MarkFord
“Many nations use language simply to convey information, but it’s different in Ireland. With most conversational exchanges you get an ‘added extra’ like the free little biscuit you sometimes get with a cappuccino in a fancy coffee place.” – Marian Keyes
Eight “English” Words From an Unexpected Source
When I got my Irish passport many years ago, I resolved to learn something about my ancestry. I read a bit of history. I reread some of the great Irish writers. And I listened to my favorite Irish singers – of which there are many.
But I also promised myself that I’d finally learn more about the language. And when I did, I discovered some very common Irish/Gaelic/Celtic words that have made their way into everyday English.
Here are 8 colorful – and useful – examples…
- Galore
Galore comes from the Irish expression go leor. Leor means “enough” and go means “to.” So, literally, “to enough.” The word was rendered as galore in English in the early 1600s.
- Hubbub
Hubbub is thought to come from the old Irish interjection Ub! Ub! Ubub!, which conveyed contempt. It may be related to the ancient Irish war cry Abu!
In England in the 1500s, before hubbub had the general meaning we know it by today, it was specifically associated with a certain kind of Irish rowdiness.
- Phony
Although the exact origins of phony are unknown, it’s likely the word comes from an old con known as the fawney rig. Fawney is from an Irish word for “finger ring,” and rig is an old term for a “trick” or “swindle.”
Here’s how the con worked: The swindler would “accidentally” drop a cheap ring in front of their mark, or target. They would pick it up, while expressing relief that they hadn’t lost such a valuable piece of jewelry. And if they were lucky, they’d then sell it to the mark for much more than it was worth.
By the 20th century, the spelling of the word had been modified from fawney to phony.
- Slew
Slew – meaning “a large number or quantity” – comes from the Irish sluagh, meaning “crowd, throng, army, or host.” In Irish folklore, the slua or sluagh are said to be restless ghosts or evil spirits, depicted as a flock of birds that cause trouble for the living by destroying property or killing domestic animals. (Yikes!)
- Slogan
Slogan comes from sluagh-ghairm, a word in Scots-Gaelic, a Celtic language spoken in Scotland that developed out of Middle Irish. As we just learned above, sluagh means “crowd, throng, army, or host.” Ghairm means “cry or shout.” Taken together, a sluagh-ghairm is the cry given by Celtic warriors in battle. Usually, these battle cries would be the last name of their clan or the name of their place of origin.
Sluagh-ghairm was adopted into English as “slogan” by the 1670s. By the early 1700s, the word was being used much the same way as it’s used today.
- Smithereens
Smithereens is first found in Irish-English in the late 1700s. While its origin isn’t exactly known, it may come from smiodar, which means “fragment.” And –een is a diminutive suffix (which denotes something small).
- Whiskey
Whiskey is short for whiskeybae, from the Irish uisce beatha or the Scots-Gaelic uisge beatha – both of which mean “water of life.” These terms, however, are ultimately translations of the Latin aqua vitae (also “water of life”), an even older name for alcohol. The word was adopted into English in the early 1700s.
Whiskey is also spelled whisky. The difference has to do with its country of origin. American and Irish producers spell it with the extra “e.” Canadian, Scottish, and Japanese distillers prefer “whisky.”
Sláinte! (Cheers!)
And my personal favorite…
- Craic
Craic (pronounced “crack”) is a Gaelic word with no exact English translation. Maybe something like fun/amusement/having a good time.
In Ireland, a fun night out could be said to be “good craic.” The expression “What’s the craic?” can be a casual greeting, like “What’s up?” In one of Van Morrison’s sung poems, there is an easily misunderstood line about spending a morning with a friend: “And the craic was good.”
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