ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT
IN IRELAND.
ENGLISH AS WE SPEAI^ IT
IN IRELAND
P. W. JOYCE, LLD., T.O.D., M.R.I.A.
One of the Commissioners for the Publication of the Ancient Laws of Ireland
Late Principal of the Government Training College,
Marlbcrough Street, Dublin
Late President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland
THE LIFE OF A PEOPLE IS PICTURED IN THEIR SPEECH.
LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
DUBLIN: M. H. GILL & SON, LTD.
1910 . i\ b
PEEFACE.
THIS book deals with the Dialect of the English
Language that is spoken in Ireland.
As the Life of a people — according to our
motto — is pictured in their speech, our picture
ought to be a good one, for two languages were
concerned in it — Irish and English. The part
played by each will be found specially set forth
in Chapters IV and VII ; and in farther detail
throughout the whole book.
The articles and pamphlets that have already
appeared on this interesting subject — which are
described below — are all short. Some are full of
keen observation ; but very many are mere lists
of dialectical words with their meanings. Here
for the first time — in this little volume of mine —
our Anglo-Irish Dialect is subjected to detailed
analysis and systematic classification.
I have been collecting materials for this book
for more than twenty years ; not indeed by way
of constant work, but off and on as detailed below.
The sources from which these materials were
directly derived are mainly the following.
First. — My own memory is a storehouse both
of idiom and vocabulary ; for the good reason
that from childhood to early manhood I spoke —
like those among whom I lived — the rich dialect
VI PREFACE.
of. Limerick and Cork — and indeed to some
extent speak it still in the colloquial language of
everyday life.
I have also drawn pretty largely on our Anglo-
Irish Folk Songs of which I have a great
collection, partly in my memory and partly on
printed sheets ; for they often faithfully reflect
our Dialect.
Second. — Eighteen years ago (1892) I wrote a
short letter which was inserted in nearly all the
Irish newspapers and in very many of those
published outside Ireland, announcing my inten-
tion to write a book on Anglo-Irish Dialect, and
asking for collections of dialectical words and
phrases. In response to this I received a very
large number of communications from all parts
of Ireland, as well as from outside Ireland, even
from America, Australia, and New Zealand — all
more or less to the point, showing the great and
widespread interest taken in the subject. Their
importance of course greatly varied ; but many
were very valuable. I give at the end of the
book an alphabetical list of those contributors :
and I acknowledge the most important of them
throughout the book.
Third. — The works of Irish writers of novels,
stories, and essays depicting Irish peasant life in
which the people are made to speak in dialect.
Some of these are mentioned in Chapter I.,
and others are quoted throughout the book as
occasion requires.
PKEFACE. Vll
Fourth. — Printed articles and pamphlets on
the special subject of Anglo-Irish Dialect. Of
these the principal that I have come across are
the following : —
' The Provincialisms of Belfast and Surround-
ing District pointed out and corrected/ by David
Patterson. (1860.)
' Remarks on the Irish Dialect of the English
Language/ by A. Hume, D.C.L. and LL.D. (1878.)
' A Glossary of Words in use in the Counties
of Antrim and Down/ by Wm. Hugh Patterson,
M.R.I.A. (1880) — a large pamphlet — might indeed
be called a book.
' Don't, Pat/ by ' Colonel O'Critical ' : a very
good and useful little pamphlet, marred by a silly
title which turns up perpetually through the whole
pamphlet till the reader gets sick of it. (1885.)
' A List of Peculiar "Words and Phrases at one
time in use in Armagh and South Donegal ' :
by D. A. Simmons. (1890.) This List was anno-
tated by me, at the request of Mr. Simmons, who
was, at or about that time, President of the Irish
National Teachers' Association.
A Series of Six Articles on The Unf/lish in
Ireland by myself, printed in ' The Educational
Gazette'; Dublin. (1890.)
' The Anglo-Irish Dialect/ by the Rev .William
Burke (an Irish priest residing in Liverpool) ;
.published in * The Irish Ecclesiastical Record '
for 1896. A judicious and scholarly essay, which
I have very often used.
Vlll PREFACE.
' The Irish Dialect of English ; its Origins and
Vocabulary.' By Mary Hay den, M.A., and Prof.
Marcus Hartog (jointly) : published in ' The
Fortnightly Eeview ' (1909: April and May).
A thoughtful and valuable essay. Miss Hayden
knows Irish well, and has made full use of her
knowledge to illustrate her subject. Of this
article I have made much use.
Besides these there were a number of short
articles by various writers published in Irish
newspapers within the last twenty years or so,
nearly all of them lists of dialectical words used
in the North of Ireland.
In the Introduction to the ' Biglow Papers/
Second Series, James Russell Lowell has some
valuable observations on modern English dia-
lectical words and phrases derived from Old
English forms, to which I am indebted for much
information, and which will be found acknow-
ledged through this book : for it touches my
subject in many places. In this Introduction
Mr. Lowell remarks truly : — ' It is always worth
while to note down the erratic words or phrases
one meets with in any dialect. They may
throw light on the meaning of other words, on
the relationship of languages, or even history
itself.'
Of all the above I have made use so far as
served my purpose — always with acknowledgment.
Fifth. For twenty years or more I have kept
a large note-book lying just at my hand; and
PKEFACE. JX
whenever any peculiar Irish-English expression,
or anything bearing on the subject, came before
me — from memory, or from reading, or from
hearing it in conversation — down it went in the
manuscript. In this way an immense mass of
materials was accumulated almost imperceptibly.
The vast collection derived from all the above
sources lay by till early last year, when I
went seriously to work at the book. But all
the materials were mixed up — three-na-haila —
' through-other ' — and before a line of the book
was written they had to be perused, selected,
classified, and alphabetised, which was a very
heavy piece of work.
A number of the Irish items in the great
' Dialect Dictionary' edited for the English Dialect
Society by Dr. Joseph Wright were contributed
by me and are generally printed with my initials.
I have neither copied nor avoided these — in fact
I did not refer to them at all while working at
my book — and naturally many — perhaps most —
of them reappear here, probably in different words.
But this is quite proper ; for the Dialect Dic-
tionary is a book of reference — six large volumes,
very expensive — and not within reach of the
general public.
Many of the words given in this book as
dialectical are also used by the people in the
ordinary sense they bear in standard English;
such as break : — ' Poor Tom was broke yesterday'
(dialect : dismissed from employment) : ' the bowl
X PREFACE.
fell on the flags and was broken in pieces ' (correct
English) : and dark : ' a poor dark man ' (dialect :
blind) : ' a dark night ' (correct English).
This is essentially a subject for popular treat-
ment ; and accordingly I have avoided technical
and scientific details and technical terms : they
are not needed.
When a place is named in connexion with a
dialectical expression, it is not meant that the
expression is confined to that place, but merely
that it is, or was, in use there.
P. W. J.
DUBLIN : March, 1910.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page-
I. SOURCES OF ANGLO-IRISH DIALECT, . . 1
II. AFFIRMING-, ASSENTING, AND SALUTING, . 9
III. ASSERTING BY NEGATIVE OF OPPOSITE, . . 16
IV. IDIOMS DERIVED FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE, 23
V. THE DEVIL AND HIS ' TERRITORY,' . . 56
VI. SWEARING, 66
VII. GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION, ... 74
VIII. PROVERBS, 105
IX. EXAGGERATION AND EEDUNDANCY, . .120
X. COMPARISONS, . . . . . .136
XI. THE MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OF OLD CUSTOMS, 143
XII. A VARIETY OF PHRASES, .... 185
XIII. VOCABULARY AND INDEX, .... 20J)
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PERSONS WHO SENT
COLLECTIONS OF DIALECTICAL WORDS AND
PHRASES, ...... 353
ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND,
CHAPTER I.
SOURCES OF ANGLO-IRISH DIALECT.
OUR Anglo-Irish dialectical words and phrases are
derived from three main sources : —
First : the Irish language.
Second : Old English and the dialect of Scotland.
Third: independently of these two sources, dia-
lectical expressions have gradually grown up among
our English-speaking people, as dialects arise every-
where.
In the following pages whenever a word or a
phrase is not assigned to any origin it is to be
understood as belonging to this third class : — that is
so far as is known at present ; for I have no doubt
that many of these will be found, after further
research, to be either Irish-Gaelic or Old English.
It is to be also observed that a good many of the
dialectical expressions given in this book as belong-
ing to Ireland may possibly be found current in
England or in Scotland or in both. But that is no
reason why they should not be included here.
Influence of Irish,
The Irish language has influenced our Irish-
English speech in several ways. To begin with : it
2 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. I.
has determined the popular pronunciation, in certain
combinations, of three English consonants, t, d, and
th, but in a way (so far as t and d are concerned) that
would not now be followed by anyone even mode-
rately well educated. The sounds of English t and
d are not the same as those of the Irish t and d ;
and when the people began to exchange the Irish
language for English, they did not quite abandon the
Irish sounds of these two letters, but imported them
into their English, especially ivhen they came before r.
That is why we hear among the people in every part
of Ireland such vulgarisms as (for t} bitther, butther,
thrtte ; and (for d} laddher (ladder), cidher (cider),
foddher, &c. Yet in other positions we sound these
letters correctly, as in fat, football, u-hite; bad, hide,
wild, &c. No one, however uneducated, will mispro-
nounce the t and d in such words as these. Why it is
that the Irish sound is retained before r and not in
other combinations — why for instance the Irish
people sound the t and d incorrectly in platter and
drive [platther, dhrive] and correctly in plate and
dit-e — is a thing I cannot account for.
As for the English th, it may be said that the
general run of the Irish people never sound it at all ;
for it is a very difficult sound to anyone excepting a
born Englishman, and also excepting a small pro-
portion of those born and reared on the east coast
of Ireland. It has two varieties of sound, heard in
bath and bathe : and for these two our people use the
Irish t and d, as heard in the words given above.
A couple of centuries ago or more the people had
another substitute for this th (in bathe) namely d,
which held its place for a considerable time, and this
CH. I.] SOURCES OF ANGLO-IRISH DIALECT. 8
sound was then considered almost a national charac-
teristic ; so that in the song of ' Lillibulero ' the
English author of the song puts this pronunciation
all through in the mouth of the Irishman : — ' Dere
was an ould prophecy found in a bog.' It is still
sometimes heard, but merely as a defect of speech of
individuals : — ' De books are here : dat one is yours
and dis is mine.' Danny Mann speaks this way all
through Gerald Griffin's ' Collegians.'
There was, and to a small extent still is, a similar
tendency— though not so decided— for the other sound
of th (as in bath) : — ' I had a hot bat this morning ;
and I remained in it for tirty minutes ' : ' I tink it
would be well for you to go home to-day.'
Another influence of the Irish language is on the
letter s. In Irish, this letter in certain combinations
is sounded the same as the English sh ; and the
people often — though not always — in similar com-
binations, bring this sound into their English : —
' He gave me a blow of his JlsJit ' ; ' he was whishliny
St. Patrick's Day ' ; ' Kilkenny is sickshty miles from
this.' You hear this sound very often among the
more uneducated of our people.
In imitation of this vulgar sound of s, the letter
z often comes in for a similar change (though there
is no such sound in the Irish language). Here the
z gets the sound heard in the English words glazier,
brazier : — ' He bought a dozlien eggs ' ; ' 'tis dnzzhlin;/
rain ' ; ' that is dizhmal news.'
The second way in which our English is influenced
by Irish is in vocabulary. When our Irish fore-
fathers began to adopt English, they brought with
them from their native language many single Irish
B2
4 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. I.
words and used them — as best suited to express what
they meant — among their newly acquired English
words ; and these words remain to this day in the
current English of their descendants, and will I
suppose remain for ever. And the process still goes
on — though slowly — for as time passes, Irish words
are being adopted even in the English of the best
educated people. There is no need to give many
examples here, for they will be found all through
this book, especially in the Vocabulary. I will
instance the single word galore (plentiful) which
you will now often see in English newspapers and
periodicals. The adoption of Irish words and
phrases into English nowadays is in great measure
due to the influence of Irishmen resident in England,
who write a large proportion — indeed I think the
largest proportion — of the articles in English perio-
dicals of every kind. Other Irish words such as
shamrock, whiskey, bother, blarney, are now to be found
in every English Dictionary. Smithereens too (broken
bits after a smash) is a grand word, and is gaining
ground every day. Not very long ago I found it used
in a public speech in London by a Parliamentary
candidate — an Englishman ; and he would hardly
have used it unless he believed that it was fairly
intelligible to his audience.
The third way in which Irish influences our
English is in idiom : that is, idiom borrowed from
the Irish language. Of course the idioms were
transferred about the same time as the single words
of the vocabulary. This is by far the most inter-
esting and important feature. Its importance was
pointed out by me in a paper printed twenty years
CH. I.] SOURCES OF ANGLO-IRISH DIALECT. 5
ago, and it has been properly dwelt upon by Miss
Hayden and Professor Hartog in their recently
written joint paper mentioned in the Preface. Most
of these idiomatic phra.ses are simply translations
from Irish ; and when the translations are literal,
Englishmen often find it hard or impossible to under-
stand them. For a phrase may be correct in Irish,
but incorrect, or even unintelligible, in English when
translated word for word. Gerald Griffin has pre-
served more of these idioms (in 'The Collegians,' 'The
Coiner,' ' Tales of a Jury-room,' &c.) than any other
writer ; and very near him come Charles Kickham
(in ' Knocknagow '), Crofton Croker (in ' Fairy
Legends') and Edward Walsh. These four writers
almost exhaust the dialect of the South of Ireland.
On the other hand Carleton gives us the Northern
dialect very fully, especially that of Tyrone and
eastern Ulster ; but he has very little idiom, the
peculiarities he has preserved being chiefly in voca-
bulary and pronunciation.
Mr. Seumas MacManus has in his books faithfully
pictured the dialect of Donegal (of which he is a
native) and of all north-west Ulster.
In the importation of Irish idiom into English,
Irish writers of the present day are also making their
influence felt, for I often come across a startling
Irish expression (in English words of course) in
some English magazine article, obviously written
by one of my fellow-countrymen. Here I ought to
remark that they do this with discretion and common
sense, for they always make sure that the Irish idiom
they use is such as that any Englishman can under-
stand it.
6 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. I.
There is a special chapter (iv) in this book devoted
to Anglo-Irish phrases imported direct from Irish ;
but instances will be found all through the book.
It is safe to state that by far the greatest number
of our Anglo-Irish idioms come from the Irish
language.
Influence of Old English and of Scotch.
From the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, in
the twelfth century, colonies of English and of Welsh-
English people were settled in Ireland — chiefly in the
eastern part — and they became particularly numerous
in the time of Elizabeth, three or four centuries
ago, when they were spread all over the country.
When these Elizabethan colonists, who were nearly
all English, settled down and made friends with the
natives and intermarried with them, great numbers
of them learned to use] the Irish language ; while
the natives on their part learned English from the
newcomers. There was give and take in every place
where the two peoples and the two languages mixed.
And so the native Irish people learned to speak
Elizabethan English — the very language used by
Shakespeare ; and in a very considerable degree the
old Gaelic people and those of English descent retain
it to this day. For our people are very conservative
in retaining old customs and forms of speech. Many
words accordingly that are discarded as old-fashioned
— or dead and gone — in England, are still flourishing
— alive and well — in Ireland. They are now regarded
as vulgarisms by the educated — which no doubt they
are— but they are vulgarisms of respectable origin,
CH. I.] SOURCES OK ANGLO-HUSH DIALECT. 7
representing as they do the classical English of
Shakespeare's time.
Instances of this will be found all through the
book ; but I may here give a passing glance at such
pronunciations as tay for tea, sevare for severe, desaice
for deceive ; and such words as sliver, lief, aj'eard, &c.
— all of which will be found mentioned farther on in
this book. It may be said that hardly any of those
incorrect forms of speech, now called vulgarisms,
used by our people, were invented by them ; they are
nearly all survivals of usages that in former times
were correct — in either English or Irish.
In the reign of James I. — three centuries ago — a
large part of Ulster — nearly all the fertile land of
six of the nine counties — was handed over to new
settlers, chiefly Presbyterians from Scotland, the old
Catholic owners being turned off. These settlers of
course brought with them their Scotch dialect, which
remains almost in its purity among their descendants
to this day. This dialect, it must be observed, is
confined to Ulster, while the remnants of the Eliza-
bethan English are spread all over Ireland.
As to the third main source — the gradual growth
of dialect among our English-speaking people — it is
not necessary to make any special observations about
it here ; as it will be found illustrated all through
the book.
Owing to these three influences, we speak in
Ireland a very distinct dialect of English, which
every educated and observant Englishman perceives
the moment he sets foot in this country. It is most
marked among our peasantry ; but in fact none of
us are free from it, no matter how well educated.
8 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. I.
This does not mean that we speak bad English ; for
it is generally admitted that our people on the whole,
including the peasantry, speak better English —
nearer to the literary standard — than the corre-
sponding classes of England. This arises mainly —
so far as we are concerned — from the fact that for
the last four or five generations we have learned our
English in a large degree from books, chiefly through
the schools.
So far as our dialectical expressions are vulgar or
unintelligible, those who are educated among us
ought of course to avoid them. But outside this a
large proportion of our peculiar words and phrases
are vivid and picturesque, and when used with dis-
cretion and at the right time, give a sparkle to our
conversation ; so that I see no reason why we should
wipe them out completely from our speech so as to
hide our nationality. To be hypercritical here is
often absurd and sometimes silly.
I well remember on one occasion when I was
young in literature perpetrating a pretty strong
Hibernicism in one of my books. It was not for-
bidding, but rather bright and expressive : and it
passed off, and still passes off very well, for the book
is still to the fore. Some days after the publication,
a lady friend who was somewhat of a pedant and
purist in the English language, came to me with a
look of grave concern — so solemn indeed that it
somewhat disconcerted rne — to direct my attention to
the error. Her manner was absurdly exaggerated
considering the occasion. Judging from the serious
face and the voice of bated breath, you might almost
imagine that I had committed a secret murder and
CH. II.] AFFIRMING, ASSENTING, AND SALUTING. 9
that she had come to inform me that the corpse had
just been found.
CHAPTER II.
AFFIRMING, ASSENTING, AND SALUTING.
THE various Irish modes of affirming, denying, &c.,
will be understood from the examples given in
this short chapter better than from any general
observations.
The Irish riVl Id fos e [neel law fo-say : it isn't
day yet] is often used for emphasis in asseveration,
even when persons are speaking English ; but in
this case the saying is often turned into English.
' If the master didn't give Tim a tongue-dressing,
'tisn't day yet ' (which would be said either by day or
by night) : meaning he gave him a very severe
scolding. ' When I saw the mad dog running at me,
if I didn't get a fright, neel-laiv-fo-say.'
' I went to town yesterday in all the rain, and if I
didn't get a wetting there isn't a cottoner in Cork ' :
meaning I got a very great wetting. This saying is
very common in Munster ; and workers in cotton
were numerous in Cork when it was invented.
A very usual emphatic ending to an assertion is
seen in the following : — ' That horse is a splendid
animal and no mistake.'
1 I'll engage you visited Peggy when you were in
town ' : i.e. I assert it without much fear of con-
tradiction : I warrant. Much in the same sense
we use I'll go bail : — ' I'll go bail you never got that
10 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. II.
money you lent to Tom ' : ' An illigant song he could
sing I'll go bail ' (Lever) : ' You didn't meet your
linnet (i.e. your girl — your sweetheart) this evening
I'll go bail ' (Robert Dwyer Joyce in ' The Beauty
of the Blossom Gate ').
' I'll hold you ' introduces an assertion with some
emphasis : it is really elliptical : I'll hold you [a
wager : but always a fictitious wager]. I'll hold you
I'll finish that job by one o'clock, i.e. I'll warrant I
will — you may take it from me that I will.
The phrase ' if you go to that of it ' is often added
on to a statement to give great emphasis, amounting
almost to a sort of defiance of contradiction or oppo-
sition. ' I don't believe you could walk four miles
an hour ' : 'Oh don't you : I could then, or five
if you go to that of it ' : 'I don't believe that Joe Lee
is half as good a hurler as his brother Phil.' ' I can
tell you he is then, and a great deal better if you go
to that of it.1 Lowry Looby, speaking of St. Swithin,
says : — ' He was then, buried more than once if you
go to that of it.' (Gerald Griffin : ' Collegians ' :
Munster.)
'Is it cold outside doors?' Reply, 'Aye is it,'
meaning ' it is certainly.' An emphatic assertion
(after the Gaelic construction) frequently heard is
' Ah then, 'tis I that wouldn't like to be in that
fight.' ' Ah 'tis my mother that will be delighted.'
' What did he do to you ? ' ' He hit me with his
stick, so he did, and it is a great shame, so it is.'
' I like a cup of tea at night, so I do.' In the
South an expression of this kind is very often added
on as a sort of clincher to give emphasis. Similar
are the very usual endings as seen in these asser-
CH. II.] AFFIRMING, ASSENTING, AND SALUTING. 11
tions : — ' He is a great old schemer, that's what he
is ' : ' I spoke up to the master and showed him he
was wrong — I did begob.'
I asked a man one day : ' Well, how is the young
doctor going on in his new place ? ' and he replied
' Ah, how but well ' ; which he meant to be very
emphatic: and then he went on to give particulars.
A strong denial is often expressed in the fol-
lowing way : ' This day will surely be wet, so don't
forget your umbrella ' : ' What a fool I am ' : as
much as to say, ' I should be a fool indeed to go
without an umbrella to-day, and I think there's
no mark of a fool about me.' 'Now Mary don't
wait for the last train [from Howth] for there will be
an awful crush.' 'What a fool I'd be ma'am.' 'Oh
Mr. Lory I thought you were gone home [from
the dance] two hours ago ' : ' What a fool I am,'
replies Lory (' Knocknagow '), equivalent to ' I hadn't
the least notion of making such a fool of myself
while there's such fun here.' This is heard every-
where in Ireland, ' from the centre all round to the
sea.'
Much akin to this is Nelly Donovan's reply to
Billy Heffernan who had made some flattering
remark to her : — ' Arrah now Billy what sign of a
fool do you see on me ? ' (' Knocknagow.')
An emphatic assertion or assent : ' Yesterday was
very wet.' Reply: — 'You may say it was,' or 'you
may well say that.'
' I'm greatly afeard he'll try to injure me.' Answer :
— ' 'Tis fear for you ' (emphasis on for), meaning
' you have good reason to be afeard ' : merely a
translation of the Irish is eagal duitse.
12 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IBELAND. [CH. II.
' Oli I'll pay you what I owe you.' ' 'Tis a pity you
wouldn't indeed,' says the other, a satirical reply,
meaning ' of course you will and no thanks to you
for that ; who'd expect otherwise ?'
'I am going to the fair to-morrow, as I want to buy
a couple of cows.' Reply, ' I know,' as much as to
say 'I see,' 'I understand.' This is one of our
commonest terms of assent.
An assertion or statement introduced by the words
' to tell God's truth ' is always understood to be
weighty and somewhat unexpected, the introductory
words being given as a guarantee of its truth : — ' Have
you the rest of the money you owe me ready now
James ?' ' Well to tell God's truth I was not able
to make it all up, but I can give you £5.'
Another guarantee of the same kind, though not
quite so solemn, is ' my hand to you,' or ' I give you
my hand and word.' ' My hand to you I'll never
rest till the job is finished.' ' Come and hunt with
me in the wood, and my hand to you we shall soon
have enough of victuals for both of us.' (Clarence
Mangan in Ir. Pen. Journ.)
1 I've seen — and here 's ray hand to you I only say
what 's true—
A many a one with twice your stock not half so proud
as you.' (CLARKNCE MANGAN.)
' Do you know your Catechism ? ' Answer, ' What
would ail me not to know it ? ' meaning ' of course I
do — 'twould be a strange thing: if I didn't.' ' Do you
think you can make that lock all right ? ' 'Ah
what would ail me,' i.e., ' no doubt I can — of course
I can ; if I couldn't do that it would be a sure sign
CH. II.} AFFIRMING, ASSENTING, AND SALUTING. 18
that something was amiss with me — that something
ailed me.'
' Believe Tom and who'll believe you ' : a way of
saying that Tom is not telling truth.
An emphatic ' yes ' to a statement is often expressed
in the following way: — 'This is a real wet day.'
Answer, ' I believe you.' ' I think you made a good
bargain with Tim about that field.' ' I believe you I
did.'
A person who is offered anything he is very willing
to take, or asked to do anything he is anxious to do,
often answers in this way : — ' James, would you take
a glass of punch ?' or ' Tom, will you dance with my
sister in the next round ? ' In either case the answer
is, ' Would a duck swim ? '
A weak sort of assent is often expressed in this
way: — 'Will you bring Nelly's book to her when you
are going home, Dan ?' Answer, ' I don't mind,' or
' I don't mind if I do.'
To express unbelief in a statement or disbelief in
the usefulness or effectiveness of any particular line
of action, a person says ' that's all in my eye,' or
' 'Tis all in my eye, Betty Martin — 0 ' ; but this last
is regarded as slang.
Sometimes an unusual or unexpected statement is
introduced in the following manner, the introductory
words being usually spoken quickly : — ' Xon- do you
know what I'm going to tell you — that ragged old
chap has £200 in the bank.' In Derry they make
it — ' Now listen to what I'm going to say.'
In some parts of the South and West and North-
west, servants and others have a way of replying
to directions that at first sounds strange or even
14 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. II.
disrespectful : — ' Biddy, go up please to the drawing-
room and bring me down the needle and thread and
stocking you will find on the table.' ' That will do
ma'am,' replies Biddy, and off she goes and brings
them. But this is their way of saying ' yes ma'am,'
or ' Very well ma'am.
So also you say to the hotel-keeper : — ' Can I have
breakfast please to-morrow morning at 7 o'clock?'
' That will do sir.' This reply in fact expresses the
greatest respect, as much as to say, ' A word from you
is quite enough.'
' I caught the thief at my potatoes.' ' No, but did
you ?' i.e., is it possible you did so ? A very common
exclamation, especially in Ulster.
/ ' Oh man ' is a common exclamation to render an
assertion more emphatic, and sometimes to express
surprise : — ' Oh man, you never saw such a fine race
as we had.' In Ulster they duplicate it, with still the
same application : — ' Oh man-o-man that's great
rain.' ' Well John you'd hardly believe it, but I
got £5Q for my horse to-day at the fair.' Eeply,
' Oh man that's a fine price.'
' Never fear ' is heard constantly in many parts
of Ireland as an expression of assurance : — ' Now
James don't forget the sugar.' 'Never fear ma'am.'
' Ah never fear there will be plenty flowers in that
garden this year.' ' You will remember to have
breakfast ready at 7 o'clock.' 'Never fear sir,' mean-
ing ' making your mind easy on the point — it will be
all right.' Never fear is merely a translation of the
equally common Irish phrase; nd bi heagal art.
Most of our ordinary salutations are translations
from Irish. Go m-beannuighe Dia dhuit is literally
CH. II.] AFFIRMING, ASSENTING, AND SALUTING. 15
' May God bless you,' or ' God bless you ' which is a
usual salutation in English. The commonest of all
our salutes is ' God save you,' or (for a person enter-
ing "a house) ' God save all here ' ; and the response is
' God save you kindly ' (' Knocknagow ') ; where kindly
means ' of a like kind,' ' in like manner,' ' similarly.
Another but less usual response to the same saluta-
tion is, 'And you too,' which is appropriate. ('Knock-
nagow.') ' God save all here ' is used all over Ireland
except in the extreme North, where it is hardly
understood.
To the ordinary salutation, ' Good-morrow,' which
is heard everywhere, the usual response is ' Good-
morrow kindly." ' Morrow Wat,' said Mr. Lloyd.
' Morrow kindly,' replied Wat. (' Knocknagow.')
' The top of the morning to you ' is used everywhere,
North and South.
In some places if a woman throws out water at
night at the kitchen door, she says first, ' Beware of
the water,' lest the ' good people ' might happen to,
be passing at the time, and one or more of them
might get splashed.
A visitor coming in and finding the family at
dinner : — ' Much good may it do you.'
In very old times it was a custom for workmen on
completing any work and delivering it finished to
give it their blessing. This blessing was called abarta
(an old word, not used in modern Irish), and if it was
omitted the workman was subject to a fine to be
deducted from his hire equal to the seventh part of
the cost of his feeding. (Senchus Mdr and ' Cormac's
Glossary.') It was especially incumbent on women
to bless the work of other women. This custom,
which is more than a thousand years old, has
16 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAk IT IN IRELAND. [CH. III.
descended to our day ; for the people on coming up
to persons engaged in work of any kind always say
' God bless your work,' or its equivalent original in
Irish, Go m-beannu if/he Dia air bhur n-obair. (See my
< Social History of Ancient Ireland,' n., page 324.)
In modern times tradesmen have perverted this
pleasing custom into a new channel not so praise-
worthy. On the completion of any work, such as a
building, they fix a pole with a flag on the highest
point to ask the employer for his blessing, which
means money for a drink.
CHAPTER III.
ASSERTION BY NEGATIVE OF OPPOSITE.
ASSERTIONS are often made by using the negative of
the opposite assertion. ' You must be hungry now
Tom, and this little rasher will do you no harm,'
meaning it will do you good. An old man has tired
himself dancing and says : — ' A glass of whiskey will
do us no harm after that.' (Carleton.) A lady occupy-
ing a furnished house at the seaside near Dublin
said to the boy who had charge of the premises : —
' There may be burglars about here ; wouldn't it be
well for you to come and close the basement shutters
at night ? ' ' Why then begob ma'am 'twould be no
har-um.' Here is a bit of rustic information (from
Limerick) that might be useful to food experts : —
' Rye bread will do you good,
Barley bread w ill do you no harm,
Wheaten bread will sweeten your blood,
Oaten bread will strengthen your arm.'
CH. III.] ASSERTION BY NEGATIVE OF OPPOSITE. 17
This curious way of speaking, which is very general
among all classes of people in Ireland and in every
part of the country, is often used in the Irish language,
from which we have imported it into our English.
Here are a few Irish examples ; but they might be
multiplied indefinitely, and some others will be found
through this chapter. In the Irish tale called ' The
Battle of Gavra,' the narrator says : — [The enemy
slew a large company of our army] ' and that was no
great help to us.' In ' The Colloquy,' a piece much
older than ' The Battle of Gavra,' Kylta, wishing to
tell his audience that when the circumstance he is
relating occurred he was very young, expresses it by
saying [at that time] ' I myself was not old.'
One night a poet was grossly insulted : ' On the
morrow he rose and he was not thankful.' (From the
very old Irish tale called ' The Second Battle of
Moytura ' : Eev. Celt.)
Another old Irish writer, telling us that a certain
company of soldiers is well out of view, expresses it
in this way : — Nifhuil in cuire yan chleith, literally,
' the company is not without concealment.'
How closely these and other old models are imi-
tated in our English will be seen from the following
examples from every part of Ireland : —
' I can tell you Paddy Walsh is no chicken now,'
meaning he is very old. The same would be said of
an old maid : — ' She's no chicken,' meaning that she
is old for a girl.
' How are your potato gardens going on this year ? '
' Why then they're not too good ' ; i.e. only middling
or bad.
A usual remark among us conveying mild approval
c
18 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. III.
is ' that's not bad.' A Dublin boy asked me one day : —
' Maybe you wouldn't have e'er a penny that you'd
give me, sir ? ' i.e., ' Have you a penny to give me ?'
' You wouldn't like to have a cup of tea, would you ? '
An invitation, but not a cordial one. This is a
case of ' will you was never a good fellow ' (for which
see Vocabulary).
' No joke ' is often used in the sense of ' very
serious.' 'It was no joke to be caught in our boat
in such a storm as that.' ' The loss of £10 is no joke
for that poor widow.'
' As for Sandy he worked like a downright demolisher —
Bare as he is, yet his lick is no polisher.'
(THOMAS MOOKE in the early part of his career.)
You remark that a certain person has some fault,
he is miserly, or extravagant, or dishonest, &c. : and
a bystander replies, ' Yes indeed, and 'tisn't to-day
or yesterday it happened him' — meaning that it
is a fault of long standing.
A tyrannical or unpopular person goes away or
dies : — ' There's many a dry eye after him.' (Kil-
dare.)
' Did Tom do your work as satisfactorily as Davy ? '
' Oh, it isn't alike ' : to imply that Tom did the work
very much better than Davy.
1 Here is the newspaper ; and 'tisn't much you'll
find in it.'
' Is Mr. O'Mahony good to his people ?' ' Oh, indeed
he is no great things ' : or another way of sa}ing it : —
' He's no great shakes.' ' How do you like your new
horse ? ' « Oh then he's no great shakes ' — or ' he's
CH. III.] ASSERTION BY NEGATIVE OF OPPOSITE. 19
not much to boast of.' Lever has this in a song : —
' You think the Blakes are no great shakes.' But I
think it is also used in England.
A consequential man who carries his head rather
higher than he ought : — ' He thinks no small beer of
himself.'
Mrs. Slattery gets a harmless fall off the form
she is sitting on, and is so frightened that she
asks of the person who helps her up, ' Am I
killed ? ' To which he replies ironically — ' Oh there's
great fear of you.' (' Knocknagow.')
[Alice Ryan is a very purty girl] ' and she doesn't
want to be reminded of that same either.' (' Knock-
nagow.')
A man has got a heavy cold from a wetting and
says: ' That wetting did me no good,' meaning 'it did
me great harm.'
' There's a man outside wants to see you, sir,' says
Charlie, our office attendant, a typical southern
Irishman. ' What kind is he Charlie ? does he look
like a fellow wanting money ?' Instead of a direct
affirmative, Charlie answers, ' Why then sir I don't
think he'll give you much anyway.'
' Are people buried there now ? ' I asked of a man
regarding an old graveyard near Blessington in
Wicklow. Instead of answering ' very few,' he
replied : ' Why then not too many sir.'
When the roads are dirty — deep in mire — ' there's
fine walking overhead.'
In the Irish Life of St. Brigit we are told of a
certain chief : — 'It was not his will to sell the bond-
maid,' by which is meant, it was his will not to sell
her.
c2
20 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. III.
So in our modern speech the father says to the
son :^-' It is not my wish that you should go to
America at all,' by which he means the positive
assertion : — ' It is my wish that you should not go.'
Tommy says, ' Oh, mother, I forgot to bring you
the sugar.' ' I wouldn't doubt you,' answers the
mother, as much as to say, ' It is just what I'd expect
from you.'
When a message came to Eory from absent friends,
that they were true to Ireland : —
' " My sowl, I never doubted them " said Eory of
the hill.' (Charles Kickham.)
' It wouldn't be wishing you a pound note to do so
and so ' : i.e. ' it would be as bad as the loss of a pound,
or it might cost you a pound. Often used as a sort of
threat to deter a person from doing it.'
' Where do you keep all your money ? ' 'Oh, indeed,
it's not much 1 have ' : merely translated from the
Gaelic, Ni nwrdn aid agum.
To a silly foolish fellow: — ' There's a great deal of
sense outside your head.'
' The only sure way to conceal evil is not to do it.'
' I don't think very much of these horses,' meaning
' I have a low opinion of them.'
' I didn't pretend to understand what he said,'
appears a negative statement ; but it is really one of
our ways of making a positive one : — ' I pretended
not to understand him.' To the same class belongs
the common expression 'I don't think' : — '1 don't
think you bought that horse too dear,' meaning ' I
think you did not buy him too dear ' ; ' I don't think
this day will be wet,' equivalent to ' I think it will
not be wet.'
CH. III.] ASSERTION BY NEGATIVE OF OPPOSITE. 21
Lowry Looby is telling how a lot of fellows
attacked Hardress Cregan, wlio defends himself
successfully : — ' Ah, it isn't a goose or a duck they
had to do with when they came across Mr. Cregan.'
(Gerald Griffin.) Another way of expressing the
same idea often heard : — ' He's no sop (wisp) in the
road' ; i.e. ' he's a strong brave fellow.'
' It was not too wise of you to buy those cows as
the market stands at present,' i.e. it was rather
foolish.
' I wouldn't be sorry to get a glass of wine,'
meaning, 'I would be glad.'
An unpopular person is going away : —
' Joy be with him and a bottle of moss,
And if he don't return he's no great loss.'
' How are you to-day, James ? '
' Indeed I can't say that I'm very well ' : meaning
' I am rather ill.'
' You had no right to take that book without my
leave ' ; meaning ' You were wrong in taking it — it
was wrong of you to take it.' A translation of the
Irish rii coir duit. ' A bad right ' is stronger than
' no right.' ' You have no right to speak ill of my
uncle ' is simply negation : — ' You are wrong, for you
have no reason or occasion to speak so.' 'A bad
right you have to speak ill of my uncle : ' that is to
say, ' You are doubly wrong ' [for he once did you a
great service]. ' A bad right anyone would have to
call Ned a screw ' [for he is well known for his
generosity]. (' Knocknagow.') Another way of ap-
plying the word — in the sense of duty — is seen in
the following : — A member at an Urban Council
22 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. ['CH. III.
meeting makes an offensive remark and refuses to
withdraw it : when another retorts : — ' You have a
right to withdraw it ' — i.e. ' it is your duty.' So : —
' You have a right to pay your dehts.'
'Is your present farm as large as the one you
left ? ' Eeply : — ' Well indeed it doesn't want much
of it.' A common expression, and borrowed from
the Irish, where it is still more usual. The Irish
beatjnach ('little but') and acht ma beag ('but only
a little ') are both used in the above sense ('doesn't
want much '), equivalent to the English almost.
A person is asked did he ever see a ghost. If his
reply is to be negative, the invariable way of ex-
pressing it is : 'I never saw anything worse than
myself, thanks be to God.'
A person is grumbling without cause, making out
that he is struggling in some difficulty — such as
poverty — and the people will say to him ironically :
' Oh how bad you are.' A universal Irish phrase
among high and low.
A person gives a really good present to a girl : —
' He didn't affront her by that present.' (Patterson :
Antrim and Down.)
How we cling to this form of expression — or
r;ither how it clings to us — is seen in the folio wing
extract from the Dublin correspondence of one of the
London newspapers of December, 1909 : — ' Mr. —
is not expected to be returned to parliament at the
general election ' ; meaning it is expected that he will
not be returned. So also : — ' How is poor Jack Fox
to-day ? ' 'Oh he's not expected ' ; i.e. not expected to
live, — he is given over. This expression, not expected, is
a very common Irish phrase in cases of death sickness.
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IBISH LANGUAGE. 23
CHAPTEE IV.
IDIOMS DERIVED FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE.
IN this chapter I am obliged to quote the original
Irish passages a good deal as a guarantee of authen-
ticity for the satisfaction of Irish scholars : but for
those who have no Irish the translations will answer
equally well. Besides the examples I have brought
together here, many others will be found all through
the book. I have already remarked that the great
majority of our idiomatic Hibernian-English sayings
are derived from the Irish language.
When existence or modes of existence are predicated
in Irish by the verb td or aid (English is), the Irish pre-
position in (English in) in some of its forms is always
used, often with a possessive pronoun, which gives
rise to a very curious idiom. Thus, ' he is a mason '
is in Irish td se Jn a shaor, which is literally he is in
Ins mason : ' I am standing ' is td md a m' sheasamh,
lit. I am in my standing. This explains the common
Anglo-Irish form of expression : — ' He fell on the
road out of his standing ' : for as he is ' in his
standing ' (according to the Irish) when he is stand-
ing up, he is ' out of his standing ' when he falls.
This idiom with in is constantly translated literally
into English by the Irish people. Thus, instead of
saying, ' I sent the wheat thrashed into corn to the
mill, and it came home as flour,' they will rather say,
' I sent the wheat in corn to the mill, and it came
home in flour' Here the in denotes identity : ' Your
24 ENGLISH AS WE SPEA IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
hair is in a wisp ' ; i.e. it is a wisp : ' My eye is in
whey in my head,' i.e. it is whey. (John Keegan in
Ir. Pen. Journ.) .
But an idiom closely resembling this, and in some
respects identical with it, exists in English (though it
has not been hitherto noticed — so far as I am aware)
— as may be seen from the following examples : —
' The Shannon . . . rushed through Athlone in a
deep and rapid stream (Macaulay), i.e. it was a deep
and rapid stream (like our expression ' Your handker-
chief is in ribbons ').
' Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap.'
(GKA\'S 'Elegy.')
' Hence bards, like Proteus, long in vain tied down,
Escape in monsters and amaze the town.'
(Popn: ' Dnnciad.')
' The bars forming the front and rear edges of each
plane [of the flying-machine] are always in one
piece5 (Daily Mail). Shelley's 'Cloud' says, 'I laugh
in thunder ' (meaning I laugh, and my laugh is
thunder. ' The greensand and chalk were continued
across the weald in a great dome.' (Lord Avebury.)
' Just to the right of him were the white-robed
bishops in a group.1 (Daily Mail.) ' And men in
nations' (Byron in ' The Isles of Greece '): 'The
people came in tens and twenties ' : ' the rain came
down in torrents ' : ' I'll take £10 in gold and the
rest in silver': 'the snow gathered in a heap.'
' The money came [home] sometimes in specie and
sometimes in goods ' (Lord Rothschild, speech in
House of Lords, 29th November, 1909), exactly like
' the corn came home in flour,' quoted above. The
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IBISH LANGUAGE. 25
preceding examples do not quite fully represent
the Irish idiom in its entirety, inasmuch as the
possessive pronouns are absent. But even these
are sometimes found, as in the familiar phrases,
'the people came in their hundreds.' 'You are
in your thousands' [here at the meeting], which is
an exact reproduction of the Gaelic phrase in the
Irish classical story : — Aid sibh in bhur n-ealaibh,
' Ye are swans ' (lit. ' Ye are in your swans ').
When mere existence is predicated, the Gaelic ann
(in it, i.e. ' in existence ') is used, as aid sneachta ann,
' there is snow ' ; lit. ' there is snow there,' or ' there
is snow in it,' i.e. in existence. The ann should be
left blank in English translation, i.e. having no
proper representative. But our people will not let it
go waste; they bring it into their English in the form
of either in it or there, both of which in this con-
struction carry the meaning of in existence, Mrs.
Donovan says to Bessy Morris : — ' Is it yourself
that's in it?' (' Knocknagow '), which would stand in
correct Irish An tusa aid ann? On a Sunday one
man insults and laughs at another, who says, ' Only
for the day that's in it I'd make you laugh at the
wrong side of your mouth ' : ' the weather that's
in it is very hot.' ' There's nothing at all there
(in existence) as it used to be ' (Gerald Griffin :
' Collegians ') : ' this day is bad for growth, there's
a sharp east wind there.'
I do not find this use of the English preposition in
— namely, to denote identity — referred to in English
dictionaries, though it ought to be.
The same mode of expressing existence by an or
in is found in the Ulster and Scotch phrase for
26 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
to be alone, which is as follows, always bringing in
the personal pronoun : — ' I am in my lone,' ' he is
in his lone,' 'they are in their lone'; or more
commonly omitting the preposition (though it is
always understood) : ' She is living her lone.' All
these expressions are merely translations from Gaelic,
in which they are constantly used ; ' I am in my
lone' being from Td me am' aonar, where am' is
'in my' and aonar, 'lone.' Am' aonar seal do
bhiossa, ' Once as I was alone.' (Old Irish Song.)
In north-west Ulster they sometimes use the pre-
position by : — ' To come home by his lone ' (Seumas
MaeManus). Observe the word lone is always made
lane in Scotland, and generally in Ulster ; and these
expressions or their like will be found everywhere in
Burns or in any other Scotch (or Ulster) dialect writer.
Prepositions are used in Irish where it might be
wrong to use them in corresponding constructions
in English. Yet the Irish phrases are continually
translated literally, which gives rise to many incorrect
dialect expressions. Of this many examples will be
found in what follows.
' He put lies on me ' ; a form of expression often
heard. This might have one or the other of two
meanings, viz. either ' he accused me of telling lies,'
or ' he told lies about me.'
' The tinker took fourpence out of that kettle,' i.e.
he earned id. by mending it. St. Patrick left his
name on the townland of Kilpatrick : that nickname
remained on Dan Ryan ever since.
' He was vexed to me ' (i.e. with me) : ' I was at
him for half a year' (with him); ' You could find no
fault to it' (with it). All these are in use.
CH. IV.] IDIOMS PROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 27
' I took the medicine according to the doctor's
order, but I found myself nothing the better of it.'
' You have a good time of it' I find in Dickens
however (in his own words) that the wind ' was
obviously determined to make a night of it.' (Bee
p. 10 for a peculiarly Irish use of of it.)
In the Irish poem Bean na d-Tri m-Bo, ' The
Woman of Three Cows,' occurs the expression, As do
bholacht nd bi teann, ' Do not be haughty out of your
cattle.' This is a form of expression constantly
heard in English : — ' he is as proud as a peacock
out of his rich relations.' So also, ' She has great
thought out of him,' i.e. She has a very good opinion
of him. (Queen's Co.)
'I am without a penny,' i.e. I haven't a penny :
very common : a translation from the equally
common Irish expression, td me yan pinyhin.
In an Irish love song the young man tells us that
he had been vainly trying to win over the colleen
le bliadhain ayus le Id, which Petrie correctly (but
not literally) translates ' for a year and for a day.'
As the Irish preposition le signifies with, the literal
translation would be ' ivith & year and mth a day,'
which would be incorrect English. Yet the un-
educated people of the South and West often
adopt this translation ; so that you will hear such
expressions as ' I lived in Cork with three years.'
There is an idiomatic use of the Irish preposition
air, 'on,' before a personal pronoun or before a
personal name and after an active verb, to intimate
injury or disadvantage of some kind, a violation of
right or claim. Thus, Do bhuail Seumas mo yhadhar
orm [where urtn is air me] , ' James struck my dog
28 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
on me,' where on me means to my detriment, in
violation of my right, &c. Chaill se mo sglan orm ;
he lost my knife on me.'
This mode of expression exists in the oldest Irish
as well as in the colloquial languages — both Irish
and English — of the present day. When St. Patrick
was spending the Lent on Croagh Patrick the
demons came to torment him in the shape of great
black hateful-looking birds : and the Tripartite Life,
composed (in the Irish language) in the tenth cen-
tury, says, ' The mountain was filled with great sooty-
black birds on him ' (to his torment or detriment).
In ' The Battle of Eossnaree,' Carbery, directing his
men how to act against Conor, his enemy, tells them
to send some of their heroes re tuargain a sgeithe ar
Conchobar, ' to smite Conor's shield on him.' The
King of Ulster is in a certain hostel, and when his
enemies hear of it, they say : — ' We are pleased
at that for we shall [attack and] take the hostel
on him to-night.' (Congal Claringneach.) It occurs
also in the Amra of Columkille — the oldest of all —
though I cannot lay my hand on the passage.
This is one of the commonest of our Anglo-Irish
idioms, so that a few examples will be sufficient.
' I saw thee . . . thrice on Tarn's champions win the goal.'
(FERGUSON : ' Lays of the Western Gael.')
I once heard a grandmother — an educated Dublin
lady — say, in a charmingly petting way, to her little
grandchild who came up crying : — ' What did they
do to you on me — did they beat you on me ? '
The Irish preposition rt//— commonly translated
4 for ' in this connexion — is used in a sense much
like air, viz. to carry an idea of some sort of injury
OH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 29
to the person represented by the noun or pronoun.
Typical examples are : one fellow threatening another
says, ' I'll break your head for you ' : or ' I'll soon
Kettle his hash for him.' This of course also comes
from Irish ; Gur scoilt an plaosg aige, ' so that he
broke his skull for him ' (Battle of Gavra) ; Do
ghearr a reim aige beo, ' he shortened his career for
him.' ('The Amadan M6r.') See ' On ' in Vocabulary.
There is still another peculiar usage of the English
preposition for, which is imitated or translated from
the Irish, the corresponding Irish preposition here
being mar. In this case the prepositional phrase is
added on, not to denote injury, but to express some
sort of mild depreciation : — ' Well, how is your new
horse getting on ? ' 'Ah, I'm tired of him for a horse :
he is little good.' A dog keeps up a continuous bark-
ing, and a person says impatiently, 'Ah, choke you for
a dog ' (may you be choked). Lowry Looby, who has
been appointed to a place and is asked how he is
going on with it, replies, ' To lose it I did for a
place.' ('Collegians.') In the Irish story of Bodach
an Chota Lachtna ('The Clown with the Grey Coat'),
the Bodach offers Ironbones some bones to pick,
on which Ironbones flies into a passion; and Mangan,
the translator, happily puts into the mouth of the
Bodach : — ' Oh, very well, then we will not have
any more words about them, for bones.' Osheen,
talking in a querulous mood about all his com-
panions— the Fena — having left him, says, [were I
in my former condition] Ni ghoirftnngo brdth orruibh,
mar Fheinn, 'I would never call on you, for Fena.'
This last and its like are the models on which the
Anglo-Irish phrases are formed.
30 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
' Of you ' (where of is not intended for off} is very
frequently used in the sense of from you : ' I'll take
the stick of you whether you like it or not.1 ' Of you '
is here simply a translation of the Irish diot, which
is always used in this connexion in Irish : T)ainfaad
(Hot 6, ' I will take it of you.' In Irish phrases like
this the Irish uait (' from you ') is not used ; if it
were the people would say ' I'll take it from you,' not
of you. (Eussell.)
1 Oh that news was on the paper yesterday.' ' I
went on the train to Kingstown.' Both these are
often heard in Dublin and elsewhere. Correct
speakers generally use in in such cases. (Father
Higgins and Kinahan.)
In some parts of Ulster they use the preposition
on after to be married : — ' After Peggy M'Cue had
been married on Long Micky Diver ' (Sheumas
MacManus).
' To make a speech takes a good deal out of me,' i.e.
tires me, exhausts me, an expression heard very often
among all classes. The phrase in italics is merely
the translation of a very common Irish expression,
baineann se rud eigin asam, it takes something out
of me.
' I am afraid of her,' ' I am frightened at her,' are
both correct English, meaning ' she has frightened
me ' : and both are expressed in Donegal by ' I am
afeard for her,' ' I am frightened for her,' where in
both cases for is used in the sense of ' on account
of.'
In Irish any sickness, such as fever, is said to be
on a person, and this idiom is imported into English.
If a person wishes to ask ' What ails you ? ' he often
OH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 81
gives it the form of 'What is on you?' (Ulster),
which is exactly the English of Cad e sin ort ?
A visitor stands up to go. ' What hurry is on
you?' A mild invitation to stay on (Armagh). In
the South, ' What hurry are you in ? '
She had a nose on her, i.e. looked sour, out of
humour (' Knocknagow '). Much used in the South.
' They never asked me had I a mouth on me ' : uni-
versally understood and often used in Ireland, and
meaning ' they never offered me anything to eat or
drink.'
I find Mark Twain using the same idiom : — [an
old horse] ' had a neck on him like a bowsprit '
( ' Innocents Abroad ') ; but here I think Mark
shows a touch of the Gaelic brush, wherever he got
it.
' I tried to knock another shilling out of him, but
all in vain ' : i.e. I tried to persuade him to give me
another shilling. This is very common with Irish-
English speakers, and is a word for word translation
of the equally common Irish phrase bain sgilling die
as. (Russell.)
' I came against you ' (more usually agin you]
means ' I opposed you and defeated your schemes.'
This is merely a translation of an Irish phrase, in
which the preposition le or re is used in the sense of
against or in opposition to : do thdinic me leat annsin.
(S. H. O'Grady.) ' His sore knee came against him
during the walk.'
Against is used by us in another sense — that of
meeting : ' he went against his father,' i.e. he went
to meet his father [who was coming home from town].
This, which is quite common, is, I think, pure Anglo-
32 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
Irish. But ' he laid up a supply of turf against the
winter' is correct English as well as Anglo-Irish.
' And the cravat of hemp was surely spun
Against the day when their race was run.'
(' Touchstone' in ' Daily Mail.')
A very common inquiry when you meet a friend
is : — ' How are all your care ? ' Meaning chiefly your
family, those persons that are under your care. This
is merely a translation of the common Irish inquiry,
Cionnos td do churam go Uir ?
A number of idiomatic expressions cluster round
the word head, all of which are transplanted from Irish
in the use of the Irish word ceann [cann] ' head. Head
is used to denote the cause, occasion, or motive of
anything. ' Did he really walk that distance in a
day?' Reply ill Irish, Nl'l contabhairt air bith ann
a cheann : ' there is no doubt at all on the head of it,'
i.e. about it, in regard to it. ' He is a bad head to
me,' i.e. he treats me badly. Merely the Irish is
olc an ceann dom 6. Bhi fearg air da chionn, he was
vexed on the head of it.
A dismissed clerk says : — ' I made a mistake in one
of the books, and I was sent away on the head of that
mistake.'
A very common phrase among us is, ' More's the
pity ' : — ' More's the pity that our friend William
should be so afflicted.'
' More's the pity one so pretty
As I should live alone. '
(Anglo-Irish Folk-Song.)
This is a translation of a very common Irish ex-
pression as seen in : — Budh mho an sy&ile Diarmaid
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IKISH LANGUAGE. 83
do bheith marbh : ' More's the pity Dermot to be dead.'
(Story of 'Dermot and Grania.')
' Who should coine up to me in the fair but John.'
Intended not for a question but for an assertion — an
assertion of something which was hardly expected.
This mode of expression, which is very common, is
a Gaelic construction. Thus in the song Fdinne geal
an lae : — Cia gheabhainn ie m'ais acht cuilfhionn deas :
f Whom should I find near by me but the pretty fair
haired girl.' ' Who should walk in only his dead
wife.' (Gerald Griffin : ' Collegians.') ' As we were
walking along what should happen but John to
stumble and fall on the road.'
The pronouns myself, himself, &c., are very often
used in Ireland in a peculiar way, which will be
understood from the following examples : — ' The birds
were singing for themselves.' ' I was looking about
the fair for myself (Gerald Griffin: 'Collegians'):
' he is pleasant in himself (ibid.) : ' I felt dead [dull]
in myself (ibid.). ' Just at that moment I happened
to be walking by myself ' (i.e. alone : Irish, UomfUn).
Expressions of this kind are all borrowed direct from
Irish.
We have in our Irish-English a curious use of the
personal pronouns which will be understood from
the following examples : — ' He interrupted me and I
writing my letters ' (as I was writing). ' I found Phil
there too and he playing his fiddle for the company.'
This, although very incorrect English, is a classic
idiom in Irish, from which it has been imported as it
stands into our English. Thus : — Do chonnairc m&
Tomds agus & n'a shuidhe cois na teine : ' I saw Thomas
and he sitting beside the fire.' ' How could you see
84 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
me there and I to be in bed at the time ? ' This latter
part is merely a translation from the correct Irish : -
agus meise do bheith mo luidhe ay an am sin (Irish
Tale). Any number of examples of this usage might
be culled from both English and Irish writings.
Even so classical a writer as Wolfe follows this
usage in ' The Burial of Sir John Moore ' : —
'We thought
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow. '
(I am reminded of this by Miss Hayden and Prof.
Hartog.)
But there is a variety in our English use of the
pronouns here, namely, that we often use the objec-
tive (or accusative) case instead of the nominative.
' How could you expect Davy to do the work and him
so very sick ? ' ' My poor man fell into the fire a
Sunday night and him hearty ' (hearty, half drunk :
Maxwell, ' Wild Sports of the West '). 'Is that
what you lay out for me, mother, and me after turning
the Vaster' (i.e. after working through the whole of
Voster's Arithmetic : Carleton). ' John and Bill
were both reading and them eating their dinner '
(while they were eating their dinner). This is also
from the Irish language. We will first take the third
person plural pronoun. The pronoun ' they ' is in
Irish siad : and the accusative ' them ' is the Irish
iad. But in some Irish constructions this iad is
(correctly) used as a nominative ; and in imitation of
this our people often use ' them ' as a nominative : —
' Them are just the gloves I want." ' Them are the
boys ' is exactly translated from the correct Irish is
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 85
iad sin na buachaillidhe. ' Oh she melted the hearts
of the swains in them parts.' ('The Widow Malone,' by
Lever.)
In like manner with the pronouns s&, si (he, she),
of which the accusatives & and i are in certain Irish
constructions (correctly) used for the nominative
forms, which accusative forms are (incorrectly) im-
ported into English. Do chonnairc me Seadhdn agus e
n'a shuidhe, ' I saw Shaun and 1dm sitting down,' i.e.
'as he was sitting down.' So also ' don't ask me to
go and me having a sore foot.' ' There's the hen and
her as fat as butter,' i.e. 'she (the hen) being as fat
as butter.'
The little phrase ' the way ' is used among us in
several senses, all peculiar, and all derived from
Irish. Sometimes it is a direct translation from
amhlaidh (' thus,' ' so,' 'how,' ' in a manner'). An
old example of this use of amhlaidh in Irish is the
following passage from the Boroma (Silva Gadelica) : —
Is amlaid at chonnaic [Concobar] Laigln ocus Uldid
man dabaig oca hdl : ' It is how (or ' the way ')
[Concobar] saw the Lagenians and the Ulstermen
[viz. they were] round the vat drinking from it.' Is
amhlaidh do bhi Fergus : ' It is thus (or the way)
Fergus was [conditioned ; that his shout was heard
over three cantreds].'
This same sense is also seen in the expression,
' this is the way I made my money,' i.e. ' this is how
I made it.'
When this expression, 'the way,' or 'how,' intro-
duces a statement it means ' 'tis how it happened.'
' What do you want, James ? ' ' 'Tis the way
ma'am, my mother sent me for the loan of the
36 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
shovel.' This idiom is very common in Limerick,
and is used indeed all through Ireland.
Very often ' the way ' is used in the sense of ' in
order that ' : — ' Smoking carriages are lined with
American cloth the ivay they wouldn't keep the
smell ' ; ' 1 brought an umbrella the way I wouldn't
get wet ' ; ' you want not to let the poor boy do for
himself [by marrying] the u-cnj that you yourself
should have all.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) You constantly
hear this in Dublin, even among educated people.
Sometimes the word way is a direct translation
from the Irish caoi, ' a way,' ' a road ' ; so that the
common Irish salutation, Cad chaoi bh-fuil tu ? is
translated with perfect correctness into the equally
common Irish-English salute, ' What way are you? '
meaning ' How are you ? '
' This way ' is often used by the people in the
sense of ' by this time ' : — ' The horse is ready this
way,' i.e. 'ready by this time.' (Gerald Griffin,
' Collegians.')
The word itself is used in a curious way in Ireland,
which has been something of a puzzle to outsiders.
As so used it has no gender, number, or case ; it is
not in fact a pronoun at all, but a substitute for the
word even. This has arisen from the fact that in the
common colloquial Irish language the usual word to
express both even and itself, is fein ; and in trans-
lating a sentence containing this word fein, the
people rather avoided even, a word not very familiar
to them in this sense, and substituted the better
known itself, in cases where <?ren would be the correct
word, and itself would be incorrect. Thus da mbeith
an mend t>in fein agum is correctly rendered ' if I had
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 87
even that much ' : but the people don't like even, and
don't well understand it (as applied here), so they
make it ' If I had that much itself.' This explains
all such Anglo-Irish sayings as ' if I got it itself it
would be of no use to me,' i.e. ' even if I got it' : 'If
she were there itself I wouldn't know her ' ; ' She
wouldn't go to bed till you'd come home, and if she
did itself she couldn't sleep.' (Knocknagow.) A
woman is finding some fault with the arrangements
for a race, and Lowry Looby (Collegians) puts in
' so itself what hurt ' i.e. ' even so what harm.'
(Russell and myself.)
The English when is expressed by the Irish an
itair, which is literally ' the hour ' or ' the time.'
This is often transplanted into English ; as when a
person says ' the time you arrived I was away in
town.'
When you give anything to a poor person the
recipient commonly utters the wish ' God increase
you ! ' (meaning your substance) : which is an exact
translation of the equally common Irish wish Go
meddaighe Dia dhuit. Sometimes the prayer is
' God increase your store,' which expresses exactly
what is meant in the Irish wish.
The very common aspiration ' God help us ' [you,
me, them, &c.] is a translation of the equally com-
mon Go bh-fdireadh Dia orruinn [ort, &c.].
In the north-west instead of ' your father,' 'your
sister,' &c., they often say ' the father of you,'
'the sister of you,' &c. ; and correspondingly as to
things : — ' I took the hand of her ' (i.e. her hand)
(Seumas Mac Manus).
All through Ireland you will hear show used in-
stead of give or hand (verb), in such phrases as
88 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
' Show me that knife,' i.e. hand it to me. ' Show
nie the cream, please,' says an Irish gentleman at a
London restaurant ; and he could not see why his
English friends were laughing.
' He passed me in the street by the way he didn't
know me ' ; 'he refused to give a contribution by the
ivay he was so poor.' In both, by the way means
' pretending.'
' My own own people ' means my immediate rela-
tions. This is a translation of mo mhuinterse fein.
In Irish the repetition of the emphatic pronominal
particles is very common, and is imported into
English; represented here by 'own own.'
A prayer or a wish in Irish often begins with the
particle go, meaning ' that ' (as a conjunction) : Go
raibh maith agut, ' that it may be well with you,' i.e.
« May it be well with you.' In imitation or trans-
lation of this the corresponding expression in English
is often opened by this word that : ' that you may
soon get well,' i.e., ' may you soon get well.' Instead
of ' may I be there to see ' (John Gilpiu) our people
would say ' that I may be there to see.' A person
utters some evil wish such as ' may bad luck attend
you,' and is answered ' that the prayer may happen
the preacher.' A usual ending of a story told orally,
when the hero and heroine have been comfortably
disposed of is ' And if they don't live happy that
we may.1
When a person sees anything unusual or unex-
pected, he says to his companion, ' Oh do you mind
that!'
' You want rue to give you £10 for that cow : well,
I'm not so soft all out.' 'He's not so bad as that
all out.'
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 39
A common expression is ' I was talking to him
to-day, and I drew doivn about the money,' i.e. I
brought on or introduced the subject. This is a
translation of the Irish form do tkarrainy ms anuas
1 1 drew down.'
Quite a common form of expression is ' I had like
to be killed,' i.e., I was near being killed : I had a
narrow escape of being killed : I escaped being killed
by the black of my nail.
Where the English say it rains t we say ' it is
raining ' : which is merely a translation of the Irish
way of saying it : — ta se ag fearthainn.
The usual Gaelic equivalent of ' he gave a roar ' is
do lag se geim as (met everywhere in Irish texts),
' he let a roar 'out of him ' ; which is an expression
you will often hear among people who have not well
mastered English — who in fact often speak the Irish
language with English words.
' I put it before me to do it,' meaning I was
resolved to do it, is the literal translation of chitireas
romhaim e to dheunamh. Both Irish and Anglo-Irish
are very common in the respective languages.
When a narrator has come to the end of some
minor episode in his narrative, he often resumes
with the opening ' That was well and good ' : which
is merely a translation of the Gaelic bid sin go maith.
Lowry Looby having related how the mother and
daughter raised a terrible pillilu, i.e., ' roaring and
bawling,' says after a short pause ' that was well and
good,' and proceeds with his story. (Gerald Griffin :
' Collegians.')
A common Irish expression interjected into a
narrative or discourse, as a sort of stepping stone
40 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
between what is ended and what is coming is Ni'l
tracht air, ' there is no talking about it,' corre-
sponding to the English ' in short,' or ' to make a long
story short.' These Irish expressions are imported
into our English, in which popular phrases like the
following are very often heard : — ' I went to the fair,
and tJwre's no use in talking, I found the prices real bad."
' "Wisha my bones are exhausted, and there's no use in talking,
My heart is scalded, a wirrasthru.'
(Old Song.)
' Where is my use in staying here, so there's no
use in talking, go I will.' (' Knocknagow.') Often
the expression takes this form: — ' Ah 'tis a folly to
talk, he'll never get that money.'
Sometimes the original Irish is in question form. Cid
tracht (' what talking ? ' i.e. ' what need of talking ? ')
which is Englished as follows : — ' Ah what's the use
of talking, your father will never consent.' These
expressions are used in conversational Irish-English,
not for the purpose of continuing a narrative as in
the original Irish, but — as appears from the above
examples — merely to add emphasis to an assertion.
' It's a fine day that.' This expression, which is
common enough among us, is merely a translation from
the common Irish phrase is breaah an Id e sin, where
/ the demonstrative sin (that) comes last in the proper
Irish construction : but when imitated in English it
' looks queer to an English listener or reader.
' There is no doubt that is a splendid animal.' This
expression is a direct translation from the Irish
Ni'l contabhairt ann, and is equivalent to the English
' doubtless.' It occurs often in the Scottish dialect
also : — ' Ye need na doubt I held my whisht ' (Burns).
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 41
You are about to drink from a cup. ' How much
shall I put into this cup for you ? ' ' Oh you may give
me the full of it. This is Irish-English : in England
they would say — ' Give it to me full.' Our expression
is a translation from the Irish language. For
example, speaking of a drinking-horn, an old writer
says, a Idn do'n lionn, literally, ' the full of it of ale.'
In Silva Gadelica we find Idn a ghlaice deise do
losaibh, which an Irishman translating literally
would render ' the full of his right hand of herbs,'
while an Englishman would express the same idea
in this way — 'his right hand full of herbs.'
Our Irish-English expression ' to come round a
person ' means to induce or circumvent him by coaxing
cuteness and wheedling : ' He came round me by
his slendering to lend him half a crown, fool that I
was ' : ' My grandchildren came round me to give
them money for sweets.' This expression is borrowed
from Irish : — ' When the Milesians reached Erin
tanic a ngdes timchioll Tuathi De Danand, l their cute-
ness circumvented (lit. ' came round ' ) the Dedannans.'
(Opening sentence in Mesca Ulad in Book of Leinster :
Hennessy.)
' Shall I do so and so ? ' ' What would prevent
you ?' A very usual Hibernian-English reply,
meaning ' you may do it of course ; there is nothing
to prevent you.' This is borrowed or translated from
an Irish phrase. In the very old tale The Voyage of
Maildune, Maildune's people ask, ' Shall we speak to
her [the lady]?' and he replies Cid gatas uait ce
fttberaid fria. ' What [is it] that takes [anything]
from you though ye speak to her,' as much as to say,
' what harm will it do you if you speak to her ? '
42 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
equivalent to ' of course you may, there's nothing to
prevent you.'
That old horse is lame of one leg, one of our very
usual forms of expression, which is merely a transla-
tion from bacach ar aonchois. (MacCurtin.) 'I'll seem
to be lame, quite useless of one of my hands.' (Old
Song.)
Such constructions as amaddn fir ' a fool of a
man' are very common in Irish, with the second
noun in the genitive (fear ' a man,' gen. fir] meaning
' a man who is a fool.' Is and is ail ollamhan, ' it is
then he is a rock of an ollamh (doctor), i.e. a doctor
who is a rock [of learning]. (Book of Bights.) So
also ' a thief of a fellow,' ' a steeple of a man,' i.e.
a man who is a steeple — so tall. This form of
expression is however common in England both
among writers and speakers. It is noticed here
because it is far more general among us, for the
obvious reason that it has come to us from two
sources (instead of one) — Irish and English.
' I removed to Dublin this day twelve months, and
this day two years I will go back again to Tralee.' ' I
bought that horse last May was a twelvemonth, and
he will be three years old come Thursday next.'
' I'll not sell my pigs till coming on summer ' :
a translation of air theacht an t-samhraidh. Such
Anglo-Irish expressions are very general, and are all
from the Irish language, of which many examples
might be given, but this one from ' The Courtship of
Emer,' twelve or thirteen centuries old, will be enough.
[It was prophesied] that the boy would come to Erin
that day seven years — dia secht m-bliadan. (Kuno
Meyer.)
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IKISH LANGUAGE. 48
In our Anglo-Irish dialect the expression at all is
often duplicated for emphasis : ' I'll grow no corn
this year at all at all ' : 'I have no money at all at
all.' So prevalent is this among us that in a very
good English grammar recently published (written
by an Irishman) speakers and writers are warned
against it. This is an importation from Irish. One
of the Irish words for ' at all ' is idir (always used
after a negative), old forms itir and etir : — nir bo tol do
Dubthach recc na cumaile etir, ' Dubthach did not wish
to sell the bondmaid at all.' In the following old
passage, and others like it, it is duplicated for
emphasis Cid beac, itir itir, ges do obar : ' however
little it is forbidden to work, at all at all.' (' Prohibi-
tions of beard,' O'Looney.)
When it is a matter of indifference which of two
things to choose, we usually say ' It is equal to me '
(or 'all one to me'), which is just a translation of
is cuma Horn (best rendered by ' I don't care '). Both
Irish and English expressions are very common in
the respective languages. Lowry Looby says : — ' It
is equal to me whether I walk ten or twenty miles.'
(Gerald Griffin.)
' I am a bold bachelor, airy and free,
Both cities and counties are equal to me.'
(Old Song.)
' Do that out of the face,' i.e. begin at the beginning
and finish it out and out : a translation of deun sin
as eud/in.
' The day is rising ' means the day is clearing up,
— the rain, or snow, or wind is ceasing — the weather
is becoming fine : a common saying in Ireland : a
translation of the usual Irish expression td an Id
44 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
ag eirghidh. During the height of the great wind
storm of 1842 a poor shooler or ' travelling man '
from Galway, who knew little English, took refuge
in a house in Westrneath, where the people were
praying in terror that the storm might go down.
He joined in, and unconsciously translating from his
native Irish, he kept repeating ' Musha, that the
Lord may rise it, that the Lord may rise it.' At
which the others were at first indignant, thinking he
was asking God to raise the wind higher still.
(Eussell.)
Sometimes two prepositions are used where one
would do : — ' The dog got in under the bed : ' ' Where
is James ? He's in in the room — or inside in the
room.'
' Old woman, old woman, old woman,' says I,
' Where are yon going up so high ? '
' To sweep the cobwebs off o1 the sky.'
Whether this duplication off of is native Irish or
old English it is not easy to say : but I find this
expression in ' Robinson Crusoe ' : — ' For the first
time since the storm o^o/Hull.'
Eva, the witch, says to the children of Lir, when
she had turned them into swans : — Amacli daoibh a
cJilann an righ : ' Out with you [on the water] ye
children of the king.' This idiom which is quite
common in Irish, is constantly heard among English
speakers : — ' Away with you now ' — ' Be off with
yourself.'
' Are you going away now ? ' One of the Irish
forms of answering this is Ni fos, which in Kerry the
people translate ' no yet,' considering this nearer to
the original than the usual English ' not yet.'
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 45
The usual way in Irish of saying he died is fuair se
bds, i.e. 'he found (or got) death,' and this is some-
times imitated in Anglo-Irish : — ' He was near
getting his death from that wetting ' ; ' come out
of that draught or you'll get your death.'
The following curious form of expression is very
often heard : — ' Remember you have gloves to buy
for me in town ' ; instead of ' you have to buy me
gloves. ' What else have you to do to-day ? ' ' I have
a top to bring to Johnny, and when I come home I
have the cows to put in the stable ' — instead of ' I have
to bring a top ' — ' I have to put the cows.' This is
an imitation of Irish, though not, I think, a direct
translation.
What may be called the Narrative Infinitive is a
very usual construction in Irish. An Irish writer,
relating a past event (and using the Irish language)
instead of beginning his narrative in this way,
' Donall O'Brien went on an expedition against the
English of Athlone,' will begin ' Donall O'Brien to go
on an expedition,' &c. No Irish examples of this
need be given here, as they will be found in every
page of the Irish Annals, as well as in other Irish
writings. Nothing like this exists in English, but
the people constantly imitate it in the Anglo-Irish
speech. ' How did you come by all that money?'
Eeply : — ' To get into the heart of the fair ' (meaning
' I got into the heart of the fair'), and to cry old
china, &c. (Gerald Griffin.) ' How was that, Lowry ?'
asks Mr. Daly : and Lowry answers : — ' Some of
them Garryowen boys sir to get about Danny
Mann.' (Gerald Griffin: 'Collegians.') 'How did
the mare get that hurt ? ' 'Oh Tom Cody to leap
46 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. IV.
her over the garden wall yesterday, and she to fall
on her knees on the stones.'
The Irish language has the word annso for here,
but it has no corresponding word derived from annso,
to signify hither, though there are words for this too,
but not from annso. A similar observation applies
to the Irish for the words there and thither, and for
where and whither. As a consequence of this our
people do not use hither, thither, and whither at all.
They make here, there, and where do duty for them.
Indeed much the same usage exists in the Irish lan-
guage too : Is ann tigdaois eunlaith (Keating) : ' It is
here the birds used to come,' instead of hither. In
consequence of all this you will hear everywhere in
Anglo-Irish speech : — ' John came here yesterday' :
' come here Patsy ' : ' your brother is in Cork and
you ought to go there to see him ' : ' where did you
go yesterday after you parted from me ? '
' Well Jack how are you these times ? ' ' Oh,
indeed Tom I'm purty well thank you— all that's
left of tne ' : a mock way of speaking, as if the hard
usage of the world had worn him to a thread. ' Is
Frank Magaveen there ? ' asks the blind fiddler.
' All that's left of me is here,' answers Frank.
(Carleton.) These expressions, which are very usual,
and many others of the kind, are borrowed from the
Irish. In the Irish tale, ' The Battle of Gavra,'
poor old Osheen, the sole survivor of the Fena,
says : — ' I know not where to follow them [his lost
friends] ; and this makes the little remnant that is
left of me wretched. (D'fuig sin m'iarsma).
Ned Brophy, introducing his wife to Mr. Lloyd.
\ says, ' this is herself sir.' This is an extremely
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IEISH LANGUAGE. 47
common form of phrase. ' Is herself [i.e. the
mistress] at home Jenny ? ' ' I'm afraid himself
[the master of the house] will be very angry when
he hears about the accident to the mare.' This is
an Irish idiom. The Irish chiefs, when signing
their names to any document, always wrote the name
in this form, Misi O'Neill, i.e. ' Myself O'Neill.'
A usual expression is ' I have no Irish,' i.e. 1
do not know or speak Irish. This is exactly the
way of saying it in Irish, of which the above is a
translation : — Ni'l Gaodhlainn agum.
To let on is to pretend, and in this sense is used
everywhere in Ireland. ' Oh your father is very
angry ' : ' Not at all, he's only letting on.' ' If you
meet James don't let on you saw me,' is really a
positive, not a negative request : equivalent to — ' If
you meet James, let on (pretend) that you didn't see
me.' A Dublin working-man recently writing in a
newspaper says, ' they passed me on the bridge
(Cork), and never let on to see me ' (i.e. ' they let on
not to see me ').
' He is all as one as recovered now ' ; he is nearly
the same as recovered.
At the proper season you will often see auctioneers'
posters : — ' To be sold by auction 20 acres of
splendid meadow on foot,' &c. This term on foot,
which is applied in Ireland to growing crops of all
kinds — corn, flax, meadow, &c. — is derived from the
Irish language, in which it is used in the oldest
documents as well as in the everyday spoken modern
Irish ; the usual word cos for ' foot ' being used. Thus
in the Brehon Laws we are told that a wife's share
of the flax is one-ninth if it be on foot (for a cois,
48 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
' on its foot,' modern form air a duns} one-sixth after
being dried, &c. In one place a fine is mentioned
for appropriating or cutting furze if it be ' on foot.'
(Br. Laws.)
This mode of speaking is applied in old documents
to animals also. Thus in one of the old Tales is
mentioned a present of a swine and an ox on foot
(for a coiss, ' on their foot ') to be given to Mac Con
and his people, i.e. to be sent to them alive — not
slaughtered. (SilvaGadelica.) But I have not come
across this application in our modern Irish-English.
To give a thing ' for God's sake,' i.e. to give it in
charity or for mere kindness, is an expression very
common at the present day all over Ireland. ' Did
you sell your turf -rick to Bill Fennessy ? ' Oh no,
I gave it to him for God's sake : he's very badly off
now poor fellow, and I'll never miss it.' Our office
attendant Charlie went to the clerk, who was chary
of the pens, and got a supply with some difficulty.
He came back grumbling : — ' A person would think
I was asking them for God's sake ' (a thoroughly
Hibernian sentence). This expression is common
also in Irish, both ancient and modern, from which
the English is merely a translation. Thus in the
Brehon Laws we find mention of certain young
persons being taught a trade ' for God's sake ' (ar
Dia), i.e. without fee : and in another place a man
is spoken of as giving a poor person something ' for
God's sake.'
The word 'nouyh, shortened from enough, is always
used in English with the possessive pronouns, in
accordance with the Gaelic construction in such
phrases as as gur itlicadar a n-doit-hin diolh, ' So that
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 49
they ate their enough of them ' (' Diarmaid and
Grainne ') : d'ith mo shaith ' I ate my enougk.'
Accordingly uneducated people use the word 'nough
in this manner, exactly as fill is correctly used in
' he ate his fill.' Lowry Looby wouldn't like to be
' a born gentleman ' for many reasons — among /
others that you're expected ' not to ate half your f
'nough at dinner.' (Gerald Griffin : ' Collegians.)
The words world and earth often come into our
Anglo-Irish speech in a way that will be understood
and recognised from the following examples : —
' Where in the world are you going so early ? '
' What in the world kept you out so long ? ' ' What
on earth is wrong with you ? ' ' That cloud looks
for all the world like a man ? ' 'Oh you young
thief of the world, why did you do that ? ' (to a
child). These expressions are all thrown in for
emphasis, and they are mainly or altogether im-
ported from the Irish. They are besides of long
standing. In the ' Colloquy ' — a very old Irish
piece — the king of Leinster says to St. Patrick : —
' I do not know in the world how it fares [with my
son]. So also in a still older story, ' The Voyage of
Maildune ' : — ' And they [Maildune and his people]
knew not whither in the world (isan bith) they were
going. In modern Irish, Ni clmirlonn s6 tdbhacht
a n-6inidh san domliuin : ' he minds nothing in the
world.' (Mac Curtin.)
But 1 think some of the above expressions are
found in good English too, both old and new. For
example in a letter to Queen Elizabeth the Earl of
Ormond (an Irishman — one of the Butlers) de-
signates a certain Irish chief ' that most arrogant,
50 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
vile, traitor of the world Owney M'Rorye ' [O'Moore].
But perhaps he wrote this with an Irish pen.
A -person does something to displease me — insults
me, breaks down my hedge — and I say ' I will not
let that go with him ' : meaning I will bring him to
account for it, I will take satisfaction, I will punish
him. This, which is very usual, is an Irish idiom.
In the story of The Little Brawl of Allen, Goll
boasts of having slain Finn's father ; and Finn
answers bud maith m'acfainnse ar gan sin do l&icen let,
' I am quite powerful enough not to let that go with
you.' (' Silva Gadelica.') Sometimes this Anglo-
Irish phrase means to vie with, to rival. ' There's
no doubt that old Tom Long is very rich ' : ' Yes
indeed, but I think Jack Finnerty wouldn't let it go
with him.' Lory Hanly at the dance, seeing his
three companions sighing and obviously in love
with three of the ladies, feels himself just as bad
for a fourth, and sighing, says to himself that he
1 wouldn't let it go with any of them. (' Knock-
nagow.')
' I give in to you ' means ' I yield to you,' « I
assent to (or believe) what you say,' ' I acknowledge
you are right ' : ' He doesn't give in that there are
ghosts at all.' This is an Irish idiom, as will be
seen in the following : — [A lion and three dogs are
struggling for the mastery and] adnaigit [aw trim
eile] do [an leomaiii] ' And the three others gave
in to the [lion].'
This mode of expression is however found in
English also : — [Beelzebub] ' proposes a third un-
dertaking which the whole assembly gives in to.1
(Addison in ' Spectator.')
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 51
For is constantly used before the infinitive : ' he
bought cloth for to make a coat.'
'And " Oh sailor dear," said she,
"How came you here by me?"
And then she began for to cry.'1
(Old Irish Folk Song.)
' King James he pitched his tents between
His lines for to retire.'
(Old Irish Folk Song : ' The Boyne Water.')
This idiom is in Irish also : Deunaidh duthracht
le leas bhur n-anma a dheunadh : ' make an effort
for to accomplish the amendment of your souls.'
(' Dunlevy.') Two Irish prepositions are used in this
sense of for : le (as above) and chum. But this use
of for is also very general in English peasant
language, as may be seen everywhere in Dickens.
Is ceangailte do bhidhinn, literally ' It is bound I
should be,' i.e. in English ' I should be bound.'
This construction (from ' Diarmaid and Grainne '), in
which the position of the predicate as it would stand
according to the English order is thrown back, is
general in the Irish language, and quite as general in
our Anglo-Irish, in imitation or translation. I once
heard a man say in Irish is e do chailleamhuin do rinn
me : ' It is to lose it I did ' (I lost it). The following
are everyday examples from our- dialect of English :
' 'Tis to rob me you want ' : 'Is it at the young
woman's house the wedding is to be ? ' (' Knockna-
gow ') : ' Is it reading you are ? ' ' 'Twas to dhrame it
I did sir ' (' Knocknagow ') : ' Maybe 'tis turned out
I d be ' (' Knocknagow ') : 'To lose it I did ' (Gerald
Griffin : ' Collegians ') : ' Well John I am glad to
£2
52 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
see you, and it's right well you look' : [Billy thinks
the fairy -is mocking him, and says : — ] 'Is it after
making a fool of me you'd be?' (Crofton Croker)':
4 To make for Kosapenna (Donegal) we did:' i.e.,
' We made for Eosapenna ' : ' I'll tell my father about
your good fortune, and 'tis he that will be delighted.'
In the fine old Irish story the ' Pursuit of Dermot
and Grania,' Grania says to her husband Dermot : —
[Invite guests to a feast to our daughter's house]
agus ni feas nach ann do gheubhaidh fear cheile ; ' and
there is no knowing but that there she may get a
husband.' This is almost identical with what Nelly
Donovan says in our own day — in half joke — when
she is going to Ned Brophy's wedding : — ' There'll be
some likely lads there to-night, and who knows what
luck I might have.' ('Knocknagow.') This P*' res-
sion ' there is no knowing but ' or ' who knows but,'
borrowed as we see from Gaelic, is very common in
our Anglo-Irish dialect. ' I want the loan of £ 20
badly to help to stock my farm, but how am I to get
it? ' His friend answers : — ' Just come to the bank,
and who knows but that they will advance it to you
on my security : ' meaning ' it is not unlikely — I
think it rather probable — that they will advance it.'
' He looks like a man that there icoidd be no
money in his pocket ' : ' there's a man *that his wife
leaves him whenever she pleases.' These phrases and
the like are heard all through the middle of Ireland,
and indeed outside the middle : they are translations
from Irish. Thus the italics of the second phrase
would be in Irish fear da d-tr6igeann a bhean i (or
a thr&igeas a bhean e). ' Poor brave honest Mat
Donovan that everyone is proud of him and fond
CH. IV.] IDIOMS FBOM THE IKISH LANGUAGE. 58
of him ' (' Knocknagow ') : 'He was a descendant of
Sir Thomas More that Henry VIII. cut his head off '
(whose head Henry VIII. cut off). The phrases
above are incorrect English, as there is redundancy ;
but they, and others like them, could generally be
made correct by the use of ivlwse or of whom : — ' He
looks like a man in whose pocket,' &c. — ' A man
whose wife leaves him.' But the people in general
do not make use of whose— in fact they do not know
how to use it, except at the beginning of a question : —
' Whose knife is this ? ' (Eussell.) This is an excellent
example of how a phrase may be good Irish but bad
English.
A man possesses some prominent quality, such as
generosity, for which his father was also distinguished,
and we say ' kind father for him,' i.e. ' He is of the
same kind as his father — he took it from his father.'
So also ' 'Tis kind for the cat to drink milk ' — ' cat
after kind ' — ' 'Tis kind for John to be good and
honourable [for his father or his people were so before
him]. All this is from Irish, in which various words **•*- \y
are used to express the idea of kind in this sense : — '^JLO^'
bit cheneulta do — bu dhnal do — bu dhuthcha do. "Vtf^"
Very anxious to do a thing : ' 'Twas all his trouble ^^
to do so and so' ('Collegians'): corresponding to
the Irish : — ' Is e mo churam idle,' l He (or it) is all my
care.' (MacCurtin.)
Instead of ' The box will hold all the parcels ' or
' All the parcels will fit into the box,' we in Ireland
commonly say ' All the parcels ivill go into the box.
This is from a very old Gaelic usage, as may be seen
from this quotation from the ' Boroma ' : — Coire mor
uma i teigtis da muic d&c : ' A large bronze caldron
54
ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IV.
into which would go (teigtfs) twelve [jointed] pigs.'
(' Silva Gadelica.')
Chevilles. What is called in French a cheville — I
do not know any Irish or English name for it — is a
phrase interjected into a line of poetry merely to
complete either the measure or the rhyme, with
little or no use besides. The practice of using
chevilles was very common in old Irish poetry, and a
bad practice it was ; for many a good poem is quite
spoiled by the constant and wearisome recurrence of
these chevilles. For instance here is a translation of
a couple of verses from ' The Voyage of Maildune '
with their chevilles : —
' They met with an island after sailing —
ivonderful the guidance.
1 The third day after, on the end of the rod —
deed of power —
The chieftain found — it was a very great joy —
a cluster of apples.'
In modern Irish popular poetry we have chevilles
also ; of which I think the commonest is the little
phrase gan go, l without a lie ' ; and this is often
reflected in our Anglo-Irish songs. In ' Handsome
Sally,' published in my ' Old Irish Music and
Songs,' these lines occur : —
' Young men and maidens I pray draw near —
The truth to you I will now declare —
How a fair young lady's heart was won
All by the loving of a farmer's son.'
And in another of our songs : —
' Good people all I pray draw near —
No lie I'll tell to ye —
Ahout a lovely fair maid,
And her name is Polly Lee.'
OH. IV.] IDIOMS FROM THE IRISH LANGUAGE. 55
This practice is met with also in English poetry,
both classical and popular ; but of course this is
quite independent of the Irish custom.
Assonance. In the modern Irish language the
verse rhymes are assonantal. Assonance is the cor-
respondence of the vowels : the consonants count for
nothing. Thus fair, may, saint, blaze, there, all
rhyme assonantally. As it is easy to find words
that rhyme in this manner, the rhymes generally
occur much oftener in Anglo-Irish verse than in
pure English, in which the rhymes are what English
grammarians call perfect.
Our rustic poets rhyme their English (or Irish-
English) verse assonantally in imitation of their
native language. For a very good example of this,
see the song of Castlehyde in my ' Old Irish Music
and Songs ' ; and it may be seen in very large
numbers of our Anglo-Irish Folk-songs. I will give
just one example here, a free translation of an elegy,
rhyming like its original. To the ear of a person
accustomed to assonance — as for instance to mine —
the rhymes here are as satisfying as if they were
perfect English rhymes.
You remember our neighbour MacZ?»'«dy we buried last YEAR :
His death it awwzed me and dazed me witb sorrow and GRIEF ;
From cradle to grave his name was held in KSTEEM ;
For at fairs and at wakes there was no one like him for a SPREE ;
And 'tis he knew the ivay how to make a good cag of potTHEEN.
He'd make verses in Gaelic, quite aisy most plazing to READ ;
And he knew how to plaze the fair maids with his soothering
Sl'EECH.
He could clear out a, fair at his aise with his ash clehalrEEN ;
But ochone he's now laid in his grave in the churchyard of
KEEL,
56 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. V.
CHAPTER V.
THE DEVIL AND HIS ' TERRITORY.'
BAD as the devil is he has done us some service in
Ireland by providing us with a fund of anecdotes and
sayings full of drollery and fun. This is all against
his own interests ; for I remember reading in the
works of some good old saint — I think it is St.
Liguori — that the devil is always hovering near us
watching his opportunity, and that one of the best
means of scaring • him off is a good honest hearty
laugh.
Those who wish to avoid uttering the plain straight
name 4 devil ' often call him ' the Old Boy,' or
1 Old Nick.'
In some of the stories relating to the devil
he is represented as a great simpleton and easily
imposed upon : in others as clever at everything.
In many he gets full credit for his badness, and
all his attributes and all his actions are just the
reverse of the good agencies of the world ; so that his
attempts at evil often tend for good, while anything
he does for good — or pretending to be for good — turns
to evil.
When a person suffers punishment or injury of any
kind that is well deserved — gets his deserts for mis-
conduct or culpable mismanagement or excessive
foolishness of any kind — we say ' the devil's cure to
him,' or ' the devil mend him ' (as much as to say
CH. V.] THE DEVIL AND HIS ' TEBKITORY.' 57
in English ' serve him right ') ; for if the devil goes to
cure or to mend he only makes matters ten times
worse. Dick Millikin of Cork (the poet of { The
Groves of Blarney') was notoriously a late riser. One
morning as he was going very late to business, one
of his neighbours, a Quaker, met him. ' Ah friend
Dick thou art very late to-day : remember the
early bird picks the worm.' ' The devil mend the
worm for being out so early,' replied Dick. So also
' the devil bless you ' is a bad wish, because the
devil's blessing is equivalent to the curse of God;
while ' the devil's curse to you ' is considered a good
wish, for the devil's curse is equal to God's blessing.
(Carleton.) The devil comes in handy in many
ways. What could be more expressive than this
couplet of an old song describing a ruffian in a
rage : —
' He stamped and he cursed and he swore he would fight,
And I saw the ould devil between his two eyes.'
Sometimes the devil is taken as the type of excel-
lence or of great proficiency in anything, or of great
excess, so that you often hear ' That fellow is as old
as the devil," ' That beefsteak is as tough as the devil,'
' He beats the devil for roguery,' ' My landlord is
civil, but dear as the divil.' (Swift : who wrote this
with a pen dipped in Irish ink.)
A poor wretch or a fellow always in debt and
difficulty, and consequently shabby, is a ' poor devil ' ;
and not very long ago I heard a friend say to
another — who was not sparing of his labour —
' Well, there's no doubt but you're a hard-working
old devil.'
58 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. V.
Very bad potatoes : — ' Wet and watery, scabby and
small, thin in the ground and hard to dig, hard to
wash, hard to boil, and the devil to eat them.'
' I cton't wonder that poor Bill should be always
struggling, for he has the devil of an extravagant
family.'
' Oh confusion to you Dan,' says the T. B. C.,
' You're the devil of a man,' says the T. B. C.
(Repeal Song of 1843.)
(But this form of expression occurs in Dickens —
' Our Mutual Friend ' — ' I have a devil of a temper
myself). An emphatic statement: — 'I wouldn't
like to trust him, for he's the devil's own rogue.'
' There's no use in your trying that race against
Johnny Keegan, for Johnny is the very devil at
running.' ' Oh your reverence,' says Paddy Galvin,
' don't ax me to fast ; but you may put as much
prayers on me as you like : for, your reverence, I'm
very bad at fasting, but I'm the divel at the prayers.'
According to Mr. A. P. Graves, in 'Father O'Flynn,'
the ' Provost and Fellows of Trinity ' [College,
Dublin] are ' the divels an' all at Divinity.' This
last expression is truly Hibernian, and is very often
heard : — A fellow is boasting how he'll leather
Jack Fox when next he meets him. ' Oh yes,
you'll do the devil an1 all while Jack is away ; but
wait till he comes to the fore.'
In several of the following short stories and
sayings the simpleton side of Satan's character is
well brought out.
Darner of Shronell, who lived in the eighteenth
century, was reputed to be the richest man in
Ireland — a sort of Irish Croesus : so that 'as rich as
OH. V.] THE DEVIL AND HIS 'TERRITORY.' 59
Darner ' has become a proverb in the south of
Ireland. An Irish peasant song-writer, philosophising
on the vanity of riches, says : —
' There was ould Paddy Murphy had money galore,
And Darner of Shronell had twenty times more —
They are now on their hacks under nettles and stones.'
Darner's house in ruins is still to be seen at Shronell,
four miles west of Tipperary town. The story goes
that he got his money by selling his soul to the devil
for as much gold as would fill his boot — a top boot,
i.e. one that reaches above the knee. On the
appointed day the devil came with his pockets well
filled with guineas and sovereigns, as much as he
thought was sufficient to fill any boot. But mean-
time Darner had removed the heel and fixed the
boot in the floor, with a hole in the boards under-
neath, opening into the room below. The devil
flung in handful after handful till his pockets were
empty, but still the boot was not filled. He then
sent out a signal, such as they understand in hell —
for they had wireless telegraphy there long before
Mr. Marconi's Irish mother was born — on which a
crowd of little imps arrived all laden with gold coins,
which were emptied into the boot, and still no sign
of its being filled. He had to send them many times
for more, till at last he succeeded in filling the room
beneath as well as the boot ; on which the transaction
was concluded. The legend does not tell what
became of Darner in the end ; but such agreements
usually wind up (in Ireland) by the sinner tricking
Satan out of his bargain.
When a person does an evil deed under cover of
some untruthful but plausible justification, or utters
60 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. V.
a wicked saying under a disguise : that's * blind-
folding the devil in the dark.' The devil is as cute
in the dark as in the light : and blindfolding him is
useless and foolish : he is only laughing at you.
' You're a very coarse Christian,' as the devil
said to the hedgehog. (Tyrone.)
The name and fame of the great sixteenth -century
magician, Dr. Faust or Faustus, found way somehow
to our peasantry ; for it was quite common to hear a
crooked knavish man spoken of in this way : — ' That
fellow is a match for the devil and Dr. Fosther.'
(Munster.)
The magpie has seven drops of the devil's blood
in its body : the water- wagtail has three drops.
(Munster.)
When a person is unusually cunning, cute, and
tricky, we say ' The devil is a poor scholar to you.'
(' Poor scholar ' here means a bad shallow scholar.)
'Now since James is after getting all the money, the
devil can't howld him ' : i.e. he has grown proud and
overbearing.
' Firm and ugly, as the devil said when he sewed
his breeches with gads.' Here is how it happened.
The devil was one day pursuing the soul of a sinner
across country, and in leaping over a rough thorn
hedge, he tore his breeches badly, so that his tail
stuck out ; on which he gave up the chase. As it
was not decent to appear in public in that condition,
he sat down and stitched up the rent with next to
hand materials — viz. slender tough osier withes or
gad-s as we call them in Ireland. When the job was
finished he spread out the garment before him on his
CH. V.] THE DEVIL AND HIS ' TERRITORY.' 61
knees, and looking admiringly on his handiwork,
uttered the above saying — ' Firm and ugly ! '
The idea of the ' old boy ' pursuing a soul appears
also in the words of an old Anglo-Irish song about
persons who commit great crimes and die unre-
pentant : —
' For committing those crimes unrepented
The devil shall after them run,
And slash him for that at a furnace
Where coal sells for nothing a ton.'
A very wet day — teeming rain — raining cats and
dogs — a fine day for young ducks-. — ' The devil wouldn't
send out his dog on such a day as this.'
' Did you ever see the devil
With the wooden spade and shovel
Digging praties for his supper
And his tail cocked up ?/
A person struggling with poverty — constantly in
money difficulties — is said to be ' pulling the devil by
the tail.'
' Great noise and little wool,' as the devil said
when he was shearing a pig.
' What's got over the devil's back goes off under the
devil's belly.' This is another form of ill got ill gone.
Don't enter on a lawsuit with a person who has in
his hands the power of deciding the case. This
would be ' going to law against the devil with the
courthouse in hell.'
Jack hates that man and all belonging to him ' as
the devil hates holy water.'
Yerra or arrah is an exclamation very much in use
in the South : a phonetic representation of the Irish
aire, meaning take care, look out, look you : — ' Yerra
62 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IEELAND. [cH. V.
Bill why are you in such a hurry ? ' The old people
didn't like our continual use of the word ; and in order
to deter us we were told that Yerra or Arrah was the
name of the devil's mother ! This would point to
something like domestic conditions in the lower
regions, and it is in a way corroborated by the words
of an old song about a woman — a desperate old
reprobate of a virago — who kicked up all sorts of
ructions the moment she got inside the gate : —
' When she saw the young devils tied up in their chains
She up with her crutch and knocked one of their brains.'
'Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.' The
people of Munster do not always put it that way ; they
have a version of their own : — ' Time enough to bid the
devil good-morrow when you meet him.' But an
intelligent correspondent from Carlow puts a some-
what different interpretation on the last saying,
namely, ' Don't go out of your way to seek trouble.'
' When needs must the devil drives ' : a man in a
great fix is often driven to illegal or criminal acts
to extricate himself.
When a man is threatened with a thrashing,
another will say to him : — ' You'll get Paddy Kyan's
supper — hard knocks and the devil to eat ' : common
in Munster.
' When you sup with the devil have a long spoon ' :
that is to say, if you have any dealings with rogues
or criminals, adopt very careful precautions, and
don't come into closer contact with them than is
absolutely necessary, (Lover : but used generally.)
' Speak the truth and shame the devil ' is a very
common saying.
CH. V.] THE DEVIL AND HIS ' TERRITORY.' 68
' The devil's children have the devil's luck ' ; or ' the
devil is good to his own ' : meaning bad men often
prosper. But it is now generally said in joke to a
person who has come in for an unexpected piece
of good luck.
A holy knave — something like our modern
Pecksniff — dies and is sent in the downward direc-
tion : and — according to the words of the old folk-
song— this is his reception : —
' "When hell's gate was opened the devil jumped with joy,
Saying " I have a warm corner for you my holy boy." '
A man is deeply injured by another and threatens
reprisal : — ' I'll make you smell hell for that ' ; a
bitter threat which may be paraphrased : I'll per-
secute you to death's door ; and for you to be near
death is to be near hell — I'll put you so near that
you'll smell the fumes of the brimstone.
A usual imprecation when a person who has made
himself very unpopular is going away : ' the devil go
with him.' One day a fellow was eating his dinner
of dry potatoes, and had only one egg half raw for
kitclien. He had no spoon, and took the egg in little
sips intending to spread it over the dinner. But one
time he tilted the shell too much, and down went the
whole contents. After recovering from the gulp, he
looked ruefully at the empty shell and blurted out —
the devil go idth you down !
Many people think — and say it too — that it is an
article of belief with Catholics that all Protestants
when they die go straight to hell — which is a libel.
Yet it is often kept up in joke, as in this and other
64 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. V.
stories : — The train was skelping away like mad
along the main line to hell — for they have railways
there now — till at last it pulled up at the junction.
Whereupon the porters ran round shouting out,
' Catholics change here for purgatory : Protestants
keep your places ! '
This reminds us of Father O'Leary, a Cork priest
of the end of the eighteenth century, celebrated as
a controversialist and a wit. He was one day
engaged in gentle controversy — or argufying religion
as we call it in Ireland — with a Protestant friend,
who plainly had the worst of the encounter. ' Well
now Father O'Leary I want to ask what have you
to say about purgatory?' 'Oh nothing,' replied the
priest, ' except that you might go farther and fare
worse.'
The same Father O'Leary once met in the streets a
friend, a witty Protestant clergyman with whom he had
many an encounter of wit and repartee. ' Ah Father
O'Leary, have you heard the bad news ? ' ' No,'
says Father O'Leary. ' Well, the bottom has fallen
out of purgatory, and all the poor Papists have gone
down into hell.' ' Oh the Lord save us,' answered
Father O'Leary, ' what a crushing the poor Pro-
testants must have got ! '
Father O'Leary and Curran — the great orator and
wit — sat side by side once at a dinner party, where
Curran was charmed with his reverend friend. ' Ah
Father O'Leary,' he exclaimed at last, ' I wish you
had the key of heaven.' ' Well Curran it might be
better for you that I had the key of the other place.'
A parish priest only recently dead, a well-known
wit, sat beside a venerable Protestant clergyman at
CH. V.] THE DEVIL AND HIS ' TERRITORY.' 65
dinner ; and they got on very agreeably. This
clergyman rather ostentatiously proclaimed his
liberality by saying : — ' Well Father I have
been for sixty years in this icorld and I could never
understand that there is any great and essential
difference between the Catholic religion and the
Protestant.' 'I can tell you,' replied Father ,
' that when you die you'll not be sixty minutes in the
other world before you will understand it perfectly.'
The preceding are all in joke : but I once heard
the idea enunciated in downright earnest. In my
early life, we, the village people, were a mixed com-
munity, about half and half Catholics and Protestants,
the latter nearly all Palatines, who were Methodists
to a man. We got on very well together, and 1 have
very kindly memories of my old playfellows, Pala-
tines as well as Catholics.
One young Palatine, Peter Stuffle, differed in one
important respect from the others, as he never
attended Church Mass or Meeting. He emigrated
to America ; and being a level headed fellow and
keeping from drink, he got on. At last he came
across Nelly Sullivan, a bright eyed colleen all the
way from Kerry, a devoted Catholic, and fell head
and ears in love with her. She liked him too, but
would have nothing to say to him unless he became
a Catholic : in the words of the oid song, ' Unless
that you turn a Roman you ne'er shall get me for
your bride.' Peter's theology was not proof against
Nelly's bright face : he became a Catholic, and a
faithful one too : for once he was inside the gate his
wife took care to instruct him, and kept him well up
to his religious duties.
V
66 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. V.
They prospered ; so that at the end of some years
he was able to visit his native place. On his arrival
nothing could exceed the consternation and rage of
his former friends to find that instead of denouncing
the Pope, he was now a flaming papist : and they all
disowned and boycotted him. So he visited round
his Catholic neighbours who were very glad to
receive him. I was present at one of the conversa-
tions : when Peter, recounting his successful career,
wound up with : — ' So you see, James, that I am now
well off, thanks be to God and to Nelly. I have a large
farm, with ever so many horses, and a fine baan of
cows, and you could hardly count the sheep and pigs.
I'd be as happy as the days are long now, James,
only for one thing that's often troubling me ; and
that is, to think that my poor old father and mother
are in hell.'
CHAPTER VI.
SWEARING.
THE general run of our people do not swear much ;
and those that do commonly limit themselves to the
name of the devil either straight out or in some of
its various disguised forms, or to some harmless
imitation of a curse. You do indeed come across
persons who go higher, but they are rare. Yet
while keeping themselves generally within safe
bounds, it must be confessed that many of the
people have a sort of sneaking admiration — lurking
secretly and seldom expressed in words — for a good
well-balanced curse, so long as it does not shock by
its profanity. I once knew a doctor — not in Dublin
OH. VI.] SWEARING. 67
— who, it might be said, was a genius in this line.
He could, on the spur of the moment, roll out a
magnificent curse that might vie with a passage of
the Iliad in the mouth of Homer. ' Oh sir '— as I
heard a fellow say — ' 'tis grand to listen to him when
he's in a rage.' He was known as a skilled physician,
and a good fellow in every way, and his splendid
swearing crowned his popularity. He had discretion
however, and knew when to swear and when not ;
but ultimately he swore his way into an extensive
and lucrative practice, which lasted during his whole
life — a long and honourable one.
Parallel to this is Maxwell's account of the cursing
of Major Denis O'Farrell — ' the Mad Major,' who
appears to have been a dangerous rival to my acquain-
tance, the doctor. He was once directing the evolu-
tions at a review in presence of Sir Charles, the
General, when one important movement was spoiled
by the blundering of an incompetent little adjutant.
In a towering passion the Mad Major addressed the
General: — ' Stop, Sir Charles, do stop; just allow
me two minutes to curse that rascally adjutant.' To
so reasonable a request (Maxwell goes on to say),
Sir Charles readily assented. He heard the whole
malediction out, and speaking of it afterwards, he
said that ' he never heard a man cursed to his
perfect satisfaction until he heard (that adjutant)
anathematised in the Phoenix Park.'
The Mad Major was a great favourite ; and when
he died, there was not a dry eye in the regiment on
the day of the funeral. Two months afterwards when
an Irish soldier was questioned on the merits of his
successor : — ' The man is well enough,' said Pat,
F2
68 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VI.
with a heavy sigh, ' but where will we find the equal
of the Major ? By japers, it was a comfort to be
cursed by him ! ' (' Wild Sports of the West.')
In my part of the country there is — or was — a
legend — a very circumstantial one too — which how-
ever I am not able to verify personally, as the thing
occurred a little before my time — that Father Bucldey,
of Glenroe, cured Charley Coscoran, the greatest
swearer in the barony — cured him in a most original
way. He simply directed him to cut out a button
from some part of his dress, no matter where —
to whip it out on the instant — every time he uttered a
serious curse, i.e, one involving the Sacred Name.
Charley made the promise with a light heart,
thinking that by only using a little caution he could
easily avoid snipping off his buttons. But inveterate
habit is strong. Only very shortly after he had left
the priest he saw a cow in one of his cornfields
playing havoc : out came a round curse, and off came
a button on the spot. For Charley was a manly
fellow, with a real sense of religion at bottom : and
he had no notion of shirking his penance. Another
curse after some time and another button. Others
again followed : — coat, waistcoat, trousers, shirt-
collar, were brought under contribution till his clothes
began to fall off him. For a needle and thread were
not always at hand, and at any rate Charley was no
great shakes at the needle. At last things came to
that pass with poor Charley, that life was hardly
worth living ; till he had to put his mind seriously
to work, and by careful watching he gradually cured
himself. But many score buttons passed through
his hands during the process.
CH. VI.] SWEARING. 69
Most persons have a sort of craving or instinct to
utter a curse of some kind — as a sort of comforting
interjection — where there is sufficient provocation ;
and in order to satisfy this without incurring the
guilt, people have invented ejaculations in the form
of curses, but still harmless. Most of them have
some resemblance in sound to the forbidden word —
they are near enough to satisfy the craving, but still
far enough off to avoid the guilt : the process may in
fact be designated dodging a curse. Hence we have
such blank cartridges as begob, begor, by my sowldns,
by Jove, by the laws [Lord], by herrings [heavens],
by this and by that, dang it, &c. ; all of them ghosts
of curses, which are very general among our people.
The following additional examples will sufficiently
illustrate this part of our subject.
The expression the dear knoics (or correctly the
deer knows], which is very common, is a translation
from Irish of one of those substitutions. The
original expression is thauss ag Dhee [given here
phonetically], meaning God knows; but as this is too
solemn and profane for most people, they changed it
to Thauss ag fee, i.e. the deer knows ; and this may be
uttered by anyone. Dia [Dhee] God: fiadh [feej,
a deer.
Says Barney Broderick, who is going through his
penance after confession at the station, and is in-
terrupted by a woman asking him a question : —
'Salvation seize your soul — God forgive me for
cursing — be off out of that and don't set me astray ! '
(' Knocknagow.') Here the substitution has turned
a wicked imprecation into a benison : for the first
word in the original is not salvation but damnation.
70 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IBELAND. [OH. VI.
' By the hole in my coat,' which is often heard,
is regarded as a harmless oath : for if there is no
hole you are swearing by nothing : and if there is a
hole — still the hole is nothing.
' Bad manners to you,' a mild imprecation, to
avoid ' bad luck to you,' which would be considered
wicked : reflecting the people's horror of rude or
offensive manners.
' By all the goats in Kerry,' which I have often
heard, is always said in joke, which takes the venom
out of it. In Leinster they say, ' by all the goats
in Gorey ' — which is a big oath. Whether it is a big
oath now or not, I do not know ; but it was so
formerly, for the name Gorey (Wexford), like the
Scotch Q-oivne, means ' swarming with goats.'
' Man,' says the pretty mermaid to Dick Fitz-
gerald, when he had captured her from the sea,
' man will you eat me ? ' ' By all the red petticoats
and check aprons between Dingle and Tralee,' cried
Dick, jumping up in amazement, ' I'd as soon eat
myself, my jewel ! Is it I to eat you, my pet ! '
(Crofton Croker.)
' Where did he get the whiskey ? ' ' Sorrow a
know I know,' said Leary. ' Sorrow fly away with
him.' (Crofton Croker.) In these and such like —
which you often hear — sorrow is a substitute for devil.
Perhaps the most general exclamations of this
kind among Irish people are begor, begob, bedail,
begad (often contracted to egad"), faith and troth.
Faith, contracted from in faith or i' faith, is looked
upon by many people as not quite harmless : it is a
little too serious to be used indiscriminately — ' Faith
I feel this day very cold ' : 'Is that tea good ? '
CH. VI.] SWEARING-. 71
' Faith it is no such thing: it is very weak.' ' Did
Mick sell his cows to-day at the fair ? ' ' Faith I
don't know.' People who shrink from the plain
word often soften it to faix or liaitk (or lieth in
Ulster). An intelligent contributor makes the
remark that the use of this word faith (as above)
is a sure mark of an Irishman all over the world.
Even some of the best men will occasionally, in an
unguarded moment or in a hasty flash of anger, give
way to the swearing instinct. Father John Burke
of Kilfinane — I remember him well — a tall stern^
looking man with heavy brows, but really gentle
and tender-hearted — held a station at the house of
our neighbour Tom Coffey, a truly upright and
pious man. All had gone to confession and Holy
Communion, and the station was over. Tom went
out to bring the priest's horse from the paddock,
but in leading him through a gap in the hedge the
horse stood stock still and refused obstinately to go
an inch farther. Tom pulled and tugged to no
purpose, till at last his patience went to pieces, and
he flung this, in no gentle voice, at the animal's
head : — ' Blast your sou-l will you come on ! ' Just
then unluckily Father Burke walked up behind : he
had witnessed and heard all, and you may well say
that Tom's heart dropped down into his shoes ; for
he felt thoroughly ashamed. The crime was not
great ; but it looked bad and unbecoming under the
circumstances ; and what could the priest do but
perform his duty : so the black brows contracted,
and on the spot he gave poor Tom doicn-tke-banks
and no mistake. I was at that station, though I
did not witness the horse scene.
72 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VI.
If a person pledges himself to anything, clinching
the promise with an adjuration however mild or
harmless, he will not by any means break the
promise, considering it in a manner as a vow. The
old couple are at tea and have just one egg, which
causes a mild dispute. At last the father says
decisively — ' The divel a bit of it I'll eat, so there's
an end of it ' : when the mother instantly and with
great solemnity — 'FAITH I won't eat it — there now ! '
The result was that neither would touch it ; and they
gave it to their little boy who demolished it without
the least scruple.
I was one time a witness of a serio-comic scene on
the head of one of these blank oaths when I was a
small boy attending a very small school. The
master was a truly good and religious man, but
very severe (a wicked master, as we used to say), and
almost insane in his aversion to swearing in any
shape or form. To say begob or begor or by Jove was
unpardonably wicked ; it was nothing better than
blindfolding the devil in the dark.
One day Jack Aimy, then about twelve years of
age — the saint as we used to call him — for he was
always in mischief and always in trouble — said
exultingly to the boy sitting next him : — ' Oh by
the hokey, Tom, I have my sum finished all right at
last.' In evil hour for him the master happened to
be standing just behind his back ; and then came
the deluge. In an instant the school work was
stopped, and poor Jack was called up to stand before
the judgment seat. There he got a long lecture —
with the usual quotations — as severe and solemn as
if he were a man and had perjured himself half a
CH. VI.] SWEABING. 78
dozen times. As for the rest of us, we sat in the
deadly silence shivering in our skins ; for we all, to
a man, had a guilty consciousness that we were
quite as bad as Jack, if the truth were known.
Then poor Jack was sent to his seat so wretched and
crestfallen after his lecture that a crow wouldn't
pick his bones.
' By the hokey ' is to this day common all over
Ireland.
When we, Irish, go abroad, we of course bring
with us our peculiarities and mannerisms — with now
and then a little meteoric flash of eccentricity —
which on the whole prove rather attractive to
foreigners, including Englishmen. One Sunday
during the South African war, Mass was celebrated
as usual in the temporary chapel, which, after the
rough and ready way of the camp, served for both
Catholics and Protestants : Mass first ; Protestant
Service after. On this occasion an Irish officer, a
splendid specimen of a man, tall, straight, and
athletic — a man born to command, and well known
as a strict and devoted Catholic — was serving
Mass — aiding and giving the responses to the
priest. The congregation was of course of mixed
nationalities — English, Irish, and Scotch, and the
chapel was filled. Just outside the chapel door a nigger
had charge of the big bell to call the congregations.
On this day, in blissful ignorance and indifference,
he began to ring for the Protestant congregation
too soon — while Mass was still going on — so as
greatly to disturb the people at their devotions.
The officer was observed to show signs of impatience,
growing more and more restless as the ringing went
74 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
on persistently, till at last one concentrated series of
bangs burst up his patience utterly. Starting up
from his knees during a short interval when his
presence was not required — it happened to be after
the most solemn part of the Mass — he strode
down the middle passage in a mighty rage — to the
astonishment of everybody — till he got to the door,
and letting fly — in the midst of the perfect silence,
— a tremendous volley of damns, blasts, scoundrels,
blackguards, &c., &c., at the head of the terrified
nigger, he shut him up, himself and his bell, while a
cat would be licking her ear. He then walked back
and resumed his duties, calm and collected, and
evidently quite unconscious that there was anything
unusual in the proceeding.
The whole thing was so sudden and odd that the
congregation were convulsed with suppressed silent
laughter ; and I am afraid that some people observed
even the priest's sides shaking in spite of all he
could do.
This story was obtained from a person who was
present at that very Mass ; and it is given here
almost in his own words.
CHAPTER VII.
GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION.
and Will. It has been pretty clearly shown that
the somewhat anomalous and complicated niceties in
the English use of shall and mil have been developed
within the last 300 years or so. It is of course well
'mown that our Irish popular manner of using these
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 75
two particles is not in accordance with the present
correct English standard ; yet most of our shall-and-
will Hibernianisms represent the classical usage of
two or three centuries ago : so that this is one of
those Irish ' vulgarisms ' that are really survivals in
Ireland of the correct old English usages, which in
England have been superseded by other and often
incorrect forms. On this point I received, some years
ago, a contribution from an English gentleman who
resided long in Ireland, Mr. Marlow Woollett, a man
of wide reading, great culture, and sound judgment.
He gives several old examples in illustration, of
which one is so much to the point — in the use of
will — that you might imagine the words were spoken
by an Irish peasant of the present day. Hamlet says :
' I will win for him an (if) I ( an ; if not I will gain nothing
but my shame and the odd hits.' (' Hamlet,' Act v., scene ii.)
This (the second will) exactly corresponds with what
many of us in Ireland would say now : — ' I will win
the race if I can ; if not I wiU get some discredit ' :
' If I go without my umbrella I am afraid I will get
wet.' So also in regard to shall ; modern English
custom has departed from correct ancient usage and
etymology, which in many cases we in Ireland have
retained. The old and correct sense of shall indicated
obligation or duty (as in Chaucer : — ' The faith I
shal to God ') being derived from A.S. sceal ' I owe '
or ' ought ' : this has been discarded in England,
while we still retain it in our usage in Ireland. You
say to an attentive Irish waiter, 'Please have breakfast
for me at 8 o'clock to-morrow morning ' ; and he
answers, ' I shall sir,' When I was a boy I was
76 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
present in the chapel of Ardpatrick one Sunday, when
Father Dan O'Kennedy, after Mass, called on the
two schoolmasters — candidates for a school vacancy —
to come forward to him from where they stood at the
lower end of the chapel ; when one of them, Mat Kea,
a good scholar but a terrible pedant, called out
magniloquently, 'Yes, doctor, we SHALL go to your
reverence,' unconsciously following in the footsteps
of Shakespeare.
The language both of the waiter and of Mat Rea is
exactly according to the old English usage.
' Lady Macbeth (t<> Macbeth] : — Be bright and jovial among your
guests to-night.
' Macbeth: — So shall I, love.' (' Macbeth,' Act iii. scene ii.)
' Second Murderer : — We shall, my lord,
Perform what you command us.' (Ibid., Act iii. scene i.)
But the Irish waiter's answer would now seem
strange to an Englishman. To him, instead of being
a dutiful assent, as it is intended to be, and as it
would be in England in old times, it would look too
emphatic and assertive, something like as if it were
an answer to a command not to do it. (Woollett.)
The use of shall in such locutions was however not
universal in Shakespearian times, as it would be easy
to show ; but the above quotations — and others that
might be brought forward — prove that this usage
then prevailed and was correct, which is sufficient
for my purpose. Perhaps it might rather be said
that shall and will were used in such cases in-
differently : —
' Queen : — Say to the king, I would attend his leisure
For a few words.
' Servant : Madam, I will.' (' Macbeth,' Act iii. scene ii.)
CH. VII.] GEAMMAB AND PBONUNCIATION. 77
Our use of shall and will prevails also in Scotland,
where the English change of custom has not obtained
any more than it has in Ireland. The Scotch in fact
are quite as bad (or as good) in this respect as we are.
Like many another Irish idiom this is also found in
American society chiefly through the influence of the
Irish. In many parts of Ireland they are shy of |
using shall at all : I know this to be the case in
Munster ; and a correspondent informs me that shall
is hardly ever heard in Derry.
The incorrect use of will in questions in the first
person singular (' Will I light the fire ma'am ? '
' Will I sing you a song ? ' — instead of ' Shall I ? ')
appears to have been developed in Ireland indepen-
dently, and not derived from any former correct
usage : in other words we have created this incorrect
locution — or vulgarism — for ourselves. It is one of
our most general and most characteristic speech
errors. Punch represents an Irish waiter with hand
on dish-cover, asking : — ' Will I sthrip ma'am ?'
What is called- the regular formation of the past V
tense (in ed) is commonly known as the weak inflec-
tion : — call, called : the irregular formation (by
changing the vowel) is the strong inflection: — run,
ran. In old English the strong inflection appears to
have been almost universal ; but for some hundreds
of years the English tendency is to replace strong by
weak inflection. But our people in Ireland, retaining
the old English custom, have a leaning towards the
strong inflection, and not only use many of the old-
fashioned English strong past tenses, but often form
strong ones in their own way : — We use slep and crep,
old English ; and we coin others. ' He ruz his hand
78 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
to me,' ' I cotch him stealing the turf,' ' he gather
sticks for the fire,' ' he hot me on the head with his
stick,' he sot down on the chair' (very common in
America). Hyland, the farm manager, is sent with
some bullocks to the fair ; and returns. ' Well
Hyland, are the bullocks sold ?' — ' Sowld and ped for
sir.' Wor is very usual in the south for were : 'tis
long since we ivor on the road so late as this.'
(Kuocknagow.)
' Wor you at the fair — did you see the wonder —
Did you see Moll lloe ridiiig'on the gander ?'
E'er and ne'er are in constant use in Munster : —
' Have you e'er a penny to give me sir? No, I have
ne'er a penny for you this time.' Both of these are
often met with in Shakespeare.
The Irish schoolmasters knew Irish well, and did
their best — generally with success — to master
English. This they did partly from their neighbours,
but in a large measure from books, including
dictionaries. As they were naturally inclined to
show forth their learning, they made use, as much as
possible, of long and unusual words, mostly taken
from dictionaries, but many coined by themselves
from Latin. Goldsmith's description of the village
master with his ' words of learned length and
thundering sound,' applies exactly to a large propor-
tion of the schoolmasters of the eighteenth and first
half of the nineteenth century all over Ireland. You
heard these words often in conversation, but the
schoolmasters most commonly used them in song-
writing. Here also they made free use of the
classical mythology ; but I will not touch on this
CH. VII.] GRAMMAS AND PRONUNCIATION. 79
feature, as I have treated of ifc, and have given
specimens, in rny ' Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,'
pp. 200-202.
As might be expected, the schoolmasters, as well
as others, who used these strange words often made
mistakes in applying them ; which will be seen in
some of the followinj examples. Here is one whole
verse of a song about a young lady — ' The Phoenix
of the Hall.'
' I being q-uite captivated and so infatuated
I then prognosticated my sad forlorn case ;
But I quickly ruminated — suppose I was defatted,
I would not be implicated or treated with disgrace ;
S) therefore I awaited with my spirits elevated,
And no more I ponderated let "what would me befall ;
I then to her reputed how Cupid had me thratetl,
And thus expostulated with The Phoenix of the Hall.'
In another verse of this song the poet tells us what
he might do for the Phoenix if he had greater
command of language : —
' Could I indite like Homer that celebrated power.'
One of these schoolmasters, whom I knew, com-
posed a poem in praise of Queen Victoria just after
her accession, of which I remember only two lines: —
' In England our queen resides with alacrity,
With civil authority and kind urbanity.'
Another opens his song in this manner : —
' One morning serene as I roved in solitude,
Viewing the magnitude of th' orient ray.
The author of the song in praise of Castlehyde
speaks of
' The bees perfuming the fields with music ' ;
80 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
and the same poet winds up by declaring,
' In all my ranging and serenading
I met no aiquelto Cast.lehyde.'
Serenading here means wandering about leisurely.
The author of ' The Cottage Maid ' speaks of the
danger of Mercury abducting the lady, even
' Though an organising shepherd be her guardian ' ;
where organising is intended to mean playing on an
organ, i.e. a shepherd's reed.
But endless examples of this kind might be given.
Occasionally you will find the peasantry attempting
long or unusual words, of whicii some examples
are scattered through this chapter ; and here also
there are often misapplications : ' What had you for
dinner to-day?' 'Oh I had bacon and goose and
several other combustibles1 (comestibles). I have
repeatedly heard this word.
Sometimes the simple past tense is used for one of
the subjunctive past forms. ' If they had gone out in
their boat that night they were lost men ' ; i.e. ' they
would have been lost men.' ' She is now forty, and
'twas well if she was married' (' it would be well ').
' Oh Father >J urphy, had aid come over, the green flag floated
from shore to shore '
(i.e. would have floated). See my ' Old Irish Folk
Music and Songs,' p. 242.
' A summons from William to Limerick, a summons to open their
gate,
Their fortress and stores to surrender, elsu the sword and the gun
were their fate.'
(R. D» JOYCE : Ballads of Irish Chivalry, p. 15.)
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 81
See is very often used for saw : — ' Did you ever see a
cluricaun Molly ?' Oh no sir, I never see one myself.'
(Crofton Croker.) ' Come here Nelly, and point out
the bride to us.' ' I never see her myself Miss [so I
don't know her] replied Nelly. (Knocknagow.) This
is a survival from old English, in which it was very /
common. It is moreover general among the English
peasantry at the present day, as may he seen every-
where in Dickens.
The imperative of verbs is often formed by let : —
instead of ' go to the right 'or 'go you to the right,'
our people say ' let you go to the right ' : 'let you
look after the cows and I will see to the horses.' A
fellow is arrested for a crime and dares the police
with : — ' Let ye prove it.'
In Derry porridge or stirabout always takes the
plural : ' Have you dished them yet ? '
' I didn't go to the fair 'cause why, the day was too
wet.' This expression 'cause why, which is very often
heard in Ireland, is English at least 500 years old :
for we find it in Chaucer.
You often hear us for me : ' Give us a penny sir to
buy sweets ' (i.e. ' Give me ').
In Waterford and South Wexford the people often
use such verbal forms as is seen in the following : —
' Does your father grow wheat still ? ' ' He do.'
' Has he the old white horse now ? ' ' He have.' As
to has, Mr. MacCall states that it is unknown in the
barony of Forth : there you always hear ' that man
have plenty of money ' — he have — she have, &c.
The Rev. William Burke tells us that have is
found as above (a third person singular) all through
the old Waterford Bye-Laws ; which would render it
82 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
pretty certain that both have and do in these appli-
cations are survivals from the old English colony in
Waterford and Wexford.
In Donegal and thereabout the yon is often shortened
to thon, which is used as equivalent to that or those :
' you may take thon book.'
In Donegal ' such a thing ' is often made such an a
thing.' I have come across this several times : but
the following quotation is decisive — ' No, Dinny
O'Friel, I don't want to make you say any such an
a thing.' (Seamus MacManus.)
There is a tendency to put o at the end of some
words, such as boy-o, lad-o. A fellow was tried for
sheep-stealing before the late Judge Monahan, and
the jury acquitted him, very much against the
evidence. 'You may go now,' said the judge, 'as
you are acquitted ; but you stole the sheep all the
same, my buck-o.'
1 1 would hush my lovely laddo
In the green arbutus shadow.'
(A. P. G HAVES : ' Irish Songs and Ballads.')
This is found in Irish also, as in ( a vick-o ' (' my
boy,' or more exactly ' my son,' where vick is mhic.
vocative of mac, son) heard universally in Munster :
' Well Billy a vick-o, how is your mother this
morning ? ' I suppose the English practice is bor-
rowed from the Irish.
In Irish there is only one article, an, which is
equivalent to the English definite article the. This
article (an) is much more freely used in Irish than
the is in English, a practice Avhich we are inclined to
imitate in our Anglo-Irish speech. Our use of the
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 88
often adds a sort of emphasis to the noun or adjec-
tive : — ' Ah John was the man,' i.e. the real man,
a man pre-eminent for some quality — bravery, gene-
rosity, &c. 'Ah that was the trouble in earnest.'
The Irish chiefs of long ago ' were the men in the
gap ' (Thomas Davis) : — i.e. the real men and no
mistake. We often use the article in our speech
where it would not be used in correct English : —
' I am perished with the cold.' ' I don't know much
Greek, but I am good at the Latin.'
' That was the dear journey to me.' A very
common form of expression, signifying that ' I paid
dearly for it ' — ' it cost me dear.' Hugh Reynolds
when about to be hanged for attempting the abduc-
tion of Catherine McCabe composes (or is supposed
to compose) his 'Lamentation,' of which the verses
end in ' She's the dear maid to me.' (See my
' Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 135.) A
steamer was in danger of running down a boat
rowed by one small boy on the Shannon. ' Get
out of the way you young rascal or we'll run over
you and drown you ! ' Little Jacky looks up
defiantly and cries out : — ' Ye'll drownd me, will ye :
if ye do, I'll make it the dear drownding to ye ! '
In such expressions it is however to be observed
that the indefinite article a is often used— perhaps
as often as the : — ' That was a dear transaction for
me.' ' Oh, green-hilled pleasant Erin you're a dear
land to me 1 ' (Robert Dwyer Joyce's ' Ballads of
Irish Chivalry,' p. 206.)
In Ulster they say: — 'When are you going?'
' Oh I am going the day,' i.e. to-day. I am much
better the day than I was yesterday. In this the day
84 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IEELAND. [CH. VII.
is merely a translation of the Irish word for to-day
— andiu, where an is ' the ' and diu a form of the
Irish for 'day.'
The use of the singular of nouns instead of the
plural after a numeral is found all through Ireland.
Tom Cassidy our office porter — a Westmeath man —
once said to me ' I'm in this place now forty-four
year ' : and we always use such expressions as nine
head of cattle. A friend of mine, a cultivated and
scholarly clergyman, always used phrases like ' that
bookcase cost thirteen pound.' This is an old English
survival. Thus in Macbeth we find ' this three mile.'
But I think this phraseology has also come partly
under the influence of our Gaelic in which ten and
numerals that are multiples of ten always take the
singular of nouns, as tri-caogad laoch, ' thrice fifty
heroes' — lit. 'thrice fifty hero.'
In the south of Ireland may is often incorrectly
used for might, even among educated people : — ' Last
week when setting out on my long train journey,
I brought a book that I may read as I travelled
along.' I have heard and read, scores of times,
expressions of which this is a type — not only among
the peasantry, but from newspaper correspondents,
professors, &c. — and you can hear and read them
from Munstermen to this day in Dublin.
In Ulster till is commonly used instead of to : —
' I am going till Belfast to-morrow ' : in like manner
until is used for unto.
There are two tenses in English to which there is
nothing corresponding in Irish : — what is sometimes
called the perfect — ' I have finished my work ' ; and
the pluperfect — ' I had finished my work ' [before you
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 85
arrived]. The Irish people in general do not use —
or know how to use — these in their English speech ;
but they feel the want of them, and use various
expedients to supply their places. The most common
of these is the use of the word after (commonly with
a participle) following the verb to be. Thus instead
of the perfect, as expressed above, they will say
' I am after finishing my work,' ' I am after my
supper.' (' Knocknagow.') ' I'm after getting the
lend of an American paper' (ibid.}; and instead
of the pluperfect (as above) they will say ' I was
after finishing my work ' [before you arrived].
Neither of these two expressions would be under-
stood by an Englishman, although they are universal
in Ireland, even among the higher and educated
classes.
This word after in such constructions is merely a
translation of the Irish iar or a n-diaigh — for both
are used in corresponding expressions in Irish.
But this is only one of the expedients for ex-
pressing the perfect tense. Sometimes they use the
simple past tense, which is ungrammatical, as our
little newsboy in Kilkee used to do : ' Why haven't
you brought me the paper?' 'The paper didn't
come from the station yet sir.' Sometimes the
present progressive is used, which also is bad
grammar : ' I am sitting here waiting for you for
the last hour' (instead of 'I have been sitting').
Occasionally the have or has of the perfect (or the
had of the pluperfect) is taken very much in its
primary sense of having or possessing. Instead of
' You have quite distracted me with your talk,' the
people will say ' You have me quite distracted,' &c. :
86
ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. VII.
' I have you found out at last.' ' The children had
me vexed.' (Jane Barlow.)
' And she is a comely maid
That has my heart hetrayed.'
(Old Irish Folk- Song.)
" I fear,
' That some cruel goddess has him captivated,
And has left here in mourning his dear Irish maid.'
(See my Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, p. 208.)
Corresponding devices are resorted to for the
pluperfect. Sometimes the simple past is used
where the pluperfect ought to come in : — ' An hour
before you came yesterday 1 finished my work ' :
where it should be ' I had finished.' Anything to avoid
the pluperfect, which the people cannot manage.
In the Irish language (but not in English) there
is what is called the consuetudinal tense, i.e. de-
noting habitual action or existence. It is a very
convenient tense, so much so that the Irish, feeling
the want of it in their English, have created one by
the use of the word do with be : 'I do be at my
lessons every evening from 8 to 9 o'clock.' ' There
does be a meeting of the company every Tuesday.'
' 'Tis humbuggin' me they do be.' (' Knocknagow.')
Sometimes this is expressed by be alone without
the Jo ; but here the be is also often used in the
ordinary sense of is without any consuetudinal
meaning. ' My father bees always at home in the
morning ' : ' At night while I bees reading my wife
bees knitting.' (Cousuetudinal.) ' You had better
not wait till it bees night.' (Indicative.)
' I'll seek out my Blackbird wherever he he.' (Indicative.)
(Old Folk Song—' The Blackbird.')
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 87
This use of be for is is common in the eastern half of
Ireland from Wexford to Antrim.
Such old forms as anear, adown, afeard, apast,
afore, &c., are heard everywhere in Ireland, and are
all of old English origin, as it would be easy to
show by quotations from English classical writers.
' If my child was standing anear that stone." (Gerald
Griffin : ' Collegians.') ' She was never a-shy or
ashamed to show' [her respect for me]. ('Knock-
nagow.') The above words are considered vulgar
by our educated people : yet many others remain
still in correct English, such as aboard, afoot,
amidst, &c.
I think it likely that the Irish language has had
some influence in the adoption and retention of
those old English words ; for we have in Irish a
group of words identical with them both in meaning
and structure : such as a-n-aice (a-near), where
aice is ' near.' (The n cornea in for a grammatical
reason.)
' I be to do it ' in Ulster is used to express ' I have
to do it ': 'I am bound to do it '; ' it is destined that
I shall do it.' 'I be to remain here till he calls,' I am
bound to remain. ' The only comfort I have [regard-
ing some loss sure to come on] is that it be to be,'
i.e. that ' it is fated to be' — ' it is unavoidable.'
( What bees to be maun be ' (must be).
Father William Burke points out that we use
' every other' in two different senses. He remains at
home always on Monday, but goes to town 'every
other' day — meaning every day of the week except
Monday : which is the most usual application among
us. ' My father goes to town every other .day,' i.e.
88 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAR IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
every alternate day. This last is rarely used by our
people, who prefer to express it ' My father goes to
town every second day.' Of two persons it is stated :
' You'd like to see them drinking from one cup,
They took so loving every second sup.1
(Old Irish Folk Song.)
The simple phrase ' the other day ' means a few
days ago. ' When did you see your brother John ? '
'Oh I saw him the other day.'
' The other day he sailed away and parted his dear Nancy.'
(Old Folk Song.)
The dropping of thou was a distinct loss to the
English language : for now you has to do double
duty — for both singular and plural — which some-
times leads to obscurity. The Irish try to avoid
this obscurity by various devices. They always use ye
in the plural whenever possible : both as a nominative
and as an objective: ' Where are ye going to-day ?'
' I'm afeard that will be a dear journey to ye.'
Accepting the you as singular, they have created new
forms for the plural such as yous, yez, yiz, which do
not sound pleasant to a correct speaker, but are very
clear in sense. In like manner they form a posses-
sive case direct on ye. Some English soldiers are
singing ' Lillibulero ' —
1 And our skeans we'll make good at de Englishman's throat,'
on which Cus Eussed (one of the ambush) says —
' That's true for ye at any rate. I'm laughing at the
way we'll carry out yeer song afore the day is over.'
(' The House of Lisbloom,' by Robert D. Joyce.)
Similarly ' weer own ' is sometimes used for ' our
own.'
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 89
The distributive every requires to be followed by
pronouns in the singular : but this rule is broken
even by well-known English writers : — 'Every one for
themselves ' occurs in Robinson Crusoe ; and in
Ireland plurals are almost universally used. ' Let
every one wind themselves as the ass said when he
leaped into a flock of chickens.'
Father Burke has shown— a matter that had
escaped me— that we often use the verbs rest and
perish in an active sense. The first is seen in the
very general Irish prayer ' God rest his soul.'
Mangan uses the word in this sense in the Testament
of Cathaeir Mor : —
' Here is the Will of GatLacir Mor,
God rest him.'
And John Keegan in ' Caoch O'Leary ' : —
1 And there he sleeps his last sweet sleep —
God rest you, Caoch 0' Leary.'
Perish is quoted below in the saying — ' That breeze
would perish the Danes.'
We have many intensive words, some used
locally, some generally : — ' This is a cruel wet day ';
' that old fellow is cruel rich ' : that's a cniel good
man (where cruel in all means very : Ulster). ' That
girl is fine and fat : her cheeks are fine and red.1 ' I
was dead fond of her ' (very fond) : but dead certain
occurs in ' Bleak House.' ' That tree has a mighty
great load of apples.' ' I want a drink badly ; my
throat W powerful Axy.* (' Shanahan's Ould Shebeen,'
New York.) ' John Cusack is the finest dancer at all.'
' This day is mortal cold.' ' I'm black out with you.'
90 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
' I'm very glad entirely to hear it.' ' He is very sick
entirely.' This word entirely is one of our most
general and characteristic intensives. ' He is a
very good man all out.' ' This day is guy and wet ' :
' that boy is guy and fat ' (Ulster). A half fool of a
fellow looking at a four-wheeled carriage in motion :
' Aren't the little wheels damn good not to let the big
wheels overtake them.' In the early days of cycling
a young friend of mine was riding on a five foot
wheel past two countrymen ; when one remarked to
the other : — ' Tim, that's & gallows way of travelling.'
' I was up murdering late last night.' (Crofton
Croker.)
In the Irish language there are many diminutive
terminations, all giving the idea of ' little,' which will
be found fully enumerated and illustrated in my
'Irish Names of Places,' vol. ii, chap. ii. Of these
it may be said that only one — in or een — has found
its way into Ireland's English speech, carrying with
it its full sense of smallness. There are others —
an or aun, and 6g or oge ; but these have in great
measure lost their original signification ; and although
we use them in our Irish-English, they hardly convey
any separate meaning. But een is used everywhere :
it is even constantly tacked on to Christian names
(especially of boys and girls) : — Mickeen (little Mick),
Noreen, Billeen, Jackeen (a word applied to the con-
ceited little Dublin citizen). So also you hear Birdeen,
Robineen-redibieasi, bonniveen, &c. A boy who apes
to be a man — puts on airs like a man — is called a
manneen in contempt (exactly equivalent to the
English mannikin}. I knew a boy named Tommeen
Trassy : and the name stuck to him even when he
CH, VII.] GRAMMAE AND PRONUNCIATION. 91
was a great big whacker of a fellow six feet high.
In the south this diminutive is long (eeri) and takes
the accent : in the north it is made short (in) and is
unaccented.
It is well known that three hundred years ago,
and even much later, the correct English sound of
the diphthong ea was the same as long a in fate: sea
pronounced say, &c. Any number of instances could
be brought together from the English poets in illus-
tration of this : —
' God moves in a mysterious way,
His wonders to perform ;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.'
(CowrER (18th century).)
This sound has long since been abandoned in
England, but is still preserved among the Irish
people. You will hear everywhere in Ireland, ' a pound
of mate,' ' a cup of tay,' ' you're as deep as the
Say,1 &C.
' Kind sir be aixy and do not laize me with your false praises
most jestingly.' — (Old Irish Folk Song.)
(In this last line easy and teaze must be sounded so
as to rhyme — assonantally — with praises).
Many years ago I was travelling on the long car
from Macroom to Killarney. On the other side —
at my back — sat a young gentleman — a ' superior
person,' as anyone could gather from his dandified
speech. The car stopped where he was to get off :
a tall fine-looking old gentleman was waiting for
him, and nothing could exceed the dignity and
kindness with which he received him. Pointing to
92 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
his car he said ' Come now and they'll get you a nice
refreshing cup of tay' ' Yes,' says the dandy, ' I shall
be very glad to get a cup of tee ' — laying a particular
stress on tee. I confess I felt a shrinking of shame
for our humanity. Now which of these two was
the vulgarian?
The old sound of ea is still retained — even in
England — in the word great ; but there was a long
contest in the English Parliament over this word.
Lord Chesterfield adopted the affected pronunciation
(greet), saying that only an Irishman would call it
grate. ' Single-speech Hamilton ' — a Dublin man —
who was considered, in the English House of Com-
mons, a high authority on such matters, stoutly
supported grate, and the influence of the Irish orators
finally turned the scale. (Woollett.)
A similar statement may be made regarding the
diphthong ei and long e, that is to say, they were
both formerly sounded like long a in fate.
' Boast the pure blood of an illustrious race,
In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece.'
(PoPE : ' Essay on Man.')
In the same essay Pope rhymes sphere with fair,
showing that he pronounced it sphaire. Our hedge
schoolmaster did the same thing in his song : —
Of all the maids on this terrestrial sphaire
Young Molly is the fairest of the fair.
' The plots are fruitless which my foe
Unjustly did conceive ;
The pit he digg'd for me has proved
His own untimely grave.'
(T.vn: AMI BRADY.)
OH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 98
Our people generally retain the old sounds of long
e and ei ; for they say persah-e for perceive, and sevare
for severe.
' The pardon he gave me was hard and sevare ;
'Twas bind him, confine him, he's the rambler from Clare.'
Our Irish way of sounding both ea and long e is
exemplified in what I heard a man say — a man who
had some knowledge of Shakespeare — about a girl
who was becoming somewhat of an old maid : ' She's
now getting into the sair and y allow laif.'
Observe, the correct old English sound of ie and
ee has not changed : it is the same at present in
England as it was formerly; and accordingly the
Irish people always sound these correctly. They
never say praste for priest, belave for believe, indade
for indeed, or kape for keep, as some ignorant writers
set down.
Ate is pronounced et by the educated English. In
Munster the educated people pronounce it ait :
1 Yesterday I ait a good dinner ' ; and when et is
heard among the uneducated — as it generally is — it
is considered very vulgar.
It appears that in correct old English er was
sounded ar — Dryden rhymes certain with partiwj —
and this is still retained in correct English in a few
words, like sergeant, cleric, &c. Our people retain the
old sound in most such words, as sarvant, marchant,
sartin. But sometimes in their anxiety to avoid this
vulgarity, they overdo the refinement : so that you
will hear girls talk mincingly about derning a stock-
ing. This is like what happened in the case of one
of our servant girls who took it into her head that
94 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
mutton was a vulgar way of pronouncing the word,
like pudden' for pudding ; so she set out with her new
grand pronunciation ; and one day rather astonished
our butcher by telling him she wanted a small leg of
mutting. I think this vulgarism is heard among the
English peasantry too : though we have the honour
and glory of evolving it independently.
All over Ireland you will hear the words vault and
fault sounded vaut and faut. ' If I don't be able to
shine it will be none of my faut.' (Carle ton, as cited by
Hume.) We have retained this sound from old
English :
Let him not dare to vent his dangerous thought :
A noble fool was never in a. fault [faut].
(PopE, cited by Hume.)
Goldsmith uses this pronunciation more than
once ; but whether he brought it from Ireland or
took it from classical English writers, by whom it
was used (as by Pope) almost down to his time, it is
hard to say. For instance in ' The Deserted Village '
he says of the Village Master : —
' Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught
The love he bore to learning was in fault ' [faut].
I remember reading many years ago a criticism of
Goldsmith by a well-known Irish professor of English
literature, in which the professor makes great fun, as
a ' superior person,' of the Hibernicism in the above
couplet, evidently ignorant of the fact, which
Dr. Hume has well brought out, that it is classical
English,
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 95
In many parts of Munster there is a tendency to
give the long a the sound of a in car, father : —
Were I Paris whose deeds are vaariotts
And arbithraather on Ida's hill.
(Old Folk Song—' The Colleen Rue.')*
The gladiaathers both bold and darling,
Each night and morning to watch the flowers.
(Old Folk Song—' Castlehyde.')*
So, an intelligent peasant,— a born orator, but
illiterate in so far as he could neither read nor
write, — told me that he was a spectaathor at one of
O'ConnelPs Eepeal meetings : and the same man, in
reply to a strange gentleman's inquiry as to who
planted a certain wood up the hill, replied that the
trees were not planted — they grew sfinntaan-yns.
I think this is a remnant of the old classical
teaching of Munster: though indeed I ought to
mention that the same tendency is found in
Monaghan, where on every possible occasion the
people give this sound to long a.
D before long u is generally sounded like j ; as in
])rojnce for produce : the Juke of Wellington, &c.
Many years ago I knew a fine old gentleman from
Galway. He wished to make people believe that in
the old fighting times, when he was a young man,
he was a desperate gladiaathor ; but he really was a
gentle creature who never in all his born days hurt
man or mortal. Talking one day to some workmen
in Kildare, and recounting his exploits, he told them
* For both of these songs see my ' Old Irish Folk Music and
Songs.'
96 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
that he was now harrished every night by the ghosts
of all the min he killed mjitels.
So s before long u is sounded sh : Dan Kiely, a
well-to-do young farmer, told the people of our
neighbourhood that he was now looking out for a
wife that would shoot him. This pronunciation is
however still sometimes heard in words of correct
English, as in sure.
There are some consonants of the Irish language
which when they come together do not coalesce in
sound, as they would in an English word, so that
when they are uttered a very short obscure vowel
sound is heard between them : and a native Irish
speaker cannot avoid this. By a sort of hereditary
custom this peculiarity finds its way into our
pronunciation of English. Thus firm is sounded in
Ireland/emm — two distinct syllables : ' that bird is
looking for a wurrum.' Form, (a seat) we call a
fur rum.
' His sire he'd seek no more nor descend to Mammon's shore,
Nor venture on the tyrant's dire alaa-rums,
But daily place his care on that emblematic fair,
Till he'd barter coronations for her ehaa-rwns.'
(Old Folk Song.)*
Herb is sounded errub : and we make two syllables
of the name Charles [Char-less] . At the time of
the Bulgarian massacres, I knew a Dublin doctor,
a Tipperary man, who felt very strongly on the
subject and was constantly talking about the poor
IJullugariam.
In the County Monaghan and indeed elsewhere
* See my ' Old Irish Folk Music and Song?,' p. 202.
CH. VII.] GBAMMAK AND PRONUNCIATION. 97
in Ireland, us is sounded huz, which might seem
a Cockney vulgarism, but I think it is not. In
Boscommon and in the Munster counties a thong
is called a fong.
Chaw for chew, oncet [wonst] for once, twiced for
twice, and Jieighth, sighth, for height, sight, which are
common in Ireland, are all old English survivals.
Thus in the 'Faerie Queene' (Bk. i., Canto iv.,
xxx.) : —
' And next to him malicious Envy rode
Upon a ravenous wolfe and still did chaw
Between his cankred teeth a venomous tode.'
Chaw is also much used in America. ' Onst for
once is in the Chester Plays ' (Lowell) ; and hiyhth for
height is found all through ' Paradise Lost.' So also
we have drooth for drought : —
' Like other historians I'll stick to the truth
While I sing of the monarch who died of the drooth.'
(SAM LOVER.)
Joist is sounded joice in Limerick ; and catch is
everywhere pronounced ketch.
The word hither is pronounced in Ireland hetlier,
which is the correct old English usage, but long
since abandoned in England. Thus in a State
Paper of 1598, we read that two captains returned
hether: and in Spenser's 'View,' he mentions a
' colony [sent] hether out of Spaine.'
' An errant knight or any other wight
That hether turns his steps.' (' Faerie Queene.')
Hence we have coined the word com,ether, for
come-hether, to denote a sort of spell brought about
H
98 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
by coaxing, wheedling, making love, &c. — as in the
phrase ' she put her comether on him, so that he
married her up at once.' ' There'll not be six girls in
the fair he'll not be putting the comether on.'
(Seumas MacManus.)
The family name ' Bermingham ' is always made
Brimmigem in Ireland, which is a vei'y old English
corruption. In Friar Clyn's Annals (Latin) written
in the fourteenth century, the death is recorded in
1329 of Johannes de Brimeghain, i.e., the celebrated
Sir John Berrningham who defeated Edward Bruce
at Faughart.
Leap is pronounced lep by our people ; and in
racing circles it is still so pronounced by all classes.
The little village of Leap in the County Cork is
always called Lep.
There is a curious tendency among us to reverse
the sounds of certain letters, as for instance sk and
ch. ' When you're coining home to-morrow bring
the spade and chovel, and a pound of butter fresh
from the shunt:' ' That shimney doesn't draw the
smoke well.' So with the letters n and i. ' When I
was crossing the bnidge I dropped the sweeping brisk
into the ruvver.' 1 1 never saw sich a sight.' But
such words are used only by the very uneducated.
Brudge for bridge and the like are however of old
English origin. ' Margaret, mother of Henry VII,
writes secJw for such ' (Lowell). So in Ireland : —
' Jeslice is all I ax,' says Mosy in the story (' Ir. Pen.
Mag.) ; and churries for cherries (' Knocknagow ').
This tendency corresponds with the vulgar use of h in
London and elsewhere in England. ' The 'en has
just laid a hegg' : ' he was singing My 'art's in the
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 99
'ighlands or The Brave Old Soak.' (Washington
Irving.)
Squeeze is pronounced squeedge and crush scroodge
in Donegal and elsewhere ; but corruptions like these
are found among the English peasantry — as may be
seen in Dickens.
' You had better rinsh that glass ' is heard every-
where in Ireland: an old English survival; for
Shakespeare and Lovelace have renched for rinced
(Lowell) : which with the Irish sound of short e
before n gives us our word rinshed.
Such words as old, cold, hold are pronounced by
the Irish people ould, cowld, hould (or howlt) ; gold
is sounded goold and ford foord. I once heard an
old Wicklow woman say of some very rich people
' why these people could ait goold.1 These are all
survivals of the old English way of pronouncing
such words. In the State Papers of Elizabeth's time
you will constantly meet with such words as hoult
and stronghowlt (hold and stronghold.) In my boy-
hood days I knew a great large sinewy active woman
who lived up in the mountain gap, and who was
universally known as ' Thunder the cowlt from
Poulaflaikeen ' (cowlt for colt) ; Poulaflaikeen, the
high pass between Glenosheen and Glenanaar, Co.
Limerick, for which see Dr. K. D. Joyce's ' Ballads
of Irish Chivalry,' pp. 102, 103, 120.
Old Tom Howlett, a Dublin job gardener, speaking
to me of the management of fruit trees, recommended
the use of butchers' waste. 'Ah sir' — said he,
with a luscious roll in his voice as if he had been
licking his lips — ' Ah sir, there's nothing for the roots
of an apple tree like a big tub of fine rotten mtld guts,'
100 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
Final d is often omitted after / and n : you will
see this everywhere in Seumas MacManus's books for
Donegal. Recently we were told by the attendant
boy at one of the Dublin seaside baths that the prices
were — ' a shilling for the hot and sixpence for the
cowl. ' So we constantly use an' for and: in a
Waterford folk song we have ' Here's to the swan
that sails on the pan ' (the ' swan ' being the poet's
sweetheart) : and I once heard a man say to another
in a fair : — ' That horse is sound in win' and
limb.'
Short e is always sounded before n and m, and
sometimes in other positions, like short i : ' How
many arrived ? ' ' Tin win and five women ' : ' He
always smoked a pipe with a long stim.' If you
ask a person for a pin, he will inquire ' Is it a
brass pin or a writing pin you want ? '
Again is sounded by the Irish people agin, which
is an old English survival. ' Donne rhymes again
with sin, and Quarles repeatedly with tn.' (Lowell.)
An Irishman was once landed on the coast of some
unknown country where they spoke English. Some
violent political dispute happened to be going on
there at the time, and the people eagerly asked the
stranger about his political views ; on which —
instinctively giving expression to the feelings he
brought with him from the ' ould sod ' — he promptly
replied before making any inquiry — ' I'm agin the
Government.' This story, which is pretty well
known, is a faked one; but it affords us a good
illustration.
Onion is among our people always pronounced
ingion : constantly heard in Dublin. ' Go out Mike
CH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 101
for the ingions,' as I once heard a woman say in
Limerick.
' Men are of different opinions,
Some like leeks and some like mgionsS
This is old English ; ' in one of Dodsley's plays we
have onions rhyming with minions' (Lowell.)
The general English tendency is to put back the
accent as far from the end of the word as possible.
But among our people there is a contrary tendency —
to throw forward the accent ; as in ex-cel'lentt his
Ex-eel1 -lency — Nas-sau' Street (Dublin), Ar-bu'-tus,
commit-tee', her-e-dit'tary.
' Tele-mach'us. though so grand ere the sceptre reached his
hand.' (Old Irish Folk Song.)
In Gough's Arithmetic there was a short section
on the laws of radiation and of pendulums. When
I was a boy I once heard one of the old schoolmasters
reading out, in his grandiloquent way, for the
people grouped round Ardpatrick chapel gate after
Mass, his formidable prospectus of the subjects he
could teach, among which were ' the raddiation of
light and heat and the vibrations of swinging pen-
joo'lums.' The same fine old scholarly pedant once
remarked that our neighbourhood was a very moun-
taan'-yus locality. A little later on in my life, when
I had written some pieces in high-flown English —
as young writers will often do — one of these
schoolmasters — a much lower class of man than the
last — said to me by way of compliment : ' Ah ! Mr.
Joyce, you have a fine voca-bull'ery.'
Mischievous is in the south accented on the second
syllable — Mis-cliee'-voits : but I have come across this
102 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VII.
in Spenser's Faerie Queene. We accent character on
the second syllable : —
' Said he in a whisper to my benefactor,
Though good your character has been of that Jad.'
(Song by Mr. Patrick Murray of Kilfinane,
a schoolmaster of great ability : about 1840).
One of nay school companions once wrote an ode
in praise of Algebra, of which unfortunately I
remember only the opening line : but this fragment
shows how we pronounced the word in our old
schools in the days of yore : —
' Hail sweet itl-jib'era, you're my heart's delight.'
There is an Irish ballad about the people of
Tipperary that I cannot lay my hands on, which
speaks of the
' Tipperary boys,
Although we are cross and contrairy boys ' ;
and this word ' contrairy ' is universal in Munster.
In Tipperary the vowel i is generally sounded oi.
Mick Hogan a Tipperary boy — he was a man
indeed — was a pupil in Mr. Condon's school in
Mitchelstown, with the full rich typical accent. One
morning as he walked in, a fellow pupil, Tom Burke
— a big fellow too — with face down on desk over a
book, said, without lifting his head — to make fun of
him — 'foine day, Mick.' ' Yes,' said Mick as he
walked past, at the same time laying his hand on
Tom's poll and punching his nose down hard against
the desk. Tom let Mick alone after that 'foine day.'
Farther south, and in many places all over Ireland,
they do the reverse : — ' The kettle is biling ' ;
' She smiled on me like the morning sky,
And she won the heart of the prentice bye."1
(Old Irish Folk Song.)
OH. VII.] GRAMMAR AND PRONUNCIATION. 103
The old English pronunciation of oblige was
obleeqe : —
' Dreaded by fools, by flatterers besieged,
And so obliging that be ne'er obliged.'
(POPE.)
Among the old-fashioned and better-educated of
our peasantry you will still hear this old pronuncia-
tion preserved: — I am very much obleeged to you.
It is now generally heard in Kildare among alj.
classes. A similar tendency is in the sound of
whine, which in Munster is always made wheen :
' What's that poor child wheening for ? ' also every-
where heard : — ' All danger [of the fever] is now
past : he is over his creesis.'
Metathesis, or the changing of the place of a letter
or syllable in a word, is very common among the
Irish people, as cruds for curds, girn for grin, party for
pretty. I heard a man quoting from Shakespeare
about Puck — from hearsay : he said he must have
been a wonderful fellow, for he could put a griddle
round about the earth in forty minutes.' I knew a
fellow that could nover say traveller : it was always
throllh'er.
There is a tendency here as elsewhere to shorten
many words : You will hear garner for gardener,
ornanj for ordinary. The late Cardinal Cullen was
always spoken of by a friend of mine who revered
him, as The Carnal.
My and by are pronounced me and be all over
Ireland : Now me boy I expect you home be six o'clock.
The obscure sound of e and i heard in her and fir
is hardly known in Ireland, at least among the
general run of people. Her is made either herr or
hur. Theysound sir either siirr (to rhyme with cur),
104 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IBELAND. [CH. VII.
or serr ; but in this latter case they always give the
r or rr what is called the slender sound in Irish,
which there is no means of indicating by English
letters. Fir is also sounded either fur or ferr (a fur
tree or a, ferr tree), Furze is pronounced rightly;
but they take it to be a plural, and so you will often
hear the people say a fur bush instead of a furze bush.
In other classes of words i before r is mis-
pronounced. A young fellow, Johnny Brien,
objected to go by night on a message that would
oblige him to pass by an empty old house that had
the reputation of being haunted, because, as he said,
he was afeard of the sperrit.
In like manner, miracle is pronounced imrride.
Jack Finn — a little busybody noted for perpetually
jibing at sacred things — Jack one day, with innocence
in his face, says to Father Tom, ' Wisha I'd be
terrible thankful entirely to your reverence to tell me
what a merricle is, for I could never understand it.'
' Oh yes Jack,' says the big priest good-naturedly, as
he stood ready equipped for a long ride to a sick call —
poor old Widow Dwan up in the mountain gap : ' Just
tell me exactly how many cows are grazing in that
field there behind you.' Jack, chuckling at the fun
that was coming on, turned round to count, on which
Father Tom dealt him a hearty kick that sent him
sprawling about three yards. He gathered himself
up as best he could ; but before he had time to open
his mouth the priest asked, ' Did you feel that Jack ? '
' Oh Blood-an Yerra of course I did your
reverence, why the blazes wouldn't II' 'Well
Jack,' replied Father Tom, benignly, ' If you didn't
feel it— that would be a nicnicle.'
CH. VIII.] PROVERBS. 105
CHAPTER VIII.
PROVERBS.
The Irish delighted in sententious maxims and apt
illustrations compressed into the fewest possible
words. Many of their proverbs were evolved in the
Irish language, of which a collection with transla-
tions by John 0 'Donovan may be seen in the
' Dublin Penny Journal,' I. 258 ; another in the
Rev. Ulick Bourke's Irish Grammar ; and still
another in the Ulster Journ. of Archeology (old
series) by Mr. Robert MacAdam, the Editor. The
same tendency continued when the people adopted
the English language. Those that I give here in
collected form were taken from the living lips of the
people during the last thirty or forty years.
1 Be first in a wood and last in a bog.' If two
persons are making their way, one behind the other,
through a wood, the hinder man gets slashed in the
face by the springy boughs pushed aside by the first :
if through a bog, the man behind can always avoid
the dangerous holes by seeing the first sink into
them. This proverb preserves the memory of a
time when there were more woods and bogs than
there are now: it is translated from Irish.
In some cases a small amount added on or taken
off makes a great difference in the result : ' An inch
is a great deal in a man's nose.' In the Crimean
war an officer happened to be walking past an Irish
soldier on duty, who raised hand to cap to salute.
106 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VIII.
But the hand was only half way when a stray bullet
whizzed by and knocked off the cap without doing
any injury. Whereupon Paddy, perfectly unmoved,
stooped down, replaced the cap and completed the
salute. The officer, admiring his coolness, said
' That was a narrow shave my man ! ' ' Yes your
honour : an inch is as good as a mile.' This is one
of our commonest sayings.
A person is reproved for some trifling harmless
liberty, and replies : — ' Oh a cat can look at a king.'
(A translation from Irish.)
A person who fails to get what he was striving after
is often glad to accept something very inferior :
' When all fruit fails welcome haws.'
When a person shows no sign of gratitude for
a good turn as if it passed completely from his
memory, people say ' Eaten bread is soon forgotten.'
A person is sent upon some dangerous mission,
as when the persons he is going to are his deadly
enemies : — that is ' Sending the goose on a message
to the fox's den.'
If a dishonest avaricious man is put in a position
of authority over people from whom he has the power
to extort money ; that is ' putting the fox to mind
the geese.'
' You have as many kinds of potatoes on the
table as if you took them from a beggarman's bag ' :
referring to the good old time when beggarnien
went about and usually got a lyre of potatoes in
each house.
' No one can tell what he is able to do till he
tries,' as the duck said when she swallowed a dead
kitten.
CH. VIII.] PROVERBS. 107
You say to a man who is suffering under some
continued hardship : — ' This distress is only tem-
porary : have patience and things will come round
soon again.' ' 0 yes indeed ; Live horse till you get
grass.'
A person in your employment is not giving
satisfaction ; and yet you are loth to part with him
for another : ' Better is the devil you know than
the devil you don't know.'
' Least said, soonest mended.'
'You spoke too late,' as the fool said when he
swallowed a bad egg, and heard the chicken chirp
going down his throat.
' Good soles bad uppers.' Applied to a person
raised from. a low to a high station, who did well
enough while low, but in his present position is
overbearing and offensive.
I have done a person some service : and now he
ill-naturedly refuses some reasonable request. 1
say : ' Oh wait : apples will grow again.1 He answers
— 'Yes if tlie trees baint cut' — a defiant and un-
grateful answer, as much as to say — you may not
have the opportunity to serve me, or I may not
want it.
Turf or peat was scarce in Kilmallock (Co. Lime-
rick) : whence the proverb, ' A Kilmallock fire — two
sods and a kyraun ' (a bit broken off of a sod) .
People are often punished even in this world for
their misdeeds : ' God Almighty often pays debts
without money.' (Wicklow.)
I advise you not to do so without the master's
permission : — ' Leave is light.' A very general
saying.
108 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VIII.
When a person gives much civil talk, makes
plausible excuses or fair promises, the remark is
made ' Soft words butter no parsnips.' Sometimes
also ' Talk is cheap.'
A person who is too complaisant — over anxious to
please everyone — is ' like Lanna Mochree's dog — he
will go a part of the road with everyone.' (Moran
Carlow.) (A witness said this of a policeman in the
Celbridge courthouse — Kildare — last year, showing
that it is still alive.)
' The first drop of the broth is the hottest' ; the
first step in any enterprise is usually the hardest.
(Westmeath.)
The light, consisting of a single candle, or the jug of
punch from which the company fill their tumblers,
ought always to be placed on the middle of the table
when people are sitting round it : — ' Put the priest in
the middle of the parish.'
' After a gathering comes a scattering.' 'A narrow
gathering, a broad scattering.' Both allude to the
case of a thrifty man who gathers up a fortune during
a lifetime, and is succeeded by a spendthrift son who
soon makes ducks and drakes of the property.
No matter how old a man is he can get a wife if
he wants one : ' There never was an old slipper but
there was an old stocking to match it.' (Carlow.)
' You might as well go to hell with a load as with
a pahil ' : ' You might as well hang for a sheep as
for a lamb ' : both explain themselves. A pahil or
paghil is a bundle of anything. (Derry.)
If a man treats you badly in any way, you threaten
to pay him back in his own coin by saying, ' The cat
hasn't eaten the year yet.' (Carlow.)
CH. vm.] PROVERBS. 109
' A fool and his money are easily parted.'
' A dumb priest never got a parish,' as much as to
say if a man wants a thing he must ask and strive
for it.
1 A slip of the tongue is no fault of the mind.'
(Munster.)
You merely hint at something requiring no further
explanation : — ' A nod is as good as a wink to a
blind horse.' (Sam Lover: but heard everywhere.)
A very wise proverb often heard among us is : —
' Let well enough alone.'
' When a man is down, down with him ' : a bitter
allusion to the tendency of the world to trample
down the unfortunate and helpless.
' The friend that can be bought is not worth
buying.' (Moran : Carlow.)
' The life of an old hat is to cock it.' To cock an
old hat is to set it jauntingly on the head with the
leaf turned up at one side. (S. E. counties.)
' The man that wears the shoe knows where it
pinches.' It is only the person holding any position
that knows the troubles connected with it.
' Enough and no waste is as good as a faist.'
' There are more ways of killing a dog than by
choking him with butter.' Applied when some
insidious cunning attempt that looks innocent is
made to injure another.
' Well James are you quite recovered now ? ' 'Oh
yes, I'm on the baker's list again ' : i.e., I am well
and have recovered my appetite.
' An Irishman before answering a question always
asks another ' : he wants to know why he is asked.
Dan O'Loghlin, a working man, drove up to our
110 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VIII.
house one day on an outside car. It was a sixpenny
drive, but rather a long one ; and the carman began
to grumble. Whereupon Dan, in the utmost good
humour, replied : — ' Oh you must take the little
potato with the big potato.' A very apt maxim in
many of life's affairs, and often heard in and around
Dublin.
' Good goods are tied up in small parcels ' : said of
a little man or a little woman, in praise or mitigation.
(Moran : Carlow.)
' Easy with the hay, there are boys on the ladder.'
When a man is on the top of the stack forking
down hay, he is warned to look out and be careful if
other boys are mounting up the ladder, lest he may
pitch it on their heads. The proverb is uttered
when a person is incautiously giving expression to
words likely to offend some one present. (Moran :
Carlow.)
Be cautious about believing the words of a man
speaking ill of another against whom he has a
grudge: ' Spite never spoke well.' (Moran : Carlow.)
Don't encroach too much on a privilege or it may
be withdrawn : don't ask too much or you may get
nothing at all : — ' Covetousness bursts the bag.'
Three things not to be trusted — a cow's horn, a
dog's tooth, and a horse's hoof.
Three disagreeable things at home : — a scolding
wife ; a squalling child ; and a smoky chimney.
Three good things to have. I heard this given as
a toast exactly as I give it here, by a fine old
gentleman of the old times :— ' Here's that we may
always have a clane shirt ; a clane conscience ; and a
guinea in our pocket.'
CH. VIII.] PROVERBS. Ill
Here is another toast. A happy little family party
round the farmer's fire with a big jug on the table (a
jug of what, do you think ?) The old blind piper is
the happiest of all, and holding up his glass says : —
' Here's, if this be war may we never have peace.'
(Edw. Walsh.)
Three things no person ever saw : — a highlander's
knetbuckle, a dead ass, a tinker's funeral.
' Take care to lay by for the sore foot' : i.e., Provide
against accidents, against adversity or want ; against
the rainy day.
When you impute another person's actions to evil
or unworthy motives : that is ' measuring other
people's corn in your own bushel.'
A person has taken some unwise step : another
expresses his intention to do a similar thing, and
you say : — ' One fool is enough in a parish.'
In the middle of last century, the people of
Carlow and its neighbourhood prided themselves on
being able to give, on the spur of the moment, toasts
suitable to the occasion. Here is one such : ' Here's
to the herring that never took a bait ' ; a toast
reflecting on some person present who had been
made a fool of in some transaction. (Moran : Carlow.)
' A man cannot grow rich without his wife's
leave ' : as much as to say, a farmer's wife must co-
operate to ensure success and prosperity. (Moran :
Carlow.)
When something is said that has a meaning under
the surface the remark is made ' There's gravel in
that.'
' Pity people barefoot in cold frosty weather,
But don't make thuiu boots with other people's leather.'
112 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VIII.
That is to say : don't be generous at other people's
expense. Many years ago this proverb was quoted by
the late Serjeant Armstrong in addressing a jury in
Wicklow.
1 A wet night : a dry morning ' : said to a man
who is craw-sick — thirsty and sick — after a night's
boozing. (Moran : Carlow.)
This last reminds me of an invitation I once got
from a country gentleman to go on a visit, holding
out as an inducement that he would give me ' a dry
bed and a wet bottle.'
' If he's not fishing he's mending his nets': said
of a man who always makes careful preparations
and lays down plans for any enterprise he may have
in view.
' If he had a shilling in his pocket it would burn a
hole through it ' : said of a man who cannot keep his
money together — a spendthrift.
' A bird with one wing can't fly ' : said to a person
to make him take a second glass. (Moran : Carlow.)
Protect your rights : ' Don't let your bone go with
the dog.'
' An old dog for a hard road ' : said in commenda-
tion of a wary person who has overcome some diffi-
culty. Hard in this proverb means ' difficult.'
(Moran : Carlow.)
' No use sending a boy on a man's errand' : Don't
be satisfied with inadequate steps when undertaking
a difficult work : employ a sure person to carry out
a hard task.
Oh however he may have acted towards you he has
been a good friend to me at any rate ; and I go by
the old saying, ' Praise the ford as you find it.' This
CH. VIII.] PROVERBS. 113
proverb is a translation from the Irish. It refers to
a time when bridges were less general than now ;
and rivers were commonly crossed by fords — which
were sometimes safe, sometimes dangerous, accord-
ing to the weather.
' Threatened dogs live long.' Abuses often go on
for a long time, though people are constantly com-
plaining and threatening to correct them. (Ulster.)
He who expects a legacy when another man dies
thinks the time long. ' It is long waiting for a dead
man's boots.' (Moran : Carlow.)
A person waiting impatiently for something to
come on always thinks the time longer than usual : —
' A watched pot never boils.'
' A poor man must have a poor wedding ' : people
must live according to their means.
' I could carry my wet finger to him ' : i.e. he is
here present, but I won't name him.
' Oh that's all as I roved out ' : to express unbelief
in what someone says as quite unworthy of credit.
In allusion to songs beginning ' As I roved out,'
which are generally fictitious.
' Your father was a bad glazier ' : said to a person
who is standing in one's light.
' As the old cock crows the young cock learns ' :
generally applied to a son who follows the evil
example of his father.
A person .remarks that the precautions you are
taking in regard to a certain matter are unnecessary or
excessive, and you reply ' Better be sure than sorry.'
' She has a good many nicks in her horn ' : said
of a girl who is becoming an old maid. A cow is
said to have a nick in her horn for every year.
114 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IEELAND. [cH. VIII.
A man of property gets into hopeless debt and
difficulty by neglecting his business, and his creditors
sell him out. ' Well, how did he get out of it ? ' asks
a neighbour. ' Oh, he got out of it just by a break-
up, as Katty got out of the pot.' This is how Katty
got out of the pot. One day at dinner in the kitchen
Katty Murphy the servant girl sat down on a big
pot (as I often saw women do) — for seats were
scarce ; and in the middle of the dinner, through
some incautious movement, down she went. She
struggled to get up, but failed. Then the others
came to help her, and tugged and pulled and tried in
every way, but had to give it up ; till at last one of
them brought a heavy hammer, and with one blow
made smithereens of the pot.
' Putting a thing on the long finger' means post-
poning it.
On the evil of procrastination : — ' Time enough lost
the ducks.' The ducks should have been secured at
once as it was known that a fox was prowling about.
But they were not, and —
' Will you was never a good fellow.' The bad
fellow says ' Will you have some lunch ?' (while there
is as yet nothing on the table), on the chance that
the visitor will say ' No, thank you.' The good
hospitable man asks no questions, but has the food
brought up and placed before the guest.
' Cut the gad next the throat ' : that is to say,
attend to the most urgent need first. You find a man
hanging by a gad (withe), and you cut him down to
save him. Cutting the gad next the throat explains
itself.
When a work must be done slowly : — ' I will do
OH. VIII.] PROVERBS. 115
it by degrees as lawyers go to heaven.' (Moran :
Carlow.)
' That's not a good fit,' as the serpent said when
he swallowed a buck goat, horns and all.
Time and patience would bring a snail to America.
' The cold stone leaves the water on St. Patrick's
Day.' About the 17th March (St. Patrick's Day),
the winter's cold is nearly gone, and the weather
generally takes a milder turn.
' There are more turners than dishmakers ' ;
meaning, there may be many members of a profes-
sion, but only few of them excel in it : usually
pointed at some particular professional man, who is
considered not clever. It is only the most skilful
turners that can make wooden dishes.
A person who talks too much cannot escape saying
things now and then that would be better left
unsaid : — ' The mill that is always going grinds
coarse and fine.'
' If you lie down with dogs you will get up with
fleas ' : if you keep company with bad people you
will contract their evil habits. (Moran : Carlow.)
If you do a kindness don't mar it by any unpleasant
drawback : in other words do a kind act graciously : —
' If you give away an old coat don't cut off the
buttons.'
Two good things : — A young man courting, an old
man smoking : Two bad things : — An old man
courting, a young man smoking. (MacCall : Wexford.)
What is the world to a man when his wife is a
widow.
Giving help where it is needed is ' helping the lame
dog over the stile.'
i2
116 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VIII.
' Leave him to God': meaning don't you attempt
to punish him for the injury he has done you :
let God deal with him. Often carried too far
among us.
A hard man at driving a bargain : — ' He always
wants an egg in the penn'orth.' (Kildare.)
A satirical expression regarding a close-fisted
ungenerous man : — ' If he had only an egg he'd give
you the shell.' (Kildare.)
A man wishes to say to another that they are both
of about the same age ; and this is how he expresses
it : — ' When I die of old age you may quake with
fear.' (Kildare.)
Speaking of a man with more resources than
one :— ' It wasn't on one leg St. Patrick came to
Ireland.'
When there is a prospect of a good harvest, or any
mark of prosperity : — ' That's no sign of small
potatoes.' (Kildare.)
Your friend is in your pocket. (Kildare.)
[As a safe general principle] : — ' If anybody asks
you, say you don't know.'
' A good run is better than a bad stand.' When it
becomes obvious that you cannot defend your posi-
tion (whatever it is), better yield than encounter
certain defeat by continuing to resist. (Queens -
town.)
A man depending for success on a very uncertain
contingency : — ' God give you better meat than a
running hare.' (Tyrone.)
To express the impossibility of doing two incon-
sistent things at the same time : — ' You can't whistle
and chaw meal.'
OH. VIII.] PROVERBS. 117
A man who has an excess of smooth plausible talk
is ' too sweet to be wholesome.'
' The fox has a good name in his own parish.'
They say that a fox does not prey on the fowls in his
own neighbourhood. Often said of a rogue whose
friends are trying to whitewash him.
' A black hen lays white eggs.' A man with rough
manners often has a gentle heart and does kindly
actions.
Much in the same sense : — ' A crabtree has a
sweet blossom.'
A person who has smooth words and kind profes-
sions for others, but never acts up to them, 'has
a hand for everybody but a heart for nobody.'
(Munster.)
A person readily finds a lost article when it is
missed, and is suspected to have hidden it him-
self : — ' What the Pooka writes he can read-'
(Munster.)
A man is making no improvement in his character
or circumstances but rather the reverse as he
advances in life : — ' A year older and a year worse.'
' A shut mouth catches no flies.' Much the same
as the English ' Speech is silvern, silence is golden.'
To the same effect is ' Hear and see and say
nothing."
A fool and his' money are easily parted.
Oh I see you expect that Jack (a false friend) will
stand at your back. Yes, indeed, ' he'll stand at
your back while your nose is breaking.'
' You wouldn't do that to your match ' as Mick
Sheedy said to the fox. Mick Sheedy the game-
keeper had a hut in the woods where he often took
118 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. VIII.
shelter and rested and smoked. One day when he
had arrived at the doorway he saw a fox sitting at
the little fire warming himself. Mick instantly
spread himself out in the doorway to prevent escape.
And so they continued to look at each other. At last
Reynard, perceiving that some master-stroke was
necessary, took up in his mouth one of a fine pair of
shoes that were lying in a corner, brought it over,
and deliberately placed it on the top of the fire. We
know the rest ! (Limerick.)
' There's a hole in the house ' ; meant to convey
that there is a tell-tale listening. (Meath.)
We are inclined to magnify distant or only half
known things : ' Cows far off have long horns.'
' He'll make Dungarvan shake': meaning he will
do great things, cut a great figure. Now generally
said in ridicule. (Munster.)
A man is told something extraordinary : — ' That
takes the coal off my pipe ' ; i.e. it surpasses all I
have seen or heard.
A man fails to obtain something he was looking
after — a house or a farm to rent — a cow to buy — a
girl he wished to marry, &c. — and consoles himself
by reflecting or saying : — ' There's as good fish in the
say as ever was caught.'
Well, you were at the dance yesterday — who were
there ? Oh ' all the world and Garrett Eeilly ' were
there. (Wicklow and Waterford.)
When a fellow puts on empty airs of great conse-
quence, you say to him, ' Why you're as grand as
Mat Flanagan with the cat ' : always said contemp-
tuously. Mat Flanagan went to London one time.
After two years he came home on a visit ; but he was
CH. VIII.] PROVEBBS. 119
now transformed into such a mass of grandeur that
he did not recognise any of the old surroundings.
He didn't know what the old cat was. ' Hallo,
mother,' said he with a lofty air and a killing
Cockney accent, ' What's yon long-tailed fellow in
yon cawner ? '
A person reproaching another for something wrong
says : — ' The back of my hand to you," as much as to
say ' I refuse to shake hands with you.'
To a person hesitating to enter on a doubtful
enterprise which looks fairly hopeful, another says : —
Go on Jack, try your fortune : ' faint heart never
won fair lady.'
A person who is about to make a third and deter-
mined attempt at anything exclaims (in assonantal
rhyme) : —
' First and second go alike :
The third throw takes the bite.'
I express myself confident of outwitting or circum-
venting a certain man who is notoriously cautious
and wide-awake, and the listener says to me : — ' Oh,
what a chance you have — catch a weasel asleep '
(general).
In connexion with this may be given another
proverb : of a notoriously wide-awake cautious man,
it is said : — ' He sleeps a hare's sleep — with one eye
open.' For it was said one time that weasels were
in the habit of sucking the blood of hares in their
sleep ; and as weasels had much increased, the hares
took to the plan of sleeping with one eye at a time ;
' and when that's rested and slep enough, they open
it and shut the other.' (From ' The Building of
Mourne,' by Dr, Kobert Dwyer Joyce.)
120 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. IX.
This last perpetuates a legend as old as our
literature. In one of the ancient Irish classical
tales, the story is told of a young lady so beautiful
that all the young chiefs of the territory were in love
with her and laying plans to take her off. So her
father, to defeat them, slept with only one eye at a
time.
CHAPTER IX.
EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY.
I HAVE included both in this Chapter, for they are
nearly related ; and it is often hard to draw a precise
line of distinction.
We in Ireland are rather prone to exaggeration,
perhaps more so than the average run of peoples.
Very often the expressions are jocose, or the person
is fully conscious of the exaggeration ; but in nume-
rous cases there is no joke at all : but downright
seriousness : all which will be seen in the following
examples.
A common saying about a person of persuasive
tongue or with a beautiful voice in singing : — ' He
would coax the birds off the bushes.' This is borrowed
from the Irish. In the ' Lament of Richard Cantillon '
(in Irish) he says that at the musical voice of the
lady ' the seals would come up from the deep, the
stag down from the mist-crag, and the thrush from
the tree." (Petrie : 'Anc. Mus. of Ireland.')
Of a noted liar and perjurer it was said 'He would
swear that a coal -porter was a canary.'
CH. XI.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 121
A man who is unlucky, with whom everything goes
wrong : — ' If that man got a hen to hatch duck eggs,
the young ducks would be drowned.' Or again, ' If
that man sowed oats in a field, a crop of turnips
would come up.' Or : ' He is always in the field
when luck is on the road.'
The following expression is often heard : — ' Ah,
old James Buckley is a fine piper : I'd give my eyes to
he listening to him.'
That fellow is so dirty that if you flung him against
a wall he'd stick. (Patterson : Ulster.)
Two young men are about to set off to seek their
fortunes, leaving their young brother Boryto stay
with their mother. But Kory, a hard active merry
cute little fellow, proposes to go with them : — ' I'll
follow ye to the world's end.' On which the eldest
says to him — a half playful threat : — ' You presump-
tious little atomy of a barebones, if I only see the
size of a thrush's ankle of you follyin' us on the road,
I'll turn back and bate that wiry and freckled little
carcase of yours into frog's-jelly ! ' (Robert Dwyer
Joyce : ' The Building of Mourne.')
1 Did Johnny give you any of his sugar-stick ? '
' Oh not very much indeed : hardly the size of a
thrush's ankle.' This term is often used.
Of a very morose sour person you will hear it
said; — ' If that man looked at a pail of new milk
he'd turn it into curds and whey.'
A very thin man, or one attenuated by sickness :
— ' You could blow him off your hand.'
A poor fellow complains of the little bit of meat
he got for his dinner : — ' It was no more than a daisy
in a bull's mouth ! ' Another says of his dinner
122 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IX.
when it was in his stomach : — ' It was no more than
a midge in the Glen of the Downs.'
Exhorting a messenger to be quick ; — ' Don't be
there till you're back again.' Another way : — ' Now
run as quick as you can, and if you fall don't wait to
get up.' Warning a person to be expeditious in any
work you put him to:— 'Now don't let grass grow
under your feet.' Barney urging on the ass to go
quickly : — ' Come Bobby, don't let grass grow under
your feet.' (' Knocknagow.')
If a person is secretly very willing to go to a place
— as a lover to the house of the girl's parents: — ' You
could lead him there with a halter of snow.'
1 Is this razor sharp ? ' ' Sharp ! — why 'twould
shave a mouse asleep.'
A lazy fellow, fond of sitting at the fire, has tlie
A B C on his shins, i.e. they are blotched with the
heat.
Of an inveterate talker : — That man would talk
the teeth out of a saw.
A young fellow gets a great fright : — ' It frightened
him out of a year's growth.'
When Nancy saw the master so angry she was
frightened out of her wits : or frightened out of her
seven senses. When I saw the horse ride over him
I was frightened out of my life.
A great liar, being suddenly pressed for an answer,
told the truth for once. He told the truth because
he was shook for a lie ; i.e. no lie was ready at hand.
Shook, to be bad, in a bad way : shook for a thing,
to be badly in want of it and not able to get it.
Of a very lazy fellow : — He would not knock a
coal off his foot : i.e. when a live coal happens to
CH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 123
fall on his foot while sitting by the fire, he wouldn't
take the trouble to knock it off.
Says the dragon to Manus : — ' If ever I see you
here again I'll hang a quarter of you on every tree
in the wood.' (Crofton Croker.)
If a person is pretty badly hurt, or suffers hard-
ship, he's hilt (killed) : a fellow gets a fall and his
friend conies up to inquire : — ' Oh let me alone I'm
kilt and speechless.' I heard a Dublin nurse say,
' Oh I'm kilt minding these four children.' ' The
bloody throopers are coming to kill and quarther an'
murther every mother's sowl o' ye.' (R. D. Joyce.)
The parlour bell rings impatiently for the third time,
and Lowry Looby the servant says, ' Oh murther
there goes the bell again, I'll be kilt entirely.'
(Gerald Griffin.) If a person is really badly hurt he's
murthered entirely. A girl telling about a fight in a
fair : — ' One poor boy was kilt dead for three hours
on a car, breathing for all the world like a corpse ! '
If you don't stop your abuse I'll give you a shirt
full of sore bones.
Yes, poor Jack was once well off, but now he
hasn't as much money as would jingle on a
tombstone.
That cloth is very coarse : why you could shoot
straws through it.
Strong dislike : — I don't like a bone in his body.
' Do you know Bill Finnerty well ? ' ' Oh indeed
I know every bone in his body,' i.e. I know him and
all his ways intimately.
A man is low stout and very fat : if you met him
in the street you'd rather jump over him than walk
round him.
124 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IX.
He knew as much Latin as if be swallowed a
dictionary. (Gerald Griffin.)
The word destroy is very often used to characterize
any trifling damage easily remedied : — That car
splashed nae, and my coat is all destroyed.
' They kept me dancin' for 'em in the kitchen,'
says Barney Broderick, ' till I hadn't a leg to put
under me.' (' Knocknagow.')
This farm of mine is as bad land as ever a crow
flew over.
He's" as great a rogue as ever stood in shoe-leather.
When Jack heard the news of the money that
was coming to him he was jumping out of Ms skin
with delight.
I bought these books at an auction, and I got
them for a song : in fact I got them for half
nothing.
Very bad slow music is described as the time the
old cow died of.
A child is afraid of a dog : ' Yerra he won't
touch you ' : meaning ' he won't bite you.'
A man having a very bad aim in shooting : —
' He wouldn't hit a hole in a ladder.'
Carleton's blind fiddler says to a young girl : ' You
could dance the Colleen dhas dhown [a jig] upon a
spider's cobweb without breaking it.'
An ill-conducted man : — ' That fellow would
shame a field of tinkers.' The tinkers of sixty
years ago, who were not remarkable for their honesty
or good conduct, commonly travelled the country in
companies, and camped out in fields or wild places.
I was dying to hear the news ; i.e. excessively
anxious,
OH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 125
Where an Englishman will say ' I shall be
pleased to accept your invitation,' an Irishman
will say ' I will be delighted to accept,' &c.
Mick Fraher is always eating garlick and his
breath has a terrible smell — a smell of garlick strong
enough to hang your hat on.
A mean thief : — He'd steal a halfpenny out of a
blind beggarman's hat. (P. Eeilly : Kild.)
A dexterous thief : — He'd steal the sugar out of
your punch.
An inveterate horse thief : — Throw a halter in his
grave and he'll start up and steal a horse.
Of an impious and dexterous thief : — ' He'd steal
the cross off an ass's back,' combining skill and
profanation. According to the religious legend the
back of the ass is marked with a cross ever since the
day of our Lord's public entry into Jerusalem upon
an ass.
A man who makes unreasonably long visits —
who outstays his welcome : — ' If that man went to a
wedding he'd wait for the christening.
I once asked a young Dublin lady friend was she
angry at not getting an invitation to the party :
' Oh I was fit to be tied.' A common expression
among us to express great indignation.
A person is expressing confidence that a certain
good thing will happen which will bring advantage
to everyone, but which after all is very unlikely, and
someone replies : — ' Oh yes : when the sky falls
we'll all catch larks.'
A useless unavailing proceeding, most unlikely to
be attended with any result, such as trying to per-
suade a person who is obstinately bent on having hig
126 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. IX.
own way : — ' You might as well be whistling jigs to a
milestone ' [expecting it to dance].
' Would you know him if you saw him ?' ' Would
I know him ! — why 'I'd know his skin in a tan-yard'
— ' I'd know his shadow on a furze-bush ! '
A person considered very rich : — That man is
rotten with money. He doesn't know what to do
with his money.
You gave me a great start : you put the heart
across in me : my heart jumped into my mouth.
The people said that Miss Mary Kearney put the
heart across in Mr. Lowe, the young Englishman
visitor. (' Knocknagow.')
I heard Mat Halahan the tailor say to a man who
had just fitted on a new coat : — That coat fits you
just as if you were melted into it.
He is as lazy as the dog that always puts his head
against the wall to bark. (Moran : Carlow.)
In running across the field where the young people
were congregated Nelly Donovan trips and falls : and
Billy Heffernan, running up, says : — ' Oh Nelly did
you fall : come here till I take you up.' (' Knock-
nagow.')
' The road flew under him,' to express the swift-
ness of a man galloping or running afoot.
Bessie Morris was such a flirt that Barney
Broderick said she'd coort a haggard of sparrows.
(' Knoc nagow.')
I wish I were on yonder hill,
'Tis there I'd sit and cry my fill,
Till ev'ry tear would turn a mill.
(Shool Aroon: ' Old Irish Polk Song.')
CH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 127
But after all this is not half so great an exagge-
ration as what the cultivated English poet wrote : —
I found her on the floor
In all the storm of grief, yet beautiful,
Pouring forth tears at such a lavish rate,
That were the world on fire it might have drowned
The wrath of Heaven and quenched the mighty ruin.
A great dandy wears his hat on three hairs of
his head.
He said such funny things that the company were
splitting their sides laughing.
Matt Donovan (in ' Knocknagow ') says of his
potatoes that had fine stalks but little produce —
desaversas he called them — Every stalk of 'em would
make a- rafter for a house. But put the best man
in the parish to dig 'em and a duck would swallow
all he'd be able to turn out from morning till
night.
Sometimes distinct numbers come in where they
hardly apply. Not long ago I read in an article in
the ' Daily Mail ' by Mr. Stead, of British ' ships
all over the seven seas.' So also here at home we
read ' round the four seas of Ireland ' (which is right
enough) : and ' You care for nothing in the world but
your own four bones' (i.e. nothing but yourself).
' Come on then, old beer-swiller, and try yourself
against the four bones of an Irishman ' (R. D. Joyce :
' The House of Lisbloom.') Four bones in this sense
is very common.
A person meeting a friend for the first time after
a long interval says ' Well, it's a cure for sore eyes
to see you.' ' I haven't seen you now for a month of
128 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IX.
Sundays,' meaning a long time. A month of Sundays
is thirty-one Sundays — seven or eight months.
Said jokingly of a person with very big feet : — He
wasn't behind the door anyway when the feet were
giving out.
When a man has to use the utmost exertion to
accomplish anything or to escape a danger he says :
' That business put me to the pin of my collar.' The
allusion is to a fellow whose clothes are falling off
him for want of buttons and pins. At last to prevent
the final catastrophe he has to pull out the brass
pin that fastens his collar and pin waistcoat and
trousers-band together.
A poor woman who is about to be robbed shrieks
out for help ; when the villain says to her : — ' Not
another word or I'll stick you like a pig and give you
your guts for garters.' (' Ir. Penny Magazine.')
A man very badly off— all in rags : — ' He has
forty-five ways of getting into his coat now.'
(MacCall: Wexford.)
A great miser — very greedy for money : — He
heard the money jingling in his mother's pockets
before he was born. (MacCall : Wexford.)
A drunken man is a teriible curse,
But a drunken woman is twice as worse ;
For she'd drink Lough Erne dry.
(MACG'AI.L.)
To a person who habitually uses unfortunate
blundering expressions : — ' You never open your
mouth but you put your foot in it.'
A girl to express that it is unlikely she will ever be
married says : ' I think, miss, my husband's intended
mother died an old maid.' (' Penelope in Ireland. ')
CH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 129
A young man speaking of his sweetheart says, in
the words of the old song : —
'I love the ground she walks upon, mavonrneen gal mochree*
(thou fair love of ray heart).
A conceited pompous fellow approaches: — 'Here
comes half the toivn ! ' A translation from the Irish
leath an bhaile.
Billy Heffernan played on his fife a succession of
jigs and reels that might ' cure a paralytic' [and set
him dancing]. ('Knocknagow.')
In ' Knocknagow ' Billy Heffernan being requested
to play on his fife longer than he considered reason-
able, asked did they think that he had the bellows of
Jack Delany the blacksmith in his stomach ?
Said of a great swearer : — He'd swear a hole in an
iron pot.'
Of another : — ' He'd curse the bladder out of a
goat.'
Of still another : — ' He could quench a candle at
the other side of the kitchen with a curse.'
A person is much puzzled, or is very much elated,
or his mind is disturbed for any reason : — ' He doesn't
know whether it is on his head or his heels he's
standing.
A penurious miserable creature who starves himself
to hoard up : — He could live on the smell of an oil-
rag. (Moran : Carlow.)
A man complaining that he has been left too long
fasting says : — ' My stomach will think that my
throat is cut.' (MacCall : Wexford.)
' Do you like the new American bacon ?' ' Oh not
at all : I tried it once and that's enough for me : 1
K
180 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IX.
wouldn't touch it icith a tonys? Very common and
always used in depreciation as here.
We in Ireland are much inclined to redundancy in
our speech. It is quite observable — especially to an
outsider — that even in our ordinary conversation and
in answering simple questions we use more words
than we need. We hardly ever confine ourselves to
the simple English yes or no ; we always answer by
a statement. 'Is it raining, Kitty?' 'Oh no sir,
it isn't raining at all.' ' Are you going to the fair
to-day ? ' 'No indeed I am not.' ' Does your father
keep on the old business still ? ' ' Oh yes certainly he
does: how could he get on without it?' ' Did last
night's storm injure your house ?' 'Ah you may well
say it did.' A very distinguished Dublin scholar and
writer, having no conscious leanings whatever
towards the Irish language, mentioned to me once
that when he went on a visit to some friends in
England they always observed this peculiarity in his
conversation, and often laughed at his roundabout
expressions. He remarked to me — and an acute
remark it was that he supposed there must be some
peculiarity of this kind in the Irish language ; in
which conjecture he was quite correct. For this
peculiarity of ours — like many others — is borrowed
from the Irish language, as anyone may see for him-
self by looking through an Irish book of question and
answer, such as a Catechism. ' Is the Son God ? '
' Yes certainly He is.' ' WTill God reward the good and
punish the wicked ? ' ' Certainly : there is no doubt
He will.' 'Did God always exist?' 'He did;
because He has neither beginning nor end.' And
questions and answers like these— from Donlevy's
CH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 181
Irish Catechism for instance— might be given to any
length.
But in many other ways we show our tendency to
this wordy overflow — still deriving our mannerism
from the Irish language — that is to say, from modern
and middle Irish. For in very old Irish — of the
tenth, eleventh, and earlier centuries for instance,
the tendency is the very reverse. In the specimens
of this very old language that have come down to us,
the words and phrases are so closely packed, that it
is impossible to translate them either into English or
Latin by an equal number of words.* But this old
language is too far off from us to have any influence
in our present every-day English speech ; and, as
already remarked, we derive this peculiarity from
modern Irish, or from middle Irish through modern.
Here is a specimen in translation of over-worded
modern Irish (Battle of Gavra, p. 141), a type of
what was very common : — ' Diarmuid himself [fight-
ing] continued in the enjoyment of activity, strength,
and vigour, without intermission of action, of
weapons, or of power ; until at length he dealt a full
stroke of his keen hard-tempered sword on the king's
head, by which he clove the skull, and by a second
stroke swept his head off his huge body.' Examples
like this, from Irish texts, both modern and middle,
might be multiplied to any extent.
* See the interesting remarks of O'Donovan in Preface to
'Battle of Magh Kath,' pp. ix-xv. Sir Samuel Ferguson also
has some valuable observations on the close packing of the
very old Irish language, but I cannot lay my hands on them.
From him I quote (from memory) the remark about translating
old Irish into English or Latin.
K2
132 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IX.
But let us now have a look at some of our Anglo-
Irish redundancies, mixed up as they often are with
exaggeration. A man was going to dig by night
for a treasure, which of course had a supernatural
guardian, like all hidden treasures, and what should
he see running towards him but ' a great big red
mad bull, with fire flaming out of his eyes, mouth,
and nose.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) Another man sees a
leprechaun walking up to him — ' a weeny deeny
dawny little atomy of an idea of a small taste of a
gentleman.' (Ibid.) Of a person making noise and
uproar you will be told that he was roaring and
screeching and bawling and making a terrible hulla-
bulloo all through the house.
Of an emaciated poor creature — ' The breath is
only just in and out of him, and the grass doesn't
know of him walking over it.'
' The gentlemen are not so pleasant in themselves '
[now as they used to be]. (Gerald Griffin.)
Expressions like this are very often heard : ' I was
dead in myself,' i.e., I felt dull and lifeless.
[Dermot struck the giant and] ' left him dead
without life.' (' Dermot and Grainne.') Further on
we find the same expression — marbh yan anam, dead
without life. This Irish expression is constantly
heard in our English dialect : ' he fell from the roof
and was killed dead,'
Oh brave King Brian, be knew tbe way
To keep tbe peace and to make the hay :
For those who were bad be cut off their head ;
And those who were worse he killed them dead.
Similarly the words ' dead and buried ' are used
all through Munster : — Oh indeed poor Jack Lacy is
CH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND EEDUNDANCY. 133
dead and buried for the last two years : or ' the whole
family are dead and gone these many years.'
A very common Irish expression is ' I invited
every single one of them.' This is merely a translation
from Irish, as we find in ' Gabhra ' : — Do
bhearmaois yacli aon bhuadh : we were wont to win
every single victory.
' We do not want any single one of them,' says
Mr. Hamilton Fyfe ('Daily Mail'). He puts the saying
into the mouth of another ; but the phraseology is
probably his own : and at any rate I suppose we may
take it as a phrase from Scotch Gaelic, which is all
but the same as Irish Gaelic.
Emphatic particles and words, especially the
pronouns with self, are often used to excess. I
heard a highly educated fellow-countryman say,
' I must say myself that I don't believe it ' : and I
am afraid I often use such expressions myself.
' His companions remained standing, but he found it
more convenient to sit down himself.' A writer or
speaker has however to be on his guard or he may
be led into a trap. A writer having stated that
some young ladies attended a cookery-class, first
merely looking on, goes on to say that after a time
they took part in the work, and soon learned to cook
themselves.
I once heard a man say : — ' I disown the whole
family, seed breed and generation.' Very common in
Ireland. Goldsmith took the expression from his
own country, and has immortalised it in his essay,
' The Distresses of a Common Soldier.'
He was on the tip-top of the steeple — i.e., the very
top. This expression is extended in application : that
184 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. IX.
meadow is tiptop, i.e., very excellent: he is a
tip-top liurler. ' By no means ' is sometimes
expanded : — ' I asked him to lend me a pound, but
he answered that by no manner of means would he do
any such thing.'
' If you do that you'll be crying down salt tears,'
i.e., 'you'll deeply regret it.' Salt tears is however
in Shakespeare in the same sense. (' Hen. VI.)'
' Down with you now on your two bended knees
and give thanks to God.'
If you don't stop, I'll wring the head off o' your
neck. (Eev. Maxwell Close.)
The roof of the house fell down on the top of him.
(Father Higgins.)
The Irish air se ( ' says he ') is very often repeated
in the course of a narrative. It is correct in Irish,
but it is often heard echoed in our English where
it is incorrect : — And says he to James ' where are
you going now ? ' says he.
In a trial in Dublin a short time ago, the counsel
asked of witness : — ' Now I ask you in the most
solemn manner, had you hand, act, or part in the
death of Peter Heffernan ? '
A young man died after injuries received in a row,
and his friend says : — ' It is dreadful about the poor
boy : they made at him in the house and killed him
there ; then they dragged him out on the road and
killed him entirely, so that he lived for only three
days after. I wouldn't mind if they shot him at once
and put an end to him : but to be murdering him
like that — it is terrible.'
The fairy says to Billy : — ' I am a thousand years
old to-day, and I think it is time for me to get
CH. IX.] EXAGGERATION AND REDUNDANCY. 135
married.' To which Billy replies : — ' I think it is
quite time without any kind of doubt at all.'
(Crofton Croker.)
The squire walks in to Patrick's cabin : and
Patrick says : — ' Your honour's honour is quite
welcome entirely.' (Crofton Croker.)
An expression you will often hear even in
Dublin : — ' Lend me the loan of your umbrella.'
' She doats down on him ' is often used to express
' She is very fond of him.'
1 So, my Kathleen, you're going to leave me
All alone by myself in this place.'
(LADY DUFFEBIN.)
He went to America seven years ago, and from
that day to this we have never heard any tale or
tidings of him.
' Did he treat you hospitably ? ' ' Oh indeed he
pretended to forget it entirely, and I never took bit,
bite, or sup in his house.' This form of expression
is heard everywhere in Ireland.
We have in Ireland an inveterate habit — from the
highest to the lowest — educated and uneducated — of
constantly interjecting the words ' you know ' into
our conversation as a mere expletive, without any
particular meaning : — ' I had it all the time, you
know, in my pocket ' : he had a seat, you know, that
he could arrange like a chair : I was walking, you
know, into town yesterday, when I met your father.'
' Why in the world did you lend him such a large
sum of money?' 'Well, you know, the fact is I
couldn't avoid it." This expression is often varied to
' don't you know.'
In Munster a question is often introduced by the
ISO ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. X.
words ' I don't know,' always shortened to 1'd'iw
(three syllables with the I long and the o very short —
barely sounded) ' I'd'no is John come home yet ? '
This phrase you will often hear in Dublin from
Munster people, both educated and uneducated.
' The t'other' is often heard in Armagh : it is, of
course, English : —
' Sirs,' cried the umpire, cease your pother,
The creature's neither one nor t'other.
CHAPTER X.
COMPARISONS.
SOME of the items in this chapter would fit very
well in the last ; but this makes no matter ; for ' good
punch drinks well from either dandy or tumbler.'
You attempt in vain to bring a shameless coarse-
minded man to a sense of the evil he has done : —
1 Ye might as well put a blister on a hedgehog.'
(Tyrone.)
You're as cross all this day as a bag of cats.
If a man is inclined to threaten much but never
acts up to his threats — severe in word but mild in
act : — His bark is worse than his bite.
That turf is as dry as a bone (very common in
Munster.) Bone-dry is the term in Ulster.
When a woman has very thick legs, thick almost
down to the feet, she is ' like a Mullingar heifer, beef
to the heels.' The plains of Westmeath round
Mullingar are noted for fattening cattle.
CH. X.] COMPARISONS. 187
He died roaring like Doran's bull.
A person restless, uneasy, fidgety, and impatient for
the time being, is ' like a hen on a hot grfddle.'
Of a scapegrace it is said he is past grace like a
limeburner's brogue (shoe). The point will be
caught up when it is remembered that grease is
pronounced grace in Ireland.
You're as blind as a bat.
When a person is boastful — magnifies all his
belongings — ' all his geese are swans.'
She has a tongue that would clip a hedge. The
tongue of another would clip clouts (cut rags).
(Ulster.)
He went as fast as hops. When a fellow is hopping
along on one leg, he has to go fast, without stopping.
Of a coarse ill-mannered man who uses unman-
nerly language : - ' What could you expect from a
pig but a grunt.' (Carlow.)
A person who seems to be getting smaller is
growing down like a cow's tail.
Of a wiry muscular active man people say ' he's
as hard as nails.'
A person who acts inconsiderately and rudely
without any restraint and without respect for others,
is 'like a bull in a china shop.'
Of a clever artful schemer : 'If he didn't go to
school he met the scholars.'
An active energetic person is ' all alive like a
bag of fleas.'
That man knows no more about farming than
a cow knows of a holiday.
A tall large woman : — ' That's a fine doorful of a
woman.' (MacCall : Wexford.)
188 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. X.
He has a face as yellow as a kite's claw. (Crofton
Croker : but heard everywhere.)
Jerry in his new clothes is as proud as a white-
washed pig. (MacCall: Wexford.)
That man is as old as a field. (Common in
Tipperary.)
' Are you well protected in that coat ? ' ' Oh yes
I'm as warm as wool.' (Very common in the south.)
Idle for want of weft like the Drogheda weavers.
Said of a person who runs short of some neces-
sary material in doing any work. (Limerick.)
I watched him as closely as a cat watches a
mouse.
He took up the book ; but seeing the owner
suddenly appear, he dropped it like a hot potato.
' You have a head and so has a pin,' to express
contempt for a person's understanding.
How are your new stock of books selling ? Oh
they are going like hot cakes. Hot cakes are a
favourite viand, and whenever they are brought to
table disappear quickly enough.
He's as poor as a church mouse.
A pei'son expressing love mockingly : — ' Come
into my heart and pick sugar.'
An extremely thin emaciated person is like death
upon wires ; alluding to a human skeleton held
together by wires.
Oh you need never fear that Mick O'Brien will
cheat you: Mick is as honest as the sun.
A person who does not persevere in any one study
or pursuit, who is perpetually changing about from
one thing to another, is ' like a daddy-long-legs
dancing on a window,'
CH. X.] COMPARISONS. 189
A bitter tongue that utters cutting words is like
the keen wind of March that blows at every side of
the hedge.
A person praising strong whiskey says : — I felt it
like a torchlight procession going down my throat.
A man with a keen sharp look in his face : — ' He
has an eye like a questing hawk.' Usually said in an
unfavourable sense.
If any commodity is supplied plentifully it is
knocked about like snuff at a wake. Snuff was supplied
free at wakes ; and the people were not sparing of it
as they got it for nothing.
A chilly day : — ' There's a stepmother's breath in
the air.'
Now Biddy clean and polish up those spoons and
knives and forks carefully ; don't stop till you make
them shine Uke a cat's eye under a bed. (Limerick.)
It is foolish to threaten unless you have — and show
that you have — full power to carry out your threats :
— ' Don't show your teeth till you're able to bite.'
Greasintj the fat sow's lug : i.e. giving money or
presents to a rich man who does not need them.
(Kildare.)
I went on a visit to Tom and he fed me like a
fighting cock.
That little chap is as cute as a pet fox.
A useless worthless fellow : — He's fit to mind mice
at a cross-roads. (Kildare.)
How did he look ? Oh he had a weaver's blush —
pale cheek and a red nose. (Wexford.)
When a person clinches an argument, or puts a
hard fact in opposition, or a poser of any kind hard
to answer : — ' Put that in your pipe and smoke it.'
140 ENGLISH AS WE SPKAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. X.
' My stomach is as dry as a lime-burner's wig.'
There were professional lime-burners then : alas, we
have none now.
I want a drink badly : my throat is as dry as the
pipe of Dick the blacksmith's bellows.
Poor Manus was terribly frightened ; he stood
shaking like a dog in a wet sack. (Crofton Croker :
but heard everywhere in Ireland.)
' As happy as the days are long ' : that is to say
happy while the days last — uninterruptedly happy.
Spending your money before you get it — going in
debt till pay day comes round : that's ' eating the calf
in the cow's belly.'
He hasn't as much land as would sod a lark ; as
much as would make a sod for a lark in a cage.
That fellow is as crooked as a ram's horn ; i.e. he
is a great schemer. Applied also in general to any-
thing crooked.
' Do you mean to say he is a thief ? ' ' Yes I do ;
last year he stole sheep as often as he has fingers and
toes ' (meaning very often).
You're as welcome as the flowers of May.
' Biddy, are the potatoes boiling ? ' Biddy takes off
the lid to look, and replies ' The white horses are on
'em ma'am.' The white horses are patches of froth on
the top of the pot when the potatoes are coming near
boiling.
That's as firm as the Eock of Cashel — as firm as
the hob of hell.
That man would tell lies as fast as a horse would
trot.
A person who does his business briskly and ener-
getically ' works like a hatter ' — ' works like a
CH. X.] COMPARISONS. 141
nailer ' — referring to the fussy way of these men
plying their trade.
A conceited fellow having a dandy way of lifting
and placing his legs and feet in moving about ' walks
like a hen in stubbles.'
A person who is cool and collected under trying
circumstances is ' as cool as a cucumber.' Here the
alliteration helps to popularise the saying.
I must put up the horses now and have them ' as
clean as a new pin ' for the master.
A person who does good either to an individual or
to his family or to the community, but_ afterwards
spoils it all by some contrary course of conduct, is
like a cow that fills the pail, but kicks it over in the
end.
A person quite illiterate ' wouldn't know a B from
a bull's foot.' The catching point here is partly
alliteration, and partly that a bull's foot has some
resemblance to a B.
Another expression for an illiterate man : — He
wouldn't know a C from a chest of drawers — where
there is a weak alliteration.
He'll tell you a story as long as to-day and to-
morrow. Long enough : for you have to wait on
indefinitely for ' to-morrow ' : or as they say ' to-
morrow come never.'
' You'll lose that handkerchief as sure as a gun.'
That furrow is as straight as a die.
A person who does neither good nor harm — little
ill, little good — is ' like a chip in porridge ' : almost
always said as a reproach.
I was on pins and needles till you came home : i.e.
I was very uneasy.
142 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. X.
The story went round like wildfire : i.e. circulated
rapidly.
Of a person very thin : — He's ' as fat as a hen in
the forehead.'
A man is staggering along — not with drink : —
That poor fellow is ' drunk with hunger like a
showman's dog.'
Dick and Bill are ' as great as inkle-weavers : '
a saying very common in Limerick and Cork. Inkle
is a kind of broad linen tape: a Shakespearian word.
' Several pieces of it were formerly woven in the
same loom, by as many boys, who sat close together
on the same seat-board.' (Dr. A. Hume.)
William is ' the spit out of his father's mouth ' ;
i.e. he is strikingly like his father either in person or
character or both. Another expression conveying
the same sense: — ' Your father will never die while
you are alive ' : and ' he's a chip off the old block.'
Still another, though not quite so strong : — ' He's
his father's son.' Another saying to the same effect
— ' kind father for him ' — is examined elsewhere,
' I'm a man in myself like Oliver's bull,' a com-
mon saying in my native place (in Limerick), and
applied to a confident self-helpful person. The
Olivers were the local landlords sixty or seventy
years ago. (For a tune with this name see my ' Old
Irish Music and Songs,' p. 46.)
A person is asked to do any piece of work which
ought to be done by his servant : — ' Aye indeed,
keep a dor/ and bark myself.''
That fellow walks as straight up and stiff as if he
took a breakfast of ramrods.
A man who passes through many dangers or
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 143
meets with many bad accidents and always escapes
has ' as many lives as- a cat.' Everyone knows
that a cat has nine lives.
Putting on the big pot means empty boasting and
big talk. Like a woman who claps a large pot of
water on the fire to boil a weeny little bit of meat
— which she keeps out of sight — pretending she
has launa-vaula, lashings and leavings, full and
plenty.
If a man is in low spirits — depressed — down in
the mouth — ' his heart is as low as a k<>eroge's
kidney' (keeroge, a beetle or clock). This last
now usually said in jest.
James O'Brien is a good scholar, but he's not
•in it with Tom Long : meaning that he is not at
all to be compared with Tom Long.
If a person is indifferent about any occurrence —
doesn't care one way or the other — he is ' neither
glad nor sorry like a dog at his father's wake.'
(South.)
CHAPTER XL
THE MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OF OLD CUSTOMS.
Church, Chapel, Scallan. All through Ireland it
is customary to call a Protestant place of worship a
1 church,' and that belonging to Roman Catholics a
' chapel : and this usage not only prevails among
the people, but has found its way into official docu-
ments. For instance, take the Ordnance maps. In
almost every village and town on the map. you will
144 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XI.
see in one place the word ' Church,' while near by is
printed ' E.G. Chapel.' This custom has its roots far
back in the time when it was attempted to extend
the doctrines of the Eeformation to Ireland. Then
wherever the authority of the government pre-
vailed, the church belonging to the Catholics was
taken from them ; the priest was expelled ; and a
Protestant minister was installed. But the law went
much farther, and forbade under fearful penalties
the celebration of Mass — penalties for both priest and
congregation. As the people had now no churches,
the custom began of celebrating Mass in the open
air, always in remote lonely places where there was
little fear of discovery. Many of these places retain
to this day names formed from the Irish word Affrionn
[affrin], the Mass ; such as the mountain called
Knockanaffrinn in Waterford (the hill of the Mass),
Ardanaffrinn, Lissanaffrinn, and many others, While
Mass was going on, a watcher was always placed
on an adjacent height to have a look-out for the
approach of a party of military, or of a spy with the
offered reward in view.
After a long interval however, when the sharp fangs
of the Penal Laws began to be blunted or drawn, the
Catholics commenced to build for themselves little
places of worship : very timidly at first, and always
in some out-of-the-way place. But they had many
difficulties to contend with. Poverty was one of them ;
for the great body of the congregations were labourers
or tradesmen, as the Catholic people had been almost
crushed out of existence, soul and body, for five or
six generations, by the terrible Penal Laws, which,
with careful attention -to details, omitted nothing
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 145.
that could impoverish and degrade them. But even
poverty, had as it was, never stood decidedly in the
way ; for the buildings were not expensive, and the
poor people gladly contributed shillings coppers and
labour for the luxury of a chapel. A more serious
obstacle was the refusal of landlords in some districts
to lease a plot of land for the building. In Donegal
and elsewhere they had a movable little wooden shed
that just sheltered the priest and the sacred ap-
pliances while he celebrated Mass, and which was
wheeled about from place to place in the parish
wherever required. A shed of this kind was called a
scallan (Irish : a shield, a protecting shelter). Some
of these scallans are preserved with reverence to this
day, as for instance one in Carrigaholt in Clare,
where a large district was for many years without
any Catholic place of worship, as the local landlord
obstinately refused to let a bit of land. You
may now see that very scallan — not much larger
than a sentry-box — beside the new chapel in Carriga-
holt.
And so those humble little buildings gradually
rose up all over the country. Then many of the
small towns and villages through the country pre-
sented this spectacle. In one place was the ' decent
church ' that had formerly belonged to the Catholics,
now in possession of a Protestant congregation of
perhaps half a dozen — church, minister, and clerk
maintained by contributions of tithes forced from
the Catholic people ; and not far off a poor little
thatched building with clay floor and rough walls for
a Roman Catholic congregation of 500, 1000, or more,
all except the few that found room within kneeling on
L
146 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
the ground outside, only too glad to be able to be
present at Mass under any conditions.
These little buildings were always called ' chapels,'
to distinguish them from what were now the Pro-
testant churches. Many of these primitive places
of worship remained in use to a period within living
memory — perhaps some remain still. When I was
a boy I generally heard Mass in one of them, in
Ballyorgan, Co. Limerick: clay floor, no seats, walls
of rough stone unplastered, thatch not far above
our heads. Just over the altar was suspended a
level canopy of thin boards, to hide the thatch from
the sacred spot : and on its under surface was roughly
painted by some rustic artist a figure of a dove —
emblematic of the Holy Ghost — which to my childish
fancy was a work of art equal at least to anything
ever executed by Michael Angelo. Many and many
a time I heard exhortations from that poor altar,
sometimes in English, sometimes in Irish, by the
Rev. Darby Buckley, the parish priest of Glenroe
(of which Ballyorgan formed a part), delivered with
such earnestness and power as to produce extra-
ordinary effects on the congregation. You saw men
and women in tears everywhere around you, and
at the few words of unstudied peroration they flung
themselves on their knees in a passionate burst of
piety and sorrow. Ah, God be with Father Darby
Buckley : a small man, full of fire and energy :
somewhat overbearing, and rather severe in judging
of small transgressions ; but all the same, a great
and saintly parish priest.
That little chapel has long been superseded by a solid
Structure, suitable to the neighbourhood and its people.
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTOBY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 147
What has happened in the neighbouring town of
Kilfinane is still more typical of the advance of the
Catholics. There also stood a large thatched chapel
with a clay floor : and the Catholics were just begin-
ning to emerge from their state of servility when
the Eev. Father Sheehy was appointed parish priest
about the beginning of the last century. He was a
tall man of splendid physique : when I was a boy I
knew him in his old age, and even then you could
not help admiring his imposing figure. At that time
the lord of the soil was Captain Oliver, one of that
Cromwellian family to whom was granted all the
district belonging to their Catholic predecessors,
Sir John Ponsonby and Sir Edward Fitzharris, both
of whom were impeached and disinherited,
On the Monday morning following the new priest's
first Mass he strolled down to have a good view of
the chapel and grounds, and was much astonished
to find in the chapel yard a cartload of oats in sheaf,
in charge of a man whom he recognized as having
been at Mass on the day before. He called him over
and questioned him, on which the man told him
that the captain had sent him with the oats to have
it threshed on the chapel floor, as he always did.
The priest was amazed and indignant, and instantly
ordered the man off the grounds, threatening him
with personal chastisement, which — considering the
priest's brawny figure and determined look — he
perhaps feared more than bell book and candle.
The exact words Father Sheehy used were, ' If ever
I find you here again with a load of oats or a load of
anything else, I'll break your back for you : and then
I'll go up and break your master's back too I ' The
148 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
fellow went off hot foot with his load, and told his
master, expecting all sorts of ructions. But the
captain took it in good part, and had his oats
threshed elsewhere : and as a matter of fact he and
the priest soon after met and became acquainted.
In sending his corn to be threshed on the chapel
floor, it is right to remark that the captain intended
no offence and no undue exercise of power ; and
besides he was always careful to send a couple of
men on Saturday evening to sweep the floor and
clean up the chapel for the service of next day.
But it was a custom of some years' standing, and
Father Sheehy's predecessor never considered it
necessary to expostulate. It is likely enough indeed
that he himself got a few scratches in his day from
the Penal Laws, and thought it as well to let matters
go on quietly.
After a little time Father Sheehy had a new
church built, a solid slate-roofed structure suitable
for the time, which, having stood for nearly a
century, was succeeded by the present church. This,
which was erected after almost incredible labour
and perseverance in collecting the funds by the late
parish priest, the Very Eev. Patrick Lee, V.F., is
one of the most beautiful parish churches in all
Ireland. What has happened in Bally organ and
Kilfinane may be considered a type of what has
taken place all over the country. Within the short
space of a century the poor thatched clay-floor
chapels have been everywhere replaced by solid or
beautiful or stately churches, which have sprung up all
through Ireland as if by magic, through the exertions
of the pastors, and the contributions of the people.
CH. XT.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 149
This popular application of the terms ' chapel '
and ' church ' found — and still finds — expression in
many ways. Thus a man who neglects religion :
' he never goes to Church, Mass, or Meeting ' (this
last word meaning Non-conformist Service). A man
says, ' I didn't see Jack Delany at Mass to-day ' :
' Oh, didn't you hear about him — sure he's going to
church now ' (i.e. he has turned Protestant). And
do they never talk of those [young people] who go
to church ' [i.e. Protestants]. (Knocknagow.)
The term ' chapel ' has so ingrained itself in my
mind that to this hour the word instinctively springs
to my lips when I am about to mention a Catholic
place of worship ; and I always feel some sort of
hesitation or reluctance in substituting the word
' church.' I positively could not bring myself to say,
' Come, it is time now to set out for church ' : it
must be either ' Mass ' or ' the chapel.'
I see no reason against our retaining these two
words, with their distinction ; for they tell in brief
a vivid chapter in our history.
Hedge- Schools. Evil memories of the bad old penal
days come down to us clustering round this word.'
At the end of the seventeenth century, among many
other penal enactments,* a law was passed that
Catholics were not to be educated. Catholic school-
masters were forbidden to teach, either in schools
or in private houses ; and Catholic parents were
forbidden to send their children to any foreign
country to be educated — all under heavy penalties;
from which it will be seen that care was taken to
* For the Penal Laws, see my ' Child's Hist, of Ireland,'
chaps. Iv, Ivi.
150 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
deprive Catholics — as sucli — altogether of the means
of education.
But priests and schoolmasters and people combined
all through the country — and not without some
measure of success — to evade this unnatural law.
Schools were kept secretly, though at great risk, in
remote places — up in the mountain glens or in the
middle of bogs. Half a dozen young men with
spades and shovels built up a rude cabin in a few
hours, which served the purpose of a schoolhouse :
and from the common plan of erecting these in the
shelter of hedges, walls, and groves, the schools came
to be known as ' Hedge Schools.' These hedge
schools held on for generations, and kept alive the
lamp of learning, which burned on — but in a
flickering ineffective sort of way — ' burned through
long ages of darkness and storm ' — till at last the
restrictions were removed, and Catholics were
permitted to have schools of their own openly
and without let or hindrance. Then the ancient
hereditary love of learning was free to manifest itself
once more ; and schools sprang up all over the
country, each conducted by a private teacher who
lived on the fees paid by his pupils. Moreover, the
old designation was retained; for these schools, no
longer held in wild places, were called — as they are
sometimes called to this day — ' hedge schools.'
The schools that arose in this manner, which
were of different classes, were spread all over the
country during the eighteenth century and the first
half of the nineteenth. The most numerous were
little elementary schools, which will be described
farther on. The higher class of schools, which
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 151
answered to what we now call Intermediate schools,
were found all over the southern half of Ireland,
especially in Munster. Some were for classics, some
for science, and not a few for both ; nearly all
conducted by men of learning and ability ; and they
were everywhere eagerly attended. ' Many of the
students had professions in view, some intended for
the priesthood, for which the classical schools
afforded an admirable preparation ; some seeking to
become medical doctors, teachers, surveyors, &c.
But a large proportion were the sons of farmers,
tradesmen, shopkeepers, or others, who had no
particular end in view, but, with the instincts of the
days of old, studied classics or mathematics for
the pure love of learning. I knew many of that
class.
' These schools continued to exist down to our own
time, till they were finally broken up by the famine
of 1847. In my own immediate neighbourhood
were some of them, in which I received a part of
my early education ; and I remember with pleasure
several of my old teachers ; rough and unpolished
men many of them, but excellent solid scholars and
full of enthusiasm for learning — which enthusiasm
they communicated to their pupils. All the students
were adults or grown boys ; and there was no
instruction in the elementary subjects — reading,
writing, and arithmetic — as no scholar attended who
had not sufficiently mastered these. Among the
students were always half a dozen or more " poor
scholars" from distant parts of Ireland, who lived
free in the hospitable farmers' houses all round :
just as the scholars from Britain and elsewhere
152 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
were supported in the time of Bede — twelve centuries
before.'*
In every town all over Munster there was — down
to a period well within my memory — one of those
schools, for either classics or science — and in most
indeed there were two, one for each branch, besides
one or more smaller schools for the elementary
branches, taught by less distinguished men.
There was extraordinary intellectual activity among
the schoolmasters of those times : some of them indeed
thought and dreamed and talked of nothing else but
learning ; and if you met one of them and fell into
conversation, he was sure to give you a strong dose
as long as you listened, heedless as to whether you
understood him or not. In their eyes learning was
the main interest of the world. They often met on
Saturdays ; and on these occasions certain subjects
were threshed out in discussion by the principal
men. There were often formal disputations when
two of the chief men of a district met, each attended by
a number of his senior pupils, to discuss some knotty
point in dispute, of classics, science, or grammar.
There was one subject that long divided the
teachers of Limerick and Tipperary into two hostile
camps of learning — the verb To be. There is a well-
known rule of grammar that ' the verb to be takes the
same case after it as goes before it.' One party
headed by the two Dannahys, father and son, very
scholarly men, of north Limerick, held that the verb
* For 'Poor Scholars,' see O'Curry, 'Man. & Oust.,' i. 79,
80 : Dr. Healy, ' Ireland's Anc. Sch.,' 475 : and, for a modern
instance, Carleton's story, ' The Poor Scholar.' The above
passage is quoted from my 'Social Hist, of Anc. Ireland.'
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 153
to be governed the case following ; while the other, at
the head of whom was Mr. Patrick Murray of
Kilfinane in south Limerick, maintained that the
correspondence of the two cases, after and before,
was mere agreement, not government. And they
argued with as much earnestness as the Continental
Nominalists and Eealists of an older time.
Sometimes the discussions on various points
found their way into print, either in newspapers or
iu special broadsheets coarsely printed ; and in these
the mutual criticisms were by no means gentle.
There were poets too, who called in the aid of the
muses to help their cause. One of these, who was
only a schoolmaster in embryo — one of Dannahy's
pupils — wrote a sort of pedagogic Dunciad, in which
he impaled most of the prominent teachers of south
Limerick who were followers of Murray. Here is
how he deals with Mr. Murray himself : —
Lo, forward he comes, in oblivion long lain,
Great Murray, the soul of the light-headed train ;
A punster, a mimic, a jibe, and a quiz,
His acumen stamped on his all -knowing phiz :
He declares that the subsequent noun shouLl agree
With the noun or the pronoun preceding To be.
Another teacher, from Mountrussell, was great in
astronomy, and was continually holding forth on
his favourite subject and his own knowledge of it.
The poet makes him say :—
The course of a comet with ease I can trail,
And with my ferula I measure his tail ;
On the wings of pure Science without, a balloon
Like Baron Munchausen I visit the moon ;
Along the ecliptic and great milky way,
In mighty excursions I soaring! y stray ;
With legs -wide extended on the poles I can stand,
And like marbles the planets I toss in my hand.
154 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XI.
The poet then, returning to his own words, goes
on to say
The gods being amused at his logical blab,
They built him a castle near Cancer the Crab.
But this same astronomer, though having as we
see a free residence, never went to live there : he
emigrated to Australia where he entered the priest-
hood and ultimately became a bishop.
One of the ablest of all the Munster teachers of
that period was Mr. Patrick Murray, already men-
tioned, who kept his school in the upper story of the
market house of Kilfinane in south Limerick. He
was particularly eminent in English Grammar and
Literature. I went to his school for one year when
1 was very young, and I am afraid I was looked
upon as very slow, especially in his pet subject
Grammar. I never could be got to parse correctly
such complications as ' I might, could, would, or
should have been loving.' Mr. Murray was a poefc
too. I will give here a humorous specimen of one of
his parodies. It was on the occasion of his coming
home one night very late, and not as sober as he
should be, when he got ' Ballyhooly ' and no mistake
from his wife. It was after Moore's ' The valley lay
smiling before me ' ; and the following are two
verses of the original with the corresponding two of
the parody, of which the opening line is ' The candle
was lighting before me.' But I have the whole parody
in my memory.
MOOHE: I flew to her chamber — 'twas lonely
As if the lov'd tenant lay dead ;
Ah would it were death and death only,
But no, the young false one had fled.
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 155
And there hung the lute that could soften
My very worst pains into bliss,
And the hand that had waked it so often
Now throhb'd to my proud rival's kiss.
Already the curse is upon her
And strangers her valleys profane ;
They come to divide — to dishonour —
And tyrants there long will remain :
But onward — the green banner rearing,
Go flesh ev'ry brand to the hilt :
On our side is Virtue and Erin,
And theirs is the Saxon and Guilt.
MURRAY : I flew to the room — 'twas not lonely :
My wife and her grawls were in bed ;
You'd think it was then and then only
The tongue had been placed in her head.
For there raged the voice that could soften
My very worst pains into bliss,
And those lips that embraced me so often
I dared not approach with a kiss.
A change has come surely upon her: —
The child which she yet did not wane
She flung me — then rolled the clothes on her,
And naked we both now remain.
But had I been a man less forbearing
Your blood would be certainly spilt,
For on my side there's plunging and tearing
And on yours both the blankets and quilt.
1 was a pupil in four of the higher class of schools,
in which was finished my school education such as it
was. The best conducted was that of Mr. John
Condon which was held in the upper story of the
market house in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, a large
apartment fully and properly furnished, forming an
admirable schoolroom. This was one of the best
156 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
schools in Munster. It was truly an excellent
Intermediate school, and was attended by all the
school-going students of the town, Protestant as well
as Catholic — with many from the surrounding
country. Mr. Condon was a cultured and scholarly
man, and he taught science, including mathematics,
surveying, and the use of the globes, and also
geography and English grammar. He had an
assistant who taught Greek and Latin. I was one of
the very few who attempted the double work of
learning both science and classics. To learn sur-
veying we went once a week — on Saturdays — to
Mr. Condon's farm near the town, with theodolite
and chain, in the use of which we all — i.e. those of
us learning the subject — had to take part in turn.
Mr. Condon was thorough master of the science of
the Use of the Globes, a very beautiful branch of
education which gave the learners a knowledge of
the earth, of the solar system, and of astronomy in
general. But the use of the globes no longer forms
a part of our school teaching : — more's the pity.
The year before going to Mitchelstown I attended
a science school of a very different character kept by
Mr. Simon Cox in Galbally, a little village in
Limerick under the shadow of the Galty Mountains.
This was a very rough sort of school, but mathematics
and the use of the globes were well taught. There
were about forty students. Haifa dozen were grown
boys, of whom I was one ; the rest were men,
mostly young, but a few in middle life — school-
masters bent on improving their knowledge of science
in preparation for opening schools in their own parts
of the country.
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 157
In that school, and indeed in all schools like it
through the country, there were 'poor scholars,'
a class already spoken of, who paid for nothing —
they were taught for nothing and freely entertained,
with hed, supper, and breakfast in the farmers'
houses of the neighbourhood. We had four or five
of these, not one of whom knew in the morning
where he was to sleep at night. When school was
over they all set out in different directions, and
called at the farmers' houses to ask for lodging ; and
although there might be a few refusals, all were sure
to be put up for the night. They were expected
however to help the children at their lessons for the
elementary school before the family retired.
In some cases if a farmer was favourably impressed
with a poor scholar's manner and character he kept
him — lodging and feeding him in his house — during
the whole time of his schooling — the young fellow
paying nothing of course, but always helping the
little ones at their lessons. As might be expected
many of these poor scholars were made of the best
stuff; and I have now in my eye one who was
entertained for a couple of years in my grand-
mother's house, and who subsequently became one
of the ablest and most respected teachers in Munster.
Let us remark here that this entertainment of
poor scholars was not looked upon in the light of a
charity : it was regarded as a duty ; for the instinct
ran in the people's blood derived from ancient times
when Ireland was the ' Island of Saints and
Scholars.'* It was a custom of long standing ; for
* See my ' Smaller Social Hist, of Anc. Ireland, '.chap. vii.
158 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
the popular feeling in favour of learning was always
maintained, even through the long dark night of the
Penal Laws.
'Tis marvellous how I escaped smoking : I had
many opportunities in early life, of which surely
the best of all was this Galbally school. For every
one I think smoked except the half dozen boys, and
even of these one or two were learning industriously.
And each scholar took his smoke without ceremony
in the schoolroom whenever he pleased, so that the
room was never quite clear of the fragrant blue haze.
I remember well on one occasion, a class of ten, of
whom I was one, sitting round the master, whose
chair stood on a slightly elevated platform, and all,
both master and scholars, were smoking, except
myself. The lesson was on some of the hard
problems in Luby's Euclid, which \\Q had been
unable to solve, and of which Mr. Cox was now
showing us the solutions. He made his diagram for
each problem on a large slate turned towards us ;
and as we knew the meaning of almost every turn
and twist of his pencil as he developed the solution, he
spoke very little ; and we followed him over the
diagram, twigging readily the function of every
point, line, angle, and circle. And when at last
someone had to ask a brief question, Mr. Cox
removed his pipe with his left hand and uttered a
few monosyllabic words, which enabled us to pick up
the lost thread ; then replacing the pipe, he went on
in silence as before.
I was the delight and joy of that school ; for I
generally carried in my pocket a little fife from
which I could roll off jigs, reels, hornpipes, hop- jigs,
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 159
song tunes, &c., without limit. The school was held
in a good-sized room in the second story of a house,
of which the landlady and her family lived in the
kitchen and bedrooms beneath — on the ground-floor.
Some dozen or more of the scholars were always in
attendance in the mornings half an hour or so
before the arrival of the master, of whom I was sure
to be one — what could they do without me ? — and
then out came the fife, and they cleared the floor for
a dance. It was simply magnificent to see and hear
these athletic fellows dancing on the bare boards
with their thick-soled well-nailed heavy shoes — so as
to shake the whole house. And not one in the
lot was more joyous than I was ; for they were
mostly good dancers and did full justice to my
spirited strains. At last in came the master : there
was no cessation ; and he took his seat, looking on
complacently till that bout was finished, when I put
up my fife, and the serious business of the day was
commenced.
We must now have a look at the elementary schools
—for teaching Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
to children. They were by far the most numerous,
for there was one in every village and hamlet, and
two or three or more in every town. These schools
were very primitive and rude. The parish priests
appointed the teachers, and kept an eye over the
schools, which were generally mixed — boys and girls.
There was no attempt at classification, and little or
no class teaching ; the children were taught indi-
vidually. Each bought whatever Beading Book he
or his parents pleased. So there was an odd
mixture. A very usual book was a 'Spelling and
160 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
Beading book,' which was pretty sure to have the
story of Tommy and Harry. In this there wero
almost always a series of lessons headed ' Principles
of Politeness,' which were in fact selected from
the writings of Chesterfield. In these there were
elaborate instructions how we were to comport
ourselves in a drawing room ; and we were to be
particularly careful when entering not to let our
sword get between our legs and trip us up. We
were to bear offences or insults from our companions
as long as possible, but if a fellow went too far we
were to ' call him out.' It must be confessed there
was some of the ' calling out ' business — though not
in Chesterfield's sense ; and if the fellows didn't
fight with pistols and swords, they gave and got some
black eyes and bloody noses. But this was at their
peril ; for if the master came to hear of it, they were
sure to get further punishment, though not exactly
on the face.
Then some scholars had ' The Seven Champions
of Christendom,' others ' St. George and the Dragon,'
or ' Don Bellianis of Greece,' ' The Seven Wonders
of the World,' or ' The History of Reynard the
Fox,' a great favourite, translated from an old
German mock heroic. And sometimes I have seen
girls learning to read from a Catholic Prayerbook.
Each had his lesson for next day marked in pencil
by the master, which he was to prepare. The pupils
were called up one by one each to read his own
lesson — whole or part — for the master, and woe
betide him if he stumbled at too many words.
The schools were nearly always held in the small
ordinary dwelling-houses of the people, or perhaps a
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 161
barn was utilised : at any rate there was only one
room. Not unfrequently the family that owned the
house lived in that same room — the kitchen — and went
on with their simple household work while the school
was buzzing about their ears, neither in any way
interfering with the other. There was hardly ever
any school furniture — no desks of any kind. There
were seats enough, of a motley kind — one or two
ordinary forms placed at the walls : some chairs
with suyaun seats ; several little stools, and perhaps
a few big stones. In fine weather the scholars spent
much of their time in the front yard in the open air,
where they worked their sums or wrote their copies
with the copybooks resting on their knees.
When the priest visited one of these schools,
which he did whenever in the neighbourhood, it was
a great event for both master and scholars. Conor
Leahy was one of those masters — a very rough
diamond indeed, though a good teacher and not over
severe — whose school was in Fanningstown near my
home. One day Billy Moroney ran in breathless,
with eyes starting out of his head, to say — as well
as he could get it out — that Father Bourke was
coming up the road. Now we were all — master and
scholars — mortally afraid of Father Bourke and his
heavy brows — though never was fear more misplaced
(p. 71). The master instantly bounced up and
warned us to be of good behaviour — not to stir hand
or foot — while the priest was present. He happened
to be standing at the fireplace ; and he finished up the
brief and vigorous exhortation by thumping his fist
down on the hob : — ' By this stone, if one of ye opens
your mouth while the priest is here, I'll knock your
162 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. XI.
brains out after he's gone away 1 ' Thafvisit passed
off in great style.
These elementary teachers, or ' hedge teachers,' as
they were commonly called, were a respectable body
of men, and were well liked by the people. Many of
them were rough and uncultivated in speech, but all
had sufficient scholarship for their purpose, and
many indeed very much more. They were poor, for
they had to live on the small fees of their pupils ;
but they loved learning — so far as their attainments
went — and inspired their pupils with the same
love. These private elementary schools gradually
diminished in numbers as the National Schools
spread, and finally disappeared about the year 1850.
These were the schools of the small villages and
hamlets, which were to be found everywhere — all
over the country : and such were the schools that
the Catholic people were only too glad to have after
the chains had been struck off — the very schools in
which many men that afterwards made a figure in
the world received their early education.
The elementary schools of the towns were of a
higher class. The attendance was larger ; there
were generally desks and seats of the ordinary kind ;
and the higher classes were commonly taught some-
thing beyond Beading, Writing, and Arithmetic;
such as Grammar, or Book-keeping, with occasionally
a spice of Euclid, Mensuration, Surveying, or
Algebra.
It very often happened that the school took its
prevailing tone from the taste of the master ; so that
the higher classes in one were great at Grammar,
those of another at Penmanship, some at Higher
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 168
Arithmetic, some at ' Short Accounts ' (i.e. short
methods of Mental Arithmetic), others at Book-
keeping. For there were then no fixed Programmes
and no Inspectors, and each master (in addition to
the ordinary elementary subjects) taught just what-
ever he liked best, and lit up his own special tastes
among his pupils.
So far have these words, church, chapel, scallan,
hedge-school, led us through the bye-ways of History ;
and perhaps the reader will not be sorry to turn to
something else.
Rattle the hasp: Tent pot. During Fair-days — all
over the country — there were half a dozen or more
booths or tents on the fair field, put up by publicans,
in which was always uproarious fun ; for they were
full of people — young and old — eating and drinking,
dancing and singing and match-making. There was
sure to be a piper or a fiddler for the young people ;
and usually a barn door, lifted off its hinges — hasp
and all — was laid flat, or perhaps two or three doors
were laid side by side, for the dancers ; a custom
adopted elsewhere as well as in fairs —
' But they couldn't keep time on the cold earthen floor,
So to humour the music they danced on the door.'
. (CROFTON CROKEK: Old Sony.)
There was one particular tune — a jig — which, from
the custom of dancing on a door, got the name of
' Eattle the hasp.'
Just at the mouth of the tent it was common to
have a great pot hung on hooks over a fire sunk in
the ground underneath, and full of pigs cheeks,
flitches of bacon, pigs' legs and croobeens galore, kept
M2
164 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN 1BELAND. [CH. XI.
perpetually boiling like the chiefs' caldrons of old, so
that no one need be hungry or thirsty so long as he
had a penny in his pocket. These pots were so large
that they came to be spoken of as a symbol of
plenty : ' Why you have as much bacon and cabbage
there as would fill a tent-pot.'
One day — long long ago — at the fair of Ardpatrick
in Limerick — I was then a little boy, but old enough
to laugh at the story when I heard it in the fair — a
fellow with a wattle in his hand having a sharp iron
spike on the end, walked up to one of these tent-pots
during the momentary absence of the owner, and
thrusting the spike into a pig's cheek, calmly stood
there holding the stick in his hand till the man came
up. ' What are you doing there ? ' — When the other
looking sheepish and frightened : — ' Wisha sir I have
a little bit of a pig's cheek here that isn't done well
enough all out, and I was thinking that may be you
wouldn't mind if I gave it a couple of biles in your pot.'
' Be off out of that you impudent blaa-guard, yourself
and your pig's cheek, or I'll break every bone in your
body.' The poor innocent boy said nothing, but
lifted the stick out of the pot with the pig's cheek on
the end of it, and putting it on his shoulder, walked
off through the fair with meek resignation.
More than a thousand years ago it was usual in
Ireland for ladies who went to banquets with their
husbands or other near relations to wear a mask.
This lady's mask was called fethal, which is the old
form of the word, modern form fidil. The memory of
this old custom is preserved in the name now given
to a mask by both English and Irish speakers —
i fiddle, eye-fiddle, hi- fiddle, or hy-fiddle (the first two
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 165
being the most correct). The full Irish name is
aghaidh-fidil, of which the first part agaidh, pro-
nounced i or eye, means the face : — agaidh-fidil,
' face-mask.' This word was quite common in
Munster sixty or seventy years ago, when we, boys,
made our own i-fiddles, commonly of brown paper,
daubed in colour — hideous-looking things when worn
— enough to frighten a horse from his oats.
Among those who fought against the insurgents in
Ireland during the Eebellion of 1798 were some
German cavalry called Hessians. They wore a sort
of long boots so remarkable that boots of the same
pattern are to this day called Hessian boots. One day
in a skirmish one of the rebels shot down a Hessian,
and brought away his fine boots as his lawful prize.
One of his comrades asked him for the boots : and he
answered ' Kill a Hessian for yourself,' which has
passed into a proverb. When by labour and trouble
you obtain anything which another seeks to get from
you on easy terms, you answer Kill a Hessian for
yourself.
During the War of the Confederation in Ireland in
the seventeenth century Murrogh O'Brien earl of
Inchiquin took the side of the Government against
his own countrymen, and committed such merciless
ravages among the people that he is known to this
day as 'Murrogh the Burner'; and his name has
passed into a proverb for outrage and cruelty.
When a person persists in doing anything likely to
bring on heavy punishment of some kind, the people
say ' If you go on in that way you'll see Murrogh,'
meaning ' you will suffer for it.' Or when a person
seems scared or frightened : — ' He saw Murrogh or
166 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XT.
the bush next to him.' The original sayings are in
Irish, of which these are translations, which however
are now heard oftener than the Irish.
In Armagh where Murrogh is not known they say
in a similar sense, ' You'll catch Lanty,' Lanty no
doubt being some former local bully.
When one desires to give another a particularly
evil wish he says, ' The curse of Cromwell on you ! '
So that Cromwell's atrocities are stored up in the
people's memories to this day, in the form of a
proverb.
In Ulster they say ' The curse of Crummie.'
1 Were you talking to Tim in town to-day ?' ' No,
but I saw him /row me as the soldier saw Bunratty.'
Bunratty a strong castle in Co. Clare, so strong that
besiegers often had to content themselves with view-
ing it from a distance. ' Seeing a person from me'
means seeing him at a distance. ' Did you meet
your cousin James in the fair to-day?' ' Oh I just
caught sight of him from me for a second, but I
wasn't speaking to him.
Sweating -House. — We know that the Turkish bath
is of recent introduction in these countries. But the
hot-air or vapour bath, which is much the same
thing, was well known in Ireland from very early
times, and was used as a cure for rheumatism down
to a few years ago. The structures in which these
baths were given are known by the name of tigh 'n
alluis [teenollish] , or in English, ' sweating-house'
(allus, 'sweat'). They are still well known in the
northern parts of Ireland — small houses entirely
of stone, from five to seven feet long inside, with a
low little door through which one must creep :
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 167
always placed remote from habitations : and near by
was commonly a pool or tank of water four or five
feet deep. They were used in this way. A great
fire of turf was kindled inside till the house became
heated like an oven ; after which the embers and
ashes were swept out, and water was splashed on
the stones, which produced a thick warm vapour.
Then the person, wrapping himself in a blanket,
crept in and sat down on a bench of sods, after
which the door was closed up. He remained there
an hour or so till he was in a profuse perspiration :
and then creeping out, plunged right into the cold
water ; after emerging from which he was well
rubbed till he became warm. After several baths
at intervals of some days he commonly got cured.
Persons are still living who used these baths or saw
them used. (See the chapter on ' Ancient Irish
Medicine' in 'Smaller Soc. Hist, of Anc. Ireland,'
from which the above passage is taken.)
The lurking conviction that times long ago were
better than at present — a belief in ' the good old times '
— is indicated in the common opening to a story : —
' Long and merry ago, there lived a king,' &c.
' That poor man is as thin as a whipping post ' :
a very general saying in Ireland. Preserving the
memory of the old custom of tying culprits to a
firm post in order to be whipped. A whipping post
received many of the slashes, and got gradually worn
down.
The hardiness of the northern rovers — the Danes —
who made a great figure in Ireland, as in England
and elsewhere, is still remembered, after nine or ten
centuries, in the sayings of our people. Scores of
168 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XI.
times I heard such expressions as the following : —
' Ah shut that door : there's a breeze in through it
that would perish the Danes.'
The cardinal points are designated on the suppo-
sition that the face is turned to the east : a custom
which has descended in Ireland from the earliest times
of history and tradition, and which also prevailed
among other ancient nations. Hence in Irish ' east '
is ' front ' ; ' west ' is ' behind ' or ' back ' ; north is
' left hand'; and south is 'right hand.' The people
sometimes import these terms into English. ' Where
is the tooth ? ' says the dentist. ' Just here sir, in
the west of my jaw,' replies the patient — meaning at
the back of the jaw.
Tailors were made the butt of much good-natured
harmless raillery, often founded on the well-known
fact that a tailor is the ninth part of a man. If a
person leaves little after a meal, or little material
after any work — that is ' tailor's leavings ' ; alluding to
an alleged custom of the craft. According to this
calumny your tailor, when sending home your finished
suit, sends with it a few little scraps as what was
left of the cloth you gave him, though he had really
much left, which he has cribbed.
When you delay the performance of any work,
or business with some secret object in view, you 'put
the pot in the tailor's link.' Formerly tailors
commonly worked in the houses of the families who
bought their own material and employed them to
make the clothes. The custom was to work till
supper time, when their day ended. Accordingly the
good housewife often hung the pot-hangers on the
highest hook or link of the pot-hooks so as to raise
CH. XT.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 169
the supper-pot well up from the fire and delay the
boiling. (Ulster.)
The following two old rhymes are very common : —
Four and twenty tailors went out to kill a snail,
The biggest of them all put his foot upon his tail —
The snail put out his horns just like a cow :
' 0 Lord says the tailor we're all killed now ! '
As I was going to Dub-l-in
I met a pack of tailors,
I put them in my pocket,
In fear the ducks might ait them.
In the Co. Down the Roman Catholics are called
' back-o'-the-hill folk ' : an echo of the Plantations of
James I — three centuries ago — when the Catholics,
driven from their rich lowland farms, which were
given to the Scottish Presbyterian planters, had to
eke out a living among the glens and mountains.
When a person does anything out of the common —
which is not expected of him — especially anything
with a look of unusual prosperity : — ' It is not every
day tlmt Manus kills a bullock.' (Derry.) This
saying, which is always understood to refer to
Roman Catholics, is a memorial, in one flash, of the
plantation of the northern districts. Manus is a
common Christian name among the Catholics round
Derry, who are nearly all very poor : how could they
be otherwise ? That Manus — i.e. a Catholic — should
kill a bullock is consequently taken as a type of things
very unusual, unexpected and exceptional. Maxwell,
in ' Wild Sports of the West,' quotes this saying as
he heard it in Mayo ; but naturally enough the saying
alone had reached the west without its background
of history, which is not known there as it is in Derry.
170 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XI.
Even in the everyday language of the people the
memory of those Plantations is sometimes preserved,
as in the following sayings and their like, which are
often heard. ' The very day after Jack Kyan was
evicted, he planted himself on the bit of land between
his farm and the river.' ' Bill came and planted
himself on my chair, right in front of the fire.'
'He that calls the tune should pay the piper' is
a saying that commemorates one of our dancing
customs. A couple are up for a dance : the young
man asks the girl in a low voice what tune she'd like,
and on hearing her reply he calls to the piper (or
fiddler) for the tune. When the dance is ended and
they have made their bow, he slips a coin into her
hand, which she brings over and places in the hand
of the piper. That was the invariable formula in
Munster sixty years ago.
The old Irish name of May-day — the 1st May —
was Belltaine or Beltene [Beltina], and this name
is still used by those speaking Irish ; while in Scotland
and Ulster they retain it as a common English word —
Beltane : —
' Ours is no sapling, chance sown by the fountain,
Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade.'
(' Lady of the Lake.')
Before St. Patrick's time there was a great pagan
festival in Ireland on 1st May in honour of the god
Bel [Bail], in which fire played a prominent part:
a custom evidently derived in some way from the
Phoenician fire festival in honour of the Phoenician god
Baal. For we know that the Phoenicians were well
acquainted with Ireland, and that wherever they went
they introduced the worship of Baal with his festivals.
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 171
Among other usages the Irish drove cattle through
or between big fires to preserve them from the diseases
of the year ; and this custom was practised in Limerick
and Clare down a period within my own memory :
I saw it done. But it was necessary that the fires
should be kindled from tenaigin [</ sounded as in
pagan] — 'forced fire' — i.e., fire produced by the
friction of two pieces of dry wood rubbed together
till they burst into a flame: Irish teine-eigin from
teine, fire, and eigean, force. This word is still known
in the South ; so that the memory of the old pagan
May- day festival and its fire customs is preserved
in these two words Beltane and tenaigin.
Mummers were companies of itinerant play-
actors, who acted at popular gatherings, such as
fairs, patterns, weddings, wakes, &c. Formerly they
were all masked, and then young squireens, and the
young sons of strong farmers, often joined them for
the mere fun of the thing ; but in later times
masking became illegal, after which the breed
greatly degenerated. On the whole they were not
unwelcome to the people, as they were generally the
source of much amusement ; but their antics at
weddings and wakes were sometimes very objection-
able, as well as very offensive to the families. This
was especially the case at wakes, if the dead person
had been unpopular or ridiculous, and at weddings
if an old woman married a boy, or a girl an old man
for the sake of his money. Sometimes they came
bent on mischievous tricks as well as on a shindy ;
and if wind of this got out, the faction of the family
gathered to protect them ; and then there was sure
to be a fight. (Kinahan.)
172 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
Mummers were well known in England, from
which the custom was evidently imported to Ireland.
The mummers are all gone, but the name remains.
We know that in former times in Ireland the
professions ran in families ; so that members of the
same household devoted themselves to one particular
Science or Art — Poetry, History, Medicine, Build-
ing, Law, as the case might be — for generations (of
this custom a full account may be seen in my
' Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland,' chap, vii.,
especially page 184). A curious example of how
the memory of this is preserved occurs in Armagh.
There is a little worm called dirab found in bog-
water. If this be swallowed by any accident it
causes a swelling, which can be cured only by a
person of the name of Cassidy, who puts his arms
round the patient, and the worm dies. The O'Cas-
sidys were hereditary physicians to the Maguires,
chiefs of Fermanagh. Several eminent physicians of
the name are commemorated in the Irish Annals :
and it is interesting to find that they are still
remembered in tradition — though quite unconsciously
— for their skill in leechcraft.
' I'll make you dance Jack Lattin ' — a threat of
chastisement, often heard in Kildare. John Lattin
of Morristown House county Kildare (near Naas)
wagered that he'd dance home to Morristown from
Dublin — more than twenty miles — changing his
dancing-steps every furlong : and won the wager.
' I'll make you dance ' is a common threat heard
everywhere : but ' I'll make you dance Jack
Lattin ' is ten times worse — ' I'll make you dance
exco.sbively.'
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 173
Morristown, Jack Lattin's residence, is near Lyons
the seat of Lord Cloncurry, where Jack was often a
guest, in the first half of the last century. Lady
Morgan has an entry in her Memoirs (1830) : —
' Eeturned from Lyons — Lord Cloncurry's, a large
party — the first day good — Sheil, Curran, Jack
Lattin.'
It is worthy of remark that there is a well-known
Irish tune called ' Jack Lattin,' which some of our
Scotch friends have quietly appropriated ; and not
only that, but have turned Jack himself into a
Scotchman by calling the tune ' Jockey Latin ' !
They have done precisely the same with our ' Eileen
Aroon' which they call 'Robin Adair.' The same
Robin Adair — or to call him by his proper name
Robert Adair — was a well-known county Wicklow
man and a member of the Irish Parliament.
The word sculloge or scolloge is applied to a small
farmer, especially one that does his own farm work :
it is often used in a somewhat depreciatory sense to
denote a mere rustic : and in both senses it is well
known all over the South. This word has a long
history. It was originally applied— a thousand years
ago or more— to the younger monks of a monastery,
who did most of the farm work on the land belonging
to the religious community. These young men
were of course students indoors, as well as tillers
outside, and hence the name, from scol, a school : —
scolog, a young scholar. But as farm work con-
stituted a large part of their employment the name
gradually came to mean a working farmer ; and in
this sense it has come down to our time.
To a rich man whose forefathers made their
174 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
money by smuggling pottheen (illicit whiskey) from
Innishowen in Donegal (formerly celebrated for its
pottheen manufacture), they say in Derry ' your
granny was a Dogherty who wore a tin pocket.'
(Doherty a prevalent name in the neighbourhood.)
For this was a favourite way of smuggling from the
highlands — bringing the stuff in a tin pocket. Tom
Boyle had a more ambitious plan : — he got a tinker
to make a hollow figure of tin, something like the
figure of his wife, who was a little woman, which
Tom dressed up in his wife's clothes and placed on
the pillion behind him on the horse — filled with
pottheen : for in those times it was a common custom
for the wife to ride behind her husband. At last a
sharp-eyed policeman, seeing the man's affectionate
attention so often repeated, kept on the watch, and
satisfied himself at last that Tom had a tin wife.
So one day, coming behind the animal he gave the
poor little woman a whack of a stick which brought
forth, not a screech, but a hard metallic sound, to
the astonishment of everybody : and then it was all
up with poor Tom and his wi{^.
There are current in Ireland many stories of gangers
and pottheen distillers which hardly belong to my
subject, except this one, which I may claim, because it
has left its name on a well-known Irish tune : — ' Paddy
outwitted the gauger,' also called by three other
names, ' The Irishman's heart for the ladies,' ' Drops
of brandy," and Cummilum (Moore's : ' Fairest put on
Awhile '). Paddy Fogarty kept a little public-house at
the cross-roads in which he sold ' parliament,' i.e.
legal whiskey on whichthe duty had been paid ; but
it was well known that friends could get a little drop
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 175
of pottlieen too, on the sly. One hot July day lie
was returning home from Thurles with a ten-gallon
cag OQ his back, slung by a strong soogaun (hay rope).
He had still two good miles before him, and he sat
down to rest, when who should walk up but the new
gauger. ' Well my good fellow, what have you got
in that cask?' Paddy dropped his jaw, looking the
picture of terror, and mumbled out some tomfoolery
like an excuse. ' Ah, my man, you needn't think
of coming over me : I see how it is : I seize this cask
in the name of the king.' Poor Paddy begged and
prayed, and talked about Biddy and the childher at
home — all to no use : the gauger slung up the cag
on his back (about a hundredweight) and walked on,
with Paddy, heart-broken, walking behind — for the
gauger's road lay towards Paddy's house. At last
when they were near the cross-roads the gauger sat
down to rest, and laying down the big load began to
wipe his face with his handkerchief. ' Sorry I am,'
says Paddy, ' to see your honour so dead bet up : sure
you're sweating like a bull : maybe I could relieve
you.' And with that he pulled his legal permit out
of his pocket and laid it on the cag. The gauger
was astounded : 'Why the d didn't you show me
that before?' 'Why then 'tis the way your honour,'
says Paddy, looking as innocent as a lamb, ' I didn't
like to make so bould as I wasn't axed to show it ?'
So the gauger, after a volley of something that needn't
be particularised here, walked off with himself without
an inch of the tail. ' Faix,' says Paddy, ' 'tis easy to
know 'twasn't our last gauger, ould Warnock, that
was here : 'twouldn't be so easy to come round him ;
for he had a nose that would smell a needle in a
fonje.'
176 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
In Sligo if a person is sick in a house, and one of
the cattle dies, they say ' a life for a life,' and the
patient will recover. Mr. Kinahan says, ' This is so
universal in the wilds of Sligo that Protestants and
Catholics believe it alike.'
As an expression of welcome, a person says, ' We'll
spread green rushes under your feet ' ; a memory of
the time when there were neither boards nor carpets
on the floors — nothing but the naked clay — in Ireland
as well as in England ; and in both countries, it was
the custom to strew the floors of the better class of
houses with rushes, which were renewed for any
distinguished visitor. This was always done by the
women-servants : and the custom was so general and
so well understood that there was a knife of special
shape for cutting the rushes. (See my ' Smaller
Social Hist, of Ancient Ireland,' p. 305.)
A common exclamation of drivers for urging on a
horse, heard everywhere in Ireland, is hupp, hupp !
It has found its way even into our nursery rhymes ;
as when a mother is dancing her baby up and down
on her knee, she sings : —
' Ho\v many miles to Dub-l-in :
Three score and ten.
Will we be there by candle light?
Yes and back again :
Hupp, hupp my little horse,
Hupp, hupp again.'
This Irish word, insignificant as it seems, has come
down from a period thirteen or fourteen hundred years
ago, or probably much farther back. In the library
of St. Gall in Switzerland there is a manuscript
written in the eighth century by some scholarly Irish
OH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 177
monk — who he was we cannot tell : and in this the
old writer glosses or explains many Latin words by
corresponding Irish words. Among ethers the Latin
interjection ei or liei (meaning ho 1 quick ! come on)
is explained by upp or hupp (Zeuss).
Before Christianity had widely spread in Ireland,
the pagans had a numerous pantheon of gods and
goddesses, one of which was Badb [bibe], a terrible
war-fury. Her name is pronounced Bibe or Bybe, and
in this form it is still preserved all over Cork and round
about, not indeed for a war-fury, but for what — in the
opinion of some people — is nearly as bad, a scolding
woman. (For Badb and all the other pagan Irish
gods and goddesses, see my ' Smaller Social History
of Ancient Ireland,' chap, v.)
From the earliest times in Ireland animals were
classified with regard to grazing ; and the classifica-
tion is recognised and fully laid down in the Brehon
Law. The legal classification was this : — two geese
are equivalent to a sheep ; two sheep to a dairt or
one-year-old heifer ; two dairts to one colpach or
collop (as it is now called) or two-year-old heifer ; two
collops to one cow. Suppose a man had a right to
graze a certain number of cows on a common (i.e.
pasture land not belonging to individuals but common
to all the people of the place collectively) ; he might
turn out the exact number of cows or the equivalent
of any other animals he pleased, so long as the total
did not exceed the total amount of his privilege.
In many parts of Ireland this system almost
exactly as described above is kept up to this day,
the collop being taken as the unit : it was universal in
my native place sixty years ago ; and in a way it exists
178 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. fcH. XI.
tbere still. The custom is recognised in the present-
day land courts, with some modifications in the
classification — as Mr. Maurice Healy informs me in
an interesting and valuable communication — the
collop being still the unit — and constantly referred to
by the lawyers in the conduct of cases. So the old
Brehon Law process has existed continuously from
old times, and is repeated by the lawyers of our own
day ; and its memory is preserved in the word collop.
(See my ' Smaller Soc. Hist, of Anc. Ireland,' p. 431.)
In pagan times the religion of Ireland was
Druidism, which was taught by the druids : and far
off as the time is the name of these draids still exists
in our popular speech. The Irish name for a druid
is drui [dree] ; and in the South any crabbed cunning
old-fashioned-looking little boy is called — even by
speakers of English — a shoimdree, which exactly
represents in sound the Irish sean-drm, old druid ;
from sean [shoun or shan], old. See ' Irish Names
of Places,' I. 98.)
There are two words much in use in Munster,
of which the phonetic representations are thoothach
or thoohagh and hdchan (6 long), which tell a tale of
remote times. A thoothach or thoohayh is an ignorant
unmannerly clownish fellow : and hdchan means much
the same thing, except that it is rather lower in the
sense of ignorance or uncouthness. Passing through
the Liberties of Dublin I once heard a woman —
evidently from Limerick — call a man a dirty hdchan.
Both words are derived from titath [thooa], a layman,
as distinguished from a cleric or a man of learning.
The Irish form of the first is tuathtach : of the second
tkuathcJidin (vocative). Both are a memory of the
CH. XI.j MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 179
time when illiterate people were looked down upon
as boorish and ill -mannered as compared with clerics
or with men of learning in general.
The people had great respect and veneration for
the old families of landed gentry — tlie real old stock as
they were called. If a man of a lower class became
rich so as to vie with or exceed in possessions many
of the old families, he was never recognised as on
their level or as a gentleman. Such a man was
called by the people a half-sir, which bears its
meaning on its face.
Sixty years ago people very generally used home-
made and home-grown produce — frieze — linen —
butter — bacon — potatoes and vegetables in general.
A good custom, for ' a cow never burst herself
by chewing her cud.' (MacCall : Wexford.)
To see one magpie or more is a sign of bad or
good luck, viz. : — ' One for sorrow ; two for mirth ;
three for a wedding; four for a birth.' (MacCall:
Wexford.)
The war-cry of the great family of O'Neill of
Tyrone was Lauv-dery-aboo (the Red Hand to Victory :
the Red Hand being the cognisance of the O'Neills) :
and this cry the clansmen shouted when advancing
to battle. It is many a generation since this same
cry was heard in battle ; and yet it is remembered
in popular sayings to this day. In Tyrone when a
light is expected one man will say to another ' there
will be Deryaloos to-day ' : not that the cry will be
actually raised ; but Dergaboo has come to be a sort
of symbolic name for a fight.
In and around Ballina in Mayo, a great strong
fellow is called an alUnj-foosec, which represents the
N 2
180 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
sound of the French Allez-fusil (musket or musketry
forward), preserving the memory of the landing of the
French at Killala (near Ballina) in 1798.
When a person looks as if he were likely to die
soon : — ' He's in the raven's book.' Because when
a person is about to die, the raven croaks over the
house. (MacCall : Wexford.)
A ' cross ' was a small old Irish coin so called
from a figure of St. Patrick stamped on it with a
conspicuous cross. Hence a person who has no
money says 'I haven't a cross.' In Wexford they
have the same saying with a little touch of droll-
ery added on : — ' There isn't as much as a cross
in my pocket to keep the devil from dancing in it.'
(MacCall.) For of course the devil dare not come
near a cross of any shape or form.
A keenoye (which exactly represents the pronun-
ciation of the Irish dandy} is a very small coin,
a farthing or half a farthing. It was originally
applied to a small foreign coin, probably Spanish,
for the Irish dan is 'far off,' ' foreign ': og is the
diminutive termination. It is often used like ' cross' :
' I haven't as much as a keenoge in my pocket.' 'Are
you not going to lend me any money at all ? ' ' Not
a keenoge.'
A person not succeeding in approaching the house
or spot he wants to reach ; hitting wide of the mark
in shooting ; not coming to the point in argument or
explanation : — ' Oh you didn't come within the bray
of an ass of it.' This is the echo of a very old
custom. More than a thousand years ago distance
was often vaguely measured in Ireland by sound.
A man felling a tree was ' bound by the Brehou Law
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 181
to give warning as far as his voice could reach,' so
as to obviate danger to cattle or people. We find
a like measure used in Donegal to this day : — [The
Dublin house where you'll get the book to buy is on
the Quays] ' about a mountain man's call below the
Four Courts.' (Seurnas MacManus.) The crow
of a cock and the sound of a bell (i.e. the small hand-
bell then used) as measures of distances are very
often met with in ancient Irish writings. An old
commentator on the Brehon Laws defines a certain
distance to be ' as far as the sound of the bell or the
crow of a barn-door cock could be heard. This
custom also prevailed among other ancient nations.
(See my ' Smaller Soc. Hist, of Anc. Ireland,' p. 473.)
The ' Duty.' Formerly all through Ireland the
tenants were obliged to work for their landlords on a
certain number of days free, except that they
generally got food. Such work was commonly
called in English the ' duty.' In Wicklow for
example — until very recently — or possibly still —
those who had horses had to draw home the land-
lord's turf on certain days. In Wexford they had in
a similar way to draw stones for the embankments
on the Barrow. The tenants commonly collected in
numbers on the same day and worked all together.
The Irish word used to designate such gatherings
was bal — still so called in Connaught. It was usual
to hear such English expressions as — ' Are you going
to the duty ? ' or ' Are you going to the bal ? '
(Kinahan.)
(N.B. I do not know the Irish word bal in this
sense, and cannot find it in the Dictionaries.)
' Duty ' is used in a religious sense by Roman
182 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
Catholics all through Ireland to designate the
obligation on all Catholics to go to Confession and
Holy Communion at Easter time. ' I am going to
my duty, please God, next week.'
' I'll return you this book on next Saturday as
mire as the hearth-money ' : a very common expression
in Ireland. The old English oppressive impost
called hearth-money — a tax on hearths — which every
householder had to pay, was imported into Ireland
by the English settlers. Like all other taxes it was
certain to be called for and gathered at the proper
time, so that our saying is an apt one ; but while the
bad old impost is gone, its memory is preserved in
the everyday language of the people.
A king, whether of a small or large territory, had
in his service a champion or chief fighting man
whose duty it was to avenge all insults or offences
offered to the families of the king and tribe,
particularly murder ; like the ' Avenger of blood ' of
the Jews and other ancient nations. In any expected
danger from without he had to keep watch — with a
sufficient force — at the most dangerous ford or
pass — called bearna baoghaill [barna beel] or gap of
danger — on that part of the border where invasion
was expected, and prevent the entrance of any
enemy. This custom, which is as old as our race in
Ireland, is remembered in our present-day speech,
whether Irish or Anglo-Irish ; for the man who
courageously and successfully defends any cause or
any position, either by actual fighting or by speeches
or written articles, is ' the man in the gap.' Of the
old Irish chiefs Thomas Davis writes : —
' Their hearts were as soft as the child in the lap,
Yet they were the men in the gap.'
CH. XI.] MEMORY OF H1STOKY AND OLD CUSTOMS. 183
In the old heroic semi-historic times in Ireland, a
champion often gave a challenge by standing in
front of the hostile camp or fort and striking a few
resounding blows with the handle of his spear either
on his own shield or on a shield hung up for the
purpose at the entrance gate outside."
The memory of this very old custom lives in a
word still very common in the South of Ireland
— boolimskee, Irish buaitim-sciath, ' I strike the
shield,' applied to a man much given to fighting,
a quarrelsome fellow, a swaggering bully— a swash-
buckler.
Paying on the nail, paying down on the nail;
paying on the spot — ready cash. This expression
had its origin in a custom formerly prevailing
in Limerick city. In a broad thoroughfare under
the Exchange stood a pillar about four feet high, on
the top of which was a circular plate of copper about
three feet in diameter. This pillar was called ' The
Nail.' The purchaser of anything laid down the
stipulated price or the earnest on the nail, i.e. on the
brass plate, which the seller took up : when this was
done before witnesses the transaction was as binding
as if entered on parchment. (O'Keeffe's Kecollec-
tions.) 'The Nail ' is still to the fore, and may now
be seen in the Museum of the Carnegie Library build-
ing, to which it was transferred a short time ago.
The change in the Calendar from the old style to
the new style, a century and a half ago, is noted in
the names for Christmas. All through the South,
* See for an example Dr. Hyde's 'Children of the King of
Norway,' 153. (Irish Texts Soc.)
184 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XI.
and in other parts of Ireland, the 6th January
(' Twelfth Day ') is called < Old Christmas ' and
' Little Christmas ' (for before the change of style it
was the Christmas) : and in many parts of the north
our present Christmas is called New Christmas. So
in Donegal the 12th of May is called by the people
' Old May day.' (Seurnas MacManus.)
Palm, Palm-Sunday. The usual name in Ireland
for the yew-tree is ' palm,' from the custom of using
yew branches instead of the real palm, to celebrate
Palm Sunday — the Sunday before Easter — com-
memorating the palm branches that were strewed
before our Lord on His public entry into Jerusalem.
I was quite a grown boy before I knew the yew-tree
by its proper name — it was always palm-tree.
Oliver's Summons. — When a lazy fellow was driven
to work either by hunger or by any unavoidable
circumstance he was said to have got Oliver's
Summons, a common household word in parts of
the county Limerick in my younger days, originating
"in the following circumstance. When a good
plentiful harvest came round, many of the men of
our neighbourhood at this time — about the beginning
of last century — the good old easy-going times —
worked very little — as little as ever they could.
What was the use of working when they had plenty
of beautiful floury potatoes for half nothing, with
salt or difi, or perhaps a piggin of fine thick milk to
crown the luxury. Captain Oliver, the local land-
lord, and absolute monarch so far as ordinary life
was concerned, often — in those seasons — found it
hard or impossible to get men to come to do the
necessary work about his grounds — though paying
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 185
the usual wages — till at last he hit on an original
plan. He sent round, the evening before, to the
houses of the men he wanted, a couple of fellows
with a horse and cart, who seized some necessary
article in each house — a spinning-wheel, a bed, the
pot, the single table, &c. — and brought them all
away body and bones, and kept them impounded.
Next morning he was sure to have half a dozen or
more strapping fellows, who fell to work ; and when
it was finished and wages paid, the captain sent
home the articles. I had this story from old men
who saw the carts going round with their loads.
CHAPTER XII.
A VARIETY OF PHRASES.
AMONG fireside amusements propounding riddles was
very general sixty or seventy years ago. This is a
custom that has existed in Ireland from very early
times, as the reader may see by looking at my ' Old
Celtic Romances,' pp. 69, 186, 187, where he will
find some characteristic ancient Irish ones. And we
know that it was common among other ancient
nations. I have a number of our modern Irish
riddles, many in my memory, and some supplied
to me from Wexford by Mr. Patrick J. MacCall of
Dublin, who knows Wexford well. Some are easy
enough : but there are others that might defy the
Witch of Endor to answer them. They hardly come
within my scope, but I will give a few examples.
186 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
A steel grey with a flaxen tail and a brass boy
driving. Answer : needle and thread ; thimble.
Little Jennie Whiteface has a red nose,
The longer she lives the shorter she grows.
Answer : a lighted candle.
A man without eyes
Went out to view the skies,
He saw a tree with apples on :
He took no apples,
He ate no apples,
And still he left no apples on.
Answer : a one-eyed man : the tree had two apples :
he took one.
Long legs, crooked thighs, little head, no eyes.
Answer : a tongs.
Ink-ank under a bank ten drawing four. Answer :
a girl milking a cow.
Four-and-twenty white bulls tied in a stall :
In comes a red bull and over licks them all.
Answer : teeth and tongue.
These are perhaps not very hard, though not quite
so easy as the Sphinx's riddle to the Thebans, which
(Edipus answered to his immortal renown. But 1
should like to see (Edipus try his hand at the fol-
lowing. Samson's riddle about the bees is hard
enough, but ours beats it hollow. Though Solomon
solved all the puzzles propounded to him by the
Queen of Sheba, I think this would put him to the
pin of his collar. I learned it in Limerick two
generations ago ; and I have got a Wexford version
from Mr. MacCall. Observe the delightful incon-
sequence of riddle and answer.
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 187
Riddle me, riddle me right :
What did I see last night ?
The wind blew,
The cock crew,
The bells of heaven
Struck eleven.
'Tis time for my poor sowl to go to heaven.
Answer : the fox burying his mother under a holly
tree.
To a person who begins his dinner without saying
grace : ' You begin your meal like a fox ' : for a fox
never says grace. A fox once ran off with a cock —
neck in mouth — to make a meal of him. Just as he
was about to fall to, the cock said — ' Won't you thank
God?' So the fox opened his mouth to say grace,
and the cock escaped and flew up into a tree. On
which the fox swore he'd never more say grace or
any other prayer. (From Clare : Healy.)
In depreciation of a person's honour : ' Your
honour and goat's wool would make good stockings' :
i.e. your honour is as far from true honour as goat's
hair is from wool.
' For the life of me ' I can't see why you vex your-
self for so small a matter.
Of a pair of well-matched bad men : — ' They might
lick thumbs.' Also ' A pity to spoil two houses with
them.' (Moran : Carlow.)
A person is said to be ' belled through the parish '
when some discreditable report concerning him has
gone about in the neighbourhood. The allusion is
to a bellman announcing something to the public.
(Moran : Carlow.)
188 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
A person addresses some abusive and offensive
words to another, who replies ' Talk away : your
tongue is no scandal.' The meaning is, ' You are so
well known for the foulness of your tongue that no
one will pay any attention to you when you are
speaking evil of another.' (Moran : Carlow.)
'Come and have a drink,' said the dragoon. 'I
don't take anything; thank you all the same,' replied
Billy Heffernan. ("Knocknagow.) Very general
everywhere in Ireland.
Regarding a person in consumption : —
March will sarch [search],
April will try,
May will see
Whether you'll live or die.
(MAcCALL : Wexford.)
When a man inherits some failing from his parents,
' He didn't catch it in the wind' — 'It wasn't off the
wind he took it.' (Moran : Carlow.)
When a man declines to talk with or discuss
matters with another, he says ' I owe you no discourse'
— used in a more or less offensive sense — and heard all
through Ireland.
When a person shows himself very cute and clever
another says to him ' Who let you out?' — an ironical
expression of fun : as much as to say that he must
have been confined in an asylum as a confirmed fool.
(Moran : Carlow.)
When a person for any reason feels elated, he says
' I wouldn't call the king my uncle.' (' Knocknagow' ;
but heard everywhere in Ireland.)
When a person who is kind enough while he is with
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 189
you grows careless about you once he goes away: —
' Out of sight out of rnind.'
To go with your finger in your mouth is to go on a
fool's errand, to go without exactly knowing why you
are going — without knowing particulars.
When a person singing a song has to stop up
because he forgets the next verse, he says (mostly
in joke) 'there's a hole in the ballad' — throwing the
blame on the old ballad sheet on which the words
were imperfect on account of a big hole.
Searching for some small article where it is hard
to find it among a lot of other things is ' looking for
a needle in a bundle of straw.'
When a mistake or any circumstance that entails
loss or trouble is irreparable — ' there's no help for
spilt milk.'
Seventy or eighty years ago the accomplishments
of an Irishman should be :
To smoke his dudheen,
To drink his cruiskeen,
To flourish his alpeen,
To wallop a spalpeen.
(MAC CALL : W exf ord . )
It is reported about that Tom Fox stole Dick Finn's
sheep : but he didn't. Driven to desperation by the
false report, Tom now really steals one, and says : —
' As I have the name of it, I may as well have the
gain of it.'
A person is told of some extraordinary occurrence
and exclaims : — ' Well such a thing as that was never
before heard of since Adam icas a buy.' This last
expression is very general.
The Chairman of the Banbridge Board of Guardians
190 ENGLISH AS WK SPEAK IT IX IRELAND. [cH. Xlt.
lately asked a tramp what was his occupation : to
which the fellow — cancelling his impudence by his
drollery — replied : — ' I'm a hailstone maker out of
work owing to the want of snow.'
My partner in any business has acted against my
advice and has persisted, notwithstanding my
repeated friendly remonstrances, till at last he
brings failure and discredit. Yet when the trial
comes 1 stand black for him ; i.e. I act loyally
towards him — I defend him : I take my share of the
blame, and never give the least hint that the failure
is all his doing. Standing black often heard.
' He's not all there,' i.e. he is a little daft, a little
cracked, weak-minded, foolish, has a slight touch of
insanity : ' there's a slate off,' 'he has a bee in his
bonnet' (Scotch): • he wants a square ' (this last Old
English).
A man gets into an angry fit and you take no
trouble to pacify him : — ' Let him cool in the skin he
heated in.' (Moran : Carlow.)
A person asks me for money : I give him all I
have, which is less than he asked for : — ' That is all
[the corn] there's threshed.' (Moran : Carlow.)
A man with a very thin face ' could kiss a goat
between the horns.' (Moran : Carlow. )
' Never put a tooth on it ' : an invitation to speak
out plainly, whatever the consequences.
A woman giving evidence at Drumcondra Petty
Sessions last year says ' I was born and reared in
Finglas, and there isn't one — man or woman — that
dare say black was the white ofwij eye ' : that is, no one
could allege any wrong-doing against her. Heard
'everywhere in Ireland
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. l9l
A man who is going backwards or down the hill in
circumstances is said to be ' going after his back.'
The sense is obvious. (Moran : Wexford.)
' Come day go day God send Sunday,' applied to an
easy-going idle good-for-nothing person, who never
looks to the future.
When a person is asked about something of which
for some reason he does not wish to speak, he says
' Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies.'
(General.)
A man who is of opinion that his friend has bought
a cow too dear says ' You bought every hair in her
tail.'
To a person everlastingly talking : — ' Give your
tongue a holiday.'
He always visits us of a Saturday. Halliwell
says this is common in several English dialects.
(Eev. Win. Burke.)
Johnny Dunn, a job gardener of Dublin, being asked
about his young wife, who was living apart from
him : — ' Oh she's just doing nothing, but walking
about town with a muff of consequence on her.'
'I'm blue-moulded for want of a beating,' says a
fellow who pretends to be anxious for a fight, but can
find no one to fight with him.
A whistling woman and a crowing hen
Will make a man wealthy but deer knows when.
(Moran : Carlow.)
The people have an almost superstitious dislike for
both : they are considered unlucky.
' I'll make him scratch where he doesn't itch ' :
meaning I'll punish him sorely in some way.
(Moran : Carlow.)
192 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
When flinging an abusive epithet at a person, ' you '
is often put in twice, first as an opening tip, and last
as a finishing home blow: — ' What else could I expect
from your like, you unnatural vayabone, you ! '
' I'm afraid he turns up his little finger too often ' ;
i.e. — he is given to drink : alluding to the position
of the hand when a person is taking a glass.
My neighbour Jack Donovan asked me one day,
How many strawberries grew in the say ;
I made him an answer as well as I could,
As many red herrings as grew in the wood.
When a person is obliged to utter anything bor-
dering on coarseness, he always adds, by way of a
sort of apology, 'saving your presence': or 'with
respect to you.'
Small trifling things are expressed by a variety of
words : — ' Those sausages are not worth a malla-
wadee'-. 'I don't care a traneen what he says': 'I
don't care two rows of pins.'
To be rid of a person or thing is expressed by ' I
got shut of him,' or ' I am done of it.' (Limerick.)
' How did you travel to town ? ' ' Oh I went on
shanks' mare : ' i.e. I walked.
' His bread is baked ' ; i.e. he is doomed to die soon.
(See p. 109 bottom.)
Banagher is a village in King's Co. on the Shannon :
Ballinasloe is a town in Galway at the other side of
the river. When anything very unusual or unexpected
occurs, the people say, ' Well that bangs Banagher ! '
or ' that bangs Banagher and Ballinasloe ! '
' Have you got a shilling to spare for a friend ? '
' Indeed I have not.' ' Ah you must give it to me ; it
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 193
is for your cousin Tom.' ' Oh, that's a horse of
another colour.' (So lie gives it.)
' Well done mother ! ' says the blacksmith when the
tooth was out. This is how it was pulled. He tied
one end of a strong string round the tooth, and the
other end to the horn of the anvil, and made the old
Avoman keep back her head so as to tighten the string.
' Asy now mother,' says he. Then taking the flaming
horseshoe from the fire with the tongs he suddenly
thrust it towards her face. Anyone can finish the story.
If she catches you she'll comb your hair witli the
creepy stool : i.e. she'll whack and beat you with it.
(Ulster.)
They say pigs can see the wind, and that it is red.
In very old times the Irish believed that there were
twelve different winds with twelve colours. (For
these see my ' Smaller Soc. Hist, of Anc. Ireland,'
p. 527.) The people also will tell you that a pig
will swim till the water cuts its throat.
Ah, I see you want to ivalk up my sleeve : i.e. you
want to deceive me — to take me in. (Kerry.)
An expression often heard in the South : — Such
and such a thing will happen now and then if you
were to put your eyes on sticks ; i.e. however watchful
you may be. 'Well, if I was to put my eyes
upon sticks, Misther Mann, I never would know your
sister again.' (Gerald Griffin.)
He is down in the mouth, i.e. he is in low spirits.
I suppose this is from the dropping down of the
corners of the mouth.
To scold a person — to reprimand him — to give
him a good ' setting down' — to give him 'all sorts '
— to give him ' the rough side of your tongue.'
o
194 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
Anything that cheers you up ' takes the cockles
off your heart ' : ' Here drink this [glass of punch,
wine, &c.] and 'twill take the cockles off your heart.'
' It raises the very cockles o' my heart to see you.'
(' Collegians.') ' 'Twould rise the cockles av your
heart to hear her singing the Coolin.' ( ' Knocknagow.' )
Probably the origin is this : — Cares and troubles
clog the heart as cockles clog a ship.
Instead of ' No blame to you ' or ' Small blame to
you,' the people often say, ' 'Tis a stepmother would
blame you.'
' Cut your stick, now,' ' cut away ' ; both mean
go away : the idea being that you want a walking
stick and that it is time for you to cut it.
'I hear William is out of his situation.1 'Yes
indeed, that is true.' 'And how is he living?' 'I
don't know ; I suppose he's living on the fat of his
guts ' : meaning he is living on whatever he has
saved. But it is sometimes used in the direct sense.
Poor old Hill, while his shop prospered, had an
immense paunch, but he became poor and had to
live on poor food and little of it, so that the belly
got flat ; and the people used to say — he's living now
on the fat of his guts, poor old fellow.
Tom Hogan is managing his farm in a way likely
to bring him to poverty, and Phil Lahy says to him —
' Tom, you'll scratch a beggarman's back yet ' :
meaning that Tom will himself be the beggarman.
(' Knocknagow.') Common all over Munster.
The people have a gentle laudable habit of mixing
up sacred names and pious phrases with their ordinary
conversation, in a purely reverential spirit. This
is one of the many peculiarities of Anglo-Irish
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 195
speech derived from the Irish language : for pious
expressions pervaded Irish to its very heart, of
which the people lost a large part when they ceased
to speak the language. Yet it continues very
prevalent among our English-speaking people ; and
nearly all the expressions they use are direct trans-
lations from Irish.
' I hear there is a mad dog running about the
town.' ' Oh do you tell me so — the Lord between
us and harm ! ' or ' the Lord preserve us ! ' both
very common exclamations in case of danger.
Sudden news is brought about something serious
happening to a neighbour, and the people say: —
' Oh, God bless the hearers,' or ' God bless the mark.'
This last is however generally used in derision.
John Cox, a notorious schemer and miser, ' has put
down his name for £20 for a charity — God bless the
mark ! ' an intimation that the £20 will never be
heard of again.
When a person goes away for ever or dies, the
friends and people say ' God be with him,' a very
beautiful expression, as it is the concentration of
human affection and regret, and also a prayer. It
is merely the translation of the Irish Dia leis, which
has forms for all the three persons and two genders :
— ' with her,' ' with you,' ' with them,' &c.
Under any discouraging or distressing circum-
stances, the expressions ' God help me ' and ' God
help us ' are continually in the mouths of the people.
They are merely translations of go bh-fdireadh
Dia orruinn, &c. Similarly, expressions of pity for
another such as ' That poor woman is in great trouble,
God help her,' are translations.
o2
196 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
In Dublin, Roman Catholics when passing a
Catholic church (or ' chapel ') remove the hat or
cap for a moment as a mark of respect, and usually
utter a short aspiration or prayer under breath. This
custom is I think spreading.
When one expresses his intention to do anything
even moderately important, he always adds ' please
God.' Even in our English speech this is af old
standing. During the Irish wars of Elizabeth, it
was told to an Irish chief that one of the English
captains had stated he would take such and such a
castle, when the chief retorted, « Oh yes, but did he
say please God ' : as much as to say, ' yes if God
pleases, but not otherwise.'
' This sickness kept me from Mass for a long time ;
but nith the help of God, I'll venture next Sunday.'
' Yes, poor Kitty is in great danger, but irith the help
of God she will pull through.'
' I am afraid that poor Nellie will die after that
accident.' ' Oh, God forbid,' is the response.
People have a pleasing habit of applying the word
blessed [2-syll.] to many natural objects, to days,
nights, &c. ' Well, you have teased me terribly the
whole of this blessed day — you young vagabone.'
' Were it not that full of sorrow from my people forth I go,
By the blessed sun 'tis royally I'd sing thy praise Mayo.'
Translation of Irish Song on ' The County Mayo.'
A mother says to her mischievous child, ' Oh
blessed hour, what am I to do with you at all at all ! '
' Oh we're in a precious plight
By your means this blessed night.'
(Repeal Song of 1843.)
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 197
' God help me this blessed night.' (' Mun Carberry
and the Pooka ' by Robert Dwyer Joyce.)
A man is on the verge of ruin, or in some other great
trouble, and the neighbours will say, ' the Lord will
open a gap for him ' : meaning God will find some
means of extricating him. Father Higgins, who
sent me this, truly remarks : — ' This is a fine ex-
pressive phrase showing the poetical temperament of
our people, and their religious spirit too.1
When anything happens very much out of the
common : — ' Glory be to God, isn't that wonderful.'
At the mention of the name of a person that is
dead, the Roman Catholic people invariably utter the
little prayer ' God rest his soul ' or ' the Lord have
mercy on him.'
The people thank God for everything, whatever it
may be His will to send, good or bad. ' Isn't this a
beautiful day, Mike.' ' 'Tis indeed, thank God.'
' This is a terrible wet day, William, and very bad
for the crops.' ' It is indeed Tom, thanks be to God
for all : He knows best.'
As might be expected where expressions of this
kind are so constantly in the people's mouths, it
happens occasionally that they come in rather
awkwardly. Little Kitty, running in from the dairy
with the eyes starting out of her head, says to her
mother who is talking to a neighbour in the kitchen :
' Oh, mother, mother, I saw a terrible thing in the
cream.' ' Ah, never mind, child,' says the mother,
suspecting the truth and anxious to hush it up, ' it's
nothing but the grace of God.' 'Oh but mother,
sure the grace of God hasn't a long tail.'
The following story was current when I was a
198 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
child, long before Charles Kickham wrote ' Knock-
nagow,' in which he tells the story too : but I will
give it in his words. A station is held at Maurice
Kearney's, where the family and servants and the
neighbours go to Confession and receive Holy
Communion : among the rest Barney Broderick the
stable boy. After all was over, Father MacMahon's
driver provokes and insults Barney, who is kept back,
and keeps himself back with difficulty from falling
on him and ' knocking his two eyes into one ' and
afterwards 'breaking every tooth in his head.'
' Damn well the blagard knows,' exclaims Barney,
' that I'm in a state of grace to-day. But ' — he
continued, shaking his fist at the fellow — ' but, please
God I won't be in a state of grace always.'
When a person is smooth-tongued, meek-looking,
over civil, paid deceitful, he is plauzy [plausible],
' as mild as ever on stirabout smiled.' ' Oh she is
sly enough ; she looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her
mouth.' (Charles Macklin — an Irish writer — in The
Man of the World.} This last expression of Macklin's
is heard everywhere here.
A person is in some sore fix, or there is trouble
before him : ' I wouldn't like to be in his shoes just
now.'
A person falls in for some piece of good fortune : —
' Oh you're made up, John : you're a med man ;
you're on the pig's back now.'
In a house where the wife is master — the husband
henpecked : — ' the grey mare is the better horse.'
(General.)
He got the father of a beating ; i.e. a great
beating.
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 199
' How did poor Jack get that mark on his face ? '
' Oh he fell over his shadow ' : meaning he fell while
he was drunk.
A good dancer ' handles his feet well.' (MacCall :
Wexford.)
A pensioner, a loafer, or anyone that has nothing
to do but walk about, is an inspector of public
buildings.
Those who leave Ireland commonly become all
the more attached to it : they get to love the old sod
all the more intensely. A poor old woman was
dying in Liverpool, and Father O'Neill came and
administered the last sacraments. He noticed that
she still hesitated as if she wished to say something
more ; and after some encouragement she at length
said : — ' Well, father, I only wanted to ask you,
will my soul pass through Ireland on its journey ? '
(f Knocknagow.') According to a religious legend in
' The Second Vision of Adamnan ' the soul, on
parting from the body, visits four places before
setting out for its final destination : — the place of
birth, the place of death, the place of baptism, and
the place of burial. So this poor old woman got her
wish.
' Well, I don't like to say anything bad about you ;
and as for the other side, the less I praise you the less
Hie.' (North.)
There is a touch of heredity in this : — ' You're
nothing but a schemer like your seven generations
before you.' (Kildare.)
' Oh you need not be afraid : I'll call only very
seldom henceforward.' Reply : — ' The seldomer the
woleomer.'
200 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XII.
' Never dread the winter till the snow is on the
blanket ' : i.e. as long as you have a roof over your
head. An allusion to the misery of those poor
people — numerous enough in the evil days of past
times — who were evicted from house and home.
(P. Eeilly : Kildare.)
Of a lucky man : — ' That man's ducks are laying.'
When a baby is born, the previous baby's ' nose is
out of joint.' Said also of a young man who is
supplanted by another in courtship.
A man who supplants another in any pursuit or
design is said to ' come inside him.'
A person is speaking bitterly or uncharitably of
one who is dead ; and another says reprovingly —
' let the dead rest.'
When it is proposed to give a person something
he doesn't need or something much too good for
him, you oppose or refuse it by saying : — Cock him
np with it — how much he wants it ! — I'll do no such
thing.' Two gentlemen staying for a night in a
small hotel in a remote country town ordered toast
for breakfast, which it seems was very unusual
there. They sat down to breakfast, but there was no
sign of the toast. ' What about the toast ? ' asks
one. Whereupon the impudent waiter replies —
' Ah, then cock yez up with toast : how bad yez are
for it.'
A very general form of expression to point to a
person's identity in a very vague way is seen in the
following example : — ' From whom did you buy that
horse, James?' Reply: — 'From a man of the
Burkes living over there in Ballinvreena ' : i.e. a man
named Burke. Mr. Seumas MacManus has adopted
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 201
this idiom in the name of one of his books: — 'A
Lad of the O'Friels.'
' I never saw the froth of your pot or the bead of
your naggin ' : i.e. you have never entertained me.
Bead, the string of little bubbles that rise when you
shake whiskey in a bottle. (Kildare.)
Of a man likely to die : ' he'll soon be a load for
four' : i.e. the four coffin-bearers. (Eeilly : Kildare.)
When a person attempts to correct you when you
are not in error : — ' Don't take me up till I fall.'
When you make a good attempt : — ' If I didn't
knock it down, I staggered it.'
'Love daddy, love mammy, love yourself best.'
Said of a very selfish person.
An odd expression : — ' You are making such
noise that I can't hear my ears.' (Derry ; and also
Limerick.)
Plato to a young man who asked his advice about
getting married : — ' If you don't get married you'll
be sorry : and if you do you'll be sorry.'
Our Irish cynic is more bitter : —
If a man doesn't marry he'll rue it sore :
And if he gets married he'll rue it more.
The children were great pets with their grand-
mother : ' She wouldn't let anyone look crooked at
them ' : i.e. she wouldn't permit the least unkindness.
' Can he read a Latin book ? ' ' Eead one !
why, he can write Latin books, let alone reading
them.' Let alone in this sense very common all over
Ireland.
A person offers to do you some kindness, and you
accept it jokingly with ' Sweet is your hand in a
pitcher of honey.' (Crofton Croker.)
202 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
When a man falls into error, not very serious or
criminal — gets drunk accidentally for instance — the
people will say, by way of extenuation : — ' 'Tis a
good man's case.'
You may be sure Tim will be at the fair to-
morrow, dead or alive or a-horseback.
' You never spoke but you said something ' : said
to a person who makes a silly remark or gives foolish
advice. (Kin ah an).
1 He will never comb a grey hair ' : said of a young
person who looks unhealthy and is likely to die
early.
Two persons had an angry dispute ; and one word
borrowed another till at last they came to blows.
Heard everywhere in Ireland.
The robin and the wren are God's cock and hen.
' I'll take the book and no thanks to you,' i.e. I'll
take it in spite of you, whether you like or no, against
your will — ' I'll take it in spite of your teeth ' — ' in
spite of your nose ' : all very common.
A person arrives barely in time for his purpose or
to fulfil his engagement : — ' You have just saved your
distance.'
To put a person off the walk means to kill him, to
remove him in some way. (Meath.)
A man has had a long fit of illness, and the wife,
telling about it, says : — ' For six weeks coal nor
candle never went out.' (Antrim.)
' To cure a person's hiccup ' means to make him
submit, to bring him to his senses, to make him
acknowledge his error, by some decided course of
action. A shopkeeper goes to a customer for pay-
ment of a debt, and gets no satisfaction, but, on the
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 203
contrary, impudence. ' Oh well, I'll send you an
attorney's letter to-morrow, and may be that will
cure your hiccup.' The origin of this expression is
the general belief through Ireland that a troublesome
fit of hiccup may be cured by suddenly making some
very startling and alarming announcement to the
person — an announcement in which he is deeply
concerned : such as that the stacks in the haggard
are on fire — that three of his cows have just been
drowned, &c. Fiachra MacBrady, a schoolmaster
and poet, of Stradone in Cavan (1712), wrote a
humorous description of his travels through Ireland
of whic the translation has this verse : —
' I drank till quite mellow, then like a brave fellow,
Began for to bellow and shouted for more ;
But my host held his stick up, which soon cured my hiccup,
As no cash I could pick up to pay off the score.'
The host was the publican, and the stick that he
held up was the tally stick on which were marked in
nicks all the drinks poor MacBrady had taken — a
usual way of keeping accounts in old times. The
sight of the score brought him to his senses at once —
cured his hiccup.
A verse of which the following is a type is very
often found in our Anglo-Irish songs : —
' The flowers in those valleys no more shall spring,
The blackbirds and thrushes no more shall sing,
The sea shall dry up and no water shall be,
At the hour I'll prove false to sweet graw-mochree.'
So in Scotland : — ' I will luve thee still, my dear, till
a' the seas gang dry.' (Burns.)
A warning sometimes given to a messenger : —
' Now don't forget it like Billy and the pepper ' : This
204 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
is the story of Billy and the pepper. A gander got
killed accidentally ; and as the family hardly ever
tasted meat, there was to be a great treat that day.
To top the grandeur they sent little Billy to town for
a pennyworth of pepper. But Billy forgot the name,
and only remembered that it was something hot; so
he asked the shopman for a penn'orth of hot-thing.
The man couldn't make head or tail of the hot-thing,
so he questioned Billy. Is it mustard ? No. Is it
ginger ? No- Is it pepper ? Oh that's just it —
(jandher's pepper.
A man has done me some intentional injury, and
I say to him, using a very common phrase: — 'Oh,
well, wait; Til pay you off im that' : meaning 'I'll
punish you for it — I'll have satisfaction.'
Dry for thirsty is an old English usage ; for in
Middleton's Plays it is found used in this sense.
(Lowell.) It is almost universal in Ireland, where
of course it survives from old English. There is an
old Irish air and song called ' I think it no treason to
drink when I'm dry' : and in another old Folk Song
we find this couplet :
' There was an old soldier riding by,
He called for a quart because he was rfn/.'
Instances of the odd perversion of sense by mis-
placing some little clause are common in all countries :
and I will give here just one that came under my
own observation. A young friend, a boy, had
remained away an unusually long time without visit-
ing us ; and on being asked the reason he replied:—
' I could not come, sir ; I got a bite in the leg of
dog' — an example which I think is unique.
OH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 205
On the first appearance of the new moon, a number
of children linked hands and danced, keeping time to
the following verse —
I see the moon, the moon sees me,
God bless the moon and God bless me :
There's grace in the cottage and grace in the hall ;
And the grace of God is over us all.
For the air to which this was sung see my ' Old
Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 60.
' Do you really mean to drive that horse of
William's to pound?' ' Certainly I will.1 ' Oh very
well ; let ye take what you'll get.' Meaning you are
likely to pay dear for it — you may take the conse-
quences. (Ulster.)
' If he tries to remove that stone without any help
it u'ill take him all his time' : it will require his utmost
exertions. (Ulster : very common.)
When rain is badly wanted and often threatens
but still doesn't come they say : — ' It has great hould
[hold of the rain.' On the other hand when there
is long continued wet weather : — ' It is very fond of
the rain.'
When flakes of snow begin to fall : — ' They are
plucking the geese in Connaught.' ' Formerly in all
the congested districts of Ireland [which are more
common in Connaught than elsewhere] goose and
duck feathers formed one of the largest industries.'
(Kinahan.)
Now James you should put down your name for
more than 5s. : there's Tom Gallagher, not half so
well off as you, put the shame on you by subscribing
£1. (Kinahan : pretty general.)
206 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
In stories ' a day ' is often added on to a period of
time, especially to a year. A person is banished out
of Ireland for a year and a day.
The battle of Ventry Harbour lasted for a year
and a day, when at last the foreigners were defeated.
There's a colleen fair as May,
For a year and for a day
I have sought by ev'ry way
Her heart to gain.
(PETKIE.)
' Billy MacDaniel,' said the fairy, ' you shall be
my servant for seven years and a day.' (Crofton
Croker.) Borrowed from the Irish.
The word all is often used by our rustic poets
exactly as it is found in English folk-songs. Gay
has happily imitated this popular usage in ' Black-
eyed Susan': —
' All in the Downs the fleet was moored ' —
and Scott in ' The Lay of the Last Minstrel' : —
' All as they left the listed plain.'
Any number of examples might be given from
our peasant songs, but these two will be suffi-
cient : —
'A*s I roved out one evening two miles below Pomeroy
I met a farmer's daughter all on the mountains high.'
' How a young lady's heart was won
All by the loving of a farmer's son.'
(The two lovely airs of these will be found in two
of my books : for the first, see ' The Mountains
high ' in ' Ancient Irish Music ' ; and for the second
CH. XII.] A VARIETY OF PHRASES. 207
see ' Handsome Sally ' in ' Old Irish Folk Music and
Bongs.')
' He saw her on that day, and never laid eyes on her
alive afterwards.' (Speech of Irish counsel in murder
case: 1909.) A common expression.
A wish for success either in life or in some parti'
cular undertaking — purely figurative of course : —
' That the road may rise under you.' As the road
continually rises under foot there is always an easy
down hill in front. (Kerry.)
Regarding some proposal or offer : — ' I never said
against it ' ; i.e. I never disapproved of it — declined it
— refused it.
Be said by me : i.e. take my advice. (General.)
When a cart-wheel screeches because the axle-
tree has not been greased, it is cursing for grease.
(Munster.)
When a person wishes to keep out from another —
to avoid argument or conflict, he says : — ' The child's
bargain — let me alone and I'll let you alone.'
When a person goes to law expenses trying to
recover a debt which it is very unlikely he will
recover, that is ' throwing good money after bad.'
' I'm the second tallest man in Mitchelstown ' — or
' I'm the next tallest.' Both mean ' there is just one
other man in Mitchelstown taller than me, and I
come next to him.'
' Your honour.' Old English : very common as a
term of courtesy in the time of Elizabeth, and to be
met with everywhere in the State papers and corre-
spondence of that period. Used now all through
Ireland by the peasantry when addressing persons
very much above them.
208 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XII.
Thecabmmi's answer. I am indebted to this cabman
for giving me an opportunity of saying something
here about myself. It is quite a common thing for
people to write to me for information that they could
easily find in my books : and this is especially the
case in connexion with Irish place-names. I have
always made it a point to reply to these communi-
cations. But of late they have become embarrassingly
numerous, while my time is getting more circum-
scribed with every year of my long life. Now, this
is to give notice to all the u-orld and Garrett Eeilly
that henceforward I will give these good people the
reply that the Dublin cabman gave the lady.
' Please, sir,' said she, ' will you kindly tell me the
shortest way to St. Patrick's Cathedral.' He
opened the door of his cab with his left hand,
and pointing in with the forefinger of his right,
answered—' In there ma'am.'
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 209
CHAPTER XIII.
VOCABULARY AND INDEX.
[In this Vocabulary, as well indeed as through the whole
book, ffh and ch are to be sounded guttural, as in lough and loch,
unless otherwise stated or implied. Those who cannot sound
the guttural may take the sound of k instead, and they will not
be far wrong.]
Able; strong, muscular, arid vigorous : — ' Nagle was a
strong able man."
Able dealer ; a schemer. (Limerick.)
Acushla ; see Cusblamochree.
Adam's ale ; plain drinking-water.
Affirming, assenting, and saluting, 9.
Agra or Agraw : a term of endearment ; my love :
vocative of Irisb c/rddh, love.
Ahaygar ; a pet term ; my friend, my love : vocative
of Irisb teagur, love, a dear person.
Aims-ace ; a small amount, quantity, or distance.
Applied in tbe following way very generally in
Munster : — ' He was witbin an aim's-ace of being
drowned ' (very near). A survival in Ireland of
the old Shakesperian word ambs-ace, meaning two
aces or two single points in throwing dice, the
smallest possible throw.
Air : a visitor comes in : — ' Won't you sit down Joe
and take an air of the fire.' (Very usual.)
Airt used in Ulster and Scotland for a single point
of the compass : —
' Of a' the airts the wind can blaw I dearly like the west.'
(BURNS.)
It is the Irish dinl, a point of the compass.
9,10 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Airy ; ghostly, fearsome : an airy place, a haunted
place. Same as Scotch eerie. From Gaelic dedka-
raiyh, same sound and meaning. A survival of
the old Irish pagan belief that air-demons were
the most malignant of all supernatural beings :
see Joyce's ' Old Celtic Komances,' p. 15.
Alanna ; my child : vocative case of Irish leanbh
[lannav], a child.
Allow ; admit. ' I allow that you lent me a pound ' :
' if you allow that you cannot deny so and so.'
This is an old English usage. (Ducange.) To
advise or recommend : ' I would not allow you to
go by that road' ('I would not recommend').
' I'd allow you to sow that field with oats '
(advise).
All to ; means except : — ' I've sold my sheep all to
six,' i.e. except six. This is merely a translation
from the Irish as in Do marhhadh na daoine uile go
liaon triiir : ' The people were slain all to a single
three.' (Keating.)
Along of ; on account of. Why did you keep me
waiting [at night] so long at the door, Pat ? '
' Why then 'twas all along of Judy there being so
much afraid of the fairies.' (Crofton Croker.)
Alpeen, a stick or hand-wattle with a knob at the
lower end : diminutive of Irish alp, a knob.
Sometimes called a clehalpeen : where cleh is the
Irish death a stick. Clehalpeen, a knobbed cudgel.
Amadaun, a fool (man or boy), a half-fool, a foolish
person. Irish amuddn, a fool : a form of onmitdn ;
from on, a fool : see Oanshagh.
American wake ; a meeting of friends on the evening
before the departure of some young people for
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 211
America, as a farewell celebration. (See my ' Old
Irish Folk-Music and Songs,' p. 191.)
Amplush, a fix, a difficulty : he was in a great
amplush. (North and South.) (Edw. Walsh in
Dub. Pen. Journal.)
Amshagh ; a sudden hurt, an accident. (Derry.)
Ang-ishore ; a poor miserable creature — man or
woman. It is merely the Irish word aindeiseoir.
(Chiefly South.)
Any is used for no (in no more) in parts of West and
North-west. ' James, you left the gate open this
morning and the calves got out.' 'Oh I'm sorry-
sir ; I will do it any more.' This is merely a
mistranslation of nios mo, from some confused idea
of the sense of two (Irish) negatives (nios being
one, with another preceding) leading to the omis-
sion of an English negative from the correct
construction — " I will not do it any more:' Nios
mo meaning in English ' no more ' or ' any more '
according to the omission or insertion of an
English negative.
Avee often used after oclwne (alas) in Donegal and
elsewhere. Aree gives the exact pronunciation of
a Riyh, and neimhe (heaven) is understood. The
full Irish exclamation is oclion a Pdyli neimhe,
' alas, 0 King of heaven.'
A maun or arnaul, to sit up working at night later
than usual. Irish airnedn or airnedl, same meaning.
Aroon, a term of endearment, my love, my dear:
Eileen Aroon, the name of a celebrated Irish air :
vocative of Irish run [roon], a secret, a secret
treasure. In Limerick commonly shortened to
aroo. ' Where are you going now aroo ? '
212 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Art-loochra or arc-loochra, a harmless lizard five or
six inches long : Irish art or arc is a lizard :
litachra, rushes ; the ' lizard of the rushes.'
Ask, a water-newt, a small water-lizard : from esc or
ease [ask], an old Irish word for water. From
the same root comes the next word, the diminu-
tive form —
Askeen ; land made by cutting away bog. which
generally remains more or less watery. (Eeilly :
Kildare.)
Asthore, a term of endearment, ' my treasure.' The
vocative case of Irish star [store], treasure.
Athurt ; to confront : — ' Oh well I will athurt him
with that lie he told about me.' (Cork.) Possibly
a mispronunciation of athwart.
Avourneen, my love : the vocative case of Irish
muimin , a sweetheart, a loved person.
Baan : a field covered with short grass : — ' A baan
field': 'a baan of cows': i.e. a grass farm with
its proper number of cows. Irish ban, whitish.
Back ; a faction : ' I have a good back in the country,
so I defy my enemies.'
Back of God-speed ; a place very remote, out of the
way: so far off that the virtue of your wish of
God-speed to a person will not go with him so
far.
Bacon : to ' save one's bacon'; to succeed in escaping
some serious personal injury — death, a beating,
&c. ' They fled from the fight to save their
bacon': 'Here a lodging I'd taken, but loth to
awaken, for fear of my bacon, either man, wife, or
babe.' (Old Anglo-Irish poem.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 213
Bad member ; a doer of evil ; a bad character ; a
treacherous fellow: 'I'm ruined,' says he, 'for
some bad member has wrote to the bishop about
me.' (' Wild Sports of the West.')
Baffity, unbleached or blay calico. (Munster.)
Bails or bales, frames made of perpendicular wooden
bars in which cows are fastened for the night in
the stable. (Munster.)
Baithershin ; may be so, perhaps. Irish b'feidir-sin,
same sound and meaning.
Ballowr (Bal-yore in Ulster); to bellow, roar, bawl,
talk loudly and coarsely.
Ballyhooly, a village near Fermoy in Cork, formerly
notorious for its faction fights, so that it has
passed into a proverb. A man is late coming
home and expects Ballyhooly from his wife, i.e.
' the length and breadth of her tongue.' Father
Carroll has neglected to visit his relatives, the
Kearneys, for a long time, so that he knows he's
in the black books with Mrs. Kearney, and expects
Ballyhooly from her the first time he meets her.
(' Knocknagow.')
Ballyorgan in Co. Limerick, 146.
Banagher and Ballinasloe, 192.
Bannalanna : a woman who sells ale over the counter.
Irish bcan-na-leanna, l woman of the ale,' ' ale-
woman ' (leann, ale).
Ballyrag ; to give loud abuse in torrents. (General.)
Bandle ; a 2-foot measure for home-made flannel.
(Munster.)
Bang-up ; a frieze overcoat with high collar and long
cape.
214 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Banshee' ; a female fairy : Irish bean-sidhe [ban-
shee], a ' woman from the shee or fairy-dwelling.'
This was the original meaning ; but in modern
times, and among English speakers, the word ban-
shee has become narrowed in its application, and
signifies a female spirit that attends certain
families, and is heard keening or crying aloud at
night round the house when some member of the
family is about to die.
Barcelona ; a silk kerchief for the neck : —
' His clothes spick and span new without e'er a speck ;
A neat Barcelona tied round his white neck.'
(EDWARD LYSAGHT, in 'The Sprig of Shillelah.')
So called because imported from Barcelona, pre-
serving a memory of the old days of smuggling.
Barsa, barsaun ; a scold. (Kild. and Ulst.)
Barth ; a back-load of rushes, straw, heath, &c. Irish
heart.
Baury, baura, baur-ya, bairy ; the goal in football,
hurling, &c. Irish bdire [2-syll.], a game, a goal.
Bawn ; an enclosure near a farmhouse for cattle,
sheep, &c. ; in some districts, simply a farmyard.
Irish badhun [bawn], a cow-keep, from ba, cows,
and dun, a keep or fortress. Now generally
applied to the green field near the homestead
where the cows are brought to be milked.
Bawneen ; a loose whitish jacket of home-made
undyed flannel worn by men at out-door work.
Very general : banyan in Derry. From Irish
ban [bawn], whitish, with the diminutive termina-
tion.
Bawnoge ; a dancing-green. (MacCall : Leinster.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDKX. 215
From ban [baan], a field covered with short grass ;
and the dim. 6<j (p. 90).
Bawshill, a fetch or double. (See Fetch.) (MacCall :
S. Wexford.) I think this is a derivative of Bow,
which see.
Beestings ; new milk from a cow that has just
calved.
Be-knownst ; known : unbe-knownst ; unknown.
(Antrim.)
Better than ; more than : — ' It is better than a year
since I saw him last' ; 'better than a mile,' &c.
(Leinster and Munster.)
Bian' [by-ann'] ; one of Bianconi's long cars. (See
Jingle.)
Binnen ; the rope tying a cow to a stake in a field.
(Knowles : Ulster.)
Birragh ; a muzzle-band with spikes on a calf's or a
foal's muzzle to prevent it sucking its mother.
From Irish bir, a sharp spit : birragh, full of sharp
points or spits. (Munster : see Gubbaun.)
Blackfast : among Roman Catholics, there is a ' black
fast' on Ash Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, and
Good Friday, i.e. no flesh meat or whiteineat is
allowed — no flesh, butter, eggs, cheese, or milk.
Blackfeet. The members of one of the secret societies
of a century ago were called ' Ribbonmen.' Some
of them acknowledged the priests : those were
'whitefeet': others did not — 'blackfeet.'
Black man, black fellow; a surly vindictive implac-
able irreconcilable fellow.
Black man ; the man who accompanies a suitor to
the house of the intended father-in-law, to help to
make the match.
216 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Black of one's nail. ' You just escaped by the black of
your nail ' : ' there's no cloth left — not the size
of the black of my nail.' (North and South.)
Black swop. When two fellows have two wretched
articles — such as two old penknives — each thinking
his own to be the worst in the universe, they
sometimes agree for the pure humour of the thing
to make a black sicdp, i.e. to swop without first
looking at the articles. When they are looked at
after the swop, there is always great fun. (See
Hool.)
Blarney ; smooth, plausible, cajoling talk. From
Blarney Castle near Cork, in which there is a
certain stone hard to reach, with this virtue, that
if a person kisses it, he will be endowed with the
gift of blarney.
Blast ; when a child suddenly fades in health and
pines away, he has got a blast, — i.e. a puff of evil
wind sent by some baleful sprite has struck him.
Blast when applied to fruit or crops means a blight
in the ordinary sense — nothing supernatural.
Blather, bladdher ; a person who utters vulgarly
foolish boastful talk : used also as a verb — to
blather. Hence blather umMte, applied to a person
or to his talk in much the same sense ; ' I never-
heard such a blatherumskite.' Ulster and Scotch
form blether, blethering : Burns speaks of stringing
' blethers up in rhyme.' (' The Vision.')
Blaze, blazes, blazing : favourite words everywhere
in Ireland. Why are you in such a blazing hurry ?
Jack ran away like blazes : now work at that job
like blazes : he is blazing drunk. Used also by the
English peasantry: — 'That's a blazing strange
OH. XTII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 217
answer,' says Jerry Cruncher in 'A Tale of Two
Cities.' There's a touch of slang in some of these :
yet the word has heen in a way made classical
by Lord Morley's expression that Lord Salisbury
never made a speech without uttering ' some
blazing indiscretion.'
Blind Billy. In coming to an agreement take care
you don't make ' Blind Billy's Bargain,' by either
overreaching yourself or allowing the other party
to overreach you. Blind Billy was the hangman
in Limerick, and on one particular occasion he
flatly refused to do his work unless he got £ 50
down on the nail : so the high sheriff had to agree
and the hangman put the money in his pocket.
When all was over the sheriff refused point-blank
to send the usual escort without a fee of £50 down.
So Blind Billy had to hand over the £50 — for if he
went without an escort he would be torn in pieces
— and had nothing in the end for his job.
Blind lane ; a lane stopped up at one end.
Blind window ; an old window stopped up, but still
plain to be seen.
Blink ; to exercise an evil influence by a glance of
the 'evil eye'; to 'overlook'; hence 'blinked,'
blighted by the eye. When the butter does not
come in churning, the milk has been blinked by
some one.
Blirt ; to weep : as a noun, a rainy wind. (Ulster.)
Blob (blab often in Ulster), a raised blister : a drop
of honey, or of anything liquid.
Blue look-out ; a bad look-out, bad prospect.
Boal or bole ; a shelved recess in a room. (North.)
Boarhaun ; dried cowdung used for fuel like turf.
Irish boithrcdn [boarhaun], from bo, a cow.
218 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Boccach [accented on 2nd syll. in Minister, but
elsewhere on 1st] ; a lame person. From the fact
that so many beggars are lame or pretend to be
lame, boccach has come to mean a beggar. Irish
bacach, a lame person : from bac, to halt. Bockady,
another form of boccach in Munster. Bockeen (the
diminutive added on to bac), another form heard
in Mayo.
Boddagh [accented on 2nd syll. in Munster ; in
Ulster on 1st], a rich churlish clownish fellow.
Torn Cuddihy wouldn't bear insult from any
purse-proud old boddagh. (' Knocknagow.')
Body-coat ; a coat like the present dress-coat, cut
away in front so as to leave a narrow pointed tail-
skirt behind : usually made of frieze and worn
with the knee-breeches.
Body-glass ; a large mirror in which the whole body
can be seen. (Limerick.)
Body-lilty; heels over head. (Derry.)
Bog ; what is called in England a ' peat moss.'
Merely the Irish bog, soft. Bog (verb), to be
bogged ; to sink in a bog or any soft soil or
swampy place.
Bog- butter ; butter found deep in bogs, where it had
been buried in old times for a purpose, and for-
gotten : a good deal changed now by the action of
the bog. (See Joyce's ' Smaller Soc. Hist, of
Anc. Ireland,' p. 260.)
Bog-Latin ; bad incorrect Latin ; Latin that had
been learned in the hedge schools among the bogs.
This derisive and reproachful epithet was given in
bad old times by pupils and others of the favoured,
legal, and endowed schools, sometimes with reason,
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 219
but oftener very unjustly. For those boy or hedge
schools sent out numbers of scholarly men, who
afterwards entered the church or lay professions.
(See p. 151.)
Boghaleen ; the same as Crusheen, which see.
Bohaun ; a cabin or hut. Irish both [boh], a hut,
with the diminutive an.
Bold ; applied to girls and boys in the sense of
' forward,' ' impudent.'
Boliaun, also called booyhalaun bwee and geosadaun ;
the common yellow ragwort : all these are Irish
words
Bolting-hole ; the second or backward entrance made
by rats, mice, rabbits, &c., from their burrows, so
that if attacked at the ordinary entrance, they can
escape by this, which is always left unused except
in case of attack. (Kinahan.)
Bones. If a person magnifies the importance of
any matter and talks as if it were some great affair,
the other will reply : — ' Oh, you're making great
bones about it.'
Bonnive, a sucking-pig. Irish banbh, same sound
and meaning. Often used with the diminutive
— bonniveen, bonneen. ' Oh look at the baby
pigs,' says an Irish lady one day in the hearing
of others and myself, ashamed to use the Irish
word. After that she always bore the nickname
' Baby pig': — ' Oh, there's the Baby pig.'
Bonnyclabber ; thick milk. Irish bainne [bonny]
milk ; and clabar, anything thick or half liquid.
' In use all over America.' (Kussell.)
Boochalawn bwee ; ragweed : same as boliaun, which
see.
220 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Boolanthroor ; three men threshing together, instead
of the usual two : striking always in time. Irish
buail-an-triur, ' the striking of three.'
Booley as a noun ; a temporary settlement in the
grassy uplands where the people of the adjacent
lowland village lived during the summer with their
cattle, and milked them and made butter, return-
ing in autumn — cattle and all — to their lowland
farms to take up the crops. Used as a verb also :
to booley. See my ' Smaller Soc. Hist, of Anc.
Ireland,' p. 481 ; or ' Irish Names of Places,' I.
239.
Boolthaun, boulhaun, booltheen, boolshin : the
striking part of a flail : from Irish buail [bool],
to strike, with the diminutive.
Boon in Ulster, same as Mihul elsewhere ; which
see.
Boreen or bohereen, a narrow road. Irish bothar
[boher], a road, with the diminutive.
Borick ; a small wooden ball used by boys in hur-
ling or goaling, when the proper leather-covered
ball is not to hand. Called in Ulster a nag and
also a galley. (Knowles.)
Borreen-brack, ' speckled cake,' speckled with currants
and raisins, from Irish bairghin [borreen], a cake,
and breac [brack] , speckled : specially baked for
Hallow-eve. Sometimes corruptly called barm-
brack or barn-brack.
Bosthoon : a flexible rod or whip made of a number
of green rushes laid together and bound up with
single rushes wound round and round. Made by
boys in play — as I often made them. Hence
' bosthoon is applied contemptuously to a soft
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 221
worthless spiritless fellow, in much the same
sense as poltroon.
Bother ; merely the Irish word bodhar,- deaf, used
both as a noun and a verb in English (in the sense
of deafening, annoying, troubling, perplexing,
teasing) : a person deaf or partially deaf is said to
be bothered : — ' Who should come in but bothered
Nancy Fay. Now be it known that botJiered signi-
fies deaf; and Nancy was a little old cranky
bothered woman.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) You ' turn the
bothered ear' to a person when you do not wish to
hear what he says or grant his request. In these
applications bother is universal in Ireland among
all classes — educated as well as uneducated :
accordingly, as Murray notes, it was first brought
into use by Irishmen, such as Sheridan, Swift,
and Sterne ; just as Irishmen of to-day are bring-
ing into currency galore, smithereens, and many
other Irish words. In its primary sense of deaf or
to deafen, bother is used in the oldest Irish docu-
ments : thus in the Book of Leinster we have : —
Ro bodrais sind oc imradud do maic, ' You have
made us deaf (you have bothered us) talking about
your son ' (Kuno Meyer) : and a similar expression
is in use at the present day in the very common
phrase 'don't bother me ' (don't deafen me, don't
annoy me), which is an exact translation of the
equally common Irish phrase nd bi am' bhodradh.
Those who derive bother from the English pother
make a guess, and not a good one. See Bowraun.
Bottheen, a short thick stick or cudgel: the Irish bat a
with the diminutive : — baitin.
Bottom ; a clue or ball of thread. One of the tricks
222 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. XIII.
of girls on Hallow-eve to find out the destined
husband is to go out to the limekiln at night with
a hall of yarn ; throw in the ball still holding the
thread ; re-wind the thread, till it is suddenly
stopped ; call out ' who honids my bottom of
yarn ?' when she expects to hear tthe name of the
young man she is to marry.
Bouchal or boochal, a boy : the Irish bnackaill, same
meaning.
Bonilly-bawn, white home-made bread of wheaten
flour; of ten called bully -bread. (MacCall: Wexford.)
From Irish bul or biiilidbe, a loaf, and ban, white.
Boundhalaun, a plant with thick hollow stem with
joints, of which boys make rude syringes. From
Irish banndal or bannlamh, a handle (which see),
with the dim. termination an. I never saw true
boundhalauns outside Munster.
Bourke, the Kev. Father, 71, 161.
Bownloch, a sore on the sole of the foot always at
the edge : from bonn the foot-sole [pron. bown in
the South], and loch a mere termination. Also
called a Bine-lock.
Bowraun, a sieve-shaped vessel for holding or
measuring out corn, with the flat bottom made of
dried sheepskin stretched tight ; sometimes used
as a rude tambourine, from which it gets the name
boivraun ; Irish bodhur [pron. bower here], deaf,
from the bothered or indistinct sound. (South.)
Bow [to rhyme with coui] ; a banshee, a fetch (both
which see. MacCall : South Leinster). This word
has come down to us from very old times, for it
preserves the memory of Bugh [Boo], a banshee or
fairy queen once very celebrated, the daughter of
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 223
Bove Devg king of the Dedarmans or faery-race,
of whom information will be obtained in the
classical Irish story, ' The Fate of the Children of
Lir,' the first in my ' Old Celtic Romances.'
She has given her name to many hills all
through Ireland. (See my ' Irish Names of
Places,' I. 182, 183. See Bawshill.)
Box and dice ; used to denote the whole lot : I'll
send you all the books and manuscripts, box and
dice.
Boxty ; same as the Limerick muddly, which see.
Boy. Every Irishman is a ' boy ' till he is married,
and indeed often long after. (Crofton Croker : ' Ir.
Fairy Legends.')
Brablins: a crowd of children : a rabble. (Monaghan.)
Bracket; speckled: a 'bracket cow.' Ir. breac,
speckled.
Braddach ; given to mischief ; roguish. Iv.bradach,
a thief : in the same sense as when a mother says
to her child, ' You young thief, stop that mischief.'
Often applied to cows inclined to break down and
cross fences. (Meath and Monaghan.)
Brander ; a gridiron. (North.) From Eng. brand.
Brash ; a turn of sickness (North.) Water-brash
(Munster), severe acidity of the stomach with a
flow of watery saliva from the mouth. Brash
(North), a short turn at churning, or at anything ;
a stroke of the churndash : ' Give the churn a few
brashes.1 In Donegal you will hear ' that's a
good brash of hail.'
Brave ; often used as an intensive :— ' This is a
brave fine day ' ; ' that's a brave big dog ' : (Ulster.)
Also fine or admirable ' a brave stack of hay ' :
224 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
tall, strong, hearty (not necessarily brave in
fighting) : — ' I have as brave a set of sons as you'd
find in a day's walk.' 'How is your sick boy
doing?' ' Oh bravely, thank you.'
Braw ; fine, handsome : Ir. breayh, same sound and
meanings. (Ulster.)
Break. You break a grass field when you plough or
dig it up for tillage. ' I'm going to break the kiln
field.' (' Knocknagow.') Used all over Ireland:
almost in the same sense as in Gray's Elegy : —
' Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.' ^
Break ; to dismiss from employment : ' Poor
William O'Donnell was broke last week.' This
usage is derived from the Irish language ; and a
very old usage it is ; for we read in the Brehon
Laws: — ' Cid nod m-bris in fer-so a bo-airechus?'
' What is it that ^breaks (dismisses, degrades) this
man from his bo-aireship (i.e. from his position as
bo-aire or chief)?' My car-driver asked me one
time : — ' Can an inspector of National Schools be
broke, sir?' By which he meant could he be
dismissed at any time without any cause.
Breedoge [d sounded like th in bathe] ; a figure
dressed up to represent St. Brigit, which was
carried about from house to house by a procession
of boys and girls in the afternoon of the 81st Jan.
(the eve of the saint's festival), to collect small
money contributions. With this money they got
up a little rustic evening party with a dance next
day, 1st Feb. ' Breedoge ' means ' little Bricjhid
or BrighitJ Breed (or rather Breedh) representing
the sound of Brighid, with 6y the old diminutive
feminine termination.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDKX. 225
Brecham, the straw collar put on a horse's or an
ass's neck : sometimes means the old-fashioned
straw saddle or pillion. (Ulster.)
Brehon Law ; the old native law of Ireland. A
judge or a lawyer was called a ' brehon.'
Brew ; a margin, a brink : ' that lake is too shallow
to fish from the brews ' : from the Irish bru, same
sound and meaning. See Broo.
Brief; prevalent: 'fever is very brief.' Used all
over the southern half of Ireland. Perhaps a
mistake for rife.
Brillauns or brill-yauns, applied to the poor articles
of furniture in a peasant's cottage. Dick O'Brien
and Mary Clancy are getting married as soon as
they can gather up the few brill-yauns of furniture.
(South-east of Ireland.)
Brine-oge ; ' a young fellow full of fun and frolic.'
(Caiieton : Ulster.)
Bring : our peculiar use of this (for ' take ') appears
in such phrases as : — ' he brought the cows to
the field': 'he brought me to the theatre.'
(Hay den and Hartog.) See Carry.
Brock, brockish ; a badger. It is just the Irish
broc.
Brock, brocket, brockey ; applied to a person heavily
pock-marked. I suppose from broc, a badger.
(Ulster.)
Brogue, a shoe : Irish brdg. Used also to designate
the Irish accent in speaking English : for the old
Irish thong-stitched brogue was considered so
characteristically Irish that the word was applied
to our accent ; as a clown is called a canboyc (which
see : Minister).
Q
226 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. XIII.
Brolioge or bruhoge ; a small batch of potatoes
roasted. See Brunoge.
Broken ; bankrupt : quite a common expression is : —
Poor Phil Burke is ' broken horse and foot'; i.e.
utterly bankrupt and ruined.
Broo, the edge of a potato ridge along which
cabbages are planted. Irish bru, a margin, a
brink.
Brosna, brusna, bresna ; a bundle of sticks for
firing : a faggot. This is the Irish brosna, univer-
sally used in Ireland at the present day, both in
Irish and English ; and used in the oldest Irish
documents. In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick,
written in Irish ten centuries ago, we are told that
when Patrick was a boy, his foster-mother sent
him one day for a brossna of withered branches to
make a fire.
Broth of a boy ; a good manly brave boy : the
essence of manhood, as broth is the essence of meat.
Brough ; a ring or halo round the moon. It is the
Irish bntach, a border.
Broughan ; porridge or oatmeal stirabout. Irish
brochdn. (Ulster.)
Bruggadauns [d sounded like th in they] ; the stalks
of ferns found in meadows after mowing. (Kerry.)
Brulliagh ; a row, a noisy scuffle. (Derry.)
Brunoge ; a little batch of potatoes roasted in a fire
made in the potato field at digging time : always
dry, floury and palatable. (Roscornmon.) Irish
bruithneog. See Brohoge.
Brass or briss ; small broken bits mixed up with
dust : very often applied to turf-dust. Irish brus,
bits, same sounds and meaning. (South.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 227
Brutteen, brutin, bruteens ; the Ulster words for
caulcannon ; which see. Irish bruiyhtin.
Buckaun ; the upright bar of a hinge on which the
other part with the door hangs. Irish bocdn.
Buckley, Father Darby, 68, 146.
Bucknabarra ; any non-edible fungus. (Fermanagh.)
See Pookapyle.
Buck teeth ; superfluous teeth which stand out from
the ordinary row. (Knowles : Ulster.)
Buddaree [dd sounded like th in they] ; a rich purse-
proud vulgar farmer. (Munster.) Irish.
Buff ; the skin ; to strip to one's buff is to strip
naked. Two fellows going to fight with fists strip
to their buff, i.e. naked from the waist up.
(Munster.)
Buggaun (Munster), buggeen (Leinster) ; an egg
without a shell. Irish boy, soft, with the dim.
termination.
Bullaun, a bull calf. Irish, as in next word.
Bullavaun, bullavogue ; a strong, rough, bullying
fellow. From bulla the Irish form of bull.
(Moran : Carlow.)
Bullaworrus ; a spectral bull ' with fire blazing from
his eyes, mouth, and nose,' that guards buried
treasure by night. (Limerick.) Irish.
Bullia-bottha (or boolia-botha) ; a fight with sticks.
(Simmons : Armagh.) Irish buaileadh, striking ;
and bata, a stick.
Bullagadaun [d sounded like tk in they] ; a
short stout pot-bellied fellow. (Munster.) From
Irish lolg [pron. bullog], a belly, and the dim.
ddn.
Bullshin, bullsheen ; same as Bullaun.
Q2
228 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Bum ; to cart turf to market : bummer, a person who
does so as a way of living, like Billy Heft'ernan
in ' Knocknagow.' Bum-bailiff, a bog bailiff.
(Grainger : Arm.) Used more in the northern
half of Ireland than in the southern.
Bun ; the tail of a rabbit. (Simmons : Arm.) Irish
bun, the end.
Bunnans ; roots or stems of bushes or trees. (Meath.)
From Irish ban as in last word.
Buunaun; a long stick or wattle. (Joyce: Limerick.)
Bunnioch ; the last sheaf bound up in a field of
reaped corn. The binder of this (usually a girl)
will die unmarried. (MacCall : Wexford.)
Butt ; a sort of cart boarded at bottom and all round
the sides, 15 or 18 inches deep, for potatoes, sand,
&c. (Limerick.) In Cork any kind of horse-cart
or donkey-cart is called a butt, which is a departure
from the (English) etymology. In Limerick any
kind of cart except a butt is called a car ; the word
cart is not used at all.
Butthoon has much the same meaning as pottha lo wny,
which see. Irish butiin, same sound and meaning.
(Munster.)
Butter up ; to flatter, to cajole by soft sugary words,
generally with some selfish object in view : — ' I
suspected from the way he was buttering me up
that he came to borrow money.'
Byre : the place where the cows are fed and milked ;
sometimes a house for cows and horses, or a farm-
yard.
By the same token : this needs no explanation ; it
is a survival from Tudor English. (Hayden and
Hartog.)
OH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 229
Cabin-hunting ; going about from house to house
to gossip. (South.)
Cabman's Answer, The, 208.
Cadday' [strong accent on -day] to stray idly about.
As a noun an idle stray of a fellow.
Cadge ; to hawk goods for sale. (Simmons : Ar-
magh.) To go about idly from house to house,
picking up a bit and a sup, wherever they are to be
had. (Moran : Carlow.)
Caffler ; a contemptible little fellow who gives saucy
cheeky foolish talk. Probably a mispronunciation
of caviller. (Munster.)
Cagger ; a sort of pedlar who goes to markets and
houses selling small goods and often taking others
in exchange. (Kinahan : South and West.)
Cahag ; the little cross-piece on the end of a spade-
handle, or of any handle. (Mon.)
Cailey ; a friendly evening visit in order to have a
gossip. There are usually several persons at a
cailey, and along with the gossiping talk there are
songs or music. Irish ceilidh, same sound and
meaning. Used all over Ireland, but more in the
North than elsewhere.
Calleach na looha [Colleagh : accented on 2nd syll.
in South ; on 1st in North] ' hag of the ashes.'
Children — and sometimes old children — think that
a little hag resides in the ashpit beside the fire.
Irish cailleach, an old woman : luaith, ashes.
Calleach-rue (' red hag ') ; a little reddish brown
fish about 4 inches long, plentiful in small
streams. We boys thought them delicious
when broiled on the turf-coals. We fished for
them either with a loop-snare made of a single
280 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XIII.
horsehair on the end of a twig, with which it
was very hard to catch them ; for, as the boys
used to say, ' they were cute little divels ' — or
directly — like the sportsmen of old — with a spear
— the same spear being nothing but an ould
fork.
Caish ; a growing pig about 6 months old. (Munster.)
Call ; claim, right : ' put down that spade ; you have
no call to it.'
' Bedad,' says he, ' this sight is queer,
My eyes it does bedizen — 0;
"What call have you marauding here,
Or how daar you leave your prison — 0 ? '
(Repeal Song : 1843.)
Need, occasion : they lived so near each other
that there was no call to send letters. ' Why are
you shouting that way ? ' 'I have a good call to
shout, and that blackguard running away with my
apples.' Father O'Flynn could preach on many
subjects : — ' Down from mythology into thayology,
Troth ! and conchology if he'd the call.' (A. P.
Graves.) Used everywhere in Ireland in these
several senses.
Call ; custom in business : Our new shopkeeper is
getting great call, i.e. his customers are numerous.
South.)
Cam or caum ; a metal vessel for melting resin to
make sluts or long torches ; also used to melt
metal for coining. (Simmons : Armagh.) Called
a grisset in Munster. Usually of a curved shape :
Irish cam, curved.
Candle. ' Jack Brien is a good scholar, but he
couldn't hold a candle to Tom Murphy': i.e. he
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 231
is very inferior to him. The person that holds a
candle for a workman is a mere attendant and
quite an inferior.
Cannags ; the stray ears left after the corn has been
reaped and gathered. (Morris : Mon.) Called
Uscauns in Munster.
Caper : oat-cake and butter. (Simmons : Armagh.)
Caravat and Shanavest ; the names of two hostile
factions in Kilkenny and all round about there, of
the early part of last century. Like Three-year-
old and Four-year-old. Irish Caravat, a cravat ;
and Shanavest, old vest : which names were adopted,
but no one can tell why.
Card-cutter ; a fortune-teller by card tricks. Card-
cutters were pretty common in Limerick in my
early days : but it was regarded as disreputable to
have any dealings with them.
Cardia ; friendship, a friendly welcome, additional
time granted for paying a debt. (All over Ireland.)
Ir. cdirde, same meanings.
Cardinal Points, 168.
Carleycue ; a very small coin of some kind. Used
like keenoge and cross. (Very general.)
Cam ; a heap of anything ; a monumental pile of
stones heaped up over a dead person. Irish earn,
same meanings.
Caroline or 'Caroline hat'; a tall hat. (' Knock-
nagow ' : all over Munster.)
Caroogh, an expert or professional card-player.
(Munster.) Irish cearrbhach, same sound and
meaning.
Carra, Carrie ; a weir on a river. (Derry.) Irish
carra, same meaning.
232 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND, [cil. XIII.
Carrigaholt in Clare, 145.
Carry ; to lead or drive : ' James, carry down those
cows to the river' (i.e. drive) : ' carry the horse to
the forge ' (lead). ' I will carry my family this
year to Youghal for the salt water.' (Kinahan :
South, West, and North-west.) See Bring.
Case : the Irish cds, and applied in the same way :
' It is a poor case that I have to pay for your extra-
vagance.' Ndch ditbhach bocht i<n cds bheith ag
tuitim le ijhradh : ' isn't it a poor case to be failing
through love.'— Old Irish Song. Our dialectical
Irish case, as above, is taken straight from the Irish
cds ; but this and the standard English case are
both borrowed from Latin.
Cassnara ; respect, anything done out of respect : ' he
put on his new coat for a casnara.' (Morris : South
Mon.)
Castor oil was our horror when we were children.
No wonder ; for this story went about of how it
was made. A number of corpses were hanging
from hooks round the walls of the factory, and
drops were continually falling from their big toes
into vessels standing underneath. This was castor
oil.
Catin clay ; clay mixed with rushes or straws used
in building the mud walls of cottages. (Simmons :
Arm.)
Cat of a kind : they're ' cat of a kind,' both like each
other and both objectionable.
Cat's lick ; used in and around Dublin to express
exactly the same as the Munster Scotch lick, which
see. A cat has a small tongue and does not do
much licking,
CH. XTII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 238
Caubeen ; an old shabby cap or hat : Irish cdibin :
he wore a ' shocking bad caubeen.'
Cauboge ; originally an old hat, like caubeen ; but
now applied — as the symbol of vulgarity — to an
ignorant fellow, a boor, a bumpkin : ' What else
could you expect from that cauboge ? ' (South.)
Caulcannon, Calecannon, Colecannon, Kalecannon ;
potatoes mashed with butter and milk, with
chopped up cabbage and pot-herbs. In Minister
often made and eaten on Hallow Eve. The first
syllable is the Irish cdl, cabbage ; cannon is also
Irish, meaning speckled.
Caur, kindly, good-natured, affable. (Morris : South
Mon.)
Cawmeen ; a mote : ' there's a cawmeen in my eye.'
(Moran : Carlow.) Irish with the diminutive.
Cawsha Pooka ; the big fungus often seen growing
on old trees or elsewhere. From Irish cdise,
cheese : the ' Pooka's cheese.' See Pooka and
Pookapyle and Bucknabarra.
Cead mile failte [caidh meela faultha], a hundred
thousand welcomes. Irish, and universal in Ireland
as a salute.
Ce61aun [keolaun], a trifling contemptible little
fellow. (Munster.)
Cess ; very often used in the combination bad cess
(bad luck) : — ' Bad cess to me but there's some-
thing comin' over me.' (Kickham : ' Knocknagow.')
Some think this is a contraction of success ; others
that it is to be taken as it stands — a cess or con-
tribution ; which receives some little support from
its use in Louth to mean ' a quantity of corn in for
threshing.'
284 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Chalk Sunday ; the first Sunday after Shrove
Tuesday (first Sunday in Lent), when those young
men who should have been married, but were not,
were marked with a heavy streak of chalk on the
back of the Sunday coat, by boys who carried bits
of chalk in their pockets for that purpose, and lay
in wait for the bachelors. The marking was done
while the congregation were assembling for Mass :
and the young fellow ran for his life, always
laughing, and often singing the concluding words
of some suitable doggerel such as : — ' And you are
not married though Lent has come ! ' This custom
prevailed in Munster. I saw it in full play in
Limerick : but I think it has died out. For the
air to which the verses were sung, see my ' Old
Irish Music and Songs,' p. 12.
Champ (Down) ; the same as ' caulcannon,' which see.
Also potatoes mashed with butter and milk ; same
as ' pandy,' which see.
Chanter ; to go about grumbling and fault-finding.
(Ulster.)
Chapel : Church : Scallan, 148.
Chaw for chew, 97. ' Chawing the rag ' ; continually
grumbling, jawing, and giving abuse. (Kinahan.)
Cheek ; impudence ; brass : cheeky ; presumptuous.
Chincough, whooping-cough : from kink-cough. See
Kink.
Cluttering ; constantly muttering complaints.
(Knowles.)
Chook chook [the oo sounded rather short] ; a call
for hens. It is the Irish tiuc, come.
Christian ; a human being as distinguished from
one of the lower animals : — ' That dog has nearly
as much sense as a Christian,'
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 285
Chuff: full. — I'm chuffey after my dinner.' (MacCall :
Wexford.)
Clabber, clobber, or clawber ; mud : thick milk. See
Bonnyclabber.
Clamp ; a small rick of turf, built up regularly. (All
through Ireland.)
Clamper ; a dispute, a wrangle. (Munster.) Irish
clampar, same meaning.
Clarsha ; a lazy woman. (Morris : South Monaghan.)
Clart ; an untidy dirty woman, especially in pre-
paring food. (Simmons : Armagh.)
Clash, to carry tales : Clashbag, a tale-bearer.
(Simmons: Armagh.)
Classy ; a drain running through a byre or stable-
yard. (Morris: South Monaghan.) Irish dais,
a trench, with the diminutive y added.
Clat ; a slovenly untidy person ; dirt, clay : ' wash
the clat off your hands ' : clatty ; slovenly, untidy —
(Ulster) : called clotty in Kildare ; — a slattern.
Clatch ; a brood of chickens. (Ulster.) See Clutch.
Cleean [2-syll.] ; a relation by marriage — such as a
father-in-law. Two persons so related are cleeans.
Irish cliamhan, same sound and meaning.
Cleever ; one who deals in poultry ; because he carries
them in a cleeve or large wicker basket. (Morris :
South Monaghan.) Irish cliabh [cleeve], a basket.
Cleevaun ; a cradle : also a crib or cage for catching
birds. The diminutive of Irish cliabh or cleeve,
a wicker basket.
Clegg ; a horsefly. (Ulster and Carlow.)
Clehalpeen ; a shillelah or cudgel with a knob at the
end. (South.) From Irish death, a wattle, and
ail pin dim. of alp, a knob.
236 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
Clever is applied to a man who is tall, straight, and
well made.
Clevvy ; three or four shelves one over another in a
wall : a sort of small open cupboard like a dresser.
(All over the South.)
Clibbin, clibbeen ; a young colt. (Donegal.) Irish
clibin, same sound and meaning.
Clibbock; a young horse. (Derry.)
Clift ; a light-headed person, easily roused and
rendered foolishly excited. (Ulster.)
Clipe-clash : a tell-tale. (Ulster.) See Clash.
Clochaun, clochan ; a row of stepping-stones across
a river. (General.) From Irish clock, a stone,
with the diminutive an.
Clock ; a black beetle. (South.)
Clocking hen ; a hen hatching. (General.) From
the sound or clock she utters.
Clooracaun or cluracaun, another name for a
leprachaun, which see.
Close ; applied to a day means simply warm : — ' This
is a very close day.'
Clout ; a blow with the hand or with anything.
Also a piece of cloth, a rag, commonly used in the
diminutive form in Munster — cloittheen. Clnutheens
is specially applied to little rags used with an
infant. Clout is also applied to a clownish
person : — ' It would be well if somebody would
teach that clout some manners.'
Clove ; to clove flax is to scutch it — to draw each
handful repeatedly between the blades of a
' cloving tongs,' so as to break off and remove the
brittle husk, leaving the fibre smooth and free.
(Munster.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 287
Clutch ; a brood of chickens or of any fowls : same
as clatch. I suppose this is English : Waterton
(an English traveller) uses it in his ' Wanderings ' ;
but it is not in the Dictionaries of Chambers and
Webster.
Cluthoge ; Easter eggs. (P. Reilly ; Kildare.)
Cly-thoran ; a wall or ditch between two estates.
(Roscommon.) Irish dadh [cly], a raised dyke or
fence ; tedra, gen. tedrann [thoran], a boundary.
Cobby-house ; a little house made by children for
play. (Munster.)
Cockles off the heart, 194.
Cog ; to copy surreptitiously ; to crib something from
the writings of another and pass it off as your
own. One schoolboy will sometimes copy from
another : — ' You cogged that sum.'
Coghil ; a sort of long-shaped pointed net. (Armagh.)
Irish cochal, a net.
Coldoy ; a bad halfpenny : a spurious worthless
article of jewellery. (Limerick.)
Colleen ; a young girl. (All over Ireland.) Irish
callin, same sound and meaning.
Colley ; the woolly dusty fluffy stuff that gathers
under furniture and in remote corners of rooms.
Light soot-smuts flying about.
College ; to talk and gossip in a familiar friendly
way. An Irish form of the Latin or English word
' colloquy.'
Collop ; a standard measure of grazing land, p. 177.
Collop ; the part of a flail that is held in the hand.
(Munster.) See Boolthaun. Irish colpa.
Come-all-ye ; a nickname applied to Irish Folk
Songs and Music ; an old country song 4 from the
238 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
beginning of many of the songs : — ' Come all ye
tender Christians,' &c. This name, intended to
be reproachful, originated among ourselves, after
the usual habit of many ' superior ' Irishmen to
vilify their own country and countrymen and all
their customs and peculiarities. Observe, this
opening is almost equally common in English
Folk-songs ; yet the English do not make game
of them by nicknames. Irish music, which is thus
vilified by some of our brethren, is the most
beautiful Folk Music in the world.
Comether ; come hether or hither, 97.
Commaun, common; the game of goaling or hurley.
So called from the commaun or crooked-shaped
stick with which it is played : Irish cam or com,
curved or crooked ; with the diminutive — caman.
Called hurling and goaliiuj by English speakers in
Ireland, and shinney iu Scotland.
Commons ; laud held in common by the people of a
village or small district : see p. 177.
Comparisons, 186.
Conacre ; letting land in patches for a short period.
A farmer divides a large field into small portions —
£ acre, £ acre, &c. — and lets them to his poorer
neighbours usually for one season for a single
crop, mostly potatoes, or in Ulster flax. He
generally undertakes to manure the whole field,
and charges high rents for the little lettings. I
saw this in practice more than 60 years ago in
Munster. Irish con, common, and Eng. acre.
Condition ; in Munster, to ' change your condition '
is to get married.
Condon, Mr. John, of Mitchelstown, 155.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 239
Conny, canny ; discreet, knowing, cute.
Contrairy, for contrary, but accented on second syll. ;
cross, perverse, cranky, crotchety, 102.
Convenient : see Handy.
Cool : hurlers and football players always put one of
their best players to mind cool or stand cool, i.e. to
stand at their own goal or gap, to intercept the
ball if the opponents should attempt to drive it
through. Universal in Munster. Irish ciil [cool],
the back. The full word is cool-baur-ya where
' baur-ya ' is the goal or gap. The man standing
cool is often called ' the man in the gap ' (see
p. 182).
Cool ; a good-sized roll of butter. (Munster.)
Cooleen or coulin ; a fair-haired girl. This is the
name of a celebrated Irish air. From cid the back
[of the head], andjionn, white or fair : — cuil-fhionn,
[pron. cooleen or coolin].
Coonagh ; friendly, familiar, great (which see) : —
'These two are very cuonagh.' (MacCall : Wex-
ford.) Irish cuaine, a family.
Coonsoge, a bees' nest. (Cork.) Irish cuansa [coonsa],
a hiding-place, with the diminutive 6g.
Cooramagh; kindly, careful, thoughtful, provident : —
' No wonder Mrs. Dunn would look well and happy
with such a cooramagh husband.' Irish citramach,
same meaning.
Coord [d sounded like th in bathe], a friendly visit
to a neighbour's house. Irish citaird, a visit.
Coordeeagh, same meaning. (Munster.)
Cope-curley ; to stand on the head and throw the
heels over ; to turn head over heels. (Ulster.)
Core : work given as a sort of loan to be paid back.
240 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
I send a man on core for a day to my neighbour:
when next I want a man he will send me one for
a day in return. So with horses : two one-horse
farmers who work their horses in pairs, borrowing
alternately, are said to be in core. Very common
in Munster. Irish cobhair or cabhair [core or
co-ir, 2-syll.] help, support.
Coreeagh ; a man who has a great desire to attend
funerals — goes to every funeral that he can pos-
sibly reach. (Munster.) Same root as last.
Corfuffle ; to toss, shake, confuse, mix up. (Berry.)
Correesk ; a crane. (Kildare.) Irish corr, a bird of
the crane kind, andnasc [reesk], a marsh.
Cosher [the o long as in motion] ; banqueting,
feasting. In very old times in Ireland, certain
persons went about with news from place to place,
and were entertained in the high class houses :
this was called cosheriny, and was at one time
forbidden by law. In modern times it means
simply a friendly visit to a neigh hour's house to have
a quiet talk. Irish cdisir, a banquet, feasting.
Costnent. When a farm labourer has a cottage and
garden from his employer, and boards himself, he
lives costnent. He is paid small wages (called
costnent wages) as he has house and plot free.
(Deny.)
Cot ; a small boat : Irish cot. See ' Irish Names of
Places,' I. 226, for places deriving their names
from cots.
Cowlagh ; an old ruined house. (Kerry.) Irish
coblach [cowlagh].
Coward's blow ; a blow given to provoke a boy to
fight or else be branded as a coward.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULABY AND INDEX. 241
Cow's lick. When the hair in front over the fore-
head turns at the roots upward and backward, that
is a cow's lick, as if a cow had licked it upwards.
The idea of a cow licking the hair is very old in
Irish literature. In the oldest of all our miscel-
laneous Irish MSS. — The Book of the Dun Cow —
Cuculainn's hair is so thick and smooth that king
Laery, who saw him, says : — ' I should imagine it
is a cow that licked it.'
Cox, Mr. Simon, of Galbally, 156.
Craags ; great fat hands ; big handfuls. (Morris :
South Mon.)
Crab : a cute precocious little child is often called an
old crab. ' Crabjaw ' has the same meaning.
Cracked ; crazy, half mad.
Cracklins; the browned crispy little flakes that
remain after rendering or melting lard and pouring
it off. (Simmons : Armagh.)
Crahauns or Kirraghauns ; very small potatoes not
used by the family: given to pigs. (Munster.)
Irish creathdn.
Crans (always in pi.) ; little tricks or dodges. (Limk).
Crapper ; a half glass of whiskey. (Moran : Carlow.)
Craw-sick ; ill in the morning after a drunken bout.
Crawtha; sorry, mortified, pained. (Limerick.)
Irish crdidhte [crawtha], same meaning.,
Crawthumper ; a person ostentatiously devotional.
Creelacaun : see Skillaun.
Creel ; a strong square wicker frame, used by itself
for holding turf, &c., or put on asses' backs (in
pairs), or put on carts for carrying turf or for
taking calves, bonnires, &c., to market. Irish criol.
(All through Ireland.)
242 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Creepy ; a small stool, a stool. (Chiefly in Ulster.)
Crith ; hump on the back. Irish emit, same sound
and meaning. From this comes critthera and
crittheen, both meaning a hunchback.
Cro, or cru : a house for cows. (Kerry.) Irish cro,
a pen, a fold, a shed for any kind of animals.
Croaked ; I am afraid poor Nancy is croaked, i.e.
doomed to death. The raven croaks over the
house when one of the family is about to die.
(MacCall: Wexford.)
Croft ; a water bottle, usually for a bedroom at night.
You never hear carafe in Ireland : it is always croft. '
Cromwell, Curse of, 166.
Crumel'ly. (Limerick.) More correctly curranritty.
(Donegal.) An herb found in grassy fields with
a sweet root that children dig up and eat. Irish
' honey-root.'
Cronaun, croonaun ; a low humming air or song,
any continuous humming sound : ' the old woman
was cronauning in the corner.'
Cronebane, cronebaun ; a bad halfpenny, a worthless
copper coin. From Cronebane in Co. Wicklow,
where copper mines were worked.
Croobeen or crubeen ; a pig's foot. Pigs' croobeens
boiled are a grand and favourite viand among us
— all through Ireland. Irish crub [croob], a foot,
with the diminutive.
Croost ; to throw stones or clods from the hand : —
' Those boys are always croostiny stones at my
hens.' Irish crusta [croostha], a missile, a clod.
Croudy : see Porter-meal.
Crowl or Croil ; a dwarf, a very small person : the
smallest bonnive of the litter. An Irish word.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 243
Cruiskeen ; a little cruise for holding liquor. Used
all over Ireland.
' In a shady nook one moonlight night
A leprechaun I spied ;
With scarlet cap and coat of green,
A cruiskeen hy his side.'
The Cruiskeen Laun is the name of a well-known
Irish air — the Scotch call it ' John Anderson
my Jo.' Irish cruiscin, a pitcher : Idn [laun], full :
i.e. in this case full of pott/teen.
Crusheen ; a stick with a flat crosspiece fastened at
bottom for washing potatoes in a basket. Irish
cros, a cross, with the diminutive. Also called a
boghaleen, from Irish bachal, a staff, with diminu-
tive. (Joyce : Limerick.)
Cuck ; a tuft : applied to the little tuft of feathers on
the head of some birds, such as plovers, some
hens and ducks, &c. Irish coc : same sound and
meaning. (General.)
Cuckles ; the spiky seed-pods of the thistle : thistle
heads. (Limerick.)
Cuckoo spit ; the violet : merely the translation of
the Irish name, sail-chuach, spittle of cuckoos.
Also the name of a small frothy spittle-like sub-
stance often found on leaves of plants in summer,
with a little greenish insect in the middle of it.
(Limerick.)
digger-mugger; whispering, gossiping in a low
voice : Jack and Bessie had a great cugger-mitgger.
Irish cogar, whisper, with a similar duplication
meaning nothing, like tip-top, shilly-shally,
gibble-gabble, clitter-clatter, &c. I think ' hugger-
E2
244 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
mugger ' is a form of this : for hugger can't be
derived from anything, whereas digger (cogur] is a
plain Irish word.
Cull; when the best of a lot of any kind — sheep,
cattle, books, &c. — have been picked out, the bad
ones that are left — the refuse — are the culls.
(Kinahan : general.)
Culla-greefeen ; when foot or hand is ' asleep ' with
the feeling of ' pins and needles.' The name is
Irish and means 'Griffin's sleep'; but why so
called I cannot tell. (Munster.)
Cup-tossing ; reading fortunes from tea-leaves thrown
out on the saucer from the tea- cup or teapot.
(General.)
Cur ; a twist : a cur of a rope. (Joyce : Limerick.)
Curate ; a common little iron poker kept in use to
spare the grand one : also a grocer's assistant.
(Hayden and Hartog.)
Curcuddiagh; cosy, comfortable. (Maxwell: 'Wild
Sports of the West ' : Irish : Mayo.)
Curifixes ; odd curious ornaments or fixtures of any
kind. (General.) Peter Brierly, looking at the
knocker : — ' I never see such curifixes on a doore
afore.' (Edw. Walsh : very general.)
Curragh ; a wicker boat covered formerly with hides
but now with tarred canvass. (See my ' Smaller
Social Hist, of Anc. Ireland.')
Current ; in good health : he is not current ; his
health is not current. (Father Higgins : Cork.)
Curwhibbles, currifibbles, curry whibbles; any strange,
odd, or unusual gestures ; or any unusual twisting
of words, such as prevarication; wild puzzles
and puzzling talk : — ' The horsemen are in regular
curry whibles about something.' (B. D. Joyce.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 245
Gush ; a sort of small horse, from Cushendall in
Antrim.
Cushlamochree ; pulse of my heart. Irish Cuisle,
vein or pulse ; mo, my ; croidhe [cree], heart.
Cuslioge ; a stem of a plant ; sometimes used the
same as traneen, which see. (Moran : Carlow ; and
Morris : Monaghan.)
Cut ; a county or barony cess tax ; hence Cutman,
the collector of it, (Kinahan : Armagh and
Donega .) ' The three black cuts will be levied.1
(Seumas MacManus : Donegal.)
Daisy-picker ; a person who accompanies two lovers
in their walk ; why so called obvious. Brought to
keep off gossip.
Dalk, a thorn. (De Visines Kane : North and South.)
Irish dealg [dallog], a thorn.
Dallag [d sounded like tli in that\ ; any kind of
covering to blindfold the eyes (Morris: South
Monaghan) : ' blinding,' from Irish dall, blind.
Dallapookeen ; blindman's buff. (Kerry.) From
Irish dalladh [dalla] blinding ; and puicin [pook-
een], a covering over the eyes.
Daltheen [the d sounded like th in that~\, an impudent
conceited little fellow : a diminutive of dalta, a
foster child. The diminutive dalteen was first
applied to a horseboy, from which it has drifted to
its present meaning.
Dancing customs, 170, 172.
Dannagh ; mill-dust and mill-grains for feeding pigs.
(Moran : Carlow : also Tip.) Irish deanach, same
sound and meaning.
246 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Dander [second d sounded like th in hither~\, to walk
about leisurely : a leisurely walk.
Dandy ; a small tumbler ; commonly used for drink-
ing punch.
Darradail or daradeel [the d's sounded like th in that]
a sort of long black chafer or beetle. It raises its
tail when disturbed, and has a strong smell of
apples. There is a religious legend that when our
Lord was escaping from the Jews, barefoot, the
stones were marked all along by traces of blood
from the bleeding feet. The daradail followed the
traces of blood ; and the Jews following, at length
overtook and apprehended our Lord. Hence the
people regard the daradail with intense hatred, and
whenever they come on it, kill it instantly. Irish
darbh-daol.
Dark; blind: 'a dark man.' (Very general.) Used
constantly even in official and legal documents, as in
workhouse books, especially in Munster. (Healy.)
Darrol ; the smallest of the brood of pigs, fowl, &c.
(Mayo.) Irish dearoil, small, puny, wretched.
Davis, Thomas, vi. 83, &c.
Dead beat or dead bet ; tired out.
Dear; used as a sort of intensive adjective : — ' Tom
ran for the dear life ' (as fast as he could). (Croftou
Croker.) ' He got enough to remember all the
dear days of his life.' (' Dub. Pen. Journ.')
Dell ; a lathe. Irish deil, same sound and meaning.
(All over Munster.)
Devil's needle; the dragon-fly. Translation of the
Irish name snatJiad-a'-diabhuil [suahad-a-dheel].
Deshort [to rhyme with port] • a sudden interrup-
tion, a surprise : ' I was taken at a deshort.' (Derry.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 247
Devil, The, and his ' territory,' 56.
Dickonce ; one of the disguised names of the devil
used in white cursing : ' Why then the dickonce
take you for one gander.' (Gerald Griffin.)
Diddy ; a woman's pap or breast : a baby sucks its
mother's diddy. Diminutive of Irish did, same.
Dido ; a girl who makes herself ridiculous with fan-
tastic finery. (Moran : Carlow.)
Didoes (singular dido) ; tricks, antics : ' quit your
didoes. (Ulster.)
Dildron or dildern ; a bowraun, which see.
Dillesk, dulsk, dulse or dilse ; a sort of sea plant
growing on rocks, formerly much used (when
dried) as an article of food (as kitchen], and still
eaten in single leaves as a sort of relish. Still sold
by basket- women in Dublin. Irish duilesc.
Dip. When the family dinner consisted of dry
potatoes, i.e. potatoes without milk or any other
drink, dip was often used, that is to say, gravy or
broth, or water flavoured in any way in plates, into
which the potato was dipped at each bit. I once
saw a man using dip of plain water with mustard
in it, and eating his dinner with great relish. You
will sometimes read of 'potatoes and point,'
namely, that each person, before taking a bite,
pointed the potato at a salt herring or a bit of
bacon hanging in front of the chimney : but this is
mere fun, and never occurred in real life.
Disciple ; a miserable looking creature of a man.
Shane Glas was a long lean scraggy wretched
looking fellow (but really strong and active), and
another says to him — -jibing and railing — ' Away
with ye, ye miserable discij)le. Arrah, .by the hole
248 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
of my coat, after you dance your last jig upon
nothing, with your hemp cravat on, I'll coax yer
miserable carcase from the hangman to frighten
the crows with.' (Edw. Walsh in ' Pen. Journ.')
Disremember ; to forget. Good old English; now
out of fashion in England, but common in Ireland.
Ditch. In Ireland a ditch is a raised fence or
earthen wall or mound, and a dyke (or slieuch as
they call it in Donegal and elsewhere in Ulster) is
a deep cutting, commonly filled with water. In
England both words mean exactly the reverse.
Hence ' hurlers on the ditch,' or ' the best hurlers
are on the ditch ' (where speakers of pure English
would use ' fence ') said in derision of persons who
are mere idle spectators sitting up on high watch-
ing the game — whatever it may be — and boasting
how they would do the devil an' all if they were
only playing. Applied in a broad sense to those
who criticise persons engaged in any strenuous
affair — critics who think they could do better.
Dollop; to adulterate : ' that coffee is dolloped.'
Donny; weak, in poor health. Irish donaidhe, same
sound and meaning. Hence donnaun, a poor
weakly creature, same root with the diminutive.
From still the same root is donsy, sick-looking.
Donagh-dearnagh, the Sunday before Lammas (1st
August). (Ulster.) Irish Domnach, Sunday; and
deireannach, last, i.e. last Sunday of the period
before 1st August.
Doodoge [the two d's sounded like th in t /tits'] ; a big
pinch of snuff. [Limk.] Irish dftdoi/.
Dooraght [rf sounded as in the last word] ; tender
care and kindness shown to a person. Irish
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 249
duthracht, same sound and meaning. In parts of
Ulster it means a small portion given over and
above what is purchased (Simmons and Knowles) ;
called elsewhere a tilly, which see. This word, in
its sense of kindness, is very old ; for in the Brehon
Law we read of land set aside by a father for his
daughter through dooraght.
Doorshay-daurshay [d in both sounded as th in
t/tjts], mere hearsay or gossip. The first part is
Irish, representing the sound of dubhairt-se, ' said
he.' The second part is a mere doubling of the
first, as we find in many English words, such as
' fiddle-faddle,' ' tittle-tattle ' (which resembles our
word). Often used by Munster lawyers in court,
whether Irish-speaking or not, in depreciation
of hearsay evidence in contradistinction to the
evidence of looking-on. • Ah, that's all mere
doorshay-daurshay.' Common all over Munster.
The information about the use of the term in law
courts I got from Mr. Maurice Healy. A different
form is sometimes heard : — D'innis bean dom gur
innis bean di, ' a woman told me that a woman
told her.'
Dornoge [d sounded as in doodoge above] ; a small
round lamp of a stone, fit to be cast from the hand.
Irish dom, the shut hand, with the dim. 6<j.
Double up ; to render a person helpless either in fight
or in argument. The old tinker in the fair got a
blow of an amazon's fist which ' sent him sprawl-
ing and doubled him up for the rest of the evening.'
(Robert Dwyer Joyce : ' Madeline's Vow.')
Down in the heels ; broken down in fortune (one
mark of which is the state of the heels of shoes).
250 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Down blow ; a heavy or almost ruinous blow of any
kind : — ' The loss of that cow was a down blow to
poor widow Cleary.'
Downface; to persist boldly in an assertion (whether
true or no) : He downfaced me that he returned
the money I lent him, though he never did.
Down-the-banks ; a scolding, a reprimand, punish-
ment of any kind.
Dozed : a piece of timber is dozed when there is a
dry rot in the heart of it. (Myself for Limk. :
Kane for North.)
Drad ; a grin or contortion of the mouth. (Joyce.)
Drag home. (Simmons ; Armagh : same as Hauling
home, which see.)
Drass ; a short time, a turn : — ' You walk a drass
now and let me ride': 'I always smoke a drass
before I go to bed of a night.' (' Collegians,'
Limerick.) Irish dreas, same sound and meaning.
Drench : a form of the English drink, but used in a
peculiar sense in Ireland. A drench is a philtre, a
love-potion, a love-compelling drink over which
certain charms were repeated during its prepara-
tion. Made by boiling certain herbs (orchis) in
water or milk, and the person drinks it unsuspect-
ingly. In my boyhood time a beautiful young
girl belonging to a most respectable family ran
off with an ill-favoured obscure beggarly diseased
wretch. The occurrence was looked on with
great astonishment and horror by the people — no
wonder ; and the universal belief was that the
fellow's old mother had given the poor girl a
drench. To this hour I cannot make any guess at
the cause of that astounding elopement : and it is
CH. XIII.] VOCABULABY AND INDEX. 251
not surprising that the people were driven to the
supernatural for an explanation.
Dresser ; a set of shelves and drawers in a frame in
a kitchen for holding plates, knives, &o.
Drisheen is now used in Cork as an English word,
to denote a sort of pudding made of the narrow
intestines of a sheep, filled with blood that has
been cleared of the red colouring matter, and
mixed with meal and some other ingredients. So
far as I know, this viand and its name are peculiar
to Cork, where drisheen is considered suitable for
persons of weak or delicate digestion. (I should
observe that a recent reviewer of one of my books
states that drisheen is also made in Waterford.)
Irish dreas or driss, applied to anything slender,
as a bramble, one of the smaller intestines, &c. —
with the diminutive.
Drizzen, a sort of moaning sound uttered by a cow.
(Derry).
Drogh ; the worst and smallest bonnive in a litter.
(Armagh.) Irish droch, bad, evil. (See Eervar.)
Droleen ; a wren : merely the Irish word dredilin.
Drop ; a strain of any kind ' running in the blood.'
A man inclined to evil ways ' has a bad drop ' in
him (or ' a black drop ') : a miser ' has a hard
drop.' The expression carries an idea of heredity.
Drugget ; a cloth woven with a mixture of woollen
and flaxen thread : so called from Drogheda where
it was once extensively manufactured. Now much
used as cheap carpeting.
Druids and Druidism, 178.
Drumaun ; a wide back-band for a ploughing horse,
252 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IKELAND. [CH. XIII.
with hooks to keep the traces in place. (Joyce :
Limerick.) From Irish druim, the back.
Drummagh ; the back strap used in yoking two
horses. (Joyce : Limerick.) Irish druim, the back,
with the termination -ach, equivalent to English
-ous and -y.
Dry potatoes ; potatoes eaten without milk or any
other drink.
Dry lodging ; the use of a bed merely, without food.
Drynaun-dun or drynan-dun [two d's sounded like
th in tliat] ; the blackthorn, the sloe-bush. Irish
droigheandn [drynan or drynaun], and donn, brown-
coloured.
Ducks ; trousers of snow-white canvas, much used
as summer wear by gentle and simple fifty or
sixty years ago.
Dudeen [both d's sounded like th in those] ; a
smoking-pipe with a very short stem. Irish diiidin,
diid, a pipe, with the diminutive.
Duggins ; rags : ' that poor fellow is all in duggins.'
(Armagh.)
Dull ; a loop or eye on a string. (Monaghan.)
Dullaghan [d sounded as th in those] ; a large trout.
(Kane : Monaghan.) An Irish word.
Dullaghan ; ' a hideous kind of hobgoblin generally
met with in churchyards, who can take off and
put on his head at will. (From ' Irish Names of
Places,' I. 193, which see for more about this
spectre. See Croker's 'Fairy Legends.')
Dullamoo [d sounded like th in those~\ ; a wastrel,
a scapegrace, a ne'er-do-weel. Irish did, going ;
anutdha [amoo], astray, to loss: — dullamoo, 'a
person going to the bad,' 'going to the dogs."
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 258
Dundeen ; a lump of bread without butter. (Derry.)
Dunislieeu ; a small weakly child. (Moran : Carlow.)
Irish donaisin, an unfortunate being ; from donas,
with diminutive. See Donny.
Dunner ; to knock loudly at a door. (Ulster.)
Dunt (sometimes ditnclt), to strike or butt like a cow
or goat with the head. A certain lame old man
(of Armagh) was nicknamed ' Dunt the pad (path ').
(Ulster.)
Durneen, one of the two handles of a scythe that
project from the main handle. Irish doirnin, same
sound and meaning : diminutive from dorn, the
fist, the shut hand.
Durnoge ; a strong rough leather glove, used on the
left hand by faggot cutters. (MacCall : Wexford.)
Dornoge, given above, is the same word but
differently applied.
Duty owed by tenants to landlords, 181.
Earnest ; ' in earnest ' is often used in the sense of
'really and truly': — 'You're a man in earnest,
Cus, to strike the first blow on a day [of battle]
like this.' (R. D. Joyce.)
Eervar ; the last pig in a litter. This bonnive being
usually very small and hard to keep alive is often
given to one of the children for a pet ; and it is
reared in great comfort in a warm bed by the
kitchen fire, and fed on milk. I once, when a
child, had an eervar of my own which was the joy
of my life. Irish iarnthar [eervar], meaning
' something after all the rest ' ; the hindmost.
(Munster.) See Drogh for Ulster.
Elder ; a cow's udder. All over Ireland.
254 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Elegant. This word is used among us, not in its
proper sense, but to designate anything good or
excellent of its kind : — An elegant penknife, an
elegant gun : ' That's an elegant pig of yours,
Jack?' Our milkman once offered me a present
for my garden — ' An elegant load of dung.'
I haven't the janius for work,
For 'twas never the gift of the firadys ;
But I'd make a most elegant Turk,
For I'm fond of tohacco and ladies.
(LEVER.)
' How is she [the sick girl] coming on ? '
' Elegant,' was the reply. (' Knocknagow.')
Elementary schools, 159.
Exaggeration and redundancy, 120.
Existence, way of predicating, 23.
Eye of a bridge ; the arch.
Faireen (south), fairin (north) ; a present either
given in a fair or brought from it. Used in
another sense — a lasting injury of any kind : —
' Poor Joe got a faireen that day, when the stone
struck him on the eye, which I'm afraid the eye
will never recover.' Used all over Ireland and in
Scotland.
Ah Tarn, ah Tain, thou'lt get thy fairin',
In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin'.
(BURNS.)
Fair-guvthra ; ' hungry grass.' There is a legend
all through Ireland that small patches of grass
grow here and there on mountains ; and if a person
in walking along happens to tread on one of them
he is instantly overpowered with hunger so as to
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 255
be quite unable to walk, and if help or food is not at
hand he will sink down and perish. That persons
are attacked and rendered helpless by sudden
hunger on mountains in this manner is certain.
Mr. Kinahan gives me an instance where he had to
carry his companion, a boy, on his back a good
distance to the nearest house : and Maxwell in
1 Wild Sports of the West ' gives others. But
he offers the natural explanation : that a person is
liable to sink suddenly with hunger if he under-
takes a hard mountain walk with a long interval
after food. Irish feur, grass ; gorta, hunger.
Fairy breeze. Sometimes on a summer evening you
suddenly feel a very warm breeze : that is a band
of fairies travelling from one fort to another ; and
people on such occasions usually utter a short
prayer, not knowing whether the ' good people'
are bent on doing good or evil. (G. H. Kinahan.)
Like the Shee-geeha, which see.
Fairy-thimble, the same as ' Lusmore,' which see.
Famished ; distressed for want of something : — ' I
am famished for a smoke — for a glass,' &c.
Farbreaga ; a scarecrow. Irish fear, a man : breug
falsehood : a false or pretended man.
Farl ; one quarter of a griddle cake. (Ulster.)
Faiimera [the r has the slender sound]; a big
strolling beggarman or idle fellow. From the Irish
Fomor. The Fomors or Fomora or Fomorians
were one of the mythical colonies that came to
Ireland (see any of my Histories of Ireland,
Index) : some accounts represent them as giants.
In Clare the country people that go to the seaside
in summer for the benefit of the ' salt water ' are
256 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
called Faumeras. In Tramore they are called
olishes [o long] ; because in the morning before
breakfast they go down to the strand and take a
good swig of the salt water — an essential part of
the cure — and when one meets another he (or she)
asks in Irish ' ar dlish,' 'did you drink?' In
Kilkee the dogfish is called Faumera, for the dog-
fish is among the smaller fishes like what legend
represents the Fomorians in Ireland.
Faustus, Dr., in Irish dialect, 60.
Fear is often used among us in the sense of danger.
Once during a high wind the ship's captain neatly
distinguished it when a frightened lady asked
him : — ' Is there any fear, sir ? ' ' There's plenty
of fear, madam, but no danger.'
Feck or fack ; a spade. From the very old Irish
word, fee, same sound and meaning.
Fellestrum, the flagger (marsh plant). Irish feles-
trom. (South.)
Fetch ; what the English call a double, a preter-
natural apparition of a living person, seen usually
by some relative or friend. If seen in the morning
the person whose fetch it is will have a long and
prosperous life : if in the evening the person will
soon die.
Finane or Finaun ; the white half-withered long
grass found in marshy or wet land. Irish ftnn or
fionn, white, with the diminutive.
Finely and poorly are used to designate the two
opposite states of an invalid. ' Well, Mrs. Lahy,
how is she ? ' [Nora the poor sick little girl].
' Finely, your reverence,' Honor replied (going on
well). The old sinner Rody, having accidentally
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 257
shot himself, is asked how he is going on ; —
' Wisha, poorly, poorly ' (badly). (G. Griffin.)
Finger — to put a finger in one's eye ; to overreach
and cheat him by cunning : — ' He'd be a clever
fellow that would put a finger in Tom's eye.'
First shot, in distilling pottheen ; the weak stuff that
comes off at the first distillation : also called
singlings.
Flahoolagh, plentiful ; ' You have a flahoolagh hand,
Mrs. Lyons ' : ' Ah, we got a flahoolagh dinner
and no mistake.' Irish flaitk [Hah], a chief, and
amJuiil [ooal], like, with the adjectival termination
ach : flalwolayh, ' chieftain-like.' For the old
Irish chiefs kept open houses, with full and plenty
— launa-vaula — for all who came. (South.)
Flipper ; an untidy man. (Limerick.)
Flitters ; tatters, rags :— ' His clothes were all in
flitters?
Flog ; to beat, to exceed : — ' That flogs Europe '
(' Collegians '), i.e. it beats Europe : there's nothing
in Europe like it.
Fluke, something very small or nothing at all.
' What did you get from him ? ' ' Oh I got flukes
(or ' flukes in a hand-basket ') — meaning nothing.
Sometimes it seems to mean a small coin, like
cross and heenoge. ' When I set out on that journey
I hadn't a fluke.' (North and South.)
Fockle; a big torch made by lighting a sheaf of
straw fixed on a long pole : fockles were usually
lighted on St. John's Eve. (Limerick.) It is
merely the German word fackel, a torch, brought
to Limerick by the Palatine colony. (See p. 65.)
Fog-meal ; a great meal or big feed : a harvest dinner.
258 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Fooster; hurry, flurry, fluster, great fuss. Irish
ftistar, same sound and meaning. (Hayden and
Hartog.)
' Then Tommy jumped about elate,
Tremendous was hiafoosler — 0 ;
Says he, " I'll send a message straight
To my darling Mr. Brewster — 0 !".'
(Repeal Song of 1843.)
Forbye ; besides. (Ulster.)
For good ; finally, for ever : ' he left home for
good.'
Foment, fornenst, forenenst ; opposite : he and I
sat fornenst each other in the carriage.
4 Yet here you strut in open day
Fornenst my house so freely — 0.'
(Repeal Song of 1843.)
An old English word, now obsolete in England, but
very common in Ireland.
Foshla ; a marshy weedy rushy place ; commonly
applied to the ground left after a cut-away bog.
(Eoscommon.)
Four bones ; ' Your own four bones,' 127.
Fox ; (verb) to pretend, to feign, to sham : ' he's
not sick at all, he's only foxing.' Also to cut
short the ears of a dog.
Frainey ; a small puny child ; — ' Here, eat this bit,
you little frainey.'
Fraughans ; whortleberries. Irish fraoch, with the
diminutive. See Hurt.
Freet; a sort of superstition or superstitious rite.
(Ulster.)
Fresh and Fresh : — ' I wish you to send me the butter
every morning : I like to have it fresh and fresh,
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 259
This is English gone out of fashion : I remember
seeing it in Pope's preface to ' The Dunciad.'
Frog's jelly ; the transparent jelly-like substance
found in pools and ditches formed by frogs round
their young tadpoles, 121,
Fum ; soft spongy turf. (Ulster.) Called soosaitn
in Munster.
Gaatch [act long as in car'], an affected gesture or
movement of limbs body or face : gaatches ; assum-
ing fantastic ridiculous attitudes. (South.)
Gad ; a withe : ' as tough as a gad.' (Irish gad, 60.)
Gadderman ; a boy who puts on the airs of a man ;
a mannikin or manneen, which see. (Simmons :
Armagh.)
Gaffer ; an old English word, but with a peculiar
application in Ireland, where it means a boy, a
young chap. ' Come here, gaffer, and help me.'
Gag ; a conceited foppish young fellow, who tries to
figure as a swell.
Gah'ela or gaherla ; a little girl. (Kane : Ulster.)
Same as girsha.
Gaileen ; a little biindle of rushes placed under the
arms of a beginner learning to swim. (Joyce :
Limerick.) When you support the beginner's
head keeping it above water with your hands
while he is learning the strokes : that we used to
designate ' giving a gaileen.'
Galbally, Co. Limerick, 156.
Galoot : a clownish fellow.
Galore ; plenty, plentiful. Irish adverb go leor, 4.
Gankinna ; a fairy, a leprachauu. (Morris : South
Mon.) Irish gann, small.
260 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Grannoge ; an undefined small quantity. (Antrim.)
Irish gann, small, with diminutive 6y.
Garden, in the South, is always applied to a field of
growing potatoes. ' In the land courts we never
asked " How many acres of potatoes ?"; but "How
many acres of garden ? " ' (Healy.) A usual inquiry
is ' How are your gardens going on ? ' meaning
' How are your potato crops doing ? '
Garlacom ; a lingering disease in cows believed to
be caused by eating a sort of herb. (P. Moran :
Meath.)
Garland Sunday ; the first Sunday in August (some-
times called Garlick Sunday.)
Garron, garraun ; an old worn-out horse. (Irish
gear ran.)
Gash ; a flourish of the pen in writing so as to
form an ornamental curve, usually at the end.
(Limerick.)
Gatha ; an effeminate fellow who concerns himself
in women's business : a Sheela. (Joyce : Lime-
rick.)
Gatherie ; a splinter of bog-deal used as a torch.
(Moran : Carlow.) Also a small cake (commonly
smeared with treacle) sold in the street on market
days. Irish geataire [gatthera], same meanings.
Gaug ; a sore crack in the heel of a person who goes
barefooted. (Moran : Carlow. ) Irish gag [gaug],
a cleft, a crack.
Gaulsh ; to loll. (MacCall : Wexford.)
Gaunt or gant ; to yawn. (Ulster.)
Gaurlagh ; a little child, a baby : an unfledged bird.
Irish gdrlach, same sound and meanings.
Gawk ; a tall awkward fellow. (South.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 261
Gawm, gawmoge ; a soft foolish fellow. (South.)
Irish gam, same meaning. See Gommul.
Gazebo ; a tall building ; any tall object ; a tall
awkward person.
Gazen, gazened ; applied to a wooden vessel of any
kind when the joints open by heat or drought so
that it leaks. (Ulster.)
Gallagh-gunley ; the harvest moon. (Ulster.) Gallagh
gives the sound of Irish gealach, the moon, meaning
whitish, from geal, white.
Geek ; to mock, to jeer, to laugh at. (Derry.)
Geenagh, geenthagh ; hungry, greedy, covetous.
(Derry.) Irish gionach or giontach, gluttonous.
Geens ; wild cherries. (Derry.)
Gentle; applied to a place or thing having some
connexion with the fairies — haunted by fairies.
A thornbush where fairies meet is a ' gentle bush ' :
the hazel and the foxglove (fairy-thimble) are
gentle plants.
Geocagh ; a big strolling idle fellow. (Munster.)
Irish (jeocacht same sound and meaning.
Geosadaun or Yosedaun [d in both sounded like th
in they] ; the yellow rag-weed : called also boliaun
[2-sylL] and booghalaun.
Get ; a bastard child. (North and South.)
Gibbadaun ; a frivolous person. (Eoscommon.)
From the Irish giob, a scrap, with the diminutive
ending dan : a scrappy trifling-minded person.
Gibbol \f) hard as in get] ; a rag : your jacket is all
hanging down in gibbols.' (Limerick.) Irish
global, same sound and meaning.
Giddhom ; restlessness. In Limerick it is applied
to cows when they gallop through the fields with
262 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRK.LAND. [CH. XIII.
tails cocked out, driven half mad by beat and flies :
' The cows are galloping with giddhom.' Irish
giodam, same sound and meaning.
Gill-gowan, a corn-daisy. (Tyrone.) From Irish
geal, white, and gowan, the Scotch name for a daisy.
Girroge [two </'s sounded as in get, got]. Girroges
are the short little drills where the plough runs
into a corner. (Kildare and Limerick.) Irish
gearr, short, with the diminutive 6g : girroge, any
short little thing.
Girsha ; a little girl. (North and South.) Irish
geirrseach [girsagh], from gearr, short or small,
with the feminine termination seach.
Gistra \_g sounded as in get], a sturdy, active old
man. (Ulster.) Irish giostaire, same sound and
meaning.
Gladiaathor [cia long as in car] ; a gladiator, a
fighting quarrelsome fellow : used as a verb
also : — ' he went about the fair gladiaatherin,' i.e.
shouting and challenging people to fight him.
Glaum, glam ; to grab or grasp with the whole
hand ; to maul or pull about with the hands.
Irish gldm [glaum], same meaning.
Glebe ; in Ireland this word is almost confined to
the land or farm attached to a Protestant rector's
residence : hence called glebe-land. See p. 143.
Gleeag ; a small handful of straw used in plaiting
straw mats : a sheaf of straw threshed. (Kildare
and Monaghau.)
Gleeks : to give a fellow the gleeks is to press the
forefingers into the butt of the ears so as to cause
pain : a rough sort of play. (Limerick.)
Gleuroe, Co. Limerick, 68, 146.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 263
Gliggeen ; a voluble silly talker. (Munster.) Irish
gluiyin [gliggeenj, a little bell, a little tinkler :
from glog, same as clog, a bell.
Gliggerum ; applied to a.very bad old worn-out watch
or clock. (Limerick.)
Glit ; slimy mud ; the green vegetable (ducksmeat)
that g^-ows on the surface of stagnant water.
(Simmons : Armagh.)
Gloit ; a blockhead of a young fellow. (Knowles.)
Glory be to God ! Generally a pious exclamation of
thankfulness, fear, &c. : but sometimes an ejacu-
lation of astonishment, wonder, admiration, &c.
Heard everywhere in Ireland.
Glower ; to stare or glare at : ' what are you glowerin'
at ! ' (Ulster.)
Glugger [u sounded as in full] ; empty noise ; the
noise made by shaking an addled egg. Also an
addled egg. Applied very often in a secondary
sense to a vain empty foolish boaster. (Munster.)
Glunter: a stupid person. (Knowles: Ulster.)
Goaling : same as Hurling, which see.
Gob ; the mouth including lips : ' Shut your gob.'
Irish yob, same meaning. Scotch, 'greedy gab.1
(Burns.)
Gobshell ; a big spittle direct from the mouth.
(Limerick.) From Irish gob, the mouth, and seile
[sheila], a spittle.
Gobs or jackstones ; five small round stones with
which little girls play against each other, by
throwing them up and catching them as they
fall ; ' there are Nelly and Sally playing gobs.'
Gods and goddesses of Pagan Ireland, 177.
Godspeed : see Back of God-speed.
204 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
God's pocket. Mr. Kinahan writes to me : — ' The
first time 1 went to the Mullingar hotel I had a
delicate child, and spoke to the landlady as to
how he was to be put up [during the father's
absence by day on outdoor duty]. "Oh never
fear sir." replied the good old lady, "the poor
child will be in God's pocket here." ' Mr. K. goes
on to say : — I afterwards found that in all that
part of Leinster they never said 'we will make
you comfortable,' but always ' you will be in God's
pocket,' or ' as snug as in God's pocket.' I heard
it said of a widow and orphans whose people
were kind to them, that they were in ' God's
pocket.' Whether Seumas MacManus ever came
across this term I do not know, but he has some-
thing very like it in ' A Lad of the O'Friels,'
viz., ' I'll make the little girl as happy as if she
was in Saint Peter's pocket.1
Goggalagh, a dotard. (Munster.) Irish goyail, the
cackling of a hen or goose ; also doting ; with the
usual termination ach.
Going on ; making fun, joking, teasing, chaffing,
bantering : — ' Ah, now I see you are only going on
with me.' ' Stop your goings on.' (General.)
Golder \_d sounded like th in further] ; a loud sudden
or angry shout. (Patterson : Ulster.)
Goleen ; an armful. See Gwaul.
Gombeen man ; a usurer who lends money to small
farmers and others of like means, at ruinous
interest. The word is now used all over Ireland.
Irish goimbin [gombeen], usury.
Gommul, gommeril, gommula, all sometimes
shortened to yom ; a simple-minded fellow, a half
OH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 265
fool. Irish gamal, gamaille, gamairle, gamarail,
all same meaning. (Gamed is also Irish for a
camel.) Used all over Ireland.
Good deed ; said of some transaction that is a well-
deserved punishment for some wrong or unjust or
very foolish course of action. Bill lends some
money to Joe, who never returns it, and a friend
says: — ' 'Tis a good deed Bill, why did you trust
such a schemer ? ' Barney is bringing home a
heavy load, and is lamenting that he did not bring
his ass : — ' 'Tis a good deed : where was I coming
without Bobby?' (the ass). (' Knocknagow ')
' I'm wet to the skin' : reply : — ' 'Tis a good deed:
why did you go out without your overcoat ? '
Good boy : in Limerick and other parts of Munster,
a young fellow who is good — strong and active —
at all athletic exercises, but most especially if he
is brave and tough in fighting, is ' a good boy.'
The people are looking anxiously at a sailing boat
labouring dangerously in a storm on the Shannon,
and one of them remarks : — ' 'Tis a good boy that
has the rudder in his hand.' (Gerald Griffin.)
Good people ; The fairies. The word is used merely
as soft sawder, to butter them up, to curry favour
with them — to show them great respect at least
from the teeth out — lest they might do some injury
to the speaker.
Googeen [two //'s as in good and get] ; a simple soft-
minded person. (Moran : Carlow.) Irish guay,
same meaning, with the diminutive : yuaigin.
Gopen, gowpen ; the full of the two hands used
together. (Ulster.) Exactly the same meaning
as Li/re in Munster, which see.
266 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK It IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
Gor ; the coarse turf or peat which forms the sur-
face of the bog. (Healy : for Ulster.)
Gorb ; a ravenous eater, a glutton. (Ulster.)
Gorsoon : a young boy. It is hard to avoid deriving
this from French garqon, all the more as it has no
root in Irish. Another form often used is gossoon,
which is derived from Irish : — gas, a stem or stalk,
a young boy. But the termination 0071 or un is
suspicious in both cases, for it is not a genuine
Irish suffix at all.
Gossip ; a sponsor in baptism.
Goster ; gossipy talk. Irish yastaire, a prater, a
chatterer.) ' Dermot go 'long with your goster.'
(Moore — in his youth.)
Gouloge ; a stick with a little fork of two prongs at
the end, for turning up hay, or holding down furze
while cutting. (South.) Used in the North often
in the form of gollog. Irish yabhal [gowl], a fork,
with the dim. 6g.
Gounau ; housewife [huzzif] thread, strong thread
for sewing, pack thread. Irish gablishwith
(Fr. Dinneen), same sound and meaning : from
snath, a thread : but how comes in gabh ? In one
of the Munster towns I knew a man who kept a
draper's shop, and who was always called Gounau,
in accordance with the very reprehensible habit
of our people to give nicknames.
Goureen-roe : a snipe, a jacksnipe. (Munster.)
Irish yabhairin-reo, the ' little goat of the frost '
(reo, frost) : because on calm frosty evenings you
hear its quivering sound as it flies in the twilight,
very like the sound emitted by a goat.
Gra, grab ; love, fondness, liking. Irish yrddh
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 267
[graw]. ' I have great gra for poor Tom,' I
asked an Irishman who had returned from America
and settled down again here and did well : — ' Why
did you come back from America?' 'Ah,' he
replied, ' I have great gra for the old country.'
Graanbroo ; wheat boiled in new milk and sweetened :
a great treat to children, and generally made from
their own gleanings or liscauns, gathered in the
fields. Sometimes called brootheen. (Munster.)
The first from Irish gran, grain, and brtigh, to
break or bruise, to reduce to pulp, or cook, by
boiling. Brootheen (also applied to mashed
potatoes) is from briiyh, with the diminutive.
Graanoge, graan-yoge [_aa in both long like a in c«rj,
a hedgehog. Irish yrdinedg, same sound.
Graanshaghaun [aa long as in car] ; wheat (in grain)
boiled. (Joyce : Limerick.) In my early days
what we called graanshayhaun was wheat in grains,
not boiled, but roasted in an iron pot held over
the fire, the wheat being kept stirred till done.
Graffaun ; a small axe with edge across like an
adze for grubbing or yraffiny land, i.e. rooting out
furze and heath in preparation for tillage. Used
all through the South. ' This was the word
used in Co. Cork law courts.' (Healy.) Irish
grafdn, same sound and meaning.
Graip or grape ; a dung-fork with three or four prongs.
Irish yrdpa.
Grammar and Pronunciation, 74.
Grammel ; to grope or fumble or gather with both
hands. (Derry.)
Graves, Mr. A. P., 58, &c.
Grawls ; children. Paddy Corbett, thinking he ia
268 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
ruined, says of bis wife : — ' God comfort poor
Jillian and the grawls I left her.' (Edward
Walsh.) ' There's Judy and myself and the poor
little grawls.' (Crofton Croker: p. 155.)
Grawvar ; loving, affectionate : — ' That's a grawver
poor boy.' (Munster.) Irish grddhnthar, same
sound and meaning : from gradh, love.
Grazier ; a young rabbit. (South and West.)
Great ; intimate, closely acquainted : — ' Tom Long
and Jack Fogarty are very great.' (All over
Ireland.) ' Come gie's your hand and sae we're
greet.' (Burns.)
Greedy-gut ; a glutton ; a person who is selfish
about stuffing himself, wishing to give nothing to
anyone else. Gorrane Mac Sweeny, when his
mistress is in want of provisions, lamenting that
the eagles (over Glengarriff) were devouring the
game that the lady wanted so badly, says : — ' Is
it not the greatest pity in life .... that these
greedy-guts should be after swallowing the game,
and my sweet mistress and her little ones all the
time starving.' (Caesar Otway in ' Pen. Journ.')
Greenagh ; a person that hangs round hoping to get
food (Donegal and North -West) : a ' Watch-pot.'
Greesagh ; red hot embers and ashes. ' We roasted
our potatoes and eggs in the greesagh.' (All
over Ireland.) Irish griosach, same sound.
Greet ; to cry. ' Tommy was greetin1 after his
mother.' (Ulster.)
Greth ; harness of a horse : a general name for all
the articles required when yoking a horse to the
cart. (Knowles : Ulster.)
Griffin, Gerald, author of ' The Collegians,' 5, &c.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 269
Grig (greg in Sligo) : a boy with sugarstick holds it
out to another and says, ' grig, grig,' to triumph
over him. Irish yriof/, same sound and meaning.
Grinder ; a bright-coloured silk kerchief worn round
the neck. (Edward Walsh : all over Munster.)
Gripe ; a trench, generally beside a high ditch or
fence. ' I got down into the gripe, thinking to
[hide myself].' (Crofton Croker.)
Grisldn or greeskeen ; a small bit of meat cut off to
be roasted— usually on the coals. Irish griscin.
Grisset ; a shallow iron vessel for melting things
in, such as grease for dipping rushes, resin for
dipping torches (sluts or paudloyes, which see),
melting lead for various purposes, white metals
for coining, &c. If a man is growing rapidly
rich : — ' You'd think he had the grisset down.'
Groak or groke ; to look on silently — like a dog —
at people while they are eating, hoping to be asked
to eat a bit. (Derry.)
Grogue ; three or four sods of turf standing on end,
supporting each other like a little pyramid on the
bog to dry. (Limerick,) Irish gruay, same meaning.
Groodles ; the broken bits mixed with liquid left at
the bottom of a bowl of soup, bread and milk, &c.
Group or grup ; a little drain or channel in a cow-
house to lead off the liquid manure. (Ulster.)
Grue or grew ; to turn from with disgust :-—' He
grued at the physic.' (Ulster).
Grug ; sitting on one's grug means sitting on the
heels without touching the ground. (Munster.)
Same as Scotch hunkers. ' Sit down on your grug
and thank God for a seat.'
Grumagh or groomagh ; gloomy, ill-humoured : —
270 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIIT.
' I met Bill this morning looking very grumagh.'
(General.) From Irish gruaim [grooiin], gloom,
ill-humour, with the usual suffix -ach, equivalent
to English -y as in gloomy.
Grumpy ; surly, cross, disagreeable. (General.)
Gubbadhaun ; a bird that follows the cuckoo. (Joyce.)
Gubbaun ; a strap tied round the mouth of a calf or
foal, with a row of projecting nail points, to
prevent it sucking the mother. From Irish gob,
the mouth, with the diminutive. (South.)
Gubbalagh ; a mouthful. (Munster.) Irish goblach,
same sound and meaning. From gob, the mouth,
with the termination lack.
Gullion ; a sink-pool. (Ulster.)
Gulpin ; a clownish uncouth fellow. (Ulster.)
Gulravage, gulravish ; noisy boisterous play. (North-
east Ulster.)
Gunk; a ' take in,' a ' sell'; as a verb, to ' take in,'
to cheat. (Ulster.)
Gushers ; stockings with the soles cut off. (Morris :
Monaghan.) From the Irish. Same as triheens.
Gurry ; a bonnive, a young pig. (Morris : Mon.)
Gutter ; wet mud on a road (gutters in Ulster).
Gwaul [f sounded as in William'] ; the full of the
two arms of anything : ' a gwaul of straw.'
(Munster.) In Carlow and Wexford, they add the
diminutive, and make it goleen. Irish gabhdil.
Hain ; to bain a field is to let it go to meadow,
keeping the cows out of it so as to let the grass
grow : possibly from hayin\ (Waterford : Healy.)
In Ulster hain means to save, to economise.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 271
Half a one ; half a glass of whiskey. One day a poor
blind man walked into one of the Dublin branch
banks, which happened to be next door to a public-
house, and while the clerks were looking on, rather
puzzled as to what he wanted, he slapped two
pennies down on the counter ; and in no very
gentle voice : — ' Half a one ! '
Half joke and whole earnest ; an expression often
heard in Ireland which explains itself. ' Tim told
me — half joke and whole earnest — that he didn't
much like to lend me his horse.'
Hand ; to make a hand of a person is to make fun
of him ; to humbug him : Lowry Looby, thinking
that Mr. Daly is making game of him, says : —
4 "Tis making a hand of me your honour is.'
(Gerald Griffin.) Other applications of hand are
' You made a bad hand of that job,' i.e. you did
it badly. If a man makes a foolish marriage :
1 He made a bad hand of himself, poor fellow.'
Hand-and-foct ; the meaning of this very general
expression is seen in the sentence ' He gave him
a hand-and-foot and tumbled him down.'
Hand's turn ; a very trifling bit of work, an occa-
sion : — ' He won't do a hand's turn about the
house' : ' he scolds me at every hand's turn,' i.e. on
every possible occasion.
Handy ; near, convenient : — ' The shop lies handy to
me' ; an adaptation of the Irish Idimh le (meaning
near). Ldimh le Gorcaiy, lit. at hand with Cork —
near Cork. This again is often expressed con-
venient to Cork, where convenient is intended to
mean simply near. So it comes that we in Ireland
regard convenient and near as exactly synonymous,
272 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
which they are not. In fact on almost every pos-
sible occasion, we — educated and uneducated — use
convenient when near would be the proper word.
An odd example occurs in the words of the old
Irish folk-song : —
' A sailor courted a farmer's daughter,
Who lived convaynient to the Isle of Man.'
Hannel ; a blow with the spear or spike of a pegging-
top (or ' castle-top') down on the wood of another
top. Boys often played a game of tops for a
certain number of hannels. At the end of the
game the victor took his defeated opponent's top,
sunk it firmly down into the grassy sod, and then
with his own top in his hand struck the other top
a number of hannels with the spear of his own to
injure it as much as possible. ' Your castle-tops
came in for the most hannels.' (' Knocknagow.')
Hap ; to wrap a person round with any covering, to
tuck in the bedclothes round a person. (Ulster.)
Hard word (used always with the) ; a hint, an
inkling, a tip, a bit of secret information : —
' They were planning to betray and cheat me, but
Ned gave me the hard word, and I was prepared
for them, so that I defeated their schemes.'
Hare ; to make a hare of a person is to put him
down in argument or discussion, or in a contest of
wit or cunning ; to put him in utter confusion.
' While you were speaking to the little boy that
made a hare of you.' (Carleton in Ir. Pen. Journ.)
' Don't talk of your Provost and Fellows of Trinity,
Famous for ever ut Greek and Latinity,
Faix and the divels and all at Divinity —
Father O'Flynn 'd make hares of them all !'
(A. ?. GUAVES.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULABY AND INDEX. 2?3
Harvest ; always used in Ireland for autumn : —
' One fine day in harvest.' (Ciofton Croker.)
Hauling home ; bringing home the bride, soon after
the wedding, to her husband's house. Called also
a ' dragging-home.' It is always made the
occasion of festivity only next in importance to
the wedding. For a further account, and for a
march played at the Hauling home, see my ' Old
Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 130.
Hausel ; the opening in the iron head of an axe,
adze, or hammer, for the handle. (Ulster.)
Haverel: a rude coarse boor, a rough ignorant
fellow. (Moran : Carlow.)
Havverick ; a rudely built house, or an old ruined
house hastily and roughly restored : — ' How can
people live in that old havverick ? ' (Limerick.)
Hayden, Miss Mary, M.A., 5, &c.
Healy, Mr. Maurice, 178, &c.
Head or harp ; a memorial of the old Irish coinage,
corresponding with English head or tail. The old
Irish penny and halfpenny had the king's head on
one side and the Irish harp on the other. ' Come
now, head or harp,' says the person about to throw
up a halfpenny of any kind.
Heard tell ; an expression used all throughout
Ireland : — ' I heard tell of a man who walked to
Glendalough in a day.' It is old English.
Heart-scald; a great vexation or mortification.
(General.) Merely the translation of scallach-
croidhe [scollagh-cree], scalding of the heart.
Hearty ; tipsy, exhilarated after a little ' drop.'
Hedge schools, 149.
274 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Higgins, The Eev. Father, p. 244, and elsewhere.
Hinch ; the haunch, the thigh. To hinch a stone is
to jerk (or jurk as they say in Munster), to hurl it
from under instead of over the shoulder. (Ulster.)
Hinten ; the last sod of the ridge ploughed. (Ulster.)
Ho ; equal. Always used with a negative, and also
in a bad sense, either seriously or in play. A
child spills a jug of milk, and the mother
says : — ' Oh Jacky, there's no ho to you for
mischief (no equal to you). The old woman says
to the mischievous gander : — ' There's no ho with
you for one gander.' (Gerald Griffin : ' The
Coiner.') This ho is an Irish word : it represents
the sound of the Irish prefix cho or chomh, equal,
as much as, &c. ' There's no ho to Jack Lynch '
means there's no one for whom you can use cho
(equal) in comparing him with Jack Lynch.
Ilobbler ; a small cock of fresh hay about 4 feet
high. (Moran : Carlow.)
Hobby ; a kind of Irish horse, which, three or four
centuries ago, was known all over Europe ' and
held in great esteem for their easy amble : and
from this kind of horse the Irish light-armed
bodies of horse were called hobellers.' (Ware. See
my ' Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland,'
p. 487.) Hence a child's toy, a hobby-horse.
Hence a favourite pursuit is called a ' hobby.'
Iloil ; a mean wretched dwelling : an uncomfortable
situation. (Morris : South Monaghan.)
Hollow ; used as an adverb as follows : — ' Jack
Cantlon's horse beat the others hollow in the
race' : i.e. beat them utterly.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 275
Holy show : ' You're a holy show in that coat,' i.e.
it makes quite a show of you ; makes you look
ridiculous. (General.)
Holy well; a well venerated on account of its associa-
tion with an Irish saint : in most cases retaining
the name of the saint : — ' Tober-Bride,' St. Bride's
or Brigit's well. In these wells the early saints
baptised their converts. They are found all
through Ireland, and people often pray beside
them and make their rounds. (See ' Smaller Social
History of Ancient Ireland.')
Hool or hooley ; the same as a Black swop.
Hot-foot; at once, immediately: — 'Off I went hot-
foot.' 'As soon as James heard the news, he wrote
a letter hot-foot to his father.'
Houghle ; to wobble in walking. (Armagh.)
Hugger-mugger : see Cugger-mugger.
Huggers or hogars, stockings without feet. (Ulster.)
Hulk ; a rough surly fellow. (Munster.) A bad
person. (Simmons : Armagh.) Irish olc, bad.
Hungry-grass : see Fair-gurtha.
Hunker-slide ; to slide on ice sitting on the hunkers
(or as they would say in Munster, sitting on one's
gnuj) instead of standing up straight : hence to act
with duplicity : to shirk work : — ' None of your
hunker- sliding for me.' (Ulster.)
Hurling ; the common game of ball and hurley or
commaun. The chief terms (besides those men-
tioned elsewhere) are : — Puck, the blow of the
hurley on the ball : The goals are the two gaps
at opposite sides of the field through which the
players try to drive the ball. When the ball is
thrown high up between two players with their
276 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
commauns ready drawn to try which will strike it
on its way down : that is hiyh-rothery. When two
adjacent parishes or districts contended (instead
of two small parties at an ordinary match), that
was scoobeen or ' conquering goal ' (Irish scuab, a
broom : scoobeen, sweeping the ball away). I have
seen at least 500 on each side engaged in one of
these scoobeens ; but that was in the time of the
eight millions— before 1847. Sometimes there
were bad blood and dangerous quarrels at scoo-
beens. See Borick, Sippy, Commaun, and Cool.
(For the ancient terms see my ' Smaller Social
History of Ancient Ireland,' p. 518.) For examples
of these great contests, see Very Eev. Dr. Sheehan's
' Glenanaar,' pp. 4, 231.
Hurt : a whortleberry : hurts are frauyhans, which
see. From whort. (Minister.)
Husho or rather huzho ; a lullaby, a nurse-song, a
cradle-song ; especially the chorus, consisting of a
sleepy cronaun or croon — like ' shoheen-sho Loo-lo-
lo,' &c. Irish suantraiyhe [soontreej. ' The moaning
of a distant stream that kept up a continual cronane
like a nurse hushoing.' ' My mother was hushoing
my little sister, striving to quieten her.' (Both
from Crofton Croker.) ' The murmur of the ocean
huzhoed me to sleep.' (Irish Folk Song : —
' M'Kenna's Dream.')
Idioms ; influence of the Irish language on, 4 ; —
derived from Irish, 23.
If ; often used in the sense of although, while, or
some such signification, which will be best under-
stood from the following examples: — A Dublin
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 277
jarvey who got sixpence for a long drive, said in
a rage : — ' I'm in luck to-day ; but if I am, 'tis
blazing bad luck.' ' Bill ran into the house, and
if he did, the other man seized him round the waist
and threw him on his back.'
If that. This is old English, but has quite dis-
appeared from the standard language of the present
day, though still not unfrequently heard in
Ireland : — ' If that you go I'll go with you.'
' If from Sally that I get free,
My dear I love you most tenderlie.'
(Irish Folk Song—' Handsome Sally.')
' And if that you \vish to go further
Sure God He made Peter His own,
The keys of His treasures He gave him,
To govern the old Church of Rome.'
(Old Irish Folk Song.)
Inagh' or in-yah' [both strongly accented on second
syll.] ; a satirical expression of dissent or disbelief,
like the English forsooth, but much stronger. A
fellow boasting says : — ' I could run ten miles in
an hour ' : and another replies, ' You could inah' :
meaning ' Of course I don't believe a word of it.'
A man coming back from the other world says to
a woman : — ' I seen your [dead] husband there
too, ma'am ; ' to which she replies : — ' My husband
inah.' (Gerald Griffin : ' Collegians.') Irish an
eadh, same sound and meaning.
Inch ; a long strip of level grassy land along a river.
Very general. Irish inis [innish], of the same family
as Lat. insula : but inis is older than insula which
is a diminutive and consequently a derived form.
' James, go out and drive the cows down to the inch.'
Insense' ; to make a person understand : — ' I can't
278 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
insense him into his letters." ' I insensed him into
the way the job was to be done.' [Accent on
-sense'.]
In tow with ; in close acquaintance with, courting.
John is in tow with Jane Sullivan.
Ire, sometimes ira ; children who go barefoot some-
times get ire in the feet ; i.e. the skin chapped
and very sore. Also an inflamed spot on the
skin rendered sore by being rubbed with some
coarse seam, &c.
Irish language ; influence of, on our dialect, 1, 23.
Jackeen ; a nickname for a conceited Dublin citizen
of the lower class.
Jack Lattin, 172.
Jap or jop ; to splash with mud. (Ulster.)
Jaw ; impudent talk : jawing ; scolding, abusing : —
' He looked in my face and he gave me some ja\v,
Saying " what brought you over from Erin-go-braw : "
(Irish Folk Song.)
Jingle ; one of Bianconi's long cars.
Johnny Magorey ; a hip or dog-haw ; the fruit of
the dog-rose. (Central and Eastern counties.)
Join ; to begin at anything ; ' the child joined to
cry ' ; ' my leg joined to pain me ' ; ' the man joined
to plough.' (North.)
Jokawn ; an oaten stem cut off above the joint, with
a tongue cut in it, which sounds a rude kind of
music when blown by the mouth. (Limerick.)
Irish geocdn, same sound and meaning.
Jowlter, fish-jowlter ; a person who hawks about
fish through the country, to sell. (South.)
Just : often used as a final expletive — more in
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 279
Ulster than elsewhere : — ' Will you send anyone ? '
' Yes, Tommy just.' ' Where are you going now? '
' To the fair just.'
Keenagh or keenagh-lee : mildew often seen on
cheese, jam, &c. In a damp house everything
gets covered with keenagh-lee. Irish caonach, moss ;
caonach-lee, mildew : lee is Irish liayh [lee], grey.
(North and North-West of Ireland.)
Keeping : a man is on his keeping when he is hiding
away from the police, who are on his track for
some offence. This is from the Irish coimfrul,
keeping ; air mo clwim&ad, ' on my keeping.'
Keeroge ; a beetle or clock. Irish ciar [keer],
dark, black, with the diminutive og : keeroge,
< black little fellow.'
Kelters, money, coins : ' He has the kelthers,'
said of a rich man. Yellow kelters, gold money :
' She has the kelthers ' : means she has a large
fortune. (Moran : Carlow.)
Kemp or camp ; to compete : two or more persons
kemp against each other in any work to determine
which will finish first. (Ulster.) See Carleton's
story, ' The Rival Kempers.'
Keolaun ; a contemptible little creature, boy or man.
(South and West.)
Keowt ; a low contemptible fellow.
Kepper ; a slice of bread with butter, as distinguished
from a dundon, which see.
Kesh ; a rough bridge over a river or morass, made
with poles, wickerwork, &c. — overlaid with bushes
and scraifs (green sods). Understood all through
Ireland. A small one over a drain in a bog is
280 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IBELAND. [CH. XIII.
often called in Tipperary and Waterford a kishoge,
which is merely the diminutive.
Kib ; to put down or plant potatoes, each seed in a
separate hole made with a spade. Irish dob, same
sound and meaning.
Kickham, Charles, author of ' Knocknagow,' 5, &c.
Kiddhoge, a wrap of any kind that a woman throws
hastily over her shoulders. (Ulster.) Irish cuideog,
same sound and sense here.
Kilfinane, Co. Limerick, 147.
Killeen ; a quantity : — ' That girl has a good killeen
of money. (Ulster.) Irish cillin [killeen].
Killeen ; an old churchyard disused except for the
occasional burial of unbaptised infants. Irish cill,
a church, with the diminutive in.
Kimmeen ; a sly deceitful trick ; kimmeens or
kymeens, small crooked ways : — ' Sure you're not
equal to the kimmeens of such complete deceivers
at all at all.' (Sam Lover in Ir. Pen. Mag.) Irish
co?w, crooked ; diminutive cuimin [kimmeen].
Kimmel-a-vauleen ; uproarious fun. Irish cimel-
a'-mhdilin, literally ' rub-the-bag.' There is a fine
Irish jig with this name. (South.)
Kink ; a knot or short twist in a cord.
Kink ; a fit of coughing or laughing : ' they were in
kinks of laughing.' Hence chincough, for whooping-
cough, i.e. kink-congh. I know a holy well that
has the reputation of curing whooping-cough, and
hence called the ' Kink-well.'
Kinleen or keenleen, or kine-leen ; a single straw or
corn stem. (South.) Irish caoinlin, same sound.
Kinleen-roe ; an icicle : the same word as last with
the addition of rco [roe], frost : ' frost-stem.'
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 281
Kinnatt', [1st syll. very short ; accent on 2nd syll. :
to rhyme with cat] ; an impertinent conceited
impudent little puppy.
Kippen or kippeen ; any little bit of stick : often used
as a sort of pet name for a formidable cudgel or
shillelah for fighting. Irish dp [kip], a stake or
stock, with the diminutive.
Kish ; a large square basket made of wattles and
wickerwork used for measuring turf or for holding
turf on a cart. Sometimes (South) called a Mshaun.
Irish cis or cisedn, same sounds and meanings :
also called kishagh.
Kishtha ; a treasure : very common in Connaught,
where it is often understood to be hidden treasure
in a fort under the care of a leprachaun. Irish
ciste, same sound and meaning.
Kitchen ; any condiment or relish eaten with the
plain food of a meal, such as butter, dripping, &c.
A very common saying in Tyrone against any tire-
some repetition is: — 'Butter to butter is no kitchen.'
As a verb ; to use sparingly, to economise : — ' Now
kitchen that bit of bacon for you have no more.'
Kitthoge or kitthagh; a left-handed person. Under-
stood through all Ireland. Irish ciotdg, ciotach,
same sounds and meaning.
Kitterdy; a simpleton, a fool. (Ulster.)
Knauvshauling[the/(; sounded distinctly] ; grumbling,
scolding, muttering complaints. (Limerick.) From
Irish cnamh [knauv : k sounded], a bone, the jaw-
bone. The underlying idea is the same as when
we speak of a person giving jaw. See Jaw.
' Knocknagow ' : see Kickham.
Kybosh ; some sort of difficulty or ' fix ' : — ' He put the
kybosh on him : he defeated him.' (Moran : Carlow.)
282 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Kyraun, keeraun ; a small bit broken off from a
sod of turf. Irish caor, or with the diminutive,
caordn, same sound and meaning.
Laaban ; a rotten sterile egg (Morris : for South
Monaghan) : same as Glugger, which see. Irish lab
or Idib, mire, dirt, with diminutive.
Lad ; a mischievous tricky fellow : — ' There's no
standing them lads.' (Gerald Griffin.)
Lagheryman or Logheryman. (Ulster.) Same as
Leprachaun, which see.
Lambaisting ; a sound beating. Quite common in
Munster.
Langel ; to tie the fore and the hind leg of a cow
or goat with a spancel or fetter to prevent it going
over fences. (Ulster.) Irish langal, same sound and
meaning.
Lapcock ; an armful or roll of grass laid down on
the sward to dryfor hay. (Ulster.)
Lark-heeled ; applied to a person having long sharp
heels. See Saulavotcheer.
Larrup ; to wallop, to^ beat soundly. (Donegal and
South.)
Lashings, plenty: lashings and leavings, plenty and to
spare : specially applied to food at meals. (General.)
Lassog, a blaze of light. (Morris : South Monaghan.)
From Irish las, light, with the diminutive.
Lauchy ; applied to a person in the sense of plea-
sant, good-natured, lovable. Irish Idchaiidhe,
same sound and sense. (Banim : general in the
South.) ' He's a lauchy boy.'
Laudy-daw ; a pretentious fellow that sets up to be
a great swell. (Moran : Carlow ; and South.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 283
Launa-vaula ; full and plenty : — There was launa-
vaula at the dinner. Irish Idn-a-mhdla (same
sound), 'full bags.'
Lazy man's load. A lazy man takes too many
things in one load to save the trouble of going
twice, and thereby often lets them fall and breaks
them.
Learn is used for teach all over Ireland, but
more in Ulster than elsewhere. Don't forget to
' larn the little girl her catechiz.' (Seumas
Mac Manus.) An old English usage : but dead
and gone in England now.
Leather ; to beat : — ' I gave him a good leathering,'
i.e., a beating, a thrashing. This is not derived,
as might be supposed, from the English word
leather (tanned skin), but from Irish, in which it
is of very old standing : — Letrad (modern leadradh),
cutting, hacking, lacerating : also a champion
fighter, a warrior, a leatlierer. (Corm. Gloss. — 9th
cent. ) Used all through Ireland.
Leather- wing ; a bat. (South.)
Lee, the Very Eev. Patrick, V. F., of Kilfinane, 148.
Lebbidha ; an awkward, blundering, half-fool of a
fellow. (South.) Irish leibide, same sound and
meaning.
Leg bail ; a person gives (or takes) leg bail when he
runs away, absconds. (General.)
Lend ; loan. Ned came ' for the lend of the ould
mare.' (' Knocknagow.') Often used in the follow-
ing way : — ' Come and lend a hand,' i.e., give
some help. ' Our shooting party comes off to-
morrow : will you lend your gun ' : an invitation
to join the party. (Kinahan.)
284 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Leprachaun ; a sort of fairy, called by several names
in different parts of Ireland : — luricaun, cluricaun,
lurragadaun, loghryman, luprachaun. This last
is the nearest to the Gaelic original, all the pre-
ceding anglicised forms being derived from it.
Luprachaun itself is derived by a metathesis from
Irish luchorpdn, from lit, little, and corpdn, the dim.
of corp, a body : — ' weeny little body.' The reader
will understand all about this merry little chap
from the following short note and song written by
me and extracted from my ' Ancient Irish Music '
(in which the air also will be found). The lepra-
chaun is a very tricky little fellow, usually dressed
in a green coat, red cap, and knee-breeches, and
silver shoe-buckles, whom you may sometimes see
in the shades of evening, or by moonlight, under
a bush ; and he is generally making or mending a
shoe : moreover, like almost all fairies, he would
give the world for pottheen. If you catch him and
hold him, he will, after a little threatening, show
you where treasure is hid, or give you a purse in
which you will always find money. But if you
once take your eyes off him, he is gone in an
instant ; and he is very ingenious in devising tricks
to induce you to look round. It is very hard to
catch a leprachaun, and still harder to hold him.
I never heard of any man who succeeded in
getting treasure from him, except one, a lucky
young fellow named MacCarthy, who, according
to the peasantry, built the castle of Carrigadrohid
near Macroom in Cork with the money. Every
Irishman understands well the terms cruiskeen and
mountain dew, some indeed a little too well ; but
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 285
for the benefit of the rest of the world, I think it
better to state that a cruiskeen is a small jar, and
that mountain dew is pottheen or illicit whiskey.
In a shady nook one moonlight night,
A lepracliaun I spied ;
With scarlet cap and coat of green ;
A cruiskeen by his side.
'Twas tick tack tick, his hammer went,
Upon a weeny shoe ;
And I laughed to think of a purse of gold ;
But the fairy was laughing too.
With tip-toe step and beating heart,
Quite softly I drew nigh :
There was mischief in his merry face ; —
A twinkle in his eye.
He hammered and sang with tiny voice,
And drank his mountain dew :
And I laughed to think he was caught at last : —
But the fairy was laughing too.
As quick as thought I seized the elf ;
' Your fairy purse ! ' I cried ;
'The purse !' he said — ' 'tis in her hand —
' That lady at your side ! '
I turned to look : the elf was off !
Then what was I to do ?
0, I laughed to think what a fool I'd been ;
And the fairy was laughing too.
Let out ; a spree, an entertainment. (General.)
' Mrs. Williams gave a great let out.'
Libber ; this has much the same meaning as flipper,
which see : an untidy person careless about his
dress and appearance — an easy-going ould sthreel
of a man. I have heard an old fellow say,
regarding those that went before him — father,
286 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
grandfather, &c. — that they were ' ould aancient
libbers,' which is the Irish peasant's way of
expressing Gray's 'rude forefathers of the hamlet.'
Lief ; willing : ' I had as lief be working as not.'
' I had liefer ' : I had rather. (General.) This is
an old English word, now fallen out of use in
England, but common here.
Lifter ; a beast that is so weak from starvation
(chiefly in March when grass is withered up) that
it can hardly stand and has to be lifted home from
the hill-pasture to the stable. (Kinahan : Con-
nemara.)
Light ; a little touched in the head, a little crazed : —
' Begor sir if you say I know nothing about sticks
your head must be getting light in earnest.'
(Robert Dwyer Joyce.)
Likely ; well-looking : ' a likely girl ' ; ' a clane likely
boy.'
Likes ; ' the likes of you' : persons or a person like
you or in your condition. Very common in Ire-
land. ' I'll not have any dealings with the likes
of him.' Colonel Lake, Inspector General of
Constabulary in last century, one afternoon met
one of his recruits on the North Circular Eoad,
Dublin, showing signs of liquor, and stopped him.
' Well, my good fellow, what is your name please ? '
The recruit replied : — ' Who are you, and what
right have you to ask my name ? ' 'I am Colonel
Lake, your inspector general.' The recruit eyed him
closely : — ' Oh begor your honour, if that's the
case it's not right for the likes of me to be talking
to the likes of you ' : on which he turned round
and took leg bail on the spot like a deer, leaving
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 287
the inspector general standing on the pathway.
The Colonel often afterwards told that story with
great relish.
Linuaun-shee or more correct Lannaun-sliee ; a
familiar spirit or fairy that attaches itself to a
mortal and follows him. From Irish leanndn, a
lover, andswM [shee], a fairy: lannaun-shee, 'fairy-
lover.'
Linnie ; a long shed — a sort of barn — attached to a
a farm house for holding farm-yard goods and
articles of various kinds — carts, spades, turnips,
corn, &c. (Munster.) Irish lann-iotha, lit. 'corn-
house.'
Lint ; in Ulster, a name for flax.
Linthern or lenthern ; a small drain or sewer
covered with flags for the passage of water, often
under a road from side to side. (Munster.) Irish
lintredn, linntreach [lintran, lintragh].
Liscauns ; gleanings of corn from the field after
reaping : ' There's Mary gathering liscauns'
(South.) Irish.
Loanen ; a lane, a bohereen. (Ulster.)
Lob ; a quantity, especially of money or of any
valuable commodity : — ' 'Tis reported that Jack
got a great lob of money with his wife.' A person
is trying to make himself out very useful or of
much consequence, and another says satirically —
generally in play : — ' Oh what a lob you are ! '
Lock ; a quantity or batch of anything — generally
small : — a lock of straw ; a lock of sheep. (General.)
Logey ; heavy or fat as applied to a person. (Moran :
Carlow.) Also the fireplace in a flax-kiln.
Lone; unmarried: — 'A lone man'; 'alone woman.'
288 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Long family ; a common expression for a large
family.
Lood, loodli, lude ; ashamed : ' he was lude of
himself when he was found out.' (South.)
Loody ; a loose heavy frieze coat. (Munster.)
Loof ; the open hand, the palm of the hand.
(Ulster.) Irish Idmh [lauv], the hand.
Loo-oge or lu-oge ; the eel-fry a couple of inches
long that come up the southern Blackwater
periodically in myriads, and are caught and sold
as food. (Waterford : Healy.) Irish luadhog, same
sound and meaning.
Loose leg ; when a person is free from any engage-
ment or impediment that bound him down — ' he
has a loose leg ' — free to act as he likes. ' I have
retired from the service with a pension, so that
now I have a loose leg.' The same is often said
of a prisoner discharged from jail.
Lord ; applied as a nickname to a hunchback. The
hunchback Danny Mann in ' The Collegians ' is
often called ' Danny the lord.'
Losset ; a kneading tray for making cakes.
Lossagh ; a sudden blaze from a turf fire. Irish
las [loss], a blaze, with the usual termination
ach.
Lossoge ; a handful or little bundle of sticks for
firing. (Mayo.) Irish las [loss], fire, a blaze, with
the diminutive termination.
Low-backed car ; a sort of car common in the
southern half of Ireland down to the middle of the
last century, used to bring the country people and
their farm produce to markets. Resting on the
shafts was a long flat platform placed lengthwise
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 289
and sloping slightly downwards towards the back,
on which were passengers and goods. Called
trottle-car in Derry.
Loy ; a spade. Used in the middle of Ireland all
across from shore to shore. Irish Idiyhe, same
sound and meaning.
Luck-penny ; a coin given by the seller to the
buyer after a bargain has been concluded : given
to make sure that the buyer will have luck with
the animal or article he buys.
Ludeen or loodeen [d sounded like th in then'] ;
the little finger. Irish liiidin, same sound and
meaning. From hi, little, with the diminutive
termination.
Lu-oge : see Loo-oge.
Luscan ; a spot on the hillside from which the
furze and heath have been burned off. (Wicklow
and round about.) From Irish lose to burn : luscan,
' burned little spot.'
Lusmore ; fairy-thimble, fairy-finger, foxglove, Digi-
talis purpurea ; an herb of mighty power in fairy
lore. Irish lus, herb ; mor, great ; ' mighty herb.'
Lybe ; a lazy fellow. (MacCall : Wex.) See Libber.
Lyre ; the full of the two hands used together : a
beggar usually got a lyre of potatoes. (Munster :
same as (/open in Ulster.) Irish ladhar, same
sound and meaning.
MacManus, Seumas, 5, &c.
Mad; angry. There are certain Irish words, such
as buileamhail, which might denote either mad or
very angry : hence in English you very often
hear : — ' Oh the master is very mad with you,'
290 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
i.e. angry. ' Excessively angry ' is often expressed
this way in dialect language : — ' The master is
blazing mad about that accident to the mare.'
But even this expression is classical Irish ; for we
read in the Irish Bible that Moses went away
from Pharaoh, air lasadh le feirg, ' blazing with
anger.' ' Like mad ' is often used to denote very
quickly or energetically : Crofton Croker speaks
of people who were ' dancing like mad.' This
expression is constantly heard in Munster.
Maddha-brishtha ; an improvised tongs, such as
would be used with a fire in the fields, made from
a strong twig bent sharp. (Derry.) Irish maide
[maddha], a stick ; briste, broken :^' broken stick.'
Maddhiaghs or rnuddiaghs ; same as last, meaning
simply ' sticks ' : the two ends giving the idea of
plurality. (Armagh.)
Maddhoge or middhoge ; a dagger. (North and
South.) Irish meadog or inioddg.
Made ; fortunate : — ' I'm a made man ' (or ' a med
man '), meaning ' my fortune is made.' (Crofton
Croker — but used very generally.)
Mag; a swoon: — 'Light of grace,' she exclaimed,
dropping in a mag on the floor. (Edward Walsh :
used all over Munster.)
Maisled ; speckled ; a lazy young fellow's shins get
maisled from sitting before the fire. (Knowles :
Ulster.)
Make ; used in the South in the following way : —
' This will make a fine day ' : ' That cloth will make
a fine coat ' : ' If that fellow was shaved he'd make
a handsome young man ' (Irish folk-song) : ' That
Joe of yours is a clever fellow : no doubt he'll
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 291
make a splendid doctor.' The noun makings is
applied similarly : — ' That young fellow is the
makings of a great scholar.1
Man above. In Irish God is often designated an
Fear suas or an t-E suas (' the Man above,' ' the
Person above ') : thus in Hardiman's ' Irish Min-
strelsy ' (1. 228) : — Comarc an t-E td shuas ort : ' the*
protection of the Person who is above be on thee.' :
an Fear suas occurs in the Ossianic Poems.
Hence they use this term all through the South :
— ' As cunning as he is he can't hide his knavery
from the Man above.'
Man in the gap, 182.
Mankeeper ; used North and South as the English
name of the little lizard called in Irish ' Art-loo-
chra,' which see.
Mannam ; my soul : Irish m'anam, same sound and
meaning: — 'Mannam on ye,' used as an affec-
tionate exclamation to a child. (Scott : Derry.)
Many ; ' too many ' is often used in the following
way, when two persons were in rivalry of any
kind, whether of wit, of learning, or of strength : —
' James was too many for Dick,' meaning he was
an overmatch for him.
Maol, Mail, Maileen, Moileen, Moilie (these two last
forms common in Ulster ; the others elsewhere) ;
a hornless cow. Irish Maol [mwail], same meaning.
Quite a familiar word all through Ireland.
One night Jacky was sent out, much against his
will, for an armful of turf, as the fire was getting
low ; and in a moment afterwards, the startled
family heard frantic yells. Just as they jumped up
Jacky rushed in still yelling with his whole throat.
292 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XTII.
' What's the matter — what's wrong ! '
•' Oh I saw the divel 1 '
' No you didn't, you fool, 'twas something else
you saw.'
' No it wasn't, 'twas the divel I saw — didn't I
know him well ! '
' How did you know him — did you see his
horns ? '
'I didn't: he had no horns — he was a mwail
divel — sure that's how I knew him ! '
They ran out of course ; but the mwail divel
was gone, leaving behind him, standing up against
the turf -rick, the black little Maol Kerry cow.
Margamore ; the ' Great Market ' held in Derry
immediately before Christmas or Easter. (Derry.)
Iri$hmaryadh [marga], a market, mdr [more], great.
Martheen ; a stocking with the foot cut off. (Derry.)
Irish mairtin, same sound and meaning. Martheens
are what they call in Munster triJwens, which see.
Mass, celebration of, 144.
Mau-galore ; nearly drunk : Irish rnaith [mau], good :
go leor, plenty : ' purty well I thank you,' as the
people often say : meaning almost the same as
Burns's ' I was na fou but just had plenty.'
(Common in Munster.)
Mauleen ; a little bag : usually applied in the South to
the little sack slung over the shoulder of a potato-
planter, filled with the potato-sets (or skillauns),
from which the setter takes them one by one to
plant them. In Ulster and Scotland, the word is
mailin, which is sometimes applied to a purse : —
' A mailin plenished (filled) fairly.' (Burns.)
Maum ; the full of the two hands used together
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 298
(Kerry) ; the same as Lyre and Gopan, which see.
Irish Main, same sound and meaning.
Mavourneen ; my love. (Used all through Ireland.)
Irish Mo-mJvfdrnin, same sound and meaning. See
Avourneen.
May-day customs, 170.
Mearacaun [mairacaun] ; a thimble. Merely the Irish
mearacdn, same sound and meaning : from mear,
a finger, with the diminutive termination can.
Applied in the South to the fairy- thimble or fox-
glove, with usually a qualifying word : — Meara-
caun-shee (shee, a fairy — fairy thimble) or Meara
caun-na-man-shee (where na-man-shee is the Irish
na-mban-sidhe, of the banshees or fairy- women).
' Lusmore,' another name, which see.
Hearing ; a well-marked boundary — but not neces-
sarily a raised ditch — a fence between two farms, or
two fields, or two bogs. Old English.
Mease : a measure for small fish, especially herrings :
— ' The fisherman brought in ten mease of her-
rings.' Used all round the Irish coast. It is the
Irish word mias [meece], a dish.
Mee-aw ; a general name for the potato blight.
Irish mi-adh [mee-aw], ill luck: from Irish mi,
bad, and ddh, luck. But mee-aw is also used to
designate ' misfortune' in general.
Meela-murder ; ' a thousand murders ' : a general
exclamation of surprise, alarm, or regret. The
first part is Irish — mile [meela], a thousand ; the
second is of course English.
Meelcar' [car long like the English word car] ; also
called meelcartan ; a red itchy sore on the sole of
the foot just at the edge. It is believed by the
294 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
people to be caused by a red little flesh -worm, and
hence the name miol [meel], a worm, and cearr
[car], an old Irish word for red : — Meel-car,
' red- worm.' (North and South.)
Meeraw ; ill luck. (Munster.) From Irish mi, ill,
and rath [raw], luck : — ' There was some meeraw
o n the family.
Melder of corn ; the quantity sent to the mill and
ground at one time. (Ulster.)
Memory of History and of Old Customs, 148.
Merrow ; a mermaid. Irish mnrrmjluiyh [rnurrooa],
from muir, the sea. She dives and travels under
sea by means of a hood and cape called cohuleen-
dru : cochall, a hood and cape (with diminutive
termination) ; druddh, druidical : ' magical cape.'
Midjilinn or middhilin ; the thong of a flail. (Morris :
South Monaghan.)
Mihul or mehul [i and e short] ; a number of men
engaged in any farm-work, especially corn-reaping
still used in the South and West. It is the very
old Irish word meithel, same sound and meaning.
Mills. The old English game of ' nine men's morris '
or ' nine men's merrils ' or mills was practised in
my native place when I was a boy. We played
it on a diagram of three squares one within
another, connected by certain straight lines, each
player having nine counters. It is mentioned
by Shakespeare (' Midsummer-Night's Dream '). I
learned to be a good player, and could play it
still if I could meet an antagonist. How it
reached Limerick I do not know. A few years
ago I saw two persons playing mills in a hotel
in Llandudno ; and my heart went out to them.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 295
Mind ; often used in this way : — ' Will you write
that letter to-day ? ' ' No : I won't mind it to-day :
I'll write it to-morrow.'
Minnikin ; a very small pin.
Minister ; always applied in Ireland to a Protestant
clergyman.
Miscaun, mescaun, mescan, miscan ; a roll or lump
of butter. Irish mioscdn [miscaun]. Used all
over Ireland.
Mitch ; to play truant from school.
Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, 155.
Moanthaun ; boggy land. Moantheen ; a little bog.
(Munster.) Both dims, of Irish moin, a bog.
Molly ; a man who busies himself about women's
affairs or does work that properly belongs to
women. (Leinster.) Same as sheela in the South.
Moneen ; a little moan or bog ; a green spot in a bog
where games are played. Also a sort of jig dance-
tune : so called because often danced on a green
moneen. (Munster.)
Month's Mind; Mass and a general memorial
service for the repose of the soul of a person,
celebrated a month after death. The term was in
common use in England until the change of
religion at the Reformation ; and now it is not
known even to English Roman Catholics.
(Woollett.) It is in constant use in Ireland, and
I think among Irish Catholics everywhere. But
the practice is kept up by Catholics all over the
world. Mind, ' Memory.'
Mootch : to move about slowly and meaninglessly :
without intelligence. A mootch is a slow stupid
person. (South.)
296 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Moretimes ; often used as corresponding to sometimes :
' Sometimes she employs herself at sewing, and
moretimes at knitting.'
Mor-yah ; a derisive expression of dissent to drive
home the untruthfulness of some assertion or
supposition or pretence, something like the
English 'forsooth,' but infinitely stronger: — A
notorious schemer and cheat puts on airs of piety
in the chapel and thumps his breast in great
style ; and a spectator says : — Oh how pious and
holy Joe is growing — inar-yali ! ' Mick is a great
patriot, mor-yah ! — he'd sell his country for half a
crown.' Irish mar-sheadh [same sound], 'as it
were.'
Mossa ; a sort of assertive particle used at the
opening of a sentence, like the English well,
indeed : carrying little or no meaning. ' Do you
like your new house ?' — ' Mossa I don't like it
much.' Another form of u-isha, and both
anglicised from the Irish md'seatlh, used in Irish in
much the same sense.
Mountain dew ; a fanciful and sort of pet name for
pottheen whiskey : usually made in the mountains.
Mounthagh, niounthaun ; a toothless person.
(Munster.) From the Irish mant [mounth] , the
gum, with the terminations. Both words are
equivalent to gummy, a person whose mouth is
all gums.
Moutre. In very old times a mill-owner commonly
received as payment for grinding corn one-tenth
of the corn ground — in accordance with the
Brehon Law. This custom continued to recent
times — and probably continues still — in Ulster,
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 297
where the quantity given to the miller is called
moutre, or muter, or mooter.
Mulharten ; a flesh-worm : a form of ineelcartan.
See Meelcar.
Mullaberta ; arbitration. (Munster.) Merely the
Irish moladk-beirte, same sound and meaning :
in which moladh [mulla] is 'appraisement'; and
beirtM, gen. of heart, ' two persons ' : — lit. ' appraise-
ment of two.' The word mullaberta has however
in recent times drifted to mean a loose unbusiness-
like settlement. (Healy.)
Mummers, 171.
Murray, Mr. Patrick, schoolmaster of Kilfmane, 153,
154, and under ' Boasters,' below.
Murrogh O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, 165.
Musicianer for musician is much in use all over
Ireland. Of English origin, and used by several
old English writers, among others by Collier.
Nab ; a knowing old-fashioned little fellow. (Derry.)
Naboc'lesh ; never mind. (North and South.) Irish
nd-bac-leis (same sound), ' do not stop to mind it,'
or ' pass it over.'
Nail, paying on the nail, 183.
Naygur ; a form of niggard : a wretched miser : —
' I certainly thought my poor heart it would bleed
To be trudging behind that old naygur.'
(Old Munster song ; ' The Spalpeen's Complaint' :
from ' Old Irish Folk Music and Songs.')
' In all my ranging and serenading,
I met no naygur but humpy Hyde.'
(See ' Castlehvde ' in my ' Old Irish Musk- and Songs.')
298 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Nicely : often used in Ireland as shown here : —
' Well, how is your [sick] mother to-day ?' ' Oh
she's nicely,' or ' doing nicely, thank you' ; i.e.
getting on very well — satisfactorily. A still
stronger word is bravely. ' She's doing bravely
this morning'; i.e. extremely well — better than
was expected.
Nim or nym ; a small bit of anything. (Ulster.)
Noggin ; a small vessel, now understood to hold two
glasses ; also called naggin. Irish noigin.
Nose ; to pay through the nose ; to pay and be made
to pay, against your grain, the full sum without
delay or mitigation.
Oanshagh ; a female fool, corresponding with oma-
daun, a male fool. Irish oinseach, same sound
and meaning : from on, a fool, and seach, he
feminine termination.
Offer ; an attempt : — ' I made an offer to leap the
fence but failed.
Old English, influence of, on our dialect, 6.
Oliver's summons, 184.
On or upon ; in addition to its functions as explained
at pp. 27, 28, it is used to express obligation :—
' Now I put it upon you to give Bill that message for
me' : one person meeting another on Christmas Day
says : — ' My Christmas box on you,' i.e. ' I put it
as an obligation on you to give me a Christmas
box.'
Once ; often used in this manner : — ' Once he promises
he'll do it ' (Hayden and Hartog) : ' Once you pay
the money you are free,' i.e. if or when you pay.
O'Neills and their war-cry, 179.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 299
Oshin [sounded nearly the same as the English word
ocean] ; a weakly creature who cannot do his fair
share of work. (Innishowen, Donegal.)
Out ; used, in speaking of time, in the sense of down
or subsequently : — ' His wife led him a mighty uneasy
life from the day they married out.' (Gerald Griffin :
Munster.) 'You'll pay rent for your house for the
first seven years, and you will have it free from
that out.'
Out ; to call a person out of his name is to call him
by a wrong name.
Out ; ' be off out of that ' means simply go away.
Out ; ' I am out with him ' means I am not on terms
with him — I have fallen out with him.
Overright ; opposite, in front of: the same meaning
as forenenst ; but forenenst is English, while over-
right is a wrong translation from an Irish word —
6s-c6mhair. Os means over, and comhair opposite :
but this last word was taken by speakers to be coir
(for both are sounded alike), and as coir means
rii/ht or just, so they translated os-comhair as if it
were os-cdir, ' over-right.' (Eussell : Munster.)
Paddhereen ; a prayer : dim. of Latin Pater (Pater
Xoster). Paddereen Paurtagh, the Rosary: from
Irish pdirteach, sharing or partaking : because
usually several join in it.
Paideoge [paudh-yoge] ; a torch made of a wick dipped
in melted rosin (Munster) : what they call a slut in
Ulster.
Paghil or pahil ; a lump or bundle, 108. (Ulster.)
Palatines, 65.
Palleen ; a rag : a torn coat is ' all in yw//w/.x.' (Dewy.)
800 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XIII.
Palm ; ' the yew-tree, 184.
Pampooty ; a shoe made of untanned hide. (West.)
Pandy ; potatoes mashed up with milk and butter.
(Munster.)
Pannikin ; now applied to a small tin drinking -
vessel : an old English word that has fallen out of
use in England, but is still current in Ireland:
applied down to last century to a small earthen-
ware pot used for boiling food. These little vessels
were made at Youghal and Ardmore (Co. Water-
ford). The earthenware pannikins have disappeared,
their place being supplied by tinware. (Kinahan.)
Parisheen ; a foundling ; one brought up in childhood
by the parish. (Kildare.)
Parson ; was formerly applied to a Catholic parish
priest : but in Ireland it now always means a
Protestant minister.
Parthan ; a crab-fish. (Donegal.) Merely the Irish
partan, same sound and meaning.
Parts ; districts, territories : — ' Prince and plinny-
pinnytinshary of these parts ' (King O'Toole and
St. Kevin) : ' Welcome to these parts.' (Crofton
Croker.)
Past ; ' I wouldn't put it pant him,' i.e. I think him
bad or foolish enough (to do it).
Past ; more than : ' Our landlord's face we rarely see
past once in seven years ' — Irish Folk Song.
Pattern (i.e. patron} ; a gathering at a holy well or
other relic of a saint on his or her festival day, to
pray and perform rounds and other devotional acts
in honour of the patron saint. (General.)
Pattha ; a pet, applied to a young person who is
brought up over tenderly and indulged too much: —
CH. xiii.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 301
' What a pattha you are ! ' This is an extension
of meaning ; for the Irish peata [pattha] means
merely a pet, nothing more.
Pelt ; the skin : — ' He is in his pelt,' i.e. naked.
Penal Laws, 1J.4, and elsewhere through the book.
Personable ; comely, well-looking, handsome : —
' Diarmid Bawn the piper, as personable a looking
man as any in the five parishes.' (Crofton Croker :
Munster.)
Pickey ; a round flat little stone used by children in
playing transe or Scotch-hop. (Limerick.)
Piggin ; a wooden drinking-vessel. It is now called
pigin in Irish ; but it is of English origin.
Pike ; a pitchfork ; commonly applied to one with
two prongs. (Munster.)
Pike or croppy-pike ; the favourite weapon of the
rebels of 1798 : it was fixed on a very long handle,
and had combined in one head a long sharp spear,
a small axe, and a hook for catching the enemy's
horse-reins.
Pillibeen or piliibeen-meeg ; a plover. (Munster.)
' I'm king of Munster when I'm in the bog, and
the pillibeem whistling about me.' (' Knockna-
gow.') Irish pilibin-miog, same sound and meaning.
Pindy flour ; flour that has begun to ferment slightly
on account of being kept in a warm moist place.
Cakes made from it were uneatable as they were
soft and clammy and slightly sour. (Limerick.)
Pinkeen ; a little fish, a stickleback : plentiful in
small streams. Irish pincin, same sound and
meaning. See Scaghler.
Piper's invitation ; ' He came on the piper's invita-
tion,' i.e. uninvited. (Cork.) A translation of
802 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Irish cidreadh-piobaire [curra-peebara]. Pipers
sometimes visited the houses of well-to-do people
and played — to the great delight of the boys and
girls — and they were sure to be well treated. But
that custom is long since dead and gone.
Pishminnaan' [the aa long as a in ear] ; common
wild peas. (Munster.) They are much smaller —
both plant and peas — than the cultivated pea,
whence the above anglicised name, which has
the same sound as the Irish pise-mionndin, ' kid's
peas.'
Pishmool ; a pismire, an ant. (Ulster.)
Pishoge, pisheroge, pishthroge ; a charm, a spell,
witchcraft : — ' It is reported that someone took
Mrs. O'Brien's butter from her by pishoyes.'
Place ; very generally used for house, home, home-
stead : — ' If ever you come to Tipperary I shall be
very glad to see you at my place. ' This is a usage
of the Irish language ; for the word baile [bally],
which is now used for home, means also, and in an
old sense, a place, a spot, without any reference to
home.
Plaikeen ; an old shawl, an old cloak, any old cover-
ing or wrap worn round the shoulders. (South.)
Plantation ; a colony from England or Scotland
settled down or planted in former times in a
district in Ireland from which the rightful old
Irish owners were expelled, 7, 169, 170.
Plaurnause [to rhyme with sauce'] • soft talk,
plausible speech, flattery — conveying the idea of
insincerity. (South.) Irish pldmds, same sound
and meaning.
Plauzy ; full of soft, flattering, plausible talk. Hence
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 803
the noun pldusoge [plauss-oge], a person who is
plauzy. (South.)
Plerauca ; great fun and noisy revelry. Irish
pleardca, same sound and meaning.
Pluddogh ; dirty water. (MacCall : Wexford.) From
Irish plod [pludh], a pool of dirty water, with the
termination ach.
Pluvaun ; a kind of soft weed that grows excessively
on tilled moory lands and chokes the crop.
(Moran : Carlow.)
Poll-talk ; backbiting : from the poll of the head :
the idea being the same as in foc^biting.
Polthogue ; a blow ; a blow with the fist. Irish
paUtdff, same sound and meaning.
Pooka ; a sort of fairy : a mischievous and often
malignant goblin that generally appears in the
form of a horse, but sometimes as a bull, a buck-
goat, &c. The great ambition of the pooka horse
is to get some unfortunate wight on his back ; and
then he gallops furiously through bogs, marshes,
and woods, over rocks, glens, and precipices ; till
at last when the poor wretch on his back is nearly
dead with terror and fatigue, the pooka pitches
him into some quagmire or pool or briar-brake,
leaving him to extricate himself as best he can.
But the goblin does not do worse : he does not kill
people. Irish pilca. Shakespeare has immortalised
him as Puck, the goblin of 'A Midsummer-Night's
Dream.'
Pookapyle, also called Pookaun ; a sort of large
fungus, the toadstool. Called also causha pooka.
All these names imply thatthe Pooka has some-
thing to do with this poisonous fungus. See
Causha-pooka (pooka's cheese).
804 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Pookeen ; a play — blindman's buff : from Irish ptiic,
a veil or covering, from the covering put over the
eyes. Pookeen is also applied in Cork to a cloth
muzzle tied on calves or lambs to prevent sucking
the mother. The face-covering for blindman's
buff is called pookoge, in which the dim. 6<j is used
instead of in or een. The old-fashioned coal-
scuttle bonnets of long ago that nearly covered the
face were often called pooheen bonnets. It was of a
bonnet of this kind that the young man in Lover's
song of ' Molly Carew ' speaks : —
Oh, lave off that bonnet or else I'll lave on it
The loss of my wandering sowl : —
because it hid Molly's face from him.
Poor mouth ; making the poor mouth is trying to
persuade people you are very poor — making out or
pretending that you are poor.
Poor scholars, 151, 157.
Poreens ; very small potatoes — mere crachauns (which
see) — any small things, such as marbles, &c.
(South : porrans in Ulster.)
Porter-meal : oatmeal mixed with porter. Seventy
or eighty years ago, the carters who carried bags of
oatmeal from Limerick to Cork (a two-day journey)
usually rested for the night at Mick Lynch's
public-house in Glenosheen, They often took
lunch or dinner of porter-meal in this way : —
Opening the end of one of the bags, the man
made a hollow in the oatmeal into which he poured
a quart of porter, stirring it up with a spoon : then
he ate an immense bellyful of the mixture. But
those fellows could digest like an ostrich.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 805
In Ulster, oatmeal mixed in this manner with
buttermilk, hot broth, &c., and eaten with a
spoon, is called croudy
Potthalowng ; an awkward unfortunate mishap, not
very serious, but coming just at the wrong time.
When I was a boy ' Jack Mullowney's^oM/m/cwn//'
had passed into a proverb. Jack one time went
courting, that is, to spend a pleasant evening with
the young lady at the house of his prospective
father-in-law, and to make up the match with the
old couple. He wore his best of course., body-coat,
white waistcoat, Caroline hat (tall silk), and ducks
(ducks, snow-white canvas trousers.) All sat down
to a grand dinner given in his honour, the young
couple side by side. Jack's plate was heaped up
with beautiful bacon and turkey, and white cabbage
swimming in fat, that would make you lick your
lips to look at it. Poor Jack was a bit sheepish ;
for there was a good deal of banter, as there
always is on such occasions. He drew over his
plate to the very edge of the table ; and in trying
to manage a turkey bone with knife and fork, he
turned the plate right over into his lap, down on
the ducks.
The marriage came off all the same ; but the
story went round the country like wildfire ; and
for many a long day Jack had to stand the jokes
of his friends on the potthalowny. Used in Minister.
The Irish is patalony, same sound and meaning ;
but I do not find it in the dictionaries.
Pottheen ; illicit whiskey : always distilled in some
remote lonely place, as far away as possible from
the nose of a gauger. It is the Irish word poitin
x
306 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
[potfcheen], little pot. We have partly the same
term still ; for everyone knows the celebrity of pot-
still whiskey : but this is Parliament whiskey, not
pottheen, see p. 174.
Power ; a large quantity, a great deal : Jack Hickey
has a power of money : there was a power of cattle
in the fair yesterday : there's a power of ivy on that
old castle. Miss Grey, a small huckster who kept a
little vegetable shop, was one day showing off her
rings and bracelets to our servant. ' Oh Miss Grey,'
says the girl, 'haven't you a terrible lot of them.'
' Well Ellen, you see I want them all, for I go into
a power of society.1 This is an old English usage
as is shown by this extract from Spenser's ' View ' :
— ' Hee also [Robert Bruce] sent over his said
brother Edward, with a power of Scottes and Bed-
Shankes into Ireland.' There is a corresponding
Irish expression (neart am/id, apo wer of money),
but I think this is translated from English rather
than the reverse. The same idiom exists in Latin
with the word vis (power) : but examples will not
be quoted, as they would take up a power of
space.
Powter [t sounded like tli in pitli\ ; to root the ground
like a pig ; to root up potatoes from the ground
with the hands. (Derry.)
Prashagh, more commonly called prashagh-wee ; wild
cabbage with yellow blossoms, the rape plant.
Irish praiseach-bhuidlie [prashagh-wee], yellow
cabbage. Praiseach is borrowed from Latin brassica.
Prashameen ; a little group all clustered together : —
' The children sat in a prashameen on the floor.'
I have heard this word a hundred times in Limerick
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 807
among English speakers : its Irish form should be
praisimin, but I do not find it in the dictionaries.
Prashkeen ; an apron. Common all over Ireland.
Irish praiscin, same sound and meaning.
Prawkeen ; raw oatmeal and milk (Mac Call : South
Leinster.) See Porter-meal.
Prepositions, incorrect use of, 26, 82, 44.
Presently ; at present, now : — ' I'm living in the
country presently.' A Shakespearian survival : —
Prospero : — ' Go bring the rabble.' Ariel : — ' Pre-
sently ? ' [i.e. shall I do so now ?] Prospero : — ' Ay,
with a wink.' Extinct in England, but preserved
and quite common in Ireland.
Priested ; ordained : ' He was priested last year.'
Priest's share ; the soul. A mother will say to a
refractory child: — 'I'll knock the priest's share
out of you.' (Moran : Carlow.)
Professions hereditary, 172.
Pronunciation, 2, 91 to 104.
Protestant herring : Originally applied to a bad or a
stale herring: but in my boy hood days it was applied,
in our neighbourhood, to almost anything of an
inferior quality : — ' Oh that butter is a Protestant
herring.' Here is how it originated : — Mary Hewer
of our village had been for time put of mind the
only hacks ter who sold salt herrings, sendiiig to
Cork for a barrel from time to time, and making
good profit. At last Poll Alltimes sent for a barrel
and set up an opposition shop, taking away a large
part of Mary's custom. Mary was a Catholic and
Poll a Protestant : and then our herrings became
sharply distinguished as Catholic herrings and
Protestant herrings : each party eating herrings
x '2
308 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
of their own creed. But after some time a horrible
story began to go round — whispered at first under
people's breath — that Poll found the head of a black
with long hair packed among the herrings half way
down in her barrel. Whether the people believed
it or not, the bare idea was enough ; and Protestant
herrings suddenly lost character, so that poor Poll's
sale fell off at once, while Mary soon regained all
her old customers. She well deserved it, if anyone
ever deserved a reward for a master-stroke of
genius. But I think this is all ' forgotten lore '
in the neighbourhood now.
Proverbs, 105.
Puck ; to play the puck with anything : a softened
equivalent olplayiny the devil. Puck here means
the Pooka, which see.
Puck ; a blow : — ' He gave him a puck of a stick
on the head.' More commonly applied to a punch
or blow of the horns of a cow or goat. ' The cow
gave him a puck (or pucked him) with her horns and
knocked him down.' The blow given by a hurler
to the ball with his caman or hurley is always called
a puck. Irish poc, same sound and meaning.
Puckaun ; a he-goat. (South.) Irish poc, a he-goat,
with the diminutive.
Puke ; a poor puny unhealthy-looking person.
Pulling a cord (or the cord) ; said of a young man
and a young woman who are courting : — ' Miss
Anne and himself that's pulling the cord.'
(' Knockuagow.')
Pulloge ; a quantity of hidden apples : usually hidden
by a boy who steals them. (Limerick.) Diminu-
tive of the Irish poll, a hole.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 809
Pusbeen ; the universal word for a kitten in Munster :
a diminutive of the English word puss ; exactly
equivalent to pussy.
Puss [H- sounded as in full] ; the mouth and lips,
always used in dialect in an offensive or con-
temptuous sense : — ' What an ugly ^mss that fellow
has.' ' He had a puss on him,' i.e. he looked
sour or displeased — with lips contracted. I heard
one boy say to another : — ' I'll give you a skelp
(blow) on the puss.' (General.) Irish pus, the
mouth* same sound.
Pusthaghaun ; a puffed up conceited fellow. The
corresponding word applied to a girl is pusthoge
(MacCall : Wexford) : the diminutive termination
aim or chaun being masculine and dg feminine.
Both are from pus the mouth, on account of the
consequential way a conceited person squares up
the lips.
Quaw or quagh ; a quag or quagmire : — ' I was
unwilling to attempt the quayh.' (Maxwell : ' Wild
Sports ' : Mayo, but used all over Ireland.) Irish
caedh [quay], for which and for the names derived
from it, see ' Irish Names of Places ' : 11. 396.
Quality ; gentlemen and gentlewomen as distin-
guished from the common people. Out of use in
England, but general in Ireland : — ' Make room for
the quality.'
Queer, generally pronounced quare; used as an
intensive in Ulster : — This day is quare and hot
(very hot) ; he is quare and sick (very sick) : like
fine and fat elsewhere (see p. 89).
Quin or quing ; the swing -tree, a piece of wood used
310 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XIIT.
to keep the chains apart in ploughing to prevent
them rubbing the horses. (Cork and Kerry.) Irish
cuing [quing], a yoke.
Quit : in Ulster ' quit that' means cease from that: —
' quit your crying.' In Queen's County they say
rise out of that.
Rabble ; used in Ulster to denote a fair where work-
men congregate on the hiring day to be hired by
the surrounding farmers. See Spalpeen.
Rack. In Munster an ordinary comb is called a
rack: the word comb being always applied and
confined to a small close fine-toothed one.
Rackrent ; an excessive rent of a farm, so high as to
allow to the occupier a bare and poor subsistence.
Not used outside Ireland except so far as it has
been recently brought into prominence by the
Irish land question.
Rag on every bush ; a young man who is caught by
and courts many girls but never proposes.
Raghery ; a kind of small- sized horse ; a name given
to it from its original home, the island of Rathlin
or Raghery off Antrim.
Rake ; to cover up with ashes the live coals of a turf
fire, which will keep them alive till morning : —
' Don't forget to rake the fire.'
Randy ; a scold. (Kinahan : general.)
Rap ; a bad halfpenny : a bad coin : — ' He hasn't a
rap in his pocket.'
Raumaush or rauniaish ; romance or fiction, but now
commonly applied to foolish senseless brainless
talk. Irish rdmds or rdmdis, which is merely
adapted from the word romance.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 811
Raven's bit ; a beast that is going to die. (Kinahan.)
Rawney ; a delicate person looking in poor health ; a
poor sickly-looking animal. (Connaught.) Irish
rdnaidJie, same sound and meaning.
Reansha ; brown bread : sometimes corrupted to
?-an#e-bread. (MacCall : Wexford.)
Red or redd ; clear, clear out, clear away : — Redd
the road, the same as the Irish Fdy-a-ballayh,
' clear the way.' If a girl's hair is in bad tangles,
she uses a redding-comb first to open it, and then a
finer comb.
Redden ; to light : ' Take the bellows and redden
the fire.' An Irishman hardly ever liyhts his
pipe : he reddens it.
Redundancy, 52, 130.
Ree ; as applied to a horse means restive, wild,
almost unmanageable.
Reek ; a rick : — A reek of turf : so the Kerry moun-
tains, ' MacGillicuddy's Reeks.'
Reel-foot ; a club-foot, a deformed foot. (Ulster.)
' Reel-footed and hunch-backed forbye, sir.' (Old
Ulster song.)
Reenaw'lee ; a slow-going fellow who dawdles and
delays and hesitates about things. (Munster.)
Irish riandlaidhe, same sound and meaning : from
rian, a way, track, or road : rianalaidhe, a person
who wanders listlessly along the ivay.
Reign. This word is often used in Munster,
Leinster, and Connaught, in the sense of to occupy,
to be master of : ' Who is in the Knockea farm ? '
' Mr. Keating reigns there now.' ' Who is your
landlord ?' ' The old master is dead and his son
Mr. William reigns over us now.' ' Long may
312 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
your honour [the master] reign over us.' (Crofton
Croker.) In answer to an examination question,
a young fellow from Cork once answered me,
' Shakespeare reigned in the sixteenth century.'
This usage is borrowed from Irish, in which the
verb riaghail [ree-al] means both to rule (as a
master), and to reign (as a king), and as in many
other similar cases the two meanings were con-
founded in English. (Kinahan and myself.)
Relics of old decency. When a man goes down in
the world he often preserves some memorials of
his former rank - a ring, silver buckles in his
shoes, &c. — ' the relics of old decency.'
Eevelagh ; a long lazy gadding fellow. (Morris :
Monaghan.)
Bib ; a single hair from the head. A poet, prais-
ing a young lady, says that ' every golden rib of
her hair is worth five guineas.' Irish ruibe [ribbe],
same meaning.
Rickle ; a little heap of turf peats standing on ends
against each other. (Derry.) Irish ricil, same
sound and meaning.
Riddles, 185.
Ride and tie. Two persons set out on a journey
having one horse. One rides on while the
other sets out on foot after him. The first man,
at the end of a mile or two, ties up the horse at the
roadside and proceeds on foot. When the second
comes to the horse he mounts and rides till he is
one or two miles ahead of his comrade and then
ties. And so to the end of the journey. A common
practice in old times for courier purposes ; but not
in use now, I think,
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 813
Rife, a scythe-sharpener, a narrow piece of board
punctured all over and covered with grease on
\vhich fine sand is sprinkled. Used before the
present emery sharpener was known. (Moran :
Carlovv ) Irish riabh [reev], a long narrow stripe.
Right or wrong : often heard for earnestly : ( he
pressed me right or wrong to go home with him.'
Ringle-eyed ; when the iris is light-coloured, and the
circle bounding it is very marked, the person is
rinyle-eyed. (Derry.)
Rings ; often used as follows : — ' Did I sleep at all ? '
' Oh indeed you did — you slept rings round you.'
Rip ; a coarse ill-conditioned woman .with a bad
tongue. (General.)
Roach lime ; lime just taken from the kiln, burnt,
before being slaked and while still in the form of
stones. This is old English from French rocJie,
a rock, a stone.
Roasters ; potatoes kept crisping on the coals to be
brought up to table hot at the end of the dinner —
usually the largest ones picked out. But the word
roaster was used only among the lower class of
people : the higher classes considered it vulgar.
Here is how Mr. Patrick Murray (see p. 1.54)
describes them about 1840 in a parody on Moore's
' One bumper at parting' (a lumper, in Mr. Murray's
version, means a big potato) : —
' One lumper at parting, though many
Have rolled on the board since we met,
The biggest the hottest of any
Remains in the round for us yet.'
In the higher class of houses they were peeled
and brought up at the end nice and brown in
814 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
a dish. About eighty years ago a well-known
military gentleman of Baltinglass in the County
Wicklow — whose daughter told me the story — had
on one occasion a large party of friends to dinner.
On the very day of the dinner the waiter took ill,
and the stable boy — a big coarse fellow — had to
be called in, after elaborate instructions. All
went well till near the end of the dinner, when
the fellow thought things were going on rather
slowly. Opening the diningroom door he thrust
in his head and called out in the hearing of all : —
' Masther, are ye ready for the roastJiers ? ' A
short time ago I was looking at the house and
diningroom where that occurred.
Rocket ; a little girl's frock. (Very common in
Limerick.) It is of course an old application of
the English-French rochet.
Rodden ; a bohereen or narrow road. (Ulster.) It is
the Irish rdidin, little road.
Roman ; used by the people in many parts of Ire-
land for Roman Catholic. I have already quoted
what the Catholic girl said to her Protestant lover :
— ' Unless that you turn a Roman you ne'er shall
get me for your bride.' Sixty or seventy years
ago controversial discussions — between a Catholic
on the one hand and a Protestant on the other —
were very common. I witnessed many when I
was a boy — to my great delight. Garrett Barry, a
Roman Catholic, locally noted as a controversialist,
was arguing with Mick Cantlon, surrounded by a
group of delighted listeners. At last Garrett, as a
final clincher, took up the Bible, opened it at a
certain place, and handed it to his opponent, with :
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 815
— ' Read that heading out for us now if you please.'
Mick took it up and read ' St. Paul' a Epistle to the
Roman*.' ' Very well,' says Garrett : ' now can
you show me in any part of that Bible, ' St. Paul's
Epistle to the Protestants ' ? This of course was a
down blow ; and Garrett was greeted with a great
hurrah by the Catholic part of his audience. This
story is in 'Knocknagow,' but the thing occurred
in my neighbourhood, and I heard about it long
before ' Knocknagow ' was written.
Rookaun ; great noisy merriment. Also a drinking-
bout. (Limerick.)
Room. In a peasant's house the room is a special
apartment distinct from the kitchen or living-room,
which is not a 'room' in this sense at all. 1
slept in the kitchen and John slept in the ' room.'
(Healy and myself: Munster.)
Bound coal ; coal in lumps as distinguished from
slack or coal broken up small and fine.
Ruction, ructions ; fighting, squabbling, a fight, a
row. It is a memory of the Insurrection of 1798,
which was commonly called the ' Ruction.'
Rue-rub ; when a person incautiously scratches an
itchy spot so as to break the skin : that is rue-rub.
(Derry.) From rue, regret or sorrow.
Rury ; a rough hastily-made cake or bannock.
(Morris : Monaghan.)
Rut ; the smallest bonnive in a litter. (Kildare and
Carlow.)
Saluting, salutations, 14.
Sapples ; soap suds : sapple, to wash in suds.
(Derry.)
816 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Saulavotcheer ; a person having lark-heels. (Lime-
rick.) The first syll. is Irish ; sal [saul], heel.
Sauvaun ; a rest, a light doze or nap. (Munster.)
Irish sdmhdn, same sound and meaning, from
sdmh [sauv], pleasant and tranquil.
Scagh; a whitethorn bush. (General.) Irish sceach,
same sound and meaning.
Scaghler : a little fish — the pinkeen or thornback :
Irish sceach [scagh], a thorn or thornbush, and the
English termination ler.
Scald : to be scalded is to be annoyed, mortified,
sorely troubled, vexed. (Very general.) Trans-
lated from one or the other of two Irish words, loisc
[lusk], to burn ; and scall, to scald. Finn Bane
says : — ' Guary being angry with me he scorched
me (romloisc], burned me, scalded me, with abuse.'
(' Colloquy.') ' 1 earned that money hard and 'tis
a great heart-scald (scollach-croidhe) to me to lose
it.' There is an Irish air called ' The Scalded
poor man.' (' Old Irish Music and Songs.')
Scalder, an unfledged bird (South) : scaldie and
scaulthoge in the North. From the Irish seal (bald),
from which comes the Irish scalachdn, an unfledged
bird.
Scallan ; a wooden shed to shelter the priest during
Mass, 148, 145.
Scalp, scolp, scalpeen ; a rude cabin, usually roofed
with scalps or grassy sods (whence the name). In
the famine times — 1847 and after — a scalp was
often erected for any poor wanderer who got
stricken down with typhus fever : and in that
the people tended him cautiously till he recovered
or died. (Munster.) Irish scailp [scolp].
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 317
Seal teen : see Scolsheen.
Scollagh-cree ; ill-treatment of any kind. (Moran :
Carlow.) Irish scallach-croidhe, same sound and
meaning : a ' heart scald ' ; from scalladh, scalding,
and croidhe, heart.
Scollop ; the bended rod pointed at both ends that
a thatcher uses to fasten down the several straw-
wisps. (General.) Irish scolb [scollub].
Scolsheen or scalteen ; made by boiling a mixture of
whiskey, water, sugar, butter and pepper (or cara-
way seeds) in a pot : a sovereign cure for a cold.
In the old mail-car days there was an iun on the
road fromKillarney to Mallow, famous for scolsheen,
where a big pot of it was always kept ready for
travellers. (Kinahan and Kane.) Sometimes the
word scalteen was applied to unmixed whiskey
burned, and used for the same purpose. From
the Irish scall, burn, singe, scald.
Sconce ; to chaff, banter, make game of : — ' None of
your sconcing.' (Ulster.)
Sconce ; to shirk work or duty. (Moran : Carlow.)
Scotch Dialect : influence of, on our Dialect, 0, 7.
Scotch lick ; when a person goes to clean up any-
thing— a saucepan, a floor, his face, a pair of
shoes, &c. — and only half does it, he (or she) has
given it a Scutch lick. General in South. In
Dublin it would be called a ' cat's lick': for a cat
has only a small tongue and doesn't do much in
the way of licking.
Scout ; a reproachful name for a bold forward girl.
Scouther ; to burn a cake on the outside before it is
fully cooked, by over haste in baking : — burned
outside, half raw inside. Hence ' to scouther '
818 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
means to do anything hastily and incompletely.
(Ulster.)
Scrab ; to scratch : — ' The cat near scrabbed his eyes
out.' (Patterson : Ulster.) In the South it is
scraub : — ' He scraubed my face.'
Scrab ; to gather the stray potatoes left after the
regular crop, when they are afterwards turned out
by plough or spade.
Scraddhin ; a scrap ; anything small — smaller than
usual, as a small potato : applied contemptuously
to a very small man, exactly the same as the
Southern sprissaun. Irish scraidin, same sound and
meaning. (East Ulster.)
Scran ; ' bad scran to you,' an evil wish like ' bad
luck to you,' but much milder : English, in which
scran means broken victuals, food-refuse, fare —
very common. (North and South.)
Scraw ; a grassy sod cut from a grassy or boggy
surface and often dried for firing ; also called
scralioge (with diminutive 6y). Irish scrath, scrathoy,
same sounds and meaning.
Screenge ; to search for. (Donegal and Deny.)
Sounder or Scunner ; a dislike ; to take a dislike or
disgust against anything. (Armagh.)
Scut ; the tail of a hare or rabbit : often applied in
scorn to a contemptible fellow : — ' He's just a scut
and nothing better.' The word is Irish, as is
shown by the following quotation : — ' The billows
[were] conversing with the scuds (sterns) and the
beautiful prows [of the ships]. (Battle of Moy-
lena : and note by Kuno Meyer in ' Kev. Celt.')
(General.)
Seeshtheen ; a low round seat made of twisted straw.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 319
(Munster.) Irish suidhistin, same sound and
meaning : from suidhe [see], to sit, with diminu-
tive.
Set : all over Ireland they use set instead of let [a
house or lodging], A struggling housekeeper
failed to let her lodging, which a neighbour
explained by : — ' Ah she's no good at setting.'
Set ; used in a bad sense, like gang and crew : —
' They're a dirty set.'
Settle bed ; a folding-up bed kept in the kitchen :
when folded up it is like a sofa and used as a seat.
(All over Ireland.)
Seven'dable [accent on veti], very great, mighty great
as they would say : — ' Jack gave him a sevendable
thrashing.' (North.)
Shaap [the aa long as in car] ; a husk of corn, a pod.
(Derry.)
Shamrock or Sharnroge ; the white trefoil (Tr (folium
repens). The Irish name is seamar [shammer],
which with the diminutive makes seamar-og
[shammer-oge], shortened to shamrock.
Shanachus, shortened to shanagh in Ulster, a friendly
conversation. ' Grandfather would like to have
a shanahus with you.' (' Knocknagow.') Irish
seanchus, antiquity, history, an old story.
Shandradan' [accented strongly on -dan'] ; an old
rickety rattle-trap of a car. The first syllable is
Irish sean [shan], old.
Shanty : a mean hastily put tip little house.
( General.) Probably from Irish sean, old, and tiyh
[tee], a house.
Shaugh ;• a turn or smoke of a pipe. (General.)
Irish seach, same sound and meaning.
320 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
Shaughraun ; wandering about : to be on the skawjh-
raun is to be out of employment and wandering
idly about looking for work. Irish seachrdn, same
sound and meaning.
Shebeen or sheebeen ; an unlicensed public-house or
alehouse where spirits are sold on the sly. (Used all
over Ireland.) Irish nibin, same sound and meaning.
Shee ; a fairy, fairies ; also meaning the place where
fairies live, usually a round green little hill or elf-
mound having a glorious palace underneath: Irish
sidlie, same sound and meanings. SJiee often takes
the diminutive ioxm—sheeoge.
Shee-geeha ; the little whirl of dust you often see
moving along the road on a calm dusty day : this
is a band of fairies travelling from one Us or elf-
mound to another, and you had better turn aside
and avoid it. Irish sidhe-yctoithe, same sound and
meaning, where yaoitlw is wind: 'wind-fairies':
called ' fai ry-blast ' in Kildare.
Sheehy, Eev. Father, of Kilfinane, 147.
Sheela ; a female Christian name (as in ' Sheela
Ni Gyra'). Used in the South as a reproachful
name for a boy or a man inclined to do work or
interest himself in affairs properly belonging to
women. See ' Molly.'
Sheep's eyes : when a young man looks fondly and
coaxingly on his sweetheart he is ' throwing sheep's
eyes ' at her.
Sherral ; an offensive term for a mean unprincipled
fellow. (Moran : South Mon.)
tSheugh or Shough ; a deep cutting, elsewhere called
a ditch, often filled with water. (Seuinas
MacManus : N.W. Ulster.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 321
Shillelah ; a handstick of oak, an oaken cudgel for
fighting. (Common all over Ireland.) From a
district in Wicldow called Shillelah, formerly
noted for its oak woods, in which grand shillelahs
were plentiful.
Shingerleens [shing-erleens] ; small bits of finery ;
ornjimental tags and ends — of ribbons, bow-knots,
tassels, &c. — hanging on dress, curtains, furni-
ture, &c. (Munster.)
Shire ; to pour or drain off water or any liquid,
quietly and without disturbing the solid parts
remaining behind, such as draining off the whey-
like liquid from buttermilk.
Shlamaan' [aa like a in car] ; a handful of straw,
leeks, &c. (Morris : South Monaghan.)
Shoggle ; to shake or jolt. (Derry.)
Shoneen ; a gentleman in a small way : a would-be
gentleman who puts on superior airs. Always used
contemptuously.
Shook ; in a bad way, done up, undone : — ' I'm shook
by the loss of that money ' : 'he was shook for a
pair of shoes.'
Shooler ; a wanderer, a stroller, a vagrant, a tramp,
a rover : often means a mendicant. (Middle and
South of Ireland.) From the Irish siubhal [shool],
to walk, with the English termination er: lit.
'walker.'
Shoonaun ; a deep circular basket, made of twisted
rashes or straw, and lined with calico ; it had a
cover and was used for holding linen, clothes, &c.
(Limerick and Cork.) From Irish sibhinn [shiven],
a rush, a bulrush : of which the diminutive
siubhndn [shoonaun] is our word : signifying
Y
822 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. fcH. XIII.
' made of rushes.' Many a shoonaun I saw in my
day ; and I remember meeting a man who was a
shoonaun maker by trade.
Short castle or short castles ; a game played by two
persons on a square usually drawn on a slate with
the two diagonals : each player having three
counters. See Mills.
Shore ; the brittle woody part separated in bits and
dust from the fibre of flax by scutching or cloviny.
Called shores in Monaghan.
Shraff, shraft ; Shrovetide : on and about Shrove
Tuesday : — ' I bought that cow last shraflV
Shraums, singular shraum ; the matter that collects
about the eyes of people who have tender eyes :
matter running from sore eyes. (Moran : Carlow.)
Irish sream [sraumj. Same meaning.
Shrule ; to rinse an article of clothing by pulling it
backwards and forwards in a stream. (Moran :
Carlow.) Irish sruil, a stream.
Shrough ; a rough wet place ; an incorrect anglicised
form of Irish srath, a wet place, a marsh.
Shuggy-shoo ; the play of see-saw. (Ulster.)
Shurauns ; any plants with large leaves, such as
hemlock, wild parsnip, &c. (Kinahan : Wicklow.)
Sighth (for sight) ; a great number, a large quantity.
(General.) • Oh Mrs. Morony haven't you a sighth
of turkeys ' : ' Tom Cassidy has a sighth of money.'
This is old English. Thus in a Quaker's diary of
1752 : — ' There was a great sight of people passed
through the streets of Limerick." This expression
is I think still heard in England, and is very much
in use in America. Very general in Ireland,
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 323
Sign ; a very small quantity — a trace. Used all
over Ireland in this way : — ' My gardens are every
sign as good as yours ' : . ' he had no sign of drink
on him ' : 'there's no sign of sugar in my tea'
(Hayden and Hartog) : ' look out to see if Bill is
coming ' : ' no — there's no sign of him.' This is
a translation from the Irish rian, for which see
next entry.
Sign's on, sign is on, sign's on it ; used to express the
result or effect or proof of any proceeding : — ' Tom
Kelly never sends his children to school, and sign's
on (or sign's on it) they are growing up like
savages ' : ' Dick understands the management of
fruit trees well, and sign's on, he is making lots of
money by them. This is a translation from Irish,
in which rian means track, trace, sign : and ' sign's
on it ' is ta a rian air (' its sign is on it').
Silenced : a priest is silenced when he is suspended
from his priestly functions by his ecclesiastical
superiors : ' unfrocked.'
Singlings : the weak pottheen whiskey that comes
off at the first distillation : agreeable to drink but
terribly sickening. Also called ' First shot.'
Sippy ; a ball of rolled sugans (i.e. hay or straw
ropes), used instead of a real ball in hurling or
football. (Limerick.) Irish suipigli, same sound
and meaning. A diminutive of sop, a wisp.
Skeeagh [2-syll.] ; a shallow osier basket, usually
for potatoes. (South.)
Skeedeen ; a trifle, anything small of its kind ; a
small potato. (Derry and Donegal.) Irish scidin,
same sound and meaning.
324 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Skellig, Skellig List — On the Great Skellig rock in
the Atlantic, off the coast of Kerry, are the ruins
of a monastery, to 'which people at one time went
on pilgrimage — and a difficult pilgrimage it was.
The tradition is still kept up in some places,
though in an odd form ; in connection with the
custom that marriages are not solemnised in Lent,
i.e. after Shrove Tuesday. It is well within my
memory that — in the south of Ireland — young
persons who should have been married before Ash-
Wednesday, but were not, were supposed to set
out on pilgrimage to Skellig on Shrove Tuesday
night : but it was all a make-believe. Yet I
remember witnessing occasionally some play in
mock imitation of the pilgrimage. It was usual
for a local bard to compose what was called a
' Skellig List ' — a jocose rhyming catalogue of
the unmarried men and women of the neighbour-
hood who went on the sorrowful journey — which
was circulated on Shrove Tuesday and for some
time after. Some of these were witty and amus-
ing : but occasionally they were scurrilous and
offensive doggerel. They were generally too
long for singing ; but I remember one — a good
one too — which — when I was very young — I heard
sung to a spirited air. It is represented here by a
single verse, the only one I remember. (See also
' Chalk Sunday,' p. 234, above.)
As young Rory and Moreen were talking,
How Shrove Tuesday was just drawing near ;
For the tenth time he asked her to marry ;
But says she : — ' Time enough till next year.'
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 825
' Then ochone I'm going to Skellig :
O Moreen, what will I do ?
'Tis the woeful road to travel ;
And how lonesome I'll be without you !'*
Here is a verse from another : —
Poor Andy Callaglian with doleful nose-
Came up and told his tale of many woes : —
Some lucky thief from him his sweetheart stole,
Which left a weight of grief upon his soul :
With flowing tears he sat upon the grass,
And roared sonorous like a braying ass.
Skelly ; to aim askew and miss the mark ; to squint.
(Patterson : all over Ulster.)
Skelp ; a blow, to give a blow or blows ; a piece cut
off : — ' Tom gave Pat a skelp ' : ' I cut off a skelp
of the board with a hatchet.' To run fast : —
' There's Joe skelping off to school.'
Skib ; a flat basket: — 'We found the people col-
lected round a skibb of potatoes.' (' Wild Sports
of the West.')
Bladder, skiddher ; broken thick milk, stale and
sour. (Munster.)
Skillaun. The piece cut out of a potato to be used
as seed, containing one germinating eye, from
which the young stalk grows. Several skillauns
will be cut from one potato ; and the irregular
part left is a skilloge (Cork and Kerry), or a
creelacann (Limerick). Irish sciolldn, same sound
and meaning.
Skit ; to laugh and giggle in a silly way : — ' I'll be
* From my ' Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 56, in which
also will he found the beautiful air of this.
826 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
bail they didn't skit and laugh.' (Crofton Croker.)
' Skit and laugh,' very common in South.
Skite ; a silly frivolous light-headed person. Hence
Blatherumskite (South), or (in Ulster), blether-
umskite.
Skree ; a large number of small things, as a skree
of potatoes, a skree of chickens, &c. (Morris :
South Monaghan.)
Skull-cure for a bad toothache. Go to the nearest
churchyard alone by night, to the corner where
human bones are usually heaped up, from which
take and bring away a skull. Fill the skull with
water, and take a drink from it : that will cure
your toothache.
Sky farmer ; a term much used in the South with
several shades of meaning : but the idea under-
lying all is a farmer without land, or with only
very little — having broken down since the time
when he had a big farm — who often keeps a cow
or two grazing along the roadsides. Many of
these struggling men acted as intermediaries
between the big corn merchants and the large
farmers in the sale of corn, and got thereby a
percentage from the buyers. A ' sky farmer ' has
his farm in the sky.
Slaan [«a long as the a in car] ; a sort of very sharp
spade, used in cutting turf or peat. Universal in
the South.
Slack-jaw ; impudent talk, continuous imperti-
nences : — ' I'll have none of your slack-jaw.'
Slang ; a narroAV strip of land along a stream, not
suited to cultivation, but grazed. (Moran : Carlow.)
Sleeveen ; a smooth-tongued, sweet-mannered, sly,
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 327
guileful fellow. Universal all over the South and
Middle. Irish slighbhin, same sound and meaning ;
from sligh, a way : binn, sweet, melodious : ' a
sweet-mannered fellow.'
Slewder, sluder [d sounded like th in smooth'] ; a
wheedling coaxing fellow : as a verb, to wheedle.
Irish sligheadoir [sleedore], same meaning.
Sliggin ; a thin flat little stone. (Limerick.) Irish.
Primary meaning a shell.
Sling-trot ; when a person or an animal is going
along [not walking but] trotting or running along
at a leisurely pace. (South.)
Slinge [slinj] ; to walk along slowly and lazily. In
some places, playing truant from school. (South.)
Slip ; a young girl. A young pig, older than a
bonnive, running about almost independent of its
mother. (General.)
Slipe ; a rude sort of cart or sledge without wheels
used for dragging stones from a field. (Ulster.)
Slitther ; a kind of thick soft leather : also a ball
covered with that leather, for hurling. (Limerick.)
Sliver ; a piece of anything broken or cut off,
especially cut off longitudinally. An old English
word, obsolete in England, but still quite common
in Munster.
Slob ; a soft fat quiet simple-minded girl or boy : —
1 Your little Nellie is a quiet poor slob ' : used as a
term of endearment.
Sloke, sloak, sluke, sloukaun ; a sea plant of the
family of Utver found growing on rocks round the
coast, which is esteemed a table delicacy — dark-
coloured, almost black ; often pickled and eaten
with pepper, vinegar, &c. Seen in all the Dublin
828 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
fish shops. The name, which is now known all
over the Three Kingdoms, is anglicised from Irish
sledbhac, sleabhacdn [slouk, sloukaun].
Slug ; a drink : as a verb, to drink : — ' Here take a
little slug from this and 'twill do you good.' Irish
slog to swallow by drinking. (General.) Whence
slugga and shtggera, a cavity in a river-bed into
which the water is slugged or swallowed.
Slugabed ; a sluggard. (General in Limerick.) Old
English, obsolete in England : — ' Fie, you slug-a-
bed.' (' Borneo and Juliet.')
Slush ; to work and toil like a slave : a woman who
toils hard. (General.)
Slut ; a torch made by dipping a long wick in resin.
(Armagh.) Called a paudheoge in Munster.
Smaadher \_aa like a in car'] ; to break in pieces.
Jim Foley was on a pooka's back on the top of an
old castle, and he was afraid he'd ' tumble down
and be smathered to a thousand pieces.' (Ir.
Mag.)
Smalkera ; a rude home-made wooden spoon.
Small-clothes ; kneebreeches. (Limerick.) So called
to avoid the plain term breeches, as we now often
say inexpressibles.
SVnall farmer ; has a small farm with small stock of
cattle : a struggling man as distinguished from a
' strong ' farmer.
Sin eg, smeggeen, smiggin ; a tuft of hair on the
chin. (General.) Merely the Irish smeig, smeigin ;
same sounds and meaning.
Smithereens; broken fragments after a smash, 4.
Smullock [to rhyme with bulloclc] ; a fillip of the
finger. (Limerick.) Irish smallog, same meaning.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 829
Srnur, smoor, fine thick mist. (North.) Irish smtir,
mist.
Smush [to rhyme with bush~] : anything reduced to
fine small fragments, like straw or hay, dry peat-
mould in dust, &c.
Smush, used contemptuously for the mouth, a hairy
mouth : — ' I don't like your ugly smush.'
Snachta-shaidhaun : dry powdery snow blown about
by the wind. Irish sneachta, snow, and seidedn, a
breeze. (South.)
Snaggle-tooth ; a person with some teetb gone so as
to leave gaps.
Snap-apple ; a play with apples on Hallow-eve, where
big apples are placed in difficult positions and are to
be caught by the teeth of the persons playing. Hence
Hallow-Eve is often called ' Snap-apple night.'
Snauvaun ; to move about slowly and lazily. From
Irish sndmh [snauv], to swim, with the diminu-
tive : — Moving slowly like a person swimming.
Sned ; to clip off, to cut away, like the leaves and
roots of a turnip. Sned also means the handle of
a scythe.
Snig ; to cut or clip with a knife : — ' The shoots of
that apple-tree are growing out too long : I must
snig off the tops of them.'
Snish ; neatness in clothes. (Morris : Carlow.)
Snoboge ; a rosin torch. (Moran : Carlow.) Same
as slut and paudlieoge.
Snoke ; to scent or snuff about like a dog. (Derry.)
So. This has some special dialectical senses among
us. It is used for if : — ' I will pay you well so
you do the work to my liking.' This is old
English : — ' I am content so thou wilt have it so.'
330 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
(' Rom. and Jul.') It is used as a sort of emphatic
expletive carrying accent or emphasis: — 'Will
you keep that farm ? ' 'I will so,' i.e. ' I will for
certain.' ' Take care and don't break them ' (the
dishes): 'I won't so.' ('Collegians.') It is used
in the sense of ' in that case ' : — ' I am not going
to town to-day ' : ' Oh well I will not go, so '-
i.e. ' as you are not going.'
Sock ; the tubular or half-tubular part of a spade or
shovel that holds the handle. Irish soc.
Soft day ; a wet day. (A usual salute.)
Soil ; fresh-cut grass for cattle.
Sold; betrayed, outwitted : — ' If that doesn't frighten
him off you're sold ' (caught in the trap, betrayed,
ruined. Edw. Walsh in Ir. Pen. Journal).
Something like ; excellent : — ' That's something like
a horse,' i.e. a fine horse and no mistake.
Sonaghan ; a kind of trout that appears in certain
lakes in November, coming from the rivers. (Prof.
J. Cooke, M.A., of Dublin : for Ulster) : — Irish
samhain [sowan], November : sawhnachdn with the
diminutive an or chan, ' November-fellow.'
Sonoohar ; a good wife, a good partner in marriage ;
a good marriage : generally used in the form of a
wish : — ' Thankee sir and sonoohar to you.' Irish
sonuachar, same sound and meaning.
Sonsy ; fortunate, prosperous. Also well-looking
and healthy : — ' A fine sonsy girl.' Irish sonas, luck ;
sonasach, sonasaiyh, same sound and meaning.
Soogan, sugan, sugaun ; a straw or hay rope twisted
by the hand.
Soss ; a short trifling fall with no harm beyond a
smart shock. (Moran : Carlow.)
CH. Xin.j VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 881
Sough ; a whistling or sighing noise like that
of the wind through trees. ' Keep a calm sough '
means keep quiet, keep silence. (Ulster.)
Soulth; ' a formless luminous apparition.' (W. B.
Yeats.) Irish samhailt [soulth], a ghost, an appa-
rition; lit. a 'likeness,' from samJiai [sowel], like.
Sources of Anglo-Irish Dialect, 1.
Sowans, sowens ; a sort of flummery or gruel usually
made and eaten on Hallow Eve. Very general
in Ulster and Scotland ; merely the Irish word
samhain, the first of November ; for Hallow Eve
is really a November feast, as being the eve of the
first of that month. In old times in Ireland, the
evening went with the coming night.
Spalpeen. Spalpeens were labouring men — reapers,
mowers, potato-diggers, &c. — who travelled about
in the autumn seeking employment from the
farmers, each with his spade, or his scythe, or his
reaping-hook. They congregated in the towns on
market and fair days, where the farmers of the
surrounding districts came to hire them. Each
farmer brought home his own men, fed them on
good potatoes and milk, and sent them to sleep in
the barn on dry straw — a bed — as one of them said
to me — ' a bed fit for a lord, let alone a spalpeen.'
The word spalpeen is now used in the sense of
a low rascal. Irish spailj)in, same sound and
meaning. (See my ' Old Irish Folk Music and
Songs,' p. 216 ; and for the Ulster term see Babble
above.
Spaug ; a big clumsy foot : — ' You put your ugly
spaugdown on my handkerchief.' Irish ipdy, same
sound and sense.
882 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XIII.
Speel ; to climb. (Patterson : Ulster.)
Spink ; a sharp rock, a precipice. (Tyrone.) Splink
in Donegal. Irish sjnnnc and splinnc, same sounds
and meaning.
Spit ; the soil dug up and turned over, forming a
long trench as deep as the spade will go. ' He
dug down three spits before he came to the
gravel.'
Spoileen ; a coarse kind of soap made out of scraps
of inferior grease and meat : often sold cheap at
fairs and markets. (Derry and Tyrone.) Irish
spoilin, a small bit of meat.
Spoocher ; a sort of large wooden shovel chiefly
used for lifting small fish out of a boat. (Ulster.)
Spreece ; red-hot embers, chiefly ashes. (South.)
Irish spris, same sound and meaning. Same as
greesagh.
Sprissaun ; an insignificant contemptible little chap.
Irish spriosdn [same sound], the original meaning
of which is a twig or spray from a bush. (South.)
' To the devil I pitcli ye ye set of sprissauns.'
(Old Folk Song, for which see my ' Ancient Irish
Music,' p. 85.)
Sprong : a four-pronged manure fork. (MacCall :
South-east counties.)
Spruggil, spruggilla ; the craw of a fowl. (Morris :
South Monaghan.) Irish sprogal [spruggal],
with that meaning and several others.
Sprunge [sprunj], any animal miserable and small
for its age. (Ulster.)
Spuds ; potatoes.
Spunk ; tinder, now usually made by steeping
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 388
brown paper in a solution of nitre ; lately gone
out of use from the prevalence of matches. Often
applied in Ulster and Scotland to a spark of fire :
' See is there a spunk of fire in the hearth.' Spunk
also denotes spirit, courage, and dash. ' Hasn't
Dick great spunk to face that big fellow, twice his
size ?'
' I'm sure if you had not been drunk
With whiskey, rum, or hrandy — 0,
You would not have the gallant spunk
To be half so bold or manly — 0.'
(Old Irish Folk Song.)
Irish spon-nc.
Spy farleys ; to pry into secrets : to visit a house,
in order to spy about what's going on. (Ulster.)
Spy- Wednesday ; the Wednesday before Easter-
According to the religious legend it got the name
because on the Wednesday before the Crucifixion
Judas was spying about how best he could deliver
up our Lord. (General.)
Squireen ; an Irish gentleman in a small way who
apes the manners, the authoritative tone, and the
aristocratic bearing of the large landed proprietors.
Sometimes you can hardly distinguish a squireen
from a half -sir or from a shoneen. Sometimes the
squireen was the son of the old squire : a worthless
young fellow, who loafed about doing nothing,
instead of earning an honest livelihood : but he
was too grand for that. The word is a diminutive
of squire, applied here in contempt, like many
other diminutives. The class of squireen is
nearly extinct : ' Joy be with them.'
Stackan ; the stump of a tree remaining after the
834 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
tree itself has been cut or blown down. (Simmons :
Armagh.) Irish stale, a stake, with the diminutive.
Stad ; the same as sthallk, which see.
Stag ; a potato rendered worthless or bad by frost or
decay.
Stag ; a cold-hearted unfeeling selfish woman.
Stag ; an informer, who turns round and betrays his
comrades : — ' The two worst informers against a
private [pottheen] distiller, barring a stay, are a
smoke by day and a fire by night.' (Carleton in
' Ir. Pen. Journ.') ' Do you think me a stay, that
I'd inform on you.' (Ibid.)
Staggeen [the t sounded like th in thank~\, a worn-out
worthless old horse.
Stand to or by a person, to act as his friend ; to stand
for an infant, to be his sponsor in baptism. The
people hardly ever say, ' I'm his godfather,' but
' I stood for him.'
Stare ; the usual name for a starling (bird) in
Ireland.
Station. The celebration of Mass with confessions
and Holy Communion in a private house by the
parish priest or one of his curates, for the con-
venience of the family and their neighbours, to
enable them the more easily to receive the sacra-
ments. Latterly the custom has been falling into
disuse.
Staukan-vorraga [t sounded like th in thorn'], a small
high rick of turf in a market from which portions
were continually sold away and as continually
replaced : so that the sthanca stood always in the
people's way. Applied also to a big awkward
fellow always visiting when he's not wanted, and
.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 885
always in the way. (John Davis White, of Clonmel.)
Irish stdca 'n mharga [sthaucan-vorraga] , the
' market stake or stack.'
Stelk or stallk ; mashed potatoes mixed with beans
or chopped vegetables. (North.)
Sthallk ; a fit of sulk in a horse — or in a child.
(Munster.) Irish static, same sound and meaning.
Sthoakagh ; a big idle wandering vagabond fellow.
(South.) Irish stdcach, same sound and meaning.
Sthowl ; a jet or splash of water or of any liquid.
(South.) Irish steall, same sound and meaning.
Stim or stime ; a very small quantity, an iota, an
atom, a particle : — ' You'll never have a stim of
sense ' (' Knocknagow ') : ' I couldn't see a stim in
the darkness.'
Stook ; a shock of corn, generally containing twelve
sheaves. (General.) Irish stuaic, same sound and
meaning, with several other meanings.
Stoon ; a fit, the worst of a fit : same as English
stound : a sting of pain : — ' Well Bridget how is
the toothache?' 'Ah well sir the stoon is off.'
(De Vismes Kane: Ulster.)
Store pig ; a pig nearly full grown, almost ready to
be fattened. (Munster.)
Str. Most of the following words beginning with
sir are derived from Irish words beginning with
sr. For as this combination sr does not exist in
English, when an Irish word with this beginning
is borrowed into English, a t is always inserted
between the s and r to bring it into conformity with
English usage and to render it more easily pro-
nounced by English-speaking tongues. See this
subject discussed in ' Irish Names of Places,'
336 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [OH. XIII.
vol. i., p. 60. Moreover the t in str is almost
always sounded the same as tk in think, thank.
Straar or sthraar [to rhyme with star~\ ; the rough
straddle which supports the back band of a horse's
harness — coming between the horse's back and
the band. (Derry.) The old Irish word srathar
[same sound], a straddle, a pack-saddle.
Straddy ; a street-walker, an idle person always
sauntering along the streets. There is a fine Irish
air named ' The Straddy' in my ' Old Irish Music
and Songs,' p. 310. From Irish srdid, a street.
Strahane, strahaun, struhane ; a very small stream
like a mill stream or an artificial stream to a
pottheen still. Irish sruth [sruh] stream, with dim.
Strammel ; a big tall bony fellow. (Limerick.)
Strap ; a bold forward girl or woman ; the word
often conveys a sense slightly leaning towards
lightness of character.
Strath ; a term used in many parts of Ireland to
denote the level watery meadow-land along a river.
Irish srath.
Stravage [to rhyme with plague] ; to roam about
idly: — He is always stravaginy the streets.' In
Ulster it is made stavage.
Streel ; a very common word all through Ireland to
denote a lazy untidy woman — a slattern : often
made streeloge in Connaught, the same word with
the diminutive. As a verb, street is used in the
sense of to drag along in an untidy way : — ' Her
dress was streeling in the mud.' Irish sril [sreel],
same meanings.
Streel is sometimes applied to an untidy
slovenly-looking man too, as I once heard it
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 337
applied under odd circumstances when I was very
young. Bartholomew Power was long and lanky,
with his clothes hanging loose on him. On the
morning when he and his newly-married wife —
whom I knew well, and who was then no chicken —
were setting out for his home, I walked a bit of
the way with the happy bride to take leave of her.
Just when we were about to part, she turned and
said to me — these were her very words — ' Well
Mr. Joyce, you know the number of nice young men
I came across in my day (naming half a dozen of
them), and,' said she — nodding towards the bride-
groom, who was walking by the car a few perches
in front — ' isn't it a heart-scald that at the end of all
I have now to walk off with that streel of a devil.'
Strickle ; a scythe-sharpener covered with emery.
(Simmons : Armagh.)
Strig ; the strappings or milk that comes last from a
cow. (Morris : South Monaghan.)
Striffin ; the thin pellicle or skin on the inside of an
egg-shell. (Ulster.)
Strippings ; the same as strig, the last of the milk
that comes from the cow at milking — always the
richest. Often called in Munster sniug.
Stroansha ; a big idle lazy lump of a girl, always
gadding about. Irish stroinse, same sound and
meaning.
Strock'ara [accent on strock-~\ ; a very hard-working
man. (Munster.) Irish stracaire, same sound and
meaning, with several other meanings.
Strong; well in health, without any reference to
muscular strength. ' How is your mother these
times? ' ' She's very strong now thank God.'
z
338 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Strong farmer ; a very well-to-do prosperous farmer,
with a large farm and much cattle. In contra-
distinction to a ' small farmer.'
Stroup or stroop ; the spout of a kettle or teapot or
the lip of a jug. (Ulster.)
Strunt; to sulk. (Simmons: Armagh.) Same as
sthallk for the South.
Stum ; a sulky silent person. (Antrim and Down.)
Stumpy ; a kind of coarse heavy cake made from
grated potatoes from which the starch has been
squeezed out : also called rnuddly. (Munster.)
Sturk, stirk, sterk ; a heifer or bullock about two
years old : a pig three or four months old. Often
applied to a stout low-sized boy or girl. Irish
store-.
Sugan ; a straw or hay rope : same as soogan.
Sugeen ; water in which oatmeal has been steeped :
often drunk by workmen on a hot day in place of
plain water. (Boscommon.) From Ir. sni/h, juice.
Suiter ; great heat [of a day] : a word formed from
sultry ; — ' There's great sulther to-day.'
Summachaun ; a soft innocent child. (Munster.)
Irish somacltdn, same sound and meaning. In
Connaught it means a big ignorant puffed up booby
of a fellow.
Sup ; one mouthful of liquid : a small quantity drunk
at one time. This is English : — ' I took a small
sup of rum." (' Eobinson Crusoe.') ' We all take a
sup in our turn.' (Irish Folk Song.)
Sure ; one of our commonest opening words for a
sentence : you will hear it perpetually among
gentle and simple : ' Don't forget to lock up the
fowls.' 'Sure I did that an hour ago.' 'Sure
OH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 339
you won't forget to call here on your way back?'
' James, sure I sold my cows.'
Swan-skin ; the thin finely-woven flannel bought in
shops ; so called to distinguish it from the coarse
heavy home-made flannel. (Limerick.)
Swearing, 66.
Tally-iron or tallin-iron ; the iron for crimping or
curling up the borders of women's caps. A corrup-
tion of Italian-iron.
Targe ; a scolding woman, a barge. (Ulster.)
Tartles : ragged clothes ; torn pieces of dress.
(Ulster.)
Taste ; a small bit or amount of anything : — ' He has
no taste of pride ' : ' Aren't you ashamed of your-
self ? ' ' Not a taste ' : ' Could you give me the
least taste in life of a bit of soap?'
Tat, tait ; a tangled or matted wad or mass of hair
on a girl or on an animal. ' Come here till I
comb the tats out of your hair. (Ulster.) Irish
tatli [tali]. In the anglicised word the aspirated
t (th), which sounds like h in Irish, is restored to
its full sound in the process of anglicisation in
accordance with a law which will be found
explained in ' Irish Names of Places,' vol. i.,
pp. 42-48.
Teem ; to strain off' or pour oft' water or any liquid.
To teem potatoes is to pour the water off them
when they are boiled. In a like sense we say it
is teeming rain. Irish taom, same sound and sense.
Ten commandments. ' She put her ten command-
ments on his face,' i.e. she scratched his face with
her ten finger-nails. (MacCall : Wexford.)
z2
840 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Tent ; the quantity of ink taken up at one time by
a pen.
Terr ; a provoking ignorant presumptuous fellow.
(Moran : Carlow.)
Thacka, thuck-ya, thackeen, thuckeen ; a little girl.
(South.) Irish toice, toicin [thucka, thuckeen].
Thaheen ; a handful of flax or hay. Irish tath,
taitldn [thah, thaheen], same meaning. (Same
Irish word as Tat above : but in thaheen the final
t is aspirated to h, following the Irish word.)
Thauloge : a boarded-off square enclosure at one
side of the kitchen fire-place of a farmhouse,
where candlesticks, brushes, wet boots, &c., are
put. (Moran : Carlow.)
Thayvaun or theevaun ; the short beam of the roof
crossing from one rafter to the opposite one.
(South.) Irish taobh [thaiv], a 'side,' with the
diminutive.
Theeveen ; a patch on the side of a shoe. (General.)
Irish taobh [thaiv], a side with the dim. een ;
taoibhin [theeveen], ' little side.'
Thick ; closely acquainted : same meaning as
' Great,' which see. ' Dick is very thick with
Joe now.'
Thiescaun thyscaun, [thice-caun], or thayscaun : a
quantity of anything, as a small load of hay
drawn by a horse : ' When you're coming home
with the cart from the bog, you may as well bring
a little thyscaun of turf. (South.) Irish taoscdn
[thayscaun], same meaning.
Think long: to be longing for anything — home,
friends, an event, &c. (North.) 'I am thinking
long till I see my mother.'
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 341
Thirteen. When the English anil Irish currencies
were different, the English shilling was worth
thirteen pence in Ireland : hence a shilling was
called a thirteen in Ireland : — ' I gave the
captain six thirteens to ferry me over to Park-
gate.' (Irish Folk Song.)
Thivish; a spectre, a ghost. (General.) Irish
taidkbhse [thivshe], same meaning.
Thole ; to endure, to bear : — ' I had to thole hardship
and want while you were away.' (All over Ulster.)
Thon, thonder ; yon, yonder : — ' Not a tree or a
thing only thon wee couple of poor whins that's
blowing up thonder on the rise.' (Seumas
MacManus, for North-West Ulster.)
Thoun'thabock : a good beating. Literally ' strong
tobacco: Ir. teann-tabac [same sound]. 'If you don't
mind your business, I'll give you thounthabock.'
Thrape or threep ; to assert vehemently, boldly, and
in a manner not to brook contradiction. Common
in Meath and from that northward.
Thrashbag ; several pockets sewed one above
another along a strip of strong cloth for holding
thread, needles, buttons, &c., and rolled up when
not in use. (Moran : Carlow.)
Thraulagh, or thaulagh ; a soreness or pain in the
wrist of a reaper, caused by work. (Connaught.)
Irish — two forms — trdlach and tddhlach [thraulagh,
thaulagh.]
Three-na-haila ; mixed up all in confusion : — ' I
must arrange my books and papers : they are all
three-na-haila.' (South.) Irish tri n-a cheile,
' through each other.' The translation ' through -
other ' is universal in Ulster.
842 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
Three-years-old and Four-years-old ; the names of
two hostile factions in the counties of Limerick,
Tipperary, and Cork, of the early part of last
century, who fought whenever they met, either
individually or in numbers, each faction led by its
redoubtable chief. The weapons were sticks, but
sometimes stones were used. We boys took
immense delight in witnessing those fights,
keeping at a safe distance however for fear of a
stray stone. Three-years and Four-years battles
were fought in New Pallas in Tipperary down to
a few years ago.
Thrisloge ; a long step in walking, a long jump.
(Munster.) Irish triosldg, same sound.
Throllop ; an untidy woman, a slattern, a streel.
(Banim : very general in the South.)
Thurmus, thurrumus ; to sulk from food. (Munster.)
Irish toirmesc [thurrumask], same meaning : —
' Billy won't eat his supper : he is thurrumming.'
Tibb's-Eve ; ' neither before nor after Christmas,' i.e.,
never : ' Oh you'll get your money by Tibb's-Eve.'
Till ; used in many parts of Ireland in the sense of
' in order that ' : — ' Come here Micky till I comb
your hair.'
Tilly ; a small quantity of anything given over and
above the quantity purchased. Milkmen usually
give a tilly with the pint or quart. Irish tuilledh,
same sound and meaning. Very general.
Tinges ; goods that remain long in a draper's hands.
(Moran : Carlow.)
Togher [toher] ; a road constructed through a bog
or swamp ; often of brambles or wickerwork
covered over with gravel and stones.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 348
Tootn-egg [3-syll.] , a peculiar-shaped brass or white-
metal button, having the stem fastened by a
conical-shaped bit of metal. I have seen it
explained as tooth-and-egy ; but I believe this to be
a guess. (Limerick.)
Tory-top ; the seed cone of a fir-tree. (South.)
Towards ; in comparison with : — ' That's a fine
horse towards the one you had before.'
Tradesman ; an artisan, a working mechanic. In
Ireland the word is hardly ever applied to a
shopkeeper.
Trake ; a long tiresome walk : ' you gave me a great
trake for nothing.' (Ulster.)
Tram or tram-cock ; a hay-cock — rather a small one.
(Morau : Carlow.)
Trams ; the ends of the cart shafts that project
behind. (North.) Called heels in the South.
Trance ; the name given in Munster to the children's
game of Scotch hop or pickey.
Traneen or trawneen : a long slender grass- stalk,
like a knitting-needle. Used all over Ireland. In
some places citshoye.
Travel ; used in Ulster for walking as distinguished
from driving or riding : — ' Did you drive to Derry ? '
' Oh no, I travelled.'
Trice ; to make an agreement or bargain. (Simmons :
Armagh.)
Triheens : a pair of stockings with only the legs :
the two feet cut off. It is the Irish troiyh [thro],
a foot, with the diminutive — troiyhthin [trLheen].
In Roscommon this word is applied to the handle of
a loy or spade which has been broken and patched
together again. (Connaught and Munster.)
344 KNGIJSH AS WK SPEAK IT IN IRKT.AND. [cH. XIII.
Trindle ; the wheel of a wheelbarrow. (Morris for
South Monaghan.)
Trinket ; a small artificial channel for water : often
across and under a road. ( Simmons and Patterson :
East Ulster.) See Linthern.
Turf ; peat for fuel : used in this sense all over
Ireland. We hardly ever use the word in the
sense of 'Where heaves the turf in many a
mouldering heap.'
Turk ; an ill-natured surly boorish fellow.
Twig ; to understand, to discern, to catch the point :
— ' When I hinted at what I wanted, he twigged
me at once.' Irish tuig [twig], to understand.
Ubbabo ; an exclamation of wonder or surprise ;
— ' Ubbabo,' said the old woman, ' we'll soon see
to that.' (Crofton Croker.)
Ullagone ; an exclamation of sorrow ; a name applied
to any lamentation : — ' So I sat down . . . and
began to sing the Ullagone.' (Crofton Croker.)
' Mike was ullagoning all day after you left.' (Irish.)
Ullilu ; an interjection of sorrow equivalent to the
English alas or alack and ivell-a-day. (Irish.)
Unbe-knownst ; unknown, secret. (De Vismes Kane
for Monaghan : but used very generally.)
Under has its peculiar uses : — ' She left the fish out
under the cats, and the jam out under the chil-
dren.' (Hayden and Hartog: for Dublin and its
neighbourhood : but used also in the South.)
Under-board ; ' the state of a corpse between death
and interment.' (Simmons : Armagh.) ' From
the board laid on the breast of the corpse, with a
plate of snuff and a Bible or Prayerbook laid on
it.1 (S. Scott, Derry.)
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 345
Variety of Phrases, A, 185.
Venom, generally pronounced vinnom ; energy : —
' He does his work with great venom.' An at-
tempted translation from an Irish word that bears
more than one meaning, and the wrong meaning
is brought into English : — viz. neim orn-eimh, liter-
ally poison, venom, but figuratively fierceness, energy.
John O'Dugan writes in Irish (500 years ago) : —
Risgach ndruing do niad a neim : ' against every tribe
they [the Clann Ferrall] exert their, neim ' (literally
their poison, but meaning their energy or bravery).
80 also the three sons of Fiacha are endowed coi-sin
neim ' with fierceness,' lit. with poison or venom.
(Silva Gadelica.) In an old Irish tale a lady
looks with intense earnestness on a man she
admires : in the Irish it is said ' She put nimh a
sill on him, literally the ' venom of her eyes,'
meaning the keenest glance of her eyes.
Hence over a large part of Ireland, especially
the South, you will hear : ' Ah, Dick is a splendid
man to hire : he works with such venom.' A
countryman (Co. Wicklow), speaking of the new
National Teacher : — ' Indeed sir he's well enough,
but for all that he hasn't the vinnom of poor
Mr. O'Brien : ' i.e. he does not teach with such
energy.
Very fond ; when there is a long spell of rain,
frost, &c., people say : — ' It is very fond of the
rain,' &c.
Voteen ; a person who is a devotee in religion :
nearly always applied in derision to one who
is excessively and ostentatiously devotional.
(General.)
346 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND, [oil. XIII.
Wad : a wisp of straw or hay pressed tightly
together. A broken pane in a window is often
stuffed with a wad of straw. ' Careless and gay,
like a wad in a window ': old saying. (General.)
Walsh, Edward, 5, &c.
Wangle ; the handful of straw a thatcher grasps in
his left hand from time to time while thatching,
twisted up tight at one end. By extension of
meaning applied to a tall lanky weak young fellow.
(Moran : middle eastern counties.)
Wangrace; oatmeal gruel for sick persons. (Simmons:
Armagh.)
Want ; often used in Ulster in the following way : —
' I asked Dick to come back to us, for we couldn't
want him,' i.e. couldn't do without him.'
Wap ; a bundle of straw ; as a verb, to make up straw
into a bundle. (Derry and Monaghan.)
Warrant ; used all over Ireland in the following
way — nearly always with good, better, or best, but
sometimes with bad : — ' You're a good warrant (a
good hand) to play for us [at hurling] whenever
we ax you.' (' Knocknagow.') ' She was a good
warrant to give a poor fellow a meal when he
wanted it ' : ' Father Patt gave me a tumbler of
rale stiff punch, and the divel a better warrant
to make the same was within the province of
Connaught.' (' Wild Sports of the West.')
Watch-pot ; a person who sneaks into houses about
meal times hoping to get a bit or to be asked to
join.
Way. ' A dairyman's ivay, a labourer's icatj, means
the privileges or perquisites which the dairyman or
labourer gets, in addition to the main contract. A
OH. XTII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 347
n-fij/ might be grazing for a sheep, a patch of land
for potatoes, &c.' (Healy : for Waterford.)
Wearables ; articles of clothing. In Tipperary they
call the old-fashioned wig ' Dwyer's wearable.'
Weather-blade, in Armagh, the same as ' Goureen-
roe ' in the South, which see.
Wee (North), weeny (South) ; little.
Well became. ' When Tom Cullen heard himself
insulted by the master, well became him he up and
defied him and told him he'd stay no longer inhis
house.' 'Well became' here expresses approval
of Tom's action as being the correct and becoming
thing to do. I said to little Patrick ' I don't like
to give you any more sweets you're so near your
dinner'; and well became him he up and said: —
' Oh I get plenty of sweets at home before my
dinner.' ' Well became Tom he paid the whole
bill.'
Wersh, w-arah, worsh ; insipid, tasteless, needing
salt or sugar. (Simmons and Patterson : Ulster.)
Wet and dry ; ' Tom gets a shilling a day, wet and
dry'; i.e. constant work and constant pay in all
weathers. (General.)
Whack : food, sustenance : — ' He gets 2s. 6d. a day
and his ichack.'
Whassah or fassah ; to feed cows in some unusual
place, such as along a lane or road : to herd them
in unfenced ground. The food so given is also
called u-Jiassah. (Moran : for South Mon.) Irish
fdsach, a wilderness, any wild place.
Whatever ; at any rate, anyway, anyhow : usually
put in this sense at the end of a sentence :—
' Although she can't speak on other days of
348 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
the week, she can speak on Friday, whatever.'
(' Collegians.') ' Although you wouldn't take
anything else, you'll drink this glass of milk,
whatever.' (Munster.)
Curious, I find this very idiom in an English book
recently published : ' Lord Tweedmouth. Notes
and Kecollections,' viz. : — ' We could not cross
the river [in Scotland], but he would go [across]
ivhatever.' The writer evidently borrowed this
from the English dialect of the Highlands, where
they use whatever exactly as we do. (William
Black : ' A Princess of Thule.') In all these cases,
whether Irish or Scotch, whatever is a translation
from the Gaelic ar mhodh ar bith or some such
phrase.
Wheeling. When a fellow went about flourishing
a cudgel and shouting out defiance to people to
fight him — shouting for his faction, side, or dis-
trict, he was said to be ' wheeling ' : — ' Here's for
Oola!' 'here's three years I' 'here's Lillis!'
(Munster.) Sometimes called hurrooing. See
' Three-years-old.'
Wheen ; a small number, a small quantity : — 'I was
working for a wheen o' days ' : '111 eat a wheen of
these gooseberries.' (Ulster.)
Whenever is generally used in Ulster for when : —
' I was in town this morning and whenever I came
home I found the calf dead in the stable.'
Which. When a person does not quite catch what
another says, there is generally a query: — 'eh?'
'what? 'or ' what's that you say?' Our people
often express this query by the single word
'which?' I knew a highly educated and highly
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 849
placed Dublin official who always so used the
word. (General.)
Whipster ; a bold forward romping impudent girl.
(Ulster.) In Limerick it also conveys the idea of
a girl inclined to whip or steal things.
Whisht, silence : used all over Ireland in such
phrases as ' hold your whisht ' (or the single
word ' whisht '), i.e., be silent. It is the Gaelic
word tost, silence, with the first t aspirated as it
ought to be, which gives it the sound of h. They
pronounce it as if it were written thuist, which is
exactly sounded tvhitsht. The same word — taken
from the Gaelic of course — is used everywhere in
Scotland : — When the Scottish Genius of Poetry
appeared suddenly to Burns (in ' The Vision ') :—
' Ye needna doubt, I held my whisht 1 '
Whisper, whisper here ; both used in the sense of
' listen," ' listen to me ' : — ' Whisper, I want to say
something to you,' and then he proceeds to say it,
not in a whisper, but in the usual low conver-
sational tone. Very general all over Ireland.
' Whisper ' in this usage is simply a translation of
cogar [cogger], and ' whisper here' of cogar annso ;
these Irish words being used by Irish speakers
exactly as their dialectical English equivalents are
used in English : the English usage being taken
from the Irish.
White-headed boy or white-haired boy ; a favourite,
a person in favour, whether man or boy : — ' Oh
you're the white-headed boy now.'
Whitterit or whitrit ; a weasel. (Ulster.)
Whose owe? the same as 'who owns?': — ' Whose
owe is this book ? ' Old English. My correspondent
850 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [cH. XIII.
states that this was a common construction in
Anglo-Saxon. (Ulster.)
Why ; a sort of terminal expletive used in some of
the Munster counties : — ' Tom is a strong boy
why ' : ' Are you going to Ennis why ? ' 'I am
going to Cork why.'
Why for ? used in Ulster as an equivalent to ' for
what ? '
Why but? 'Why not?' (Ulster.) ' Why but you
speak your mind out ?' i.e. ' Why should you not ?'
(Kane : Armagh.)
Why then ; used very much in the South to begin a
sentence, especially a reply, much as indeed is
used in English : — ' When did you see John
Dunn ? ' WThy then I met him yesterday at the
fair ' : ' Which do you like best, tea or coffee ? '
' Why then I much prefer tea.' ' Why then Pat
is that you ; and how is every rope's lenrjth of
you ? '
Wicked ; used in the South in the sense of severe or
cross. ' Mr. Manning our schoolmaster is very
wicked.'
Widow-woman and widow-man ; are used for widow
and indoirer, especially in Ulster : but widow-
woman is heard everywhere.
Wigs on the green ; a fight : so called for an obvious
reason : — ' There will be wigs on the green in the
fair to-day.'
Will you was never a good fellow, 18, 114.
Wine or wynd of hay ; a small temporary stack of
hay, made up on the meadow. All the small
wynds are ultimately made up into one large rick
or stack in the farmyard.
CH. XIII.] VOCABULARY AND INDEX. 851
Wipe, a blow : all over Ireland : he gave him a wipe
on tlie face. In Ulster, a goaly-wipe is a great
blow on the ball with the camann or hurley : such
as will send it to the goal.
Wire. To wire in is to begin work vigorously : to
join in a fight.
Wirra ; an exclamation generally indicating surprise,
sorrow, or vexation : it is the vocative of ' Muire '
(A Mhuire), Mary, that is, the Blessed Virgin.
Wirrasthru, a term of pity ; alas. It is the phonetic
form of A Mhuire is trnaiyh, ' 0 Mary it is a pity
(or a sorrow),' implying the connexion of the
Blessed Virgin with sorrow.
Wit ; sense, which is the original meaning. But
this meaning is nearly lost in England while it is
extant everywhere in Ireland : — A sharp Ulster
woman, entering her little boy in a Dublin Infant
School, begged of the mistress to teach him a
little icut.
Witch : black witches are bad ; white witches good.
(West Donegal.)
Wish; esteem, friendship: — 'Your father had a
great wish for me,' i.e. held me in particular
esteem, had a strong friendship. (General.) In
this application it is merely the translation of the
Irish meas, respect : — Td ineds mor ar/mn ort ; I
have great esteem for you, I have a great icish for
you, I hold you in great respect.
Wisha ; a softening down of inosm, which see.
With that ; thereupon : used all over Ireland. Irish
luis sin, which is often used, has the same exact
meaning ; but still I think with that is of old
352 ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND. [CH. XIII.
English origin, though the Irish equivalent may
have contributed to its popularity.
' With that her couverchef from her head she braid
And over his litel eyen she it laid.'
(CHAUCER.)
"Word ; trace, sign. (Ulster.) ' Did you see e'er a
word of a black-avised (black-visaged) man travel-
ling the road you came?'
Wrap and run : ' I gathered up every penny I could
wrap and run,' is generally used : the idea being to
wrap up hastily and run for it.
Yoke ; any article, contrivance, or apparatus for use
in some work. ' That's a quare yoke Bill,' says a
countryman when he first saw a motor car.
( 353 )
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF PERSONS
"Who sent me Collections of Dialectical "Words and Phrases in
response to my letter of February, 1892, published in the
newspapers.
The names and addresses are given exactly as I received them.
The collections of those marked with an asterisk (#) were very
important.
Allen, Mary ; Armagh.
Atkinson, M. ; The Pavilion,
"Weedon.
Bardan, Patrick; Coralstown,
Killucan, "Westmeath.
Bentley, William ; Hurdles-
town, Broadford, Co. Clare.
Bermingham, T. C. ; "White-
church Nat. School, Cappo-
quin, Co. "Waterford.
Boyd, John ; Union Place,
Dungannon.
Boyd, John ; Dean's Bridge,
Armagh.
Brady, P. ; Brackney Nat.
School, Kilkeel, Down.
Brady, P. ; Anne Street, Dun-
dalk.
Breen, E. ; Killarney.
Brenan, Eev. Samuel Arthur,
Rector; Cushendun, Antrim.
Brett, Miss Elizabeth C. ;
Crescent, Holywood, Co.
Down.
Brophy, Michael ; Tallow
Street, Carlow.
Brown, Edith ; Donaghmore,
Tyrone.
Brown, Mrs. John ; Seaforde,
Clough, Co. Down.
Brownlee, J. A. ; Armagh.
Buchanan, Colonel ; Edenfel,
Omagh.
2
Burke, W. S. ; 187 Clonliffe
Road, Dublin.
Bushe, Charles P. ; 2 St.
Joseph's Terrace, Sandford
Road, Dublin.
Burrows, A. ; Grass Valley,
Nevada Co., California.
Byers, J. "W. ; Lower Crescent,
Belfast.
Byrne, James, J.P. ; "Walls-
town Castle, Castletown-
roche, Co. Cork.
Caldwell, Mrs. ; Dundrum,
Dublin.
"Campbell, Albert ; Ballyna-
garde House, Derry.
Campbell, John ; Blackwater-
town, Armagh.
Cangley, Patrick ; Co. Meath.
(North.)
Carroll, John; Pallasgrean,
Co. Limerick.
Chute, Jeanie L. B. ; Castle -
coote, Roscommon.
Clements, M. E. ; 61 Marl-
borough Road, Dublin.
Close, Mary A. ; Limerick.
"Close, Rev. Maxwell ; Dublin.
Coakley, James ; Currabaha
Nat. School, Kilmacthomas,
Waterford.
Coleman, James; Southampton.
(Now of Queenstown.)
( 354 )
Colhoun, James ; Donegal.
Connolly, Mrs. Susan ; The
Glebe, Foynes.
Come, Sarah ; Monaghan.
Counihan, Jeremiah ; Killar-
ney.
Cox, M. ; Co. Roscornmon.
Crowe, A. ; Limerick.
Cullen, William; 131 North
King Street, Dublin.
Curry, S. ; General Post Office,
Dublin.
Daunt, W. J. O'N. ; Kilcascan,
Ballyneen, Co. Cork.
Davies, W. W. ; Glenmore
Cottage, Lisburn.
Delmege, MissF. ; N. Teacher,
Central Model School, Dublin.
Dennehy, Patrick ; Curren's
Nat. School, Farranfore, Co.
Cork.
Devine, The Rev. Father Pius ;
Mount Argus, Dublin.
Dobbyn, Leonard ; Holly-
mount, Lee Road, Cork.
Dod, R. ; Royal Academical
Institution, Belfast ; The
Lodge, Castlewellan.
Dohevty, Denis ; Co. Cork.
*Drew, Sir Thomas ; Dublin.
Dunne, Miss ; Aghavoe House,
Ballacolla, Queen's Co.
Egan, F. W. ; Albion House,
Dundrum, Dublin.
Egan, J. ; 34 William Street,
Limerick.
Fetherstonhaugh, R. S. ; Rock
View, Killucun, Westmeath.
Fitz Gerald, Lord Walter; Kil-
kea Castle, Co. Kildare.
Fleming, Mrs. Elizabeth ; Yen-
try Parsonage, Dingle, Kerry.
Fleming, John ; Rathgormuck
Nat. School, Waterford.
Flynn, John ; Co. Clare.
Foley, M. ; Killorglin, Kerry.
Foster, Elizabeth J. ; 7 Percy
Place, Dublin.
G. K. O'L. (a lady from Kil-
kenny, I think).
Garvey, John ; Ballina, Co.
Mayo.
Gilmour, Thomas ; Antrim.
Glasgow, H. L. ; ' Midland
Ulster Mail,' Cookstown, Co.
Tyrone.
Glover, W. W. ; Ballinlough
Nat. School, Co.Roscommon.
Graham, Lizzie F. ; Poi tadown.
Greene, Dr. G. E. J. ; The
Well, Bally carney, Ferns,
Co. Wexford.
Hamilton, A. ; Desertmartin,
Belfast,
Haunon, John ; Crossmaglen
Nat. School, Armagh.
Harkin, Daniel ; Rainelton,
Donegal.
*Harriugton, Private Thomas ;
211 Strand, London, W.C.
(For Munster.)
Haugh, John ; Co. Clare.
Haughton, Kate M. ; Lady'*
Island Nat. School, Wex-
ford.
*Healy, Maurice, si. p., 37
South Mall, Cork.
Henry, Robert ; Coleraine.
•Higgins, The Rev. Michael,
c.c. ; Queenstowu, Cork.
( 855 )
Hunt, M. ; Ballyfarnan, Ros-
common.
*Hunter, Robert ; 39 Gladstone
Street, Clonmel.
Irwin, A. J., K.A. ; Glenfern,
Ballyarton, Deny.
* Jones, Miss ; Knocknamohill,
Ovoca, Co. Wicklow.
*Joyce, W. B., B.A. ; Limerick.
*Kane, W. Francis de Vismes ;
Sloperton Lodge, Kingstown,
Dublin. (For Ulster.)
Keegan, T. ; Rosegreen Nat.
School, Clonmel.
Kelly, Eliza, Co. Mayo.
Kelly, George A. P., M.A. ;
6 Upper Pembroke Street,
Dublin. (For Roscommon.)
Kennedy, J. J. ; Faha Nat.
School, Beaufort, Killarney.
Kenny, The Rev. M. J., p.p. ;
Scarriff, Co. Clare.
Kenny, Charles W. ; Caledon,
Co. Tyrone.
Kilmartin, Mary ; Tipperary.
Kilpatrick, George ; Kilrea,
Derry.
*Kinahan, G. H. ; Dublin.
(Collection gathered from all
Ireland.)
Kingham, S. H. ; Co. Down.
*Knowles, W. J. ; Flixton Place,
Ballymena.
Knox, "W. ; Tedd, Irvinestown.
Lawlor, Patrick ; Ballinclogher
Nat. School, Lixnaw. Kerry.
Linn, Richard ; 259 Hereford
St., Christchurch, New
Zealand. (For Antrim.)
Lynch, M. J. ; Kerry.
*MacCall, Patrick J.; 25 Patrick
St., Dublin.
McCandless, T.; BallinreesNat.
School, Coleraine.
McClelland, F. J. ; Armagh.
McCormac, Emily ; Cnoc Aluin,
Dalkey, Dublin.
MacDonagh.Mr. ; "Ward Schls.,
Bangor, Co. Down.
McGloin, Louisa; Foxford,
Mayo.
MacSheehy, Brian, LL.D., Head
Inspector of Nat. Schools,
Dublin.
McKenna, A. ; Clones, Co.
Monaghan.
McKeown, R. ; Co. Tyrone.
McNulty, Robert ; Raphoe.
Maguire, John ; Co. Cavan
Maguire, M. ; Mullinscross,
Louth.
Mason, Thos. A. H. ; 29
Mailborougb. Road, Dublin.
Mason, Thos. : Hollymount,
Buxton Hill, Cork.
Montgomery, Maggie ; Antrim.
*Moran, Patrick; 14 Strand
Road, Derry, Retired Head
Constable R. I. Constabulary,
native of Curlow, to which
his collection mainly belongs.
'Morris, Henry; Cashlan East,
Carrickmacross, Monaghan.
Murphy, Christopher O'B. ; 48
Victoria St., Dublin.
Murphy, Ellie ; Co. Cork.
Murphy, J. ; Co. Cork.
Murphy, T. ; Co. Cork.
Neville, Anne ; 48 Greville
Road, Bedminster.
( 356 )
Niven, Kichard ; Lambeg,
Lisburn.
Nonis, A. ; Kerry.
O'Brien, Micbael ; Munlough
Nut. School, Cavan.
O'Connor, James ; Ballyglass
House, Sligo.
O'Donnell, Patrick ; Mayo.
*0'Donohoe, Timothy; Car-
rignavar, Cork. (' Tadg
O'Donnchadha.')
O'Farrell, Fergus ; Redington,
Queenstown.
O'Farrell, W. (a lady). Same
place.
O'Flanagan, J. R. ; Grange
House, Fermoy, Cork.
O'Hagan, Philip ; Buncrana,
Donegal.
O'Hara, Isa ; Tyrone.
O'Leary, Nelius ; Nat. School,
Kilmallock, Limerick.
O'Reilly, P. ; Nat. School,
Granard.
O'Sullivan, D. J. ; Shelburne
Nat. School, Kenmare.
O'Sullivan, Janie ; Kerry.
Reen, Denis T.; Kingwilliams-
town, Cork.
Reid, George R.; 23 Cromwell
Road, Belfast.
Reid, Samuel \V. ; Armagh.
•Reilly, Patrick ; Cemetery
Lodge, Naas, Co. Kildare.
Rice, Michael ; Castlewellan,
Co. Down.
Riley, Lizzie ; Deny.
*Russell, T. O'Neill; Dublin.
(For central counties.)
Ryan, Ellie ; Limerick.
Scott, J. ; Milford Nat. School,
Donegal.
•Scott, S. ; Deny.
'Simmons, D. A. ; Nat. School,
Armagh.
Simpson, Thomas ; Deny.
Skin-ing, R. Scot ; 29 Drum-
mond Place, Edinburgh.
Smith, Owen; Nobber, Co.
Meath.
*Stafford, Wm. ; Buldwinstown*
Biidgetown, Wexford.
Stanhope, Mr. ; Paris.
Supple, D. J. ; Royal Irish
Constabulary, Robertstown,
Kildare. (For Kerry.)
Thompson, L. ; Ballyculter,
Co. Down.
Tighe, T. F. ; Ulster Bank,
Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan.
Tobin, J. E. ; 8 Muckross
Parade, N. C. Road, Dublin.
Tuite, Rev. P., p.p. ; Paro-
chial House, Tullamore.
Walshe, Charlotte ; Waterford.
Ward, Emily G. ; Castle-
ward, Downpatrick.
White, Eva ; Limerick.
White, Rev. H. V. ; All
SS. Rectory, Waterford.
White, John Davis ; Cashel,
Co. Tipperary. (Newspaper
Editor.)
Weir, Rev. George ; Crees-
lough, Donegal.
Weir, J. ; Ballymena.
Wood-Martin, Col., A.D.C. ;
Cleveragh, Sligo.
*Woollett, Mr. Marlow; Dublin.
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