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and Index (Chapter XIII).
ENGLISH AS WE SPEAK IT IN IRELAND
by
P. W. JOYCE, LL.D., T.C.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,
Marlborough 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
{v}
PREFACE.
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} 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 intention 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. {vii}
_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 Surrounding 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 annotated 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 English 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. {viii}
'The Irish Dialect of English; its Origins and Vocabulary.' By Mary Hayden,
M.A., and Prof. Marcus Hartog (jointly): published in 'The Fortnightly
Review' (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 dialectical words
and phrases derived from Old English forms, to which I am indebted for much
information, and which will be found acknowledged 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 {ix} 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 Dictionary 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} 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 treatment; 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_.
* * * * *
{xi}
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 REDUNDANCY, 120
X. COMPARISONS, 136
XI. THE MEMORY OF HISTORY AND OF OLD CUSTOMS, 143
XII. A VARIETY OF PHRASES, 185
XIII. VOCABULARY AND INDEX, 209
Alphabetical List of Persons who sent
Collections of Dialectical Words and
Phrases, 353
* * * * *
{1}
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, dialectical expressions have
gradually grown up among our English-speaking people, as dialects arise
everywhere.
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 belonging 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} 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 moderately 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 _when they came before r_. That is why we hear among the people
in every part of Ireland such vulgarisms as (for _t_) _bitther_, _butther_,
_thrue_; and (for _d_) _laddher_ (ladder), _cidher_ (cider), _foddher_, &c.
Yet in other positions we sound these letters correctly, as in _fat_,
_football_, _white_; _bad_, _hide_, _wild_, &c. No one, however uneducated,
will mispronounce 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
_dive_--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 proportion 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 {3} sound was then considered almost a national
characteristic; 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 combinations,
bring this sound into their English:--'He gave me a blow of his _fisht_';
'he was _whishling_ 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 _dozhen_ eggs'; ''tis _drizzhling_ rain'; 'that is
_dizhmal_ news.'
The second way in which our English is influenced by Irish is in
vocabulary. When our Irish forefathers began to adopt English, they brought
with them from their native language many single Irish {4} 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 periodicals 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 interesting and important feature. Its importance was
pointed out by me in a paper printed twenty years {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
phrases are simply translations from Irish; and when the translations are
literal, Englishmen often find it hard or impossible to understand them.
For a phrase may be correct in Irish, but incorrect, or even
unintelligible, in English when translated word for word. Gerald Griffin
has preserved 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 vocabulary 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 understand it. {6}
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, {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_, _desaive_ for _deceive_; and such words as _sliver_, _lief_,
_afeard_, &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 Elizabethan 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} 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
corresponding 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 discretion 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 forbidding, 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 me--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 {9} that she had come to inform me that the
corpse had just been found.
* * * * *