Terence Dolan


Terence Dolan was an Irish lexicographer and radio personality. He was professor of Old and Middle English in the School of English and Drama at University College Dublin. He acted as the School's Research Co-ordinator, and was the director of the Hiberno-English Archive website. He appeared weekly on Seán Moncrieff's radio show on Newstalk 106. Podcasts of his appearances are available from Newstalk's website.

Life

Dolan was born in London of Irish parents, both of whom hailed from County Cavan. He was formerly a Hastings Senior Scholar of The Queen's College, Oxford. He was twice the National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Visiting Professor of the Humanities, University of Richmond, Virginia. He was a director of the international James Joyce summer school, Dublin. He is perhaps best known for his Dictionary of Hiberno-English which gives a comprehensive account of the English language as it is spoken in Ireland.

Illness and death

Dolan suffered a stroke in February 2008, and began a period of recuperation. He left Tallaght Hospital on 15 December 2008. He talked to Seán Moncrieff's about this experience, and also about the origins of medical words and about writing a book about the first hand experience of having a stroke and the recovery. He died on 20 April 2019.

Research interests

Dolan performed research in medieval English literature, Hiberno-English, lexicography, and James Joyce.

Selected publications