Tracing Inspiration in Proverbial Material: From 'The Royal Dictionary' (1699 & 1729) of Abel Boyer to 'The English-Irish Dictionary' (1732) of Begley-McCurtin.

This metalexicographic study examines the relationship between the proverbial material in The English-Irish Dictionary (1732) of Begley and McCurtin, Abel Boyer’s The Royal Dictionary (First edition 1699, second edition 1729), and Nathaniel Bailey’s An Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721). It will show, for the first time, that both the English macrostructure and microstructure of the proverbial entries in Begley and McCurtin (1732) were reproduced directly from Boyer’s dictionary and, in spite of claims to the contrary, the impact of Bailey’s (1721) dictionary was negligible. Furthermore, empirical data gleaned from a comparative linguistic analysis of the various editions of The Royal Dictionary prior to 1732, will prove that it was the second official edition (1729) that was used as the framework for The English-Irish Dictionary. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the nature of the proverbial entries will also outline the various translation strategies that were used to compose the Irish material— particularly literal translation—and show that there are extremely high-levels of borrowings from Boyer (1729), both in terms of the English entries under the lemma, and the French entries in the comment.

The Blason Populaire: Slurs and Stereotypes in Irish Proverbial Material

This paper examines the concept of the blason populaire in a corpus of Irish-language proverbial material covering the period 1858-1952. It will demonstrate that the focus of these blasons populaires is primarily regional, as opposed to national or ethnic, and, furthermore, that such proverbs are usually jocular, descriptive, and benign, rarely exhibiting ethnic or racial slurs. The study identifies and analyses the most salient stereotypical characterizations, and the proverbial forms in which they appear.

Ábhar Seanfhoclach na Gaeilge mar fhoinse Blason Populaire

In this paper I will discuss the form and nature of blason populaire in the Irish language using the major dialectal collections of the early 20th Century as source corpora. I will outline a system of categorisation by which these expressions may be grouped together and examine the local, national and international blason populaire found in the Irish language. I will show that the most salient feature of Irish blason populaire is the lack of proverbial slurs and stereotypes about other countries and nations. Instead, the Irish appear to direct their derogatory humour and mockery at their own people and land; local regions and districts; well-known Irish families, the Catholic Church and, of course, the common trades of the period.

Syntactic Structures in Irish-Language Proverbs

In recent years, linguistic studies into the concept of ‘proverbiality’ have provided paremiologists with a more comprehensive understanding of the form and function of proverbial markers in a wide range of languages. Unfortunately, the Irish language has, until now, not featured in any of these linguistic analyses. This paper seeks to re-address this imbalance and to bring the unique structure and style of Irish-language proverbs to the attention of the international community of paremiologistsfor the first time. This research study applies the general methodology adopted by such scholars as Mahgoub (1948), Silverman-Weinreich (1978) and Arora (1984), toa corpus sample of Irish proverbs and provides both a qualitative and quantitative account of the most salient syntactic structures contained in Irish-language proverbs. Proverbial patterns as well as the collocation of proverbial markers are also discussed.

Translation as an Evaluative Concept

Testing the hypothesis that the concept of translation is evaluative rather than merely descriptive, Blumczyński analyses its increasingly popular use in three areas: political discourse, life writing and biomedical publications. He argues that translation as an evaluative concept is concerned with profound rather than superficial issues: to translate something is to assert its significance and value. At the same time, translation brings to the surface real and authentic things, producing its therapeutic value: it makes us more visible to ourselves, exposes pretences and thus brings relief. Finally, translation delivers on its own ethical imperative by breaking the spell of proverbial good intentions and bringing things to completion.