English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 38

Geens; wild cherries. (Derry.)

Gentle; applied to a place or thing having some connexion with the fairies--haunted by fairies. A thornbush where fairies meet is a 'gentle bush': the hazel and the foxglove (fairy-thimble) are gentle plants.

Geocagh; a big strolling idle fellow. (Munster.) Irish _geocach_, same sound and meaning.

Geosadaun or Yosedaun [_d_ in both sounded like _th_ in _they_]; the yellow rag-weed: called also boliaun [2-syll.] and booghalaun.

Get; a b.a.s.t.a.r.d child. (North and South.)

Gibbadaun; a frivolous person. (Roscommon.) From the Irish _giob_, a sc.r.a.p, with the diminutive ending _dan_: a _sc.r.a.ppy_ trifling-minded person.

Gibbol [_g_ hard as in _get_]; a rag: your jacket is all hanging down in gibbols.' (Limerick.) Irish _giobal_, same sound and meaning.

Giddhom; restlessness. In Limerick it is applied to cows when they gallop through the fields with {262} tails c.o.c.ked out, driven half mad by heat and flies: 'The cows are galloping with giddhom.' Irish _giodam_, same sound and meaning.

Gill-gowan, a corn-daisy. (Tyrone.) From Irish _geal_, white, and _gowan_, the Scotch name for a daisy.

Girroge [two _g_'s sounded as in _get_, _got_]. Girroges are the short little drills where the plough runs into a corner. (Kildare and Limerick.) Irish _gearr_, short, with the diminutive _og_: _girroge_, any short little thing.

Girsha; a little girl. (North and South.) Irish _geirrseach_ [girsagh], from _gearr_, short or small, with the feminine termination _seach_.

Gistra [_g_ sounded as in _get_], a st.u.r.dy, active old man. (Ulster.) Irish _giostaire_, same sound and meaning.

Gladiaathor [_aa_ long as in _car_]; a gladiator, a fighting quarrelsome fellow: used as a verb also:--'he went about the fair _gladiaatherin_,' i.e. shouting and challenging people to fight him.

Glaum, glam; to grab or grasp with the whole hand; to maul or pull about with the hands. Irish _glam_ [glaum], same meaning.

Glebe; in Ireland this word is almost confined to the land or farm attached to a Protestant rector's residence: hence called _glebe-land_.

See p. 143.

Gleeag; a small handful of straw used in plaiting straw mats: a sheaf of straw threshed. (Kildare and Monaghan.)

Gleeks: to give a fellow the gleeks is to press the forefingers into the b.u.t.t of the ears so as to cause pain: a rough sort of play.

(Limerick.)

Glenroe, Co. Limerick, 68, 146. {263}

Gliggeen; a voluble silly talker. (Munster.) Irish _gluigin_ [gliggeen], a little bell, a little tinkler: from _glog_, same as _clog_, a bell.

Gliggerum; applied to a very bad old worn-out watch or clock.

(Limerick.)

Glit; slimy mud; the green vegetable (_ducksmeat_) that grows on the surface of stagnant water. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Gloit; a blockhead of a young fellow. (Knowles.)

Glory be to G.o.d! Generally a pious exclamation of thankfulness, fear, &c.: but sometimes an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of astonishment, wonder, admiration, &c. Heard everywhere in Ireland.

Glower; to stare or glare at: 'what are you glowerin' at!' (Ulster.)

Glugger [_u_ sounded as in _full_]; empty noise; the noise made by shaking an addled egg. Also an addled egg. Applied very often in a secondary sense to a vain empty foolish boaster. (Munster.)

Glunter: a stupid person. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Goaling: same as Hurling, which see.

Gob; the mouth including lips: 'Shut your gob.' Irish _gob_, same meaning. Scotch, 'greedy _gab_.' (Burns.)

Gobsh.e.l.l; a big spittle direct from the mouth. (Limerick.) From Irish _gob_, the mouth, and _seile_ [sh.e.l.la], a spittle.

Gobs or jackstones; five small round stones with which little girls play against each other, by throwing them up and catching them as they fall; 'there are Nelly and Sally playing gobs.'

G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of Pagan Ireland, 177.

G.o.dspeed: see Back of G.o.d-speed. {264}

G.o.d's pocket. Mr. Kinahan writes to me:--'The first time I went to the Mullingar hotel I had a delicate child, and spoke to the landlady as to how he was to be put up [during the father's absence by day on outdoor duty]. "Oh never fear sir," replied the good old lady, "the poor child will be _in G.o.d's pocket_ here."' Mr. K. goes on to say:--I afterwards found that in all that part of Leinster they never said 'we will make you comfortable,' but always 'you will be in G.o.d's pocket,' or 'as snug as in G.o.d's pocket.' I heard it said of a widow and orphans whose people were kind to them, that they were in 'G.o.d's pocket.' Whether Seumas MacMa.n.u.s ever came across this term I do not know, but he has something very like it in 'A Lad of the O'Friels,' viz., 'I'll make the little girl as happy as if she was _in Saint Peter's pocket_.'

Goggalagh, a dotard. (Munster.) Irish _gogail_, the cackling of a hen or goose; also doting; with the usual termination _ach_.

Going on; making fun, joking, teasing, chaffing, bantering:--'Ah, now I see you are only _going on_ with me.' 'Stop your _goings on_.'

(General.)

Golder [_d_ sounded like _th_ in further]; a loud sudden or angry shout. (Patterson: Ulster.)

Goleen; an armful. See Gwaul.

Gombeen man; a usurer who lends money to small farmers and others of like means, at ruinous interest. The word is now used all over Ireland.

Irish _goimbin_ [gombeen], usury.

Gommul, gommeril, gommula, all sometimes shortened to _gom_; a simple-minded fellow, a half {265} fool. Irish _gamal_, _gamaille_, _gamairle_, _gamarail_, all same meaning. (_Gamal_ is also Irish for a camel.) Used all over Ireland.

Good deed; said of some transaction that is a well-deserved punishment for some wrong or unjust or very foolish course of action. Bill lends some money to Joe, who never returns it, and a friend says:--''Tis a good deed Bill, why did you trust such a schemer?' Barney is bringing home a heavy load, and is lamenting that he did not bring his a.s.s:--''Tis a good deed: where was I coming without Bobby?' (the a.s.s).

('Knocknagow') 'I'm wet to the skin': reply:--''Tis a good deed: why did you go out without your overcoat?'

Good boy: in Limerick and other parts of Munster, a young fellow who is good--strong and active--at all athletic exercises, but most especially if he is brave and tough in fighting, is 'a good boy.' The people are looking anxiously at a sailing boat labouring dangerously in a storm on the Shannon, and one of them remarks:--''Tis a good boy that has the rudder in his hand.' (Gerald Griffin.)

Good people; The fairies. The word is used merely as _soft sawder_, to _b.u.t.ter them up_, to curry favour with them--to show them great respect at least from the teeth out--lest they might do some injury to the speaker.

Googeen [two _g_'s as in _good_ and _get_]; a simple soft-minded person. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish _guag_, same meaning, with the diminutive: _guaigin_.

Gopen, gowpen; the full of the two hands used together. (Ulster.) Exactly the same meaning as _Lyre_ in Munster, which see. {266}

Gor; the coa.r.s.e turf or peat which forms the surface of the bog.

(Healy: for Ulster.)

Gorb; a ravenous eater, a glutton. (Ulster.)

Gorsoon: a young boy. It is hard to avoid deriving this from French _garcon_, all the more as it has no root in Irish. Another form often used is _gossoon_, which is derived from Irish:--_gas_, a stem or stalk, a young boy. But the termination _oon_ or _un_ is suspicious in both cases, for it is not a genuine Irish suffix at all.