English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 27

Able; strong, muscular, and vigorous:--'Nagle was a strong able man.'

Able dealer; a schemer. (Limerick.)

Acushla; see Cushlamochree.

Adam's ale; plain drinking-water.

Affirming, a.s.senting, and saluting, 9.

Agra or Agraw: a term of endearment; my love: vocative of Irish _gradh_, love.

Ahaygar; a pet term; my friend, my love: vocative of Irish _teagur_, love, a dear person.

Aims-ace; a small amount, quant.i.ty, or distance. Applied in the following way very generally in Munster:--'He was within an aim's-ace of being drowned' (very near). A survival in Ireland of the old Shakesperian word _ambs-ace_, meaning two aces or two single points in throwing dice, the smallest possible throw.

Air: a visitor comes in:--'Won't you sit down Joe and take an _air_ of the fire.' (Very usual.)

Airt used in Ulster and Scotland for a single point of the compa.s.s:--

'Of a' the airts the wind can blaw I dearly like the west.'

(BURNS.)

It is the Irish _aird_, a point of the compa.s.s.

{210} Airy; ghostly, fearsome: an _airy_ place, a haunted place. Same as Scotch _eerie_. From Gaelic _aedharaigh_, same sound and meaning. A survival of the old Irish pagan belief that air-demons were the most malignant of all supernatural beings: see Joyce's 'Old Celtic Romances,' p. 15.

Alanna; my child: vocative case of Irish _leanbh_ [lannav], a child.

Allow; admit. 'I allow that you lent me a pound': 'if you allow that you cannot deny so and so.' This is an old English usage. (Ducange.) To advise or recommend: 'I would not allow you to go by that road' ('I would not recommend'). 'I'd allow you to sow that field with oats'

(advise).

All to; means except:--'I've sold my sheep all to six,' i.e. except six. This is merely a translation from the Irish as in _Do marbhadh na daoine uile go haon triur_: 'The people were slain all to a single three.' (Keating.)

Along of; on account of. Why did you keep me waiting [at night] so long at the door, Pat?' 'Why then 'twas all along of Judy there being so much afraid of the fairies.' (Crofton Croker.)

Alpeen, a stick or hand-wattle with a k.n.o.b at the lower end: diminutive of Irish _alp_, a k.n.o.b. Sometimes called a _clehalpeen_: where _cleh_ is the Irish _cleath_ a stick. _Clehalpeen_, a k.n.o.bbed cudgel.

Amadaun, a fool (man or boy), a half-fool, a foolish person. Irish _amadan_, a fool: a form of _onmitan_; from _on_, a fool: see _Oans.h.a.gh_.

American wake; a meeting of friends on the evening before the departure of some young people for {211} America, as a farewell celebration. (See my 'Old Irish Folk-Music and Songs,' p. 191.)

Amplush, a fix, a difficulty: he was in a great amplush. (North and South.) (Edw. Walsh in Dub. Pen. Journal.)

Ams.h.a.gh; a sudden hurt, an accident. (Derry.)

Ang-ish.o.r.e; a poor miserable creature--man or woman. It is merely the Irish word _aindeiseoir_. (Chiefly South.)

Any is used for _no_ (in _no more_) in parts of West and North-west.

'James, you left the gate open this morning and the calves got out.'

'Oh I'm sorry sir; I will do it any more.' This is merely a mistranslation of _nios mo_, from some confused idea of the sense of two (Irish) negatives (_nios_ being one, with another preceding) leading to the omission of an English negative from the correct construction--'I will _not_ do it anymore:' _Nios mo_ meaning in English 'no more' or 'any more' according to the omission or insertion of an English negative.

Aree often used after _ochone_ (alas) in Donegal and elsewhere. _Aree_ gives the exact p.r.o.nunciation of _a Righ_, and _neimhe_ (heaven) is understood. The full Irish exclamation is _ochon a Righ neimhe_, 'alas, O King of heaven.'

Arnaun or arnaul, to sit up working at night later than usual. Irish _airnean_ or _airneal_, same meaning.

Aroon, a term of endearment, my love, my dear: _Eileen Aroon_, the name of a celebrated Irish air: vocative of Irish _run_ [roon], a secret, a secret treasure. In Limerick commonly shortened to _aroo_. 'Where are you going now _aroo_?'

{212} Art-loochra or arc-loochra, a harmless lizard five or six inches long: Irish _art_ or _arc_ is a lizard: _luachra_, rushes; the 'lizard of the rushes.'

Ask, a water-newt, a small water-lizard: from _esc_ or _easc_ [ask], an old Irish word for water. From the same root comes the next word, the diminutive form--

Askeen; land made by cutting away bog, which generally remains more or less watery. (Reilly: Kildare.)

Asth.o.r.e, a term of endearment, 'my treasure.' The vocative case of Irish _stor_ [store], treasure.

Athurt; to confront:--'Oh well I will athurt him with that lie he told about me.' (Cork.) Possibly a misp.r.o.nunciation of _athwart_.

Avourneen, my love: the vocative case of Irish _muirnin_, a sweetheart, a loved person.

Baan: a field covered with short gra.s.s:--'A baan field': 'a _baan_ of cows': i.e. a gra.s.s farm with its proper number of cows. Irish _ban_, whitish.

Back; a faction: 'I have a good back in the country, so I defy my enemies.'

Back of G.o.d-speed; a place very remote, out of the way: so far off that the virtue of your wish of _G.o.d-speed_ to a person will not go with him so far.

Bacon: to 'save one's bacon'; to succeed in escaping some serious personal injury--death, a beating, &c. 'They fled from the fight to save their bacon': 'Here a lodging I'd taken, but loth to awaken, for fear of my bacon, either man, wife, or babe.' (Old Anglo-Irish poem.)

{213} Bad member; a doer of evil; a bad character; a treacherous fellow: 'I'm ruined,' says he, 'for some bad member has wrote to the bishop about me.' ('Wild Sports of the West.')

Baffity, unbleached or blay calico. (Munster.)

Bails or bales, frames made of perpendicular wooden bars in which cows are fastened for the night in the stable. (Munster.)

Baithershin; may be so, perhaps. Irish _b'feidir-sin_, same sound and meaning.

Ballowr (Bal-yore in Ulster); to bellow, roar, bawl, talk loudly and coa.r.s.ely.

Ballyhooly, a village near Fermoy in Cork, formerly notorious for its faction fights, so that it has pa.s.sed into a proverb. A man is late coming home and expects _Ballyhooly_ from his wife, i.e. 'the length and breadth of her tongue.' Father Carroll has neglected to visit his relatives, the Kearneys, for a long time, so that he knows he's _in the black books_ with Mrs. Kearney, and expects Ballyhooly from her the first time he meets her. ('Knocknagow.')

Ballyorgan in Co. Limerick, 146.

Banagher and Ballinasloe, 192.

Bannalanna: a woman who sells ale over the counter. Irish _bean-na-leanna_, 'woman of the ale,' 'ale-woman' (_leann_, ale).

Ballyrag; to give loud abuse in torrents. (General.)