About
"Irish Proverb" is a collective attribution referring to Irish proverbs, called seanfhocail (literally "old word"). The earliest traceable manuscript example, "Aithnighter cara i gcrutan" ("A friend is known in hardship"), appears in the Milan glosses of the early 9th century. The largest systematic collection was the Schools' Folklore Scheme (1937–1938), in which approximately 50,000 schoolchildren gathered proverbs and oral lore from older generations; the manuscripts are housed at the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, and digitised at dúchas.ie. The National Library of Ireland holds several manuscript collections, including those submitted to Douglas Hyde for Oireachtas Competition No. 8.
Major works
- Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable (2004)dictionary
Key milestones
- 800Earliest traceable Irish proverb in the Milan glosses.
- 1937Launch of the Schools' Folklore Scheme, a massive collection of proverbs by 50,000 schoolchildren.
- 2004Publication of Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase and Fable.
Themes
Folk wisdomFriendshipHardshipOral traditionCeltic heritage
Sources: duchas.ie · catalogue.nli.ie · find.library.duke.edu