featuring a sprig of heather surrounded by text). This dictionary is meant to pair with the 2011 edition of the Teach Yourself Gaelic course, also written by Robertson and MacDonald (but sold separately), now titled Complete Gaelic, and comes with a book and 2 audio CDs. (Note: the Teach Yourself Gaelic book/audio course set has gone through several transformations over the past few decades. New and used editions of the course book that are still for sale online, with or without audio CDs or cassettes, include the 2005 edition with a photo of purple heather flowers on the cover, the 1995 edition with the red and multicolored painting on the cover, and the earlier blue Teach Yourself Gaelic book by Roderick MacKinnon, first published in 1971, and reprinted regularly through 1992.)
An excerpt from Boyd Robertson & Iain MacDonald’s Essential Gaelic Dictionary
The dictionary lists most of the same information as Renton and MacDonald for nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions, albeit in a more condensed form, and also contains appendices with lists of common Gaelic personal names and placenames, the definite article, regular and irregular verbs, and prepositional pronouns.
Robertson and MacDonald comes highly recommended by multiple Gaelic instructors. Gaelic instructor Davine Sutherland calls it her “all-purpose pocket-dictionary… modern, astonishingly comprehensive, and easy to read and refer to.” Michael Bauer, co-creator of Am Faclair Beag online dictionary, says that Robertson and MacDonald is his “main recommendation for beginners these days,” while Gaelic poet Marcas Mac an Tuairneir writes, “Nuair a bha mi ris a’ Ghàidhlig ionnsachadh san Oilthigh ‘s e am faclair aig Robasdan a mhol iad. ‘S e goireas math a tha sin le taic feumail ann do luchd-ionnsachaidh” [When I was learning Gaelic at university Robertson was the dictionary they recommended. It’s a good resource with useful support for learners].
If you are on a budget, an older used edition might suit your purpose depending on where you live and what you intend to do with Gaelic. Sutherland points out that the most recent edition, the 2011 edition titled Essential Gaelic Dictionary, “reflect[s] recent changes in the spelling conventions (as used in Scotland nowadays for schools, journalism etc). If you ever have to pass exams, this may be useful. Otherwise the previous [2004] edition is just fine, and extremely useful and usable.”
Basic Dictionaries Part 2: Desktop Workhorses
There are two relatively recent desktop dictionaries that any Gaelic learner should know about. Each one has a quirk, however.
Colin Mark
Colin Mark’s The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Am Faclair Gàidhlig–Beurla comes highly recommended by Gaelic instructor Davine Sutherland:
“Colin Mark is THE book-based resource for anyone at a higher level of Gaelic – very detailed, original, helpful and practical examples of usage. I would add also that it has an amazing Grammar Reference section at the back that is a book in its own right. If there is ever an English > Gaelic version, or even a word list to allow cross-referencing, it would make it the one best source around. You can get an idea of it, and even look things up in it, via Google Books.”
The main drawback is that Mark is only a unidirectional dictionary, while Watson is bi-directional. As Sutherland notes above, and indeed as the title indicates, Mark only contains entries for Gaelic-English. In other words, you can look up a Gaelic word to find the English equivalent, but not vice versa. This really does bear repeating – I can’t even count the number of times I have absent-mindedly reached for a Gaelic-English dictionary and tried to look up an English word!
An excerpt from Colin Mark’s The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Am Faclair Gàidhlig-Beurla
One of the Gaelic teachers I polled recommended Mark in preference to the Watson dictionary (see below). Nonetheless, another Gaelic teacher offered a warning:
Mark’s is an excellent dictionary but I’ve seen a very few things that would completely mislead a learner. I can’t think of one offhand, but there are things that may be right within certain contexts and are far afield in terms of everyday translation. (And I don’t mean idiomatic phrases.) I’ve seen very few, but they are there.
Another drawback to Mark is the price: as of the time of writing, a new copy costs about £53 on Amazon.co.uk, and about US$76 on Amazon.com.
Angus Watson
The other main desktop dictionary accepted and recommended by the Gaelic users I polled is Angus Watson’s.
Unlike Mark’s dictionary, Watson’s is bidirectional – but still slightly confusing because it can still be purchased online as both a single volume (The Essential Gaelic-English/English-Gaelic Dictionary, 2014) and as two separate volumes (The Essential Gaelic-English Dictionary first published in 2001, with a revised edition in 2004, and The Essential English-Gaelic Dictionary, 2005). All of these are published by Birlinn. If you are buying a used copy online, be very careful that you have got either the combined bidirectional volume, or both unidirectional volumes! The price for the combined volume is more affordable than Mark.
An excerpt from Angus Watson’s The Essential Gaelic-English/English-Gaelic Dictionary
Gaelic instructor Davine Sutherland reviewed the two unidirectional volumes, but her description and positive recommendation can apply equally to the combined volume:
I also use and like the two Angus Watson dictionaries – the E>G is useful as there are few such resources beyond pocket dictionary level, and it’s more modern in outlook and word-selection than Mark, but the G>E is actually more comprehensive, I feel, and has a good section at the back with verbs.
Dwelly: In a Class by Itself
A dictionary that intermediate and advanced learners may wish to buy is Dwelly’s Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary. Edward Dwelly (1864–1939) was a lexicographer who first published his dictionary as a whole in 1911 (although he published sections of it starting in 1901). The dictionary is a tome over 5cm thick, containing over 70,000 entries.
Dwelly’s dictionary has been reprinted at least a dozen times over the years, usually in facsimile edition, but most recently by Akerbeltz who have newly typseset the text in a slightly larger font which may be beneficial to those of us who wear reading glasses!
Dwelly is a unidirectional dictionary with Gaelic-English only, and so like Mark, one can only look up Gaelic words in it. However, the online version, Dwelly-d, makes it bi-directional (see below for further information).
An excerpt from Edward Dwelly’s Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary
You will find a copy of Dwelly’s on the desk of many fluent speakers. At the time of writing, it is still the most comprehensive Gaelic dictionary in existence, and even though it is over 100 years old, it can act as something of a final authority, settling debates even for native speakers who were raised with the language. Of course it does not contain more contemporary words like post-dealain (e-mail) but it still conveys the richness of traditional Gaelic expressions and vocabulary, some of which has gone out of frequent use but is only waiting to be rediscovered. Gaelic instructor Davine Sutherland treasures hers:
…I still like to use my big old Dwelly as a book, when I’m working at my desk rather than pc – a rich resource and fascinating to wander through at random. Only G>E, so most useful when reading old or difficult texts.
Trueman Matheson likewise uses his regularly:
Still Dwelly’s Dictionary is a requirement for the serious learner. It may be older but still has as many headwords as all other dictionaries combined. My wife and I have four copies (two are almost worn out).
Incidentally, my own household was a three-copy household; my husband brought one copy to the marriage and I brought two, one facsimile edition purchased in Aberdeen in 1990 and a much nicer, older facsimile received from a family member of Basil Megaw after his passing. (We passed one copy on to our minister who lacked one!)
Online Dictionaries
The most useful online Gaelic dictionary is Am Faclair Beag (The Little Dictionary), created by Michael Bauer (who I previousy interviewed) and Will Robertson. This online dictionary also incorporates the online version of Dwelly, also created by Bauer and known as Dwelly-d, which is also available as a separate website.
In this screenshot of the entry for “faclair,” the results from Am Faclair Beag are displayed in the left-hand column and the results from Dwelly-d in the right-hand column:
A screenshot of the search results for “faclair” in the online Gaelic dictionary “Am Faclair Beag”
The online Stòr-Dàta Briathrachais Gàidhlig (Gaelic Terminology Database) hosted by the Gaelic college Sabhal Mòr Ostaig contains a great deal of the most up-to-date Gaelic vocabulary, and is convenient to use in its free online version (there is also a book version which is out of print). However, it is not a dictionary but rather a word list, with no context given for the words. As such, in the words of Michael Bauer, it is “to be used with caution – in the sense that it’s easy to mislead a learner.” A sample definition shows that on a small scale – two different terms are given, but no recommendation is made about which one is more common (faclair!).
A screenshot of the search results for “faclair” in the online Stòr-Dàta Briathrachais Gàidhlig
Gaelic poet Marcas Mac an Tuairneir calls attention to a useful feature in the Stòr-Dàta, the two check-boxes with an asterisk (*) before and after which allow you to look up partial words:
“Chan ann gun tric a chleachdainn Stòr-dàta air loidhne ach ma tha mi a’ cleachdadh * le freumh facail is mi sireadh faclan an eagan le chèile. Gu mì-fhortanach chan eil mìneachadh sam bith am measg mìneachadh nam facal is bidh agam ri faclair.com a chleachdadh gus a bhith cinnteach, mur a h-eil mi eòlach air facal sam bith.” [I wouldn’t use Stòr-dàta online often except if I use an asterisk with an etymon (root word), looking for rhyming words. Unfortunately there is no meaning at all in the word definitions and I’ll have to use Am Faclair Beag to be certain, if I’m not familiar with any of the words.]
The LearnGaelic online dictionary uses selected content from Am Faclair Beag under a license. It does not contain as much information as Am Faclair Beag, but clicking on the tiny dropdown arrow next to certain words gives information such as the plural, and pronunciation in IPA. There is also a clickable audio file for many of the words and phrases.
The Scottish Parliament website provides a list of these and other free online Gaelic resources, including a Gaelic thesaurus, Scottish Natural Heritage nature vocabulary, the Dictionary for Local Government of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, and Gaelic Vocabulary for Specialised Subjects.
Regional and Specialty Word-lists
Apart from the free online resources mentioned above, there are quite a few Gaelic specialty dictionaries and word-lists published in book form. These might be purchased by an advanced Gaelic learner, or one who lives in or whose ancestors are from the particular area in question.
Some of these specialty dictionaries are for words that are unique to regional dialects that were historically spoken in different areas of Scotland, including the following titles:
The Gaelic of the Mackay Country by Seumas Grannd (Taigh na Gàidhlig Mhealanais, 2013)
Gaelic Words and Phrases from Wester Ross by Roy Wentworth (Clar, 2003)
Gaelic Words and Expressions from South Uist and Eriskay Collected by Rev. Fr. Allan McDonald of Eriskay (1859-1905) ed. by J. L. Campbell, 2nd ed. (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1972, reprinted 1991 [first ed. 1958])
Other specialty word-lists are not dialect dictionaries, but rather booklets containing lists of the Gaelic placenames of particular areas. Such traditional placenames are also easily lost when they were only transmitted through oral tradition and not included on printed maps. These include for example:
Ainmean Àiteachan Sgìre Sholais (Placenames of the Sollas area of North Uist) by Catriona M. NicIain
Place-names of Scarp by John MacLennan, ed. Calum J. Mackay (Stornoway Gazette Ltd., 2001)
The Gaelic Place-names of Carloway, Isle of Lewis, Richard A. V. Cox (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2002)
Others are lists of specialty vocabulary, including for example the names of Gaelic plants which have faded from use as people have ceased to use the plants themselves for nutrition, medicine, and dyes:
Ainmean Gàidhlig Lusan – Gaelic Names of Plants by Joan W. Clark and Ian MacDonald, 1999.
Last but not least, no list of specialty dictionaries would be complete without Michael Newton’s The Naughty Little Book of Gaelic. Did your Gaelic teacher ever try tell you that there were no curse words in Gaelic? My very first teacher did!
The Dictionary You Probably Shouldn’t Buy
When I took my first university Gaelic course in 1990, the instructor told us that there was one dictionary we should not buy in our first year, even though it was stocked by the university bookstore in the high street. It is a reprint of a dictionary first published in 1925, known as “MacLennan’s” after the author, Malcolm MacLennan. It’s a facsimile edition, which means that it’s a reprint of the exact image of each original page.
The edition that I was warned about was published in 1979 by Acair and Mercat Press. It came in both hardback and paperback, with a green cover. That one is out of print, though it still pops up for sale online. It has now been reprinted with a shiny, attractive new cover, but the author and the 1925 contents are still the same. On Amazon there are new and used copies for sale, and the listings even feature 4- and 5-star reviews.
Why not buy this dictionary as a beginning student of Gaelic? First, if you were learning English as a second language, would you want your main English dictionary to reflect the language as spoken no later than 1925? No? Then apply the same logic to Gaelic. It’s a living language, not a fantasy time capsule.
Secondly, this dictionary can be very misleading to students. It lists obscure and archaic terms side by side with words that are still in use, with no indication of which is which.
For example, picking an entry at random from the English-to-Gaelic section, my eye fell on “eagle.” Three Gaelic words are given, with no clarification or context: iolaire, fìr-eun, and a’ bhratach Ròmanach. The first, iolaire, is the proper word for “eagle” that you would want from a dictionary. The second according to Dwelly’s also means eagle or possibly just golden eagle, and the third means “the Roman standard.” Wait, what? If you are a language learner doing your homework, how are you supposed to know that “iolaire” is pretty much the only word among these choices that you need, 99% of the time?
Even worse, my university Gaelic teacher warned me that MacLennan included words that he made up. That’s right, not real words that people commonly used, but words he made up himself. While we could never conclusively prove this unless we found a diary in which the author confessed that he Made Shit Up, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Here are MacLennan’s entries for “faclair/dictionary”:
Excerpt from Malcolm MacLennan’s Gaelic Dictionary
MacLennan defines “faclair” not as “dictionary” but only as “vocabulary”.
And for “dictionary,” MacLennan gives facalair – not the correct faclair. As far as can be determined, facalair is not, and never has been, a real Gaelic word. I have never even heard it used once in over 25 years. It is not in any other Gaelic dictionary, even Dwelly. It is possible that it could be an obscure term used in a single dialect that is now obsolete, but even in that case, it would not be helpful at all to Gaelic learners! (By the way, the Irish equivalent is foclóir, and as of the writing of this blog post, the earliest attestation in eDIL is in a 16th century manuscript.)
Here is how some highly respected Gaelic teachers have reviewed the dictionary (I have chosen not to include their names):
“I gave up on MacLennan’s very early on, do not advise it to anyone.”
“MacLennan’s, to quote a friend, ought to be pulped or banned or both.”
“I begin every year telling [my students] ‘Maclennan’s’ Dictionary ought to be burned, and further reprints banned – a mean con-trick played on learners trying to steward their limited finances thus brought to an end. But they probably just wonder what I’m wittering on about a printed book for.”
Out-of-Print Dictionaries – Good, Bad, and Ugly
Some of the dictionaries that were new when I started learning Gaelic are now out-of-print! You’ll see a couple of them in the photo that accompanies this post. If you see them for a reasonable price in a used bookstore, they are worth buying:
Derick Thomson’s New English-Gaelic Dictionary (1986) is unidirectional and was created to fill the gap that is now better bridged by the Stòr-Dàta and Watson (see above).
Robert Owen’s Modern Gaelic-English Dictionary (1993) is also unidirectional and is superseded by Mark (see above). Both Thomson and Owen are a nice compact size however.
Apart from Dwelly, there is no dictionary over 100 years old that the average Gaelic learner would absolutely need to acquire. If you find one for a reasonable price in an antique shop or used bookstore, feel free to indulge in your love of old books.
But beware unscrupulous “publishers” who take old Gaelic dictionaries that are now in the public domain, and reprint them in facsimile edition to sell to unsuspecting buyers on Amazon. I include links here for informational purposes only – do not buy these! For example:
Neil MacAlpine’s Pronouncing Gaelic-English Dictionary, “to Which Is Prefixed a Concise, but Most Comprehensive Grammar,” published 1866. Available free online through Google Books.
Alexander MacBain’s Etymological Dictionary, published 1896. Available free online.
MacLeod and Dewar, A Dictionary of the Gaelic Language in Two Parts, published 1831. Also available in a Kindle edition (seriously?). Available free online through Google Books.
MacFarlane School Gaelic Dictionary, published 1912. Available free online. Do you see a pattern emerging here?
How To Use a Dictionary
As you may have realized by now, you can’t trust every Gaelic dictionary that you find on the internet, or even on the shelf of a bookstore. Most of the time, dictionary recommendations should come word-of-mouth from your Gaelic teacher.
To avoid frustration, it’s also best to have a clear understanding of what a dictionary can and cannot do for you:
Word Lookup: Because the spelling (and pronunciation) of a Gaelic word can change so much depending on its role in the sentence (for nouns, nominative vs. dative vs. genitive case, and plural vs. singular; for verbs, tense), sometimes it’s not even possible to look up a word until you know the original uninflected form. Gaelic is a Celtic language, and one thing the Celtic languages are known for is initial consonant mutation, which is reflected in both spelling and pronunciation. So any Gaelic noun you encounter “in the wild” may be spelled with a slightly different combination of letters than usual… which makes it harder to look it up in a dictionary, especially if you are less experienced.
Another way that the spelling of words has changed is through orthographic reform. For example, Mark’s dictionary only uses the most recent Gaelic spelling reforms (GOC or Gaelic Orthographic Conventions). Thus if one is trying to look up a Gaelic word from an older source, whose spelling was substantially changed by GOC, it might be difficult to find it. In this case, it would be better to use Dwelly, or another dictionary which uses pre-GOC orthography such as Renton & MacDonald.
Translation: Dictionaries should never be used to translate an entire phrase, sentence, or text word-for-word (especially for something as permanent and expensive as a tattoo)! Dictionaries are a guide to the lexicon (words) of a language; they do not usually contain all the grammatical information you need to use those words correctly and coherently in a sentence. Even when they do contain grammar guides, those are to refresh your memory, not to substitute for taking a language course. This can’t be stressed enough.
Idioms: Much of the time, dictionaries cannot tell you the meaning of Gaelic idioms. An idiom is an expression whose meaning by definition cannot be understood from the individual words. Some dictionaries like Dwelly do include some idioms in some word entries, and sometimes you’ll be lucky to find the right one. The online dictionary Am Faclair Beag, incorporating Dwelly’s, is the best place to try searching for the meaning of an impenetrable idiom, because a word search will turn up more entries containing that word. But most often, you’ll have to either ask someone, or build up your knowledge of idioms over time.
Pronunciation: A dictionary cannot teach you proper Gaelic pronunciation. Even a so-called “pronouncing dictionary” will only give you an approximation of what the word really sounds like in Gaelic. You cannot rely on a written phonetic representation, using English sounds, to pronounce a Gaelic word correctly. For example, MacLennan’s is a pronouncing dictionary… and it gives “facler” for faclair (see photo above). This does not represent the preaspiration before the c (not found in most dialects of English), nor the quality of the ‘r’ sound which is substantially different from English.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) does represent the sounds of Gaelic accurately in writing. It is a specialist tool and not everyone can master the IPA for daily use outside of linguistics.
The dictionaries that do provide some pronunciation help are online, with linked audio files: Am Faclair Beag and LearnGaelic.net (see above).
You may also find Michael Bauer’s book Blas na Gàidhlig helpful, particularly since it is accompanied by pronunciation sound files on the Akerbeltz website.
Looking stuff up without learning the language: This relates to both pronunciation and the challenge of looking up words out of context, as well as entire phrases.
A one-star review of a Gaelic dictionary on Amazon said “I wanted it to refer to words used in “Outlander.” It wasn’t much help—most of the words weren’t listed in the dictionary.” Another poor review of a different Gaelic dictionary said “I am currently wrapped up in the Diana Gabaldon series [Outlander] which is set in Scotland. I want to know how to say the Gaelic words used in the books. I majored in foreign languages and never had a dictionary that didn’t include pronunciation. I returned the dictionary immediately (along with the Irish dictionary which was equally lacking).”
It’s not clear if the first reviewer was referring to the books or the television series, but if you’re a non-Gaelic speaker and you try to look up a Gaelic word in a Gaelic dictionary going by how it sounded, you will almost certainly not succeed. If you look up a Gaelic word expecting to learn exactly how it’s pronounced, you will be disappointed unless you use the online dictionaries mentioned above.
If you’re trying to look up entire phrases or sentences that you’ve read in a book, or even looking up individual words plucked randomly out of those phrases, then this is a case in which you are expecting too much from a dictionary. This relates to the difficulties of looking up words, described above. You would be far better off spending the money to take a beginner Gaelic language course (and asking the teacher).
Fortunately, the words listed in this Outlander Wiki are in all Gaelic dictionaries.
Respected Gaelic teacher Angus MacLeod in Nova Scotia sums up the dangers of mis-using a dictionary:
“…I think it exceptionally important that students understand very early on that translations are approximations and that placing too much confidence in them to give you the “meaning” of the word will at least slow down and sometimes prevent proper language acquisition.
dictionary – (n) – pl. dictionaries 1. good flashlight 2. bad crutch.”
Where to Buy Your Dictionary?
Ethically speaking, it’s best to buy your dictionary from a place that will support the Gaelic language in some way. These include:
Sìol Cultural Enterprises in Nova Scotia, Canada
http://www.gaelicbooks.com/reference.html
The Gaelic Books Council in Glasgow, Scotland
http://gaelicbooks.org/index.php?route=product/category&path=59_81
Additionally, this post contains some affiliate links to Amazon. If you choose to purchase a dictionary through one of these links, a small percentage of the purchase price will help to support this blog.
What is the Gaelic dictionary you use the most or recommend to your students? Leave a comment below and let us know!
I have a paperback copy of the MacLennan. After reading your post, I can’t in good conscience dispose of it in any way other than into the paper recycling, just to be sure to take at least one copy out of circulation.
I’ve often thought of doing that with my copy, which I eagerly bought before getting the warning from my teacher in 1990! Oh, the chagrin. But somehow I keep toting it around, from Aberdeen to Chicago to Arizona to Pittsburgh to Nova Scotia… And if I had disposed of my copy, I wouldn’t have been able to reference it to write this post!
I should say that there’s no harm at all in keeping MacLennan for judicious cross-referencing; it’s not all bad. The only thing that we don’t want to see, is a beginner or intermediate student who only has enough money to buy one or two Gaelic dictionaries, and accidentally selects that one, thereby wasting their money (sadly it does happen).
I kept my copy. Learning in isolation, not from classes at all, no-one was there to tell me to avoid it. I understood its limitations, though – it’s 90 years old for one thing and I wouldn’t use it without checking further. It isn’t the only source of questionable Gaelic though. I had to laugh when I read above in a review quote that some of the words used in a tv show or novel were not to be found in a dictionary! Personally, I think the more dictionaries you use, the better you’ll be at learning.
Thanks. I’ll keep it, if only as an example of “How not to write a dictionary”, and artifact of Gaelic gone by. I have a friend with whom we have a running joke about her tendency to make up things. I sent her a link to your post, and told her it opens a new career possibility.
What are your thoughts on The English to Gaelic Dictionary of Expressions by Douglas Clyne?
I don’t actually have that one myself! Is it a true dictionary with single-word entries, or is it more of a dictionary of idioms and phrases?
From an internet search I see that it was published in 1985 by Gairm in Glasgow, a reputable Gaelic publisher. Since it’s English to Gaelic, it was probably intended to help fill gaps left by Dwelly (Gaelic to English only), just like the Thomson dictionary mentioned in my post, and others published in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s out of print but it looks like there are some used copies for sale here and there.
I wouldn’t buy it until I had already bought Watson, Mark, Robertson & MacDonald, and Dwelly.
But I would say that if you already have it, it will be good for double checking definitions against other dictionaries in your collection, and even fun to browse! And if you are a collector of dictionaries and find it at a reasonable price, it would probably be worthwhile to add to your collection.
One of the most useful print dictionaries I have found is published by Geddes and Grosset. GE/EG with pronunciation and modern vocabulary. The pronunciation does not always agree with Am Faclair Beag’s but it does give you something!
AVAilable on Amazon.http://smile.amazon.com/Gaelic-English-Dictionary-Geddes-Grosset/product-reviews/1842055917/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
This is below my review for the Geddes, from Amazon.
PS: sorry about the ( part praise ) for The MacLennan: I do know, and I am sometimes frustrated about its defects ( especially in regard to the poor pronunciation system ), but I still find it useful for reference to older texts and books; on the other hand some of the newer dictionaries madden me with their ( badly adapted spellings ) borrowings from English as the main , or only, entry.
=======
This review applies to the 2014 paperback as well as the 2004 small hardback.
SIZE: fits easily into a coat pocket ( for holidays in Scotland ). Whoever below wrote ” too small to fulfil the needs in serious study of the language ” obviously bought the wrong dictionary and should have bought a very large desk-top one.
VOCABULARY; A large number of words in both sections [ G-E / E/G ], and still reasonably legible characters. The words are usual and contemporary [ in other dictionaries people are complaining that the vocabulary is either too old / archaic or ” too modern ” with a lot of borrowed words from English: these two would indeed be faults: none such here ]. Some moaned about ” inadequate for a serious study of the language “: go and buy a very large ( and vey expensive ) hardback dictionary instead!
=====
An unfortunate feature is that some words are not in the right alphabetical order ( about 3%?). A good ” natural human ” alphabetical order is used, not the VERY CONFUSING computerized order ( where a a… to a u… is followed by an a… to an u… then a’ a…to a’ u… then a- a… to a- u… then abair … > onwards ).In the computerized order entries are in the order defects above resulting in the frustration of having constantly to ” jump from one page to the next ).
However for the generally easier to check ” human ” order used here with this dictionary an unfortunate side effect is the above mentioned 3%? of words in the wrong order due to 1) human error ? 2) this is also probably due, from the examples I’ve seen,> they all correspond to the change / modernization of the spelling system: good that the revised version uses the new spelling system, but the effect is that some words are still placed in the old slot of the older spelling, they haven’t always been moved to the new place !
SPELLING: usual contemporary spelling: [ needs saying as there can be variations with the older type of spelling: just one instance: my older large desk top dictionary [ Malcolm MacLennan’s 1985 ACAIR Aberdeen University Press ] quotes ” morning ” as maduinn, when all met occurrences with me have been madainn; and a few other words, but not an overwhelming difference ]. Anyway THIS little dictionary uses the new standard spelling.
PRONUNCIATION: A very good compromise: some dictionaries use their own, different in every book, invented system, which turn out too be very rough and inaccurate as well as difficult to remember being idiosyncratic. This one uses a slightly simplified International Phonetic Alphabet: most of the characters are the same or very similar, yet it avoid the most esoteric ones representing some of the very numerous variations of the Gaelic sounds. For good measure the introduction gives 1) the simplified symbol 2) a good explanation of its pronunciation AND 3) the exact Int. Pho. Alph. symbol “… to help those who are familiar with that system”.
=====
Some people seem to have wanted lots of grammar and etymology / root words: they obviously wouldn’t find it in this pocket one: they should have bought the MacLennan, AND a large grammar book or a comprehensive course!
It does however provide some details on the spelling system of the broad and slender consonants ( determined by THOSE famous non-pronounced vowels ), and a table of the lenitions / mutations of the first letters of words ( the added ” h ” usually ), and of the internal vowel changes found in the grammatical cases and / or plural forms, in order to be able to find the changed word back to its root form in the dictionary.
SO: a good convenient reasonably comprehensive dictionary for its size.
Tapadh leibh!
A good survey, with a few gaps for the persistent learner. MacEachan’s dictionary is rather old and unidirectional but designed for a particular level (schools a century ago or so) and idiomatic – neither of which can always be said of newer dictionaries. It’s also portable.
If you need a print representation of sounds, it’s hard to better Diekhoff’s “A Pronouncing Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic”, not least because it is based on the pronunciation in Glengarry, the most mainstream pronunciation you are ever likely to come across, and reflects actual recordings by a real linguist: a steal for anyone trying to get over the widespread mispronunciation of Gaelic spelling.
For a useful external comparison, if your inclinations are more literary, the Highland Society’s dictionary has a Latin title and, yes, it has Latin as well as the bidirectional sections. It was largely compiled by clergymen, whose view was narrower than Dwelly’s (who was not careful enough about his sources – a bit of a magpie) but was more in tune with rhetorical needs.
For idiomatic usage, Father Allan MacDonald’s “Gaelic Words and Expressions from South Uist and Eriskay” is a mine of information when handling difficult older material.
When it comes to placenames, even modern online sources do not match the knowledge and understanding of W J Watson’s various writings – not just “The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland” but, more usefully for learners, his account of the placenames of Ross-Shire, for example: if he had lived long enough to complete his regional studies, we might have had an exhaustive account of most of our surroundings.
I’m pretty new to Scottish Gaelic, so I usually use the dictionary on learngaelic.net sense it contains phrases and (only on some of the words) audio files for pronounciation, though some words won’t even have an IPA pronounciation. Of course, being a noob, I don’t really know how reliable it is… Anyone who can tell me wether I should continue using it or not?
http://learngaelic.net/dictionary/
Thanks for your comment! Yes, the LearnGaelic.net dictionary is reliable. As the blog post mentions above:
“The LearnGaelic online dictionary uses selected content from Am Faclair Beag under a license. It does not contain as much information as Am Faclair Beag, but clicking on the tiny dropdown arrow next to certain words gives information such as the plural, and pronunciation in IPA. There is also a clickable audio file for many of the words and phrases.”
I wouldn’t dump MacLennan’s dictionary because it’s great for laughs. I’m sure it’s MacLennan who claims the Gaelic for “xylophone” is “ionnstramaid ciùil” and that “zebra” is “asal stiallach”. ‘S fheàirrde duine gàire!
This information has been most helpful. I have ordered the Colin Mark dictionary. I also use a kindle version of Faclair 1 and 2 by Olaf Klocker with IPA pronunciation and the learn gaelic dictionary on line. I would love to have something like the faclair 1 and 2 and have been trying to find information for a hard copy but have not heard back from the publisher or the author. Perhaps they are no longer on line.
Thanks for the very useful survey, but you’re rather severe on MacLennan. Certainly it would be better for beginners had he separated different senses of a source-language word (eagle), or documented his sources on a word-by-word basis (obsolete, current, etc), but to do so would have increased the time required. It is possible that beginners were not his main target audience.
It does not horrify me that he might have made words up. I should think it unlikely that he did this for things that already had authentic Gaelic words. But what about things for which there was no commonly-used Gaelic word? Should he just have left them out? Should he have borrowed English words giving them a veneer of Gaelic orthography or phonetics (which is what native speakers routinely do)? Or should he have used his unquestioned insight into the language to provide principled neologisms (which is what advanced learners tend to attempt, not always with success)?
Before condemning MacLennan, we need a closer examination to see what he is accused of. Meanwhile, let’s remember that every word was made up at some point in time, and let’s agree that linguistic creativity is not only for poets. Whatever about his lexicographical skills, MacLennan was an expert on the Gaelic language, and he took the trouble to put some of his knowledge on paper for our benefit. There is a vast amount to be learned from his dictionary, when approached with an understanding of its context and purpose. While not a good choice for beginners, useless it is certainly not.
For something about the man: http://www.ceuig.co.uk/rev-malcolm-maclennan/
A very good and useful survey. Thank you!
While on the journey from beginner to intermediate, I found the Watson dictionaries the most useful because they contain a lot of sample usage sentences in the Gaelic to English dictionary that are easy to understand and memorise. As I progressed, I found myself using Mark’s more.
A good practice for learners looking up English words, is to write down the suggested Gaelic words (usually more than one given), then look each of these these up in the Gaelic dictionary. Very soon, the learner will start developing a feel for the use of the most appropriate term. This is something that you can do by yourself without a tutor, and it is a surprisingly quick and easy way to develop familiarity with the language.
Hi I’ve just bought recently the book “scottish gaelic in twelve weeks” from Birlinn, Roibeard Ó maolalaigh and Iain MacAonghuis the authors but I don’t start to learn it. Just I checked it up the index and I think is very complet and what I wanted.But it looks, hard? several days before I read gaelic is in the top-ten more difficult languages, must I have fear? Well I would like to ask you if what I can expect of the book? does it work? I know I won´t learn the speech properly but my goal by the moment is to know the language at its core (or almost at least) grammar, read and write and later I worry for speech.
Might you recommend me a dictionary? I was looking for that when I found this.
Thank you very much.
I’m originally from Glasgow but have been in Canada 40+ years. A bit late I know, but I ve taken an interest in Gaelic, also reading Scots novels.
Do you know of, or can recommend, a Gaelic English dictionary app that I can integrate with Google’s Kindle app or Apple iBooks app?
Thanks
George
A Sheòrais,
Mìorbhaileach! I wish you well in your learning journey! Unfortunately I am not aware of any Gaelic dictionary apps at the present time. I just keep Am Faclair Beag bookmarked in the web browser on my phone, to make it easier to access. The same thing could be done with the LearnGaelic online dictionary which includes some pronunciation audio files as well.
Ok. Thanks. I’ll try out both of your suggestions
I have a paperback copy of the MacLennan. For a while I couldn’t understand why it didn’t “seem to fit” with everything else I was reading. Now I use Am Faclair Beag most of the time with the Angus Watson to back it up. The MacLennan is gathering dust. I won’t bin it because it was a well-intended gift but it really can be more misleading than helpful – a good one to avoid.
I have found the pronunciation sound files of Am Faclair Beag to be very helpful and would recommend to any learner.
Haló, a chàirdean, and thank you for a very interesting survey of the ‘landscape’ of Gaelic dictionaries.
Hopefully, one day we will get our dream come true and have our ideal dictionary, which will be bi-directional (Gaelic > English, English > Gaelic), have the unparalleled comprehensive coverage of Dwelly and be up-to-date in terms of vocabulary whilst at the same time respectful of traditional idioms and usage (some of us still use ‘domh’ and ‘féin’, you know, although we are dwindling in numbers).
In the meantime, we struggle on with our collections of multiple dictionaries (is it like this for all minority languages?) and thank an Tì a’s Àirde (the Almighty) for small mercies such as searchable databases on the internet. You can tell the serious student of Gaelic by the company of the dictionaries that he or she keeps – and that’s only a ‘half-joke’.
Out of the modern dictionaries, Mark and Watson are indeed very good pieces of work, and the efforts of their respective authors in providing modern and up-to-date works of reference for the 21st century are to be applauded (iin an age of IT, Watson is very good, for example, in providing the translations for IT terms, thereby making his dictionary relevant to a contemporary readership). Where both dictionaries fall down a bit (and where, without being disrespectful, it becomes evident that neither Mark nor Watson is a native-speaker) is in the lack of everyday, conversational idioms. So, for example, both Mark and Watson will give you the Gaelic for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), but not that half-remembered idiom that your Highland granny used to say (whom you can’t ask anymore because she has passed away …). If, in the next edition of these excellent works, a native-speaker could sweep through them and revise them for more informal, idiomatic language – b’e sin an t-sirist air a’ bhonnaig (that would be the cherry on the cake – droch Ghàidhlig sin!). In the meantime, for everyday, conversational idioms, it’s best to look at conversational guides like MacNeil’s “Everyday Gaelic” (although it has a heavy slant towards Lewis Gaelic) or, perhaps surprisingly, some of those curious school manuals from about 100 years ago.
Coming to the ‘MacLennan problem’, the problem here is that, whilst the dictionary is bi-directional, relatively cheap, attractively packaged and – as was the case about 20 years ago – widely available anywhere that sold Gaelic books, it does not provide a context for its entries. Hence, in the example that you’ve given – “eagle” – the translations given are iolair(e) [the standard term]. fir-eun [‘man-bird’ – a poetic term but in any event limited only to certain types of eagle] or a’ bhratach Ròmanach [‘the Roman standard’ – only relevant in an extremely specialised context]. It’s the lack of provision of contexts that is the problem here, coupled with the fact that a lot of unsuspecting learners buy it, although it is not suitable for beginners because of this lack of context.
However, MacLennan is not entirely without its uses. I’m writing to you here on this very interesting website because I was led here after searching earlier today for an online copy of MacLennan: I was needing to check the Gaelic spelling of the Latin months of the year (you know, where the classical calendar is used as opposed to the ‘revivalist’ calendar, so “Ianuari”, “Feabruari” etc. versus “am Faoilleach”, “an Gearran” etc.). As far as I can recall, only MacLennan has the Gaelic spelling of the Latin months. So, MacLennan does have its uses, if your interests are ‘specialist’ (like mine are today) and you know exactly what you are looking are. But not for beginners – thoiribh an aire (careful)!
Is mise le meas,
Eòghann
A very interesting review, tapadh leibh! I wish I had had access to this blog post nearly thirty years ago. Like many, I started on MacLennan, though I did find many of the very old words interesting. I wouldn’t recommend it to beginners, and am also horrified by the idea that he might have made things up. I am currently using a hardback copy of Angus Watson’s Faclair as a desk reference, and have an updated copy of Dwelly making its way to me by post. Also found the dictionary that accompanies TY Gaelic very good for starters. I enjoyed reading this, thanks again!
David
‘Se do bheatha!
does the dwelly dictionary have pronunciations? thank you
No, it does not. The dictionary at the site http://www.LearnGaelic.scot contains pronunciation soundfiles, however.
What about a purely Gaelic dictionary? Bilingual dictionaries are useful and necessary, but at a certain point native language dictionaries – like Larousse (French) or DLE-RAE (Spanish) – offer a more comprehensive lexicon and work to develop fluency & vocabulary by defining words using the concepts and grammar of the language itself.
Are there “purely” Gàidhlig dictionaries you would recommend?
Yes, there is one, it’s called Brìgh nam Facal and it’s definitely worth getting once you get to that point! Here’s a link to purchase: https://gaelicbooks.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=55&search=brigh+nam+facal
Morán taing!
Quick reply to myself:
I installed “Faclair na sgoile” as an app on my phone. It’s small but useful and is already helping me immerse myself. I force myself to look up words I don’t know in Gàidhlig first, then to look up words I don’t know in the definition – then I compare what I understood with an English translation. Over time the English just serves to “confirm” more and more words and imy operating inside a “builgean Gàidhlig”. A more comprehensive physical volume reference is still in my plans. Tha mi ag iarraidh faclair Gàidhlig.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.storlann.faclair
Great strategy, thank you! I just found the Faclair na Sgoile in the Apple App Store too! (How did I never see it there before?)
The comments here are fascinating. One question I have is whether there’s ever been an agreed way to hyphenate Gaelic words in a printed text. Some English dictionaries have indications but I’ve never seen a Gaelic one do so.
Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your comment! That’s an excellent question, and the answer is, not really! It is “not preferred” to hyphenate Gaelic words in a printed text, because hyphens are already used in so many Gaelic words. Having said that, as the editor I had a long discussion with the translator of Anna Ruadh, the Gaelic translation of Anne of Green Gables, because there were a few pages in the book where hyphenating a single word made an entire long paragraph look much better on the page (and oddly enough, most of the time that word was “a’ smaoineachadh”!). In every case, I placed the hyphen after the root word, the imperative “smaoin.” In addition to using that as a rule (hyphen after the root word), I also would *not* follow the traditional English rule of placing a hyphen to split double letters, since double letters play a different role in the Gaelic spelling system than they do in the English one.
One more important thing to note, Michael Bauer has actually recently developed a method of Gaelic hyphenation for apps — sorry Michael, I’ve forgotten the details which you told me! — and I still need to review and figure out how to install in my copy of InDesign! So it would be accurate to say that Michael himself has developed a set of logical and coherent rules for hyphenation in Gaelic. However, those rules are not incorporated into GOC (Gaelic Orthographic Conventions). I hope that some day they will be!
I know this question and Emily’s reply is about hyphenating a word at the end of a line, to the next line, and I thoroughly agree with not splitting double letters ( it would lead to misinterpretations / mispronunciations ).
A side comment on a different sort of word splitting and hyphenating is the one in the book I’ve just finished reading ” Buile Shuibhne ” ( The Madness of Sweeney ) by Uilleam Néill. It refers to not hyphenating in the text words which might usually be spelt with one: I.E: Banrighinn, deannruith, dlúthdhoire, etc… “.
To anyone puzzled by this, I must say that 1) it seems to be a peculiarity of the author’s choice, of his ” translation ” / ” reinterpretation ” of the Irish myth 2) this text is in the older type of spelling anyway.
Anyone interested in the actual note, ask back and I’ll reproduce it here.
A Mhìcheil, a charaid, to answer your question about hyphenation (at least in part), here is my summary, based on years of observation and experience:
– being frank and honest upfront, I have never seen a comprehensive review or summary of guidelines for hyphenation in Scottish Gaelic (ScG); if one exists, I’ve yet to find it;
– the Gaelic Orthographic Conventions (GOC), in their various iterations from the 1980s, do not to my memory cover hyphenation in a comprehensive way; what they do cover is the use of the hyphen as a way of joining particle words on to the remainder of words (particularly adverbs), which is something that GOC recommends (hence an diugh > an-diugh; a màireach > a-màireach; a mach > a-mach etc.);
– with some prefixes (like ban- to indicate femininity), you are faced with a choice (and the ultimate choice seems often to be left to the author – I can’t remember whether GOC has anything to say on this particular topic); so, with a word like ban- (‘she-‘) and righ (‘king’) to yield ban-righ (‘queen ’), there are potentially three ways of dealing with this: (1) keep the prefix and the main part of the noun separate and hyphenate in between, hence ban-righ; (2) join the prefix and the main part of the noun together, with no spelling changes otherwise (this emphasises the fact that you are dealing with a compound, but may violate the spelling rule): banrigh, or (3) join the prefix and the main part of the noun together, adjusting the prefix to the requirements of the spelling rule (this emphasises that the word is a compound, and satisfies the spelling rule, but may cause the compound to be pronounced slightly differently from its constituent parts due to slenderisation, in addition to any lenition requirements): bainrigh.
(See also ban- plus tighearna (‘lord’) to yield ‘lady’: ban-tighearna, bantighearna or baintighearna.)
– when it comes to compounding, Irish Gaelic (IrG) seems to be a lot more forgiving than ScG in joining words together without hyphenation, even if that means violating the spelling rule (the fact that it is a compound seems in IrG to trump the spelling rule): ardsgoil (IrG) / àrd-sgoil (ScG) (‘high school’, ‘secondary school’); ardfhéis (IrG) / àrd-fhéis or àirdfhéis (ScG) (‘congress’ [of a political party]) / bándearg (IrG) / bàn-dearg or bàindearg (ScG) (‘pink’); státsheirbhis (IrG) / *stait-sheirbhis or *staitsheirbhis (ScG) (‘civil service’) [* = theoretical and may not in fact be used in practice]; crua[dh]ghul (IrG) / cruadh-ghul (ScG) (‘bitter crying’).
(If the author of the book that you are reading is inspired by Irish sources, then this may explain the lack of hyphenation in the book.)
– in addition to treatment of compounding, I have not seen anything in ScG that deals specifically with hyphenation as a means of internal word-separation; however, I agree with the sentiments expressed to date that doubled consonants should not (for obvious reasons) be separated but instead treated as indivisible digraphs: annasach (‘unusual’, ‘rare’), divided as anna-sach, and not as *an-nasach; ballachan (‘walls’), divided as balla-chan, rather than *bal-lachan.
Agus sin agad e!
The MacLennan:A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language: Not that bad.
I have had it for 4 decades in the 1985 ACAIR Aberdeen University Press hardback green cover edition. It is a concatenation of its predecessors MacAlpine’s pronouncing, MacBain’s etymological and MacEachan’s Gaelic-English dictionaries; so better / more complete than its predecessors, but also showing some defects and inconsistencies because of it ) : I do know, and I am sometimes frustrated about its defects ( especially in regard to the poor pronunciation system: It starts well in the introduction giving examples in the International Phonetic Alphabet, but the main text of the dictionary uses its own ” simplified ” system which is very inaccurate and where the same sound is sometimes represented by different symbols [ due to the said concatenation of different editions ), but I still find it useful for reference to older texts and books; on the other hand some of the newer dictionaries madden me with their ( badly adapted spellings ) borrowings from English as the main , or only, entry.
A good ” natural human ” alphabetical order is used in this dictionary counting only letters and ignoring spaces apostrophes hyphens and other punctuation marks, not the VERY CONFUSING computerized order ( where a a… to a u… is followed by a’ a…to a’ u… then a- a… to a- u… then an a… to an u… then abair … > onwards ). In the computerized order entries are in the order defects above resulting in the frustration of having constantly to ” jump from one page to the next. even the ” new ” Dwelly ” very unfortunately has been changed from the ” natural human ” order of the older editions to the ” new computerized ” system in the latest editions !). This dictionary avoid this and makes finding words easy.
For me who is interested in comparative Celtic and general linguistics, I find the etymological comments at the end of the definitions, very useful and interesting.
SPELLING: This uses the older spelling ( it was published before the reforms, so there can be variations with the newer type of spelling: just one instance: my MacLennan quotes ” morning ” as maduinn, when all met occurrences with me have been ” madainn “; and a few other words, but not an overwhelming difference.
The rich Gaelic origin vocabulary is a defect for some ( see some other reviews ) but, I must repeat here, I still find it useful for reference to older texts; on the other hand some of the newer dictionaries madden me with their ( badly adapted spellings ) borrowings from English as the main , or only, entry. It also contains a large number of the irregular grammatical forms of nouns , verbs, etc… in their alphabetical order, and also sometimes after the main root word, making it useful for both Gaelic text understanding and ( to a lesser extent ) for aiding correct English to Gaelic forming .
Some have said ” bin it “. I do not agree, and although aware and sometimes frustrated by its defects, much / over criticized by others, I still find it very useful in spite of its age.
PS: I also have the Geddes and Grosset pocket dictionary ( see my review of it above ) and the Dwelly unidirectional Gaelic to English ( in spite of its computerized alphabetical order( ! ) for its comprehensiveness of vocabulary, which is absolutely essential for any very literary / older / dialectal text or novel .
Slightly off-topic, but several people have commented on “computer order” vs “natural order”. Just for the record, there is no problem nowadays in getting the computer to sort words in natural order, taking proper account of spaces, accents, hyphens, apostrophes, etc. This ability came in with the Unicode Collation Algorithm, which dates from the 1990s. Use in the anglophone world has not been as good as it should have been, but these days there is no excuse for any publisher using the old-fashioned “computer” ordering.