Life
1788-1812, b. Dublin, solicitor; learned Irish under pseud O’Hara;
Grammar of the Irish Language, 1808, under pseud. ‘Edmond O’Connell’.
Published 1st Vol. of a trans. of Foras Feasa, 1811; began compiling
an Irish dictionary. RR DIB OCIL
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Notes
William J. Maguire, Irish Literary Figures (1945), calls
him the son of Dublin tradesman; Irish scholar, and founder of Gaelic
Society; published one vol. of a trans. of Keating’s History of
Ireland with the Irish text on collateral pages and memoir of the
author; acknowledged by Edward Reilly in the pref. to his Irish Dictionary
(1821); In Transactions of the RIA, Vol. 15, 1882, ‘Sect.
on Polite Literature’, pp.3-88, sub tit. ‘Remarks on
the Irish Language, with a review of its Grammar, Glossaries, Vocabularies,
Dictionaries ... ‘, are remarks on Haliday by James Scurry under
the heading Uraicecht Na Gaedhilge, a Grammar of the Irish Language
(1808), octavo, pseud. ‘EOC’ but actually by William Haliday.
By this account, Haliday’s preface dedicates his Grammar to the Highland
Societies of Edinburgh and London, and earnestly entreats Irish and Scotch
to ‘unite their endeavours in reviving Gaelic as their common language
... concludes by an address, in the words of Hugh McCurtin, to the generous
natives of England to give us their confidence and affection. His short
introduction does equal honour to the head and heart of the writer.’
The Grammar consists of 1) Pronunciation and Orthography, 2)parts of Speech,
3) Syntax (following McCurtin in dividing the subject into Concord and
Government, 4) Prosody, in the manner of O’Molloy, Lluyd [sic] and
Vallancey, 5) Contractions and Ogham, followed by a ‘vocabulary of
the Gaelic Language.’ [Quotes from Scurry]. (Maguire, op. cit., p.86-88.)
Listed as William Halliday [sic] in Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica:
Irish Worthies (1821), Vol. II, p.289.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)