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Uncover the secrets of our island in this engrossing look at
magical landmarks across the country. Travelling province by
province through Ireland, Manchán outlines the stories most
closely associated with each site, focussing on a specific beast or
creature from legend and highlighting a magical word or phrase in
Irish alongside.  Discover the dobharchú or water hound of
Achill Island; the enchanted sow Cailcheir of Sligo’s Keash
Caves; the Burren’s ollphéist or great serpent; the Caoránach
or hairy worm of Lough Derg; the one-eyed salmon of Ballyshannon;
and the man wolves of Ossory, County Kilkenny, amongst many
others. This stunning gift book is a feast for the eyes for
Manchán fans of all ages. Â
Rediscover the lost words of an ancient land in this new and
updated edition of an international bestseller. Most people
associate Britain and Ireland with the English language, a vast,
sprawling linguistic tree with roots in Latin, French, and German,
and branches spanning the world, from Australia and India to North
America. But the inhabitants of these islands originally spoke
another tongue. Look closely enough and English contains traces of
the Celtic soil from which it sprung, found in words like bog,
loch, cairn and crag. Today, this heritage can be found nowhere
more powerfully than in modern-day Gaelic. In Thirty-Two Words for
Field Manchán Magan explores the enchantment, sublime beauty and
sheer oddness of a 3000-year-old lexicon. Imbuing the natural world
with meaning and magic, it evokes a time-honoured way of life, from
its 32 separate words for a field, to terms like loisideach (a
place with a lot of kneading troughs), bróis (whiskey for a
horseman at a wedding), and iarmhaireacht (the loneliness you feel
when you are the only person awake at cockcrow). Told through
stories collected from Magan's own life and travels, Thirty-Two
Words for Field is an enthralling celebration of Irish words, and a
testament to the indelible relationship between landscape, culture
and language.
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