Delighted to be involved in the networking project ‘Developing a Digital Framework for the Medieval Gaelic World’, which has been awarded joint UK-IRL funding. Led by David Stifter (Maynooth) and Greg Toner (QUB), other collaborators include Maynooth’s ‘Medieval Irish Medicine’ project, UCC's CELT project, DIAS's ISOS project, the British Library, the Royal Irish Academy, the National Library of Scotland and Faclair na Gàidhlig.
http://research.ie/2020/07/27/12-new-uk-ireland-digital-humanities-collaborations-announced/

A reminder that we'll be holding our own #HiddenHeritage event this Friday (31 July). Completely FREE and ONLINE (so open to anyone, anywhere), in a short presentation and interactive quiz, we'll be delving into names, legends and historical records to tell the 'Horrible Histories of Lough Neagh'. Intended to be fun and informative and suitable for older children and adults, so you can play along with the family! You need to register to receive a link to the livestream:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/horrible-histories-of-lough-neagh-tickets-114453575726

To celebrate #HertitageWeek, we're running a FREE ONLINE event, exploring the darker history of #LoughNeagh through names, legends & historical records. Entitled 'Horrible Histories of Lough Neagh', this is a short presentation and interactive quiz in which anyone, anywhere can take part! It's on Friday, 31 July, at 7pm. Suitable for older children as well as adults, so should be fun to play along with family. You'll need to register through the link below to receive further details. Please join us!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/horrible-histories-of-lough-neagh-tickets-114453575726

Demonstrating that 'A History of Ireland in 100 Words' has an entry for every occasion, Greg Toner takes a fascinating look at cleanliness, washing and bathing in the days before Covid-19! 💦

Interested in all things grim, gory, supernatural and weird?

For National Heritage Week, we'll be joining up with the Northern Ireland Place Name Project and Unlocking the Vikings to explore #horriblehistories and #horriblestories. This series of social media posts culminates in an online, interactive quiz on 'The Horrible Histories of Lough Neagh'. Anyone, anywhere, can play along in this family-friendly event and help us investigate names, legends and historical records to catch glimpses of medieval lives lived in and around the lough. More details very soon...

https://www.heritageweek.ie/project-ideas/horrible-histories-of-lough-neagh

We had hoped to be touring our exhibition based on 'A History of Ireland in 100 Words' this year but have had to postpone to a later date. In the meantime, we have made the text and some of the images available online. Not as stunning as the real thing, but a nice taster of what's to come when the world is well again...

Always fantastic Máire Ní Mhaonaigh looks at some more of the illustrations in 'A History of Ireland in 100 Words' and explains why the sheep is half-shorn and why the bees are socially distancing 😀

Telling the stories behind some of the images in 'A History of Ireland in 100 Words' (also struggling with words, trying to look at the camera, 'lockdown hair' ... 😃). If you were wondering about the relationship between the illustrations and the text, though, you might enjoy this!

Teachers and former teachers who signed up for the introductory session of our project on schools' resources should have received an invitation from Teams. Please let us know if that hasn't come through or if Teams doesn't work for you! Thank you.

In our second short video for today's British Academy Summer Showcase, I look at how Irish acquired words for cups, castles and herbs. Thanks to Máire Ní Mhaonaigh for the opportunity to take part in this, and to the Royal Irish Academy and illustrator Joe McLaren for the images. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQMLnaUwgng

Delighted to be able to bring Irish to the British Academy Summer Showcase today! In the first video in our series 'Changing Words, Changing Worlds', Prof. Máire Ní Mhaonaigh covers foreigners and French hens in three and a half information-packed minutes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAEf7_OvP7E&t=20s

Tremendously grateful to those who have responded already to our call for teachers. We couldn't have dared to hope for such a diverse, experienced & invested group. Still room for more, though, so if you're interested, please drop me a line at sja50@cam.ac.uk. More details ⤵️

We are very fortunate to be involved in this year's British Academy (Virtual) Summer Showcase. We'll have some videos to post at the weekend and, as an introduction to those, Prof. Máire Ní Mhaonaigh has written a short blog about 'functional multilingualism', the them-and-us attitude sometimes conveyed in the words 'Gall' and 'Gael', and what is meant by Irish 'máthair chruaidh'. It's an excellent, quick read and definitely time well-spent! ⤵️

https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/summer-showcase-2020-words-12th-century-text-reveal-multilingual-medieval-world/

Teacher? Upper primary or secondary? In Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland? We’re forming a cohort of teaching professionals to advise on the creation of schools’ resources. We would be delighted if you could join us…

The resources will be aimed mainly at students in the 11-18 age-group and target subjects are, in the first instance, Irish, History, Geography and Religious Studies. The materials will be made available in English and in Irish and we envisage that some will take their starting-point from the book ‘A History of Ireland in 100 Words’.

At present, we are seeking to make contact with current and former teachers and teachers-in-training who are willing to share ideas and, if possible, trial materials in the classroom.

To enable us to start work, we are planning to hold an introductory session on Tuesday, 30 June, 2-3.30pm. There will be three further small-group meetings over the summer. We would be delighted if you could join us.

To sign up to join the introductory session or for more information, please send an email to sja50@cam.ac.uk.

This project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, based at the Univeristy of Cambridge and in partnership with the Royal Irish Academy, University College Cork and others.

Delighted that our project 'Spreading the Word(s): Engaging with eDIL' has won funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Led by Professor Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, the new project will be based at the University of Cambridge and will begin on 1st June. We'll be creating teaching resources, developing a new touring exhibition, hosting a range public events (some online), reviving Word of the Week, and doing much, much more! Opportunities to get involved will be announced very soon.

As you might know, we have a touring exhibition based on the book 'A History of Ireland in 100 Words'. Activities related to that have had to be postponed for the time being, but while you wait to see the exhibition 'in real life', you can enjoy the digital version now by following the link below. Hope to see many of you very soon!

https://www.ria.ie/history-ireland-10-words-touring-exhibition

Remember when we asked you to send in your favourite Irish word to be entered into our prize draw to win a '100 Words' goodie bag and signed books? We gathered all the words submitted on Facebook and Twitter and you can download the complete list and see your own entry at the link below. If you like, you can even read my own thoughts on the Irish words we love most! Enormous thanks again to all who contributed and made the competition such a rewarding experience ❤️

https://www.ria.ie/news/publications-focloir-stairiuil-na-gaeilge/ria100words-search-our-favourite-irish-words

All at eDIL are deeply saddened to hear of the untimely passing of Prof. Richard Sharpe who launched eDIL 2019 on 30th August 2019. He was a dear friend and great supporter and we extend our sympathy to all those close to him and to his many friends.

Photo: Dr Elizabeth Boyle

Huge congratulations to Úna Cregan whose name was pulled from the hat this morning as one of the runners-up in our draw 🥳🤩 Úna wins a signed copy of the 'History of Ireland in 100 Words' book. Please contact Valeria at publications@ria.ie to make arrangements.

Úna suggested UILECHUMHACHTACH ‘omnipotent, almighty’. Our outright winner was @TeresaBreathna2 who gave us SEIFT ‘expedient, resource’. Other runners-up and their favourite words:

@Cearbhailleach CODARSNACHT ‘contrariety, contrast’
@punchedmonet_BRIONGLÓID ‘dream’
@mariatjohnston GLIONDAR ‘gladness, joyfulness’

Thank you so much to everyone who entered. We will be commemorating all of you and your favourite words. Watch this space! Congrats again Úna; hope you enjoy it!

What’s a wicker boat got to do with hair-styles?

Cén bhaint atá ag curach le stíl ghruaige?

Some insights into the history of Irish hair to pass the time and maybe raise a smile:

https://www.ria.ie/news/publications-focloir-stairiuil-na-gaeilge/inside-history-ireland-100-words-gruaig

Sincere thanks to everyone who shared their favourite Irish word or made use of some Irish words on social media to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge and enter our draw for a '100 Words' goodie bag and signed books. We’re filling the hat with your names and we will announce the winners on Friday. It was an absolute pleasure to read your responses and see so much interest in the language at home and abroad. More soon...