19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
comprehensive but outdated: not for beginners, 28 Aug 2000
By Jason P. Sorens "Political Scientist" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary, to Which is Prefixed a Concise Gaelic Grammar (Paperback)
I found the "Faclair Gaidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan" in my high school library of all places and was so impressed by the beauty of the Gaelic language that I began learning it at once. Dwelly's dictionary is a massive tome, possibly including just about every Gaelic word in existence at the time. The place and family names reference in the back is also quite interesting.
That having been said, this dictionary is outdated in a lot of ways. It uses the old orthography with acute accents and lots of apostrophes in odd places. Also, it lacks an English-Gaelic section, which reduces the value-for-price ratio for the Gaelic learner, who is often attempting to translate his English thoughts into Gaelic. In my view, all a learner needs is Owen's "Modern Gaelic to English Dictionary" and Thomson's "New English to Gaelic Dictionary."
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
wonderful asset for gaelic hounds, 25 July 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary (Hardcover)
For this price...buy it, buy two...I paid four times that and would pay it again...all the illustrations...names of old herbs...modernized Gaelic family names reverted to old spelling and hence old meaning...a treasure
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
still a definitive resource, 9 April 2000
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary, to Which is Prefixed a Concise Gaelic Grammar (Paperback)
Although it is a fairly old dictionary, it remains one of the three most valuable reference dictionaries for the Gaelic language. It was compiled at a time when many of the old speakers were still alive, and so it contains a lot of information about what Gaelic was like when there were more and larger Gaelic speaking communities in Scotland. This is an excellent price for it, too. If you are looking for a Gaelic-English dictionary containing many of the older words no longer put in new dictionaries or just for a useful reference tool, this is an excellent investment.