Plé:Antoine Ó Raifteirí

It seems to me that there are many spellings for him. Which is correct?

Rafturaí - in some Japanese Gaelic-handbooks that I have.
Raifteirí - on some websites, ex. [1].
Raiftearaí - on some websites, ex. [2].
Raifteiri - on this article and some websites.

I'm confused... Is also Reachtabhra correct? Akio 18:58, 9 Már 2005 (UTC)

The correct version should be either pure English, "Anthony Raftery", or the version used in Ciarán Ó Coiglí's canonical collection of Raftery's poems, "Antoine Raiftearaí". "Raifteirí" has some currency too, but "Ó Raifteirí" is definitely neither Irish nor English. Gaelicizations include "Ó Reachtaire", "Ó Reachtúra" and "Ó Reachtabhra", but "Ó Raifteirí" should definitely not be used. Some day I'll rewrite the page using the information supplied by Ó Coiglí. Panu Petteri Höglund 20:25, 14 Deireadh Fómhair 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A Phanu - comhbhrón ar bhás do mháthar, rud a chualas ar an liosta Gaelic-L.

It seems the poet is popularly known since his own day as "Raifteirí" or "Raftery", or if you like "Raiftearaí", as all derive from his surname, which is properly in the original Irish "Ó Reachtabhra" to my knowledge (see Ó Tuama's Poems of the Dispossessed. It is unlikely he created the confusion himself, as he was blind ...le súile gan solas.

By this token , it is as wrong, and maybe more so, to put "Antoine Raifteirí", etc, as Antoine Ó Raifteirí. And if we allow for the vagaries of dialect, "Reachtabhra" may be pronounced "Raftery", etc. While consistency is important, we are fighting a few centuries of varied spelling here, all really versions of the same surname, which is a Gaelic one. Is "Ó Reachtabhra" a Gaelicization or just the proper spelling? Le meas Meabhar 21:48, 14 Deireadh Fómhair 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If I remember correctly, Ciarán Ó Coiglí commented upon a lot of alternative spellings in his Raftery anthology and ended up with Raiftearaí as the preferable one. When I find his book in this confusion, I'll take a look at his arguments and summarize them here. But I reckon he wrote "Ó Reachtabhra" and "Ó Reachtúra" off as unhistorical. I have even seen "Ó Reachtaire" somewhere. Panu Petteri Höglund 07:57, 16 Deireadh Fómhair 2006 (UTC)[reply]