Clan Coleman
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The language spoken around me in the west of Ireland in the 1940’s was, as I reflect on it, quite different in both composition and delivery from that spoken in the area today. Many of its words were rooted in the Irish language and survived well into the late 1900’s. Over fifty percent of the words and phrases in my grandmother’s language were Irish. This meeting or fusion of the two languages was for me and others like me a natural form of communication. It was only later when in college that I began to appreciate the unique nature of the assimilation that was obviously at work between the two languages. While the following list records some of the words in common use, it is by no means exhaustive:
| Anglicised Usage | Irish Word and Meaning | Comment | |
| crocaun | Cnocán - little hill | ||
| srath (srah) | Srath - river valley | Used to refer also to flat marshy lands next to a lake - the cattle grazing in the srath. | |
| boreen | bóithrín - country lane | Down the boreen. | |
| trauneen | tráinín - long thin blade of grass | A tráinín of a garsún (boy). | |
| boochaluan | buachalán buí - ragwort | ||
| poreens also shlits |
pór - potato seed sliseanna - pieces cut of the potato for seed |
Preparing the shlits. | |
| scraw | scraith - cleaned off sod on bog | Removing the scraw before cutting the turf. | |
| scutch | scoth (scuh) - tuft of grass | ||
| slaan | sleán (shlaun)- turf spade | ||
| lochaun | lochán - little lake | Above at the lochaun. | |
| glugar | ubh (uv - u as in put) ghlugar - rotten egg | In Irish, the adjective follows the noun - cailín deas (girl pretty). | |
| rickle also reekle | ricil - small stack of turf | ||
| meitheal | meitheal - gang | Meithael of men. | |
| scagh | Sceach - thorny bush | ||
| focal | focal - word - comment | Not a focal (comment) from him. | |
| mearacaun | méanacán - thimble | ||
| barm brack | báirín (cake) breac - cake speckled with raisins | ||
| bruteen cally |
brúitín - mashed potatoes with milk and butter ceaile – mashed new potatoes with scallions and home-made butter |
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| drisheen | drisín - pig intestine boiled with onion and oatmeal | ||
| griskeen | griscín - slice of meat | ||
| scalteen | scailtín - hot whiskey | ||
| koshkeen | caiscín - wholemeal bread | Made from crushed wheat homegrown. | |
| shlug | slog - drink or swallow | Take another shlug now. | |
| praetees | prátaí - potatoes | ||
| whisht Scelp or shcelp smeesh |
fuist - silence sceilp - slap smaois - mouth or snout |
Hold your whisht or I’ll give you a scelp in the smeesh. | |
| There were lots of words to describe people: | |||
| ceolaun | ceolán - miserable whimper | ||
| blather | bladair - foolish incessant talk | ||
| oanshagh | óinseach - foolish woman | ||
| amadaun | amadán - silly and foolish | Usually in reference to a male | |
| gaum | gamaí - rattle brain | ||
| gligeen | gligín - a foolish gaum | ||
| skitar | sciotaráil - foolish laughter | Stop the skitar you amadaun! | |
| glick | glic - smart or shrewd | Pateen glick – smart Pat. | |
| strooanshe | stróinse - lazy, idle woman | ||
| spaug | spág - big clumsy foot | ||
| plaumause | plámás - flatterer | ||
| ludeen | lúidín - little finger | Pull my ludeen! | |
| kithoge | ciotóg - left handed and clumsy | He’s a kithoge. | |
| gubaun | gubán - lazy, useless person | That’s gubaun’s work! | |
| gubaunseer | gubánsaor - master craftsman | All around where I was raised are ruins of abbeys. I recall how, during a visit to the abbey ruins at Kill(Cille), my father pointed out the part of the stone work completed by the saor cloiche (stonemason) and gubánsaor as an example for the other stonemasons to follow. | |
| dúidín | Dúidín - a small pipe, usually made of white clay, with a long stem | Often smoked by older women and in the olden days given to mourners at wakes. I have seen my grandmother, Bridget Murphy, smoke her dúidín which she kept hidden under a small cushion on the hob. | |
| keening | ag caoineadh - crying | It was customary to have someone cry loudly at wakes to both praise and mourn the deceased. My only experience of this custom was in 1953 when I drove Willie Caulfield and his mother Sarah from our village to a wake near Finney in south west Mayo. Two elderly ladies in black shawls took turns at keening all in Irish, and it was indeed a fine performance. | |
| sugaun | Súgán - rope made from straw by weaving and twisting it into a rope | ||
| Words of love, endearment and address: | |||
| acushla macushla |
cuisle - vein or pulse mo chuisle - my pulse | Darling! Literally, you’re my pulse. | |
| cushlamochree | cuisle mo croí - pulse of my heart | ||
| avourneen mavourneen |
muirnín - sweetheartmo mbuirín - my darling, beloved | Addressing one’s sweetheart. | |
| astore | stór - darling | ||
| agraw | grá - love | ||
| A common practice that survives to this day. | |||
| biteen (pronounced ‘bitteen’) | It means ‘a little bit’. The ending ‘ín’ in Irish means the diminutive of the noun to which it is appended. It is still fairly widely used and also quite often used with English words, for example, “Seaneen (Seánín) is still a biteen slack since he had the flu” or “Sure it’s a lovely headeen of hair the child has”. | ||
As we say in Irish, "Níl anseo ach samplaí" - this is just a sample, but it is true to say that increased travel and communication with the outside world, educational advancement and the development of a strong modern economy and indeed the passing of generations have all led to a continuing decline in the use of many of these words in colloquial and spoken English.
Another category of Irish words used in English and officially adopted in modern Ireland as part of the vocabulary of Irish English includes among others the following:
Áras an Uachtaráin (Presidential Palace) [pronounced 'Awr-as un Ook-thar-awn]
Ard-Fheis(eanna) (party congress(es) of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin) [pronounced 'awrd esh'(ana)]
Ard-Rí ('The High King' (of Ireland), name of the Irish overlord king in medieval times. [pronounced 'Awrd Ree']
Bord Fáilte (tourist board - literally 'welcome board') [pronounced 'bawrd fawl-cha']
Bunreacht na hÉireann (Constitution of Ireland) [Bun-ruckt na Hair-in]
Ceann Comhairle (Speaker of Dáil Éireann) [pronounced 'kyann koar-la']
Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives) [pronounced 'Dawl Air-in']
Éire (Ireland) [pronounced 'Air-a']
Fianna Fáil (The largest Irish political party, translation: 'Soldiers of Destiny') [pronounced 'Fee-na Faul']
Fine Gael (The second largest party, translation 'Family of the Gael') [pronounced 'Fee-na Gale']
Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) [pronounced 'gale-thuckt']
Garda Síochána Irish police force [pronounced 'gawrda shee-a-cawna']
Garda police officer, pl. Gardaí [pronounced 'gawr-dee']
Príomh-Aire (Prime Minister 1919-21) [pronounced 'Preeve Arra']
Punt ('pound' (currency), was often used in English to refer specifically to the Irish pound, now replaced by the euro) [pronounced 'punth']
Radio Telifís Éireann (Irish national broadcasting service, RTÉ) [pronounced 'Radd-eeoh Tell-if-eesh Air-in']
Saorstát Éireann (Irish Free State's name in Irish) [pronounced 'Seer-stawth Air-inn']
Seanad Éireann (Irish Senate) [pronounced 'Shan-nad Air-in']
Sinn Féin (Political party in Ireland with ties in the republican movement, translation 'We, Ourselves') [pronounced 'shin fayn' ]
Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister since 1937) [pronounced 'Thaw-nish-ta']
Taoiseach (Prime Minister since 1937) [pronounced 'thee-shuck']
Teachta Dála (Member of Parliament; used as 'TD') [pronounced 'Chock-ta dawla']
Uachtarán na hÉireann (President of Ireland) [pronounced 'Ook-thar-awn na Hair-in']
Údarás na Gaeltachta (development agency for Gaeltachtaí) [pronounced 'ooda-rawss na gayl-thuk-tha']
Some of the words listed here appear also in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
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