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 {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 _laighe_, 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 _luidin_, same sound and meaning. From _lu_, 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 _losc_ to burn:
_luscan_, 'burned little spot.'
Lusmore; fairy-thimble, fairy-finger, foxglove, _Digitalis 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 _gopen_ 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} 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 muddiaghs; 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
_miodog_.
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 {291} make a splendid doctor.' The
noun _makings_ is applied similarly:--'That young fellow is the makings
of a great scholar.'
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
Minstrelsy' (I. 228):--_Comarc an t-E ta 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-loochra,' which see.
Mannam; my soul: Irish _m'anam_, same sound and meaning:--'Mannam on
ye,' used as an affectionate 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}
'What's the matter--what's wrong!'
'Oh I saw the divel!'
'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.) Irish _margadh_ [marga], a market, _mor_
[more], great.
Martheen; a stocking with the foot cut off. (Derry.) Irish _mairtin_,
same sound and meaning. _Martheens_ are what they call in Munster
_triheens_, which see.
Mass, celebration of, 144.
Mau-galore; nearly drunk: Irish _maith_ [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 {293} (Kerry); the same
as _Lyre_ and _Gopan_, which see. Irish _Mam_, same sound and meaning.
Mavourneen; my love. (Used all through Ireland.) Irish _Mo-mhuirnin_,
same sound and meaning. See Avourneen.
May-day customs, 170.
Mearacaun [mairacaun]; a thimble. Merely the Irish _mearacan_, same
sound and meaning: from _mear_, a finger, with the diminutive
termination _can_. Applied in the South to the fairy-thimble or
foxglove, with usually a qualifying word:--Mearacaun-shee (_shee_, a
fairy--fairy thimble) or Mearacaun-na-man-shee (where na-man-shee is
the Irish _na-mban-sidhe_, of the _banshees_ or fairy-women).
'Lusmore,' another name, which see.
Mearing; a well-marked boundary--but not necessarily 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 herrings.' 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 _adh_, 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} 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_ on the family.
Melder of corn; the quantity sent to the mill and ground at one time.
(Ulster.)
Memory of History and of Old Customs, 143.
Merrow; a mermaid. Irish _murrughagh_ [murrooa], 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); _druadh_, 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. {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
_mioscan_ [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}
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--_mar-yah_! '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 _wisha_, and both anglicised from the Irish _ma'seadh_, 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, mounthaun; 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, {297} where the quantity given to the
miller is called _moutre_, or _muter_, or _mooter_.
Mulharten; a flesh-worm: a form of meelcartan. See Meelcar.
Mullaberta; arbitration. (Munster.) Merely the Irish _moladh-beirte_,
same sound and meaning: in which _moladh_ [mulla] is 'appraisement';
and _beirt[)e]_, gen. of _beart_, 'two persons':--lit. 'appraisement of
two.' The word mullaberta has however in recent times drifted to mean a
loose unbusinesslike settlement. (Healy.)
Mummers, 171.
Murray, Mr. Patrick, schoolmaster of Kilfinane, 153, 154, and under
'Roasters,' 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 _na-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 'Castlehyde' in my 'Old Irish Music and Songs.')
{298}
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 omadaun, a male fool. Irish
_oinseach_, same sound and meaning: from _on_, a fool, and _seach_, the
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. {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 overright is a wrong translation from an
Irish word--_os-comhair_. _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 _right_ or just, so they translated
_os-comhair_ as if it were _os-coir_, 'over-right.' (Russell: Munster.)
Paddhereen; a prayer: dim. of Latin _Pater_ (_Pater Noster_).
_Paddereen Paurtagh_, the Rosary: from Irish _pairteach_, 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 _paleens_.' (Derry.) {300}
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 earthenware pot used
for boiling food. These little vessels were made at Youghal and Ardmore
(Co. Waterford). 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 plinnypinnytinshary of
these parts' (King O'Toole and St. Kevin): 'Welcome to these parts.'
(Crofton Croker.)
Past; 'I wouldn't put it _past_ 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 {301} much:--'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, 144, 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 pillibeen-meeg; a plover. (Munster.) 'I'm king of Munster
when I'm in the bog, and the _pillibeens_ whistling about me.'
('Knocknagow.') 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 invitation,' i.e.
uninvited. (Cork.) A translation of {302} Irish _cuireadh-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 _car_]; 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-mionnain_, '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
_pishoges_.'
Place; very generally used for house, home, homestead:--'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 covering 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.
Plaumause [to rhyme with _sauce_]; soft talk, plausible speech,
flattery--conveying the idea of insincerity. (South.) Irish _plamas_,
same sound and meaning.
Plauzy; full of soft, flattering, _plausible_ talk. Hence {303} the
noun _plausoge_ [plauss-oge], a person who is plauzy. (South.)
Plerauca; great fun and noisy revelry. Irish _plearaca_, 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 _back_biting.
Polthogue; a blow; a blow with the fist. Irish _palltog_, 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 _puca_.
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 that the Pooka has
something to do with this poisonous fungus. See Causha-pooka (pooka's
cheese). {304}
Pookeen; a play--blindman's buff: from Irish _puic_, 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. _og_ is used instead of _in_ or _een_. The
old-fashioned _coal-scuttle_ bonnets of long ago that nearly covered
the face were often called _pookeen_ 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. {305}
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
_potthalowng_' 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 _potthalowng_. Used in Munster. The Irish
is _patalong_, 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_ {306} [pottheen], 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_.' 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 Red-Shankes into
Ireland.' There is a corresponding Irish expression (_neart airgid_, a
power 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 _th_ in _pith_]; 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-bhuidhe_ [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 {307} 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 (MacCall: South Leinster.) See
Porter-meal.
Prepositions, incorrect use of, 26, 32, 44.
Presently; at present, now:--'I'm living in the country presently.' A
Shakespearian survival:--Prospero:--'Go bring the rabble.'
Ariel:--'Presently?' [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 boyhood 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 out of mind the only huckster who sold salt herrings,
sending 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
{308} 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 of _playing
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.'
('Knocknagow.')
Pulloge; a quantity of hidden apples: usually hidden by a boy who
steals them. (Limerick.) Diminutive of the Irish _poll_, a hole. {309}
Pusheen; the universal word for a kitten in Munster: a diminutive of
the English word _puss_; exactly equivalent to _pussy_.
Puss [_u_ sounded as in _full_]; the mouth and lips, always used _in
dialect_ in an offensive or contemptuous sense:--'What an ugly _puss_
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 _aun_ or _chaun_ being masculine and _og_ 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
_quagh_.' (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': II. 396.
Quality; gentlemen and gentlewomen as distinguished 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} 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 workmen 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 raumaish; _romance_ or fiction, but now commonly applied to
foolish senseless brainless talk. Irish _ramas_ or _ramais_, which is
merely adapted from the word _romance_. {311}
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 _ranaidhe_, same sound and meaning.
Reansha; brown bread: sometimes corrupted to _range_-bread. (MacCall:
Wexford.)
Red or redd; clear, clear out, clear away:--Redd the road, the same as
the Irish _Fag-a-ballagh_, '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 _lights_ 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 mountains, '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 _rianalaidhe_, same sound and meaning:
from _rian_, a way, track, or road: _rianalaidhe_ , a person who
wanders listlessly along the _way_.
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}
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 confounded 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.'
Revelagh; a long lazy gadding fellow. (Morris: Monaghan.)
Rib; a single hair from the head. A poet, praising 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. {313}
Rife, a scythe-sharpener, a narrow piece of board punctured all over
and covered with grease on which fine sand is sprinkled. Used before
the present emery sharpener was known. (Moran: Carlow.) 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 _ringle-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
_roche_, 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. 154) 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 {314} 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 _roasthers_?' 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
_roidin_, little road.
Roman; used by the people in many parts of Ireland 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,
{315} with:--'Read that heading out for us now if you please.' Mick
took it up and read 'St. Paul's Epistle to the _Romans_.' '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. I slept in the kitchen and John slept in the 'room.' (Healy and
myself: Munster.)
Round 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.) {316}
Saulavotcheer; a person having _lark-heels_. (Limerick.) The first
syll. is Irish; _sal_ [saul], heel.
Sauvaun; a rest, a light doze or nap. (Munster.) Irish _samhan_, same
sound and meaning, from _samh_ [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.) Translated 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.') 'I 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 _scal_ (bald), from which comes the Irish
_scalachan_, an unfledged bird.
Scallan; a wooden shed to shelter the priest during Mass, 143, 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]. {317}
Scalteen: 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 caraway seeds) in a pot: a sovereign cure
for a cold. In the old mail-car days there was an inn on the road from
Killarney 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, 6, 7.
Scotch lick; when a person goes to clean up anything--a saucepan, a
floor, his face, a pair of shoes, &c.--and only half does it, he (or
she) has given it a _Scotch 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' {318} 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 _scrahoge_ (with diminutive _og_). Irish
_scrath_, _scrathog_, same sounds and meaning.
Screenge; to search for. (Donegal and Derry.)
Scunder 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 Moylena: and note by Kuno Meyer in 'Rev. Celt.')
(General.)
Seeshtheen; a low round seat made of twisted straw. {319} (Munster.)
Irish _suidhistin_, same sound and meaning: from _suidhe_ [see], to
sit, with diminutive.
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 _ven_], 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 Shamroge; the white trefoil (_Trifolium 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 up little house. (General.) Probably from
Irish _sean_, old, and _tigh_ [tee], a house.
Shaugh; a turn or smoke of a pipe. (General.) Irish _seach_, same sound
and meaning. {320}
Shaughraun; wandering about: to be _on the shaughraun_ is to be out of
employment and wandering idly about looking for work. Irish _seachran_,
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 _sibin_,
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 _sidhe_, same sound and meanings. _Shee_ often takes
the diminutive form--_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
_lis_ or elf-mound to another, and you had better turn aside and avoid
it. Irish _sidhe-gaoithe_, same sound and meaning, where _gaoithe_ is
wind: 'wind-fairies': called 'fairy-blast' in Kildare.
Sheehy, Rev. 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.)
Sheugh or Shough; a deep cutting, elsewhere called a ditch, often
filled with water. (Seumas MacManus: N.W. Ulster.) {321}
Shillelah; a handstick of oak, an oaken cudgel for fighting. (Common
all over Ireland.) From a district in Wicklow called Shillelah,
formerly noted for its oak woods, in which grand shillelahs were
plentiful.
Shingerleens [shing-erleens]; small bits of finery; ornamental tags and
ends--of ribbons, bow-knots, tassels, &c.--hanging on dress, curtains,
furniture, &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 rushes 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 _siubhnan_ [shoonaun] is our
word: signifying {322} '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 _cloving_. Called _shores_ in Monaghan.
Shraff, shraft; Shrovetide: on and about Shrove Tuesday:--'I bought
that cow last shraff.'
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_ [sraum]. 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. {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
_suipigh_, 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}
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 neighbourhood who went on the sorrowful journey--which was
circulated on Shrove Tuesday and for some time after. Some of these
were witty and amusing: 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.
{325}
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!'[8]
Here is a verse from another:--
Poor Andy Callaghan 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 collected round a skibb of
potatoes.' ('Wild Sports of the West.')
Skidder, 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 _creelacaun_ (Limerick). Irish
_sciollan_, same sound and meaning.
Skit; to laugh and giggle in a silly way:--'I'll be {326} 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), bletherumskite.
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 underlying 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 [_aa_ 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 impertinences:--'I'll have none of
your slack-jaw.'
Slang; a narrow strip of land along a stream, not suited to
cultivation, but grazed. (Moran: Carlow.)
Sleeveen; a smooth-tongued, sweet-mannered, sly, {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:--'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 _laver_
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 {328} fish shops. The name,
which is now known all over the Three Kingdoms, is anglicised from
Irish _sleabhac_, _sleabhacan_ [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 _sluggera_, 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.' ('Romeo 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_.
Small farmer; has a small farm with small stock of cattle: a struggling
man as distinguished from a 'strong' farmer.
Smeg, 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 _bullock_]; a fillip of the finger. (Limerick.)
Irish _smallog_, same meaning. {329}
Smur, smoor, fine thick mist. (North.) Irish _smur_, 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 _seidean_, a breeze. (South.)
Snaggle-tooth; a person with some teeth 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 _snamh_ [snauv],
to swim, with the diminutive:--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
_paudheoge_.
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} ('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: _samhnachan_ 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_, _sonasaigh_, 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.) {331}
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 apparition; _lit._ a 'likeness,' from
_samhai_ [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 _spailpin_,
same sound and meaning. (See my 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p.
216; and for the Ulster term see Rabble above.)
Spaug; a big clumsy foot:--'You put your ugly spaug down on my
handkerchief.' Irish _spag_, same sound and sense. {332}
Speel; to climb. (Patterson: Ulster.)
Spink; a sharp rock, a precipice. (Tyrone.) _Splink_ in Donegal. Irish
_spinnc_ 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 _spriosan_
[same sound], the original meaning of which is a twig or spray from a
bush. (South.)
'To the devil I pitch 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 {333} 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 brandy--O,
You would not have the gallant spunk
To be half so bold or manly--O.'
(Old Irish Folk Song.)
Irish _sponnc_.
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 {334} tree itself has
been cut or blown down. (Simmons: Armagh.) Irish _staic_, 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
_stag_, are a smoke by day and a fire by night.' (Carleton in 'Ir. Pen.
Journ.') 'Do you think me a _stag_, 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
convenience of the family and their neighbours, to enable them the more
easily to receive the sacraments. 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 _sthauca_ stood always in the
people's way. Applied also to a big awkward fellow always visiting when
he's not wanted, and {335} always in the way. (John Davis White, of
Clonmel.) Irish _staca '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
_stailc_, same sound and meaning.
Sthoakagh; a big idle wandering vagabond fellow. (South.) Irish
_stocach_, 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 _str_ 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
pronounced by English-speaking tongues. See this subject discussed in
'Irish Names of Places,' {336} vol. I., p. 60. Moreover the _t_ in
_str_ is almost always sounded the same as _th_ 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 _sraid_, 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
_stravaging_ 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, _streel_ 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 {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 _strippings_ 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.'
{338}
Strong farmer; a very well-to-do prosperous farmer, with a large farm
and much cattle. In contradistinction 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 muddly. (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 _storc_.
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. (Roscommon.) From Ir. _sugh_,
juice.
Sulter; great heat [of a day]: a word formed from _sultry_:--'There's
great _sulther_ to-day.'
Summachaun; a soft innocent child. (Munster.) Irish _somachan_, 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.' ('Robinson 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 {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 corruption 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 yourself?' '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 _tath_ [tah]. 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 off 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 commandments on his face,' i.e. she
scratched his face with her ten finger-nails. (MacCall: Wexford.) {340}
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_, _taithin_ [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 _taoscan_ [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.' {341}
Thirteen. When the English and 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 _taidhbhse_ [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--_tralach_ and _tadhlach_
[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. {342}
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
_trioslog_, 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
_thurrumusing_.'
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. {343}
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-egg_; 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. (Moran: 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 _cushoge_.
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 _troigh_ [thro], a foot, with the
diminutive--_troighthin_ [triheen]. 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}
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 well-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 children.' (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.' (S. Scott,
Derry.) {345}
Variety of Phrases, A, 185.
Venom, generally pronounced _vinnom_; energy:--'He does his work with
great venom.' An attempted translation from an Irish word that bears
more than one meaning, and the wrong meaning is brought into
English:--viz. _neim_ or _neimh_, literally _poison_, _venom_, but
figuratively _fierceness_, _energy_. John O'Dugan writes in Irish (500
years ago):--_Ris gach ndruing do niad a neim_: 'against every tribe
they [the Clann Ferrall] exert their _neim_' (literally their _poison_,
but meaning their energy or bravery). So also the three sons of Fiacha
are endowed _coisin 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 sul_ 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}
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 _way_, a labourer's _way_, means the privileges or
perquisites which the dairyman or labourer gets, in addition to the
main contract. A {347} _way_ 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
in his 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, warsh, 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 _whack_.'
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 _whassah_. (Moran: for South Mon.) Irish _fasach_, 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}
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 Recollections,' viz.:--'We could not cross
the river [in Scotland], but he would go [across] _whatever_.' 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
district, he was said to be 'wheeling':--'Here's for Oola!' 'here's
_three years_!' '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': 'I'll 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 {349} 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 _whisht_. 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!'
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 conversational 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 {350} 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?' 'Why 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 length_ 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 _widower_,
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. {351}
Wipe, a blow: all over Ireland: he gave him a wipe on the face. In
Ulster, a goaly-wipe is a great blow on the ball with the _camaun_ 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 truaigh_, 'O 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 _wut_.
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:--_Ta meas mor agum ort_; I have great esteem for you, I have a
great _wish_ for you, I hold you in great respect.
Wisha; a softening down of _mossa_, which see.
With that; thereupon: used all over Ireland. Irish _leis sin_, which is
often used, has the same exact meaning; but still I think _with that_
is of old {352} 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 travelling 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; Hurdlestown, Broadford, Co. Clare.
Bermingham, T. C.; Whitechurch Nat. School, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford.
Boyd, John; Union Place, Dungannon.
Boyd, John; Dean's Bridge, Armagh.
Brady, P.; Brackney Nat. School, Kilkeel, Down.
Brady, P.; Anne Street, Dundalk.
Breen, E.; Killarney.
Brenan, Rev. Samuel Arthur, Rector; Cushendun, Antrim.
Brett, Miss Elizabeth C.; Crescent, Holywood, Co. Down.
Brophy, Michael; Tullow Street, Carlow.
Brown, Edith; Donaghmore, Tyrone.
Brown, Mrs. John; Seaforde, Clough, Co. Down.
Brownlee, J. A.; Armagh.
Buchanan, Colonel; Edenfel, Omagh.
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.; Wallstown Castle, Castletownroche, Co. Cork.
Caldwell, Mrs.; Dundrum, Dublin.
*Campbell, Albert; Ballynagarde House, Derry.
Campbell, John; Blackwatertown, Armagh.
Cangley, Patrick; Co. Meath. (North.)
Carroll, John; Pallasgrean, Co. Limerick.
Chute, Jeanie L. B.; Castlecoote, Roscommon.
Clements, M. E.; 61 Marlborough 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.
Corrie, Sarah; Monaghan.
Counihan, Jeremiah; Killarney.
Cox, M.; Co. Roscommon.
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, Miss F.; 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; Hollymount, Lee Road, Cork.
Dod, R.; Royal Academical Institution, Belfast; The Lodge, Castlewellan.
Doherty, 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, Killucan, Westmeath.
FitzGerald, Lord Walter; Kilkea Castle, Co. Kildare.
Fleming, Mrs. Elizabeth; Ventry 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 Kilkenny, 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.; Portadown.
Greene, Dr. G. E. J.; The Well, Ballycarney, Ferns, Co. Wexford.
Hamilton, A.; Desertmartin, Belfast.
Hannon, John; Crossmaglen Nat. School, Armagh.
Harkin, Daniel; Ramelton, Donegal.
*Harrington, Private Thomas; 211 Strand, London, W.C. (For Munster.)
Haugh, John; Co. Clare.
Haughton, Kate M.; Lady's Island Nat. School, Wexford.
*Healy, Maurice, M.P., 37 South Mall, Cork.
Henry, Robert; Coleraine.
*Higgins, The Rev. Michael, C.C.; Queenstown, Cork.
{355}
Hunt, M.; Ballyfarnan, Roscommon.
*Hunter, Robert; 39 Gladstone Street, Clonmel.
Irwin, A. J., B.A.; Glenfern, Ballyarton, Derry.
*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.; Ballinrees Nat. 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 Marlborough 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 Carlow, 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, Richard; Lambeg, Lisburn.
Norris, A.; Kerry.
O'Brien, Michael; Munlough Nat. School, Cavan.
O'Connor, James; Ballyglass House, Sligo.
O'Donnell, Patrick; Mayo.
*O'Donohoe, Timothy; Carrignavar, 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.; Kingwilliamstown, Cork.
Reid, George R.; 23 Cromwell Road, Belfast.
Reid, Samuel W.; Armagh.
*Reilly, Patrick; Cemetery Lodge, Naas, Co. Kildare.
Rice, Michael; Castlewellan, Co. Down.
Riley, Lizzie; Derry.
*Russell, T. O'Neill; Dublin. (For central counties.)
Ryan, Ellie; Limerick.
Scott, J.; Milford Nat. School, Donegal.
*Scott, S.; Derry.
*Simmons, D. A.; Nat. School, Armagh.
Simpson, Thomas; Derry.
Skirving, R. Scot; 29 Drummond Place, Edinburgh.
Smith, Owen; Nobber, Co. Meath.
*Stafford, Wm.; Baldwinstown, Bridgetown, 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.; Parochial House, Tullamore.
Walshe, Charlotte; Waterford.
Ward, Emily G.; Castleward, Downpatrick.
White, Eva; Limerick.
White, Rev. H. V.; All SS. Rectory, Waterford.
White, John Davis; Cashel, Co. Tipperary. (Newspaper Editor.)
Weir, Rev. George; Creeslough, Donegal.
Weir, J.; Ballymena.
Wood-Martin, Col., A.D.C.; Cleveragh, Sligo.
*Woollett, Mr. Marlow; Dublin.
* * * * *
WORKS
BY
P. W. JOYCE, M.A., LL.D., T.C.D.; M.R.I.A.
ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE
ANCIENT LAWS OF IRELAND;
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, IRELAND
LATE PRINCIPAL, MARLBOROUGH STREET (GOVERNMENT)
TRAINING COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
_Two Splendid Volumes, richly gilt, both cover and top.
With 361 Illustrations. Price L1 1s. net._
A SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND,
_Treating of the Government, Military System, and Law;
Religion, Learning, and Art; Trades, Industries, and Commerce;
Manners, Customs, and Domestic Life
of the Ancient Irish People._
A Complete Survey of the Social Life and Institutions of Ancient Ireland.
All the important Statements are proved home by references to authorities
and by quotations from ancient documents.
PART I.--GOVERNMENT, MILITARY SYSTEM, AND LAW.--Chapter I. Laying the
Foundation--II. A Preliminary Bird's-eye View--III. Monarchical
Government--IV. Warfare--V. Structure of Society--VI. The Brehon Laws--VII.
The Laws relating to Land--VIII. The Administration of Justice.
PART II.--RELIGION, LEARNING, AND ART.--Chapter IX. Paganism--X.
Christianity--XI. Learning and Education--XII. Irish Language and
Literature--XIII. Ecclesiastical and Religious Writings--XIV. Annals,
Histories, and Genealogies--XV. Historical and Romantic Tales--XVI.
Art--XVII. Music--XVIII. Medicine and Medical Doctors.
PART III.--SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC LIFE.--Chapter XIX. The Family--XX. The
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Notes
[1] For both of these songs see my 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs.'
[2] See my 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 202.
[3] See the interesting remarks of O'Donovan in Preface to 'Battle of Magh
Rath,' 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.
[4] For the Penal Laws, see my 'Child's Hist. of Ireland,' chaps. lv, lvi.
[5] For 'Poor Scholars,' see O'Curry, 'Man. & Cust.,' 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.'
[6] See my 'Smaller Social Hist. of Anc. Ireland,' chap, vii.
[7] See for an example Dr. Hyde's 'Children of the King of Norway,' 153.
(Irish Texts Soc.)
[8] From my 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 56, in which also will be
found the beautiful air of this.