The Current State of the Irish Language--"Gaeilge"

 State of the Irish Language

I'm no expert on the state of the Irish language, Gaeilge, but I am very engaged with the language and I read a lot about it. I’ve been studying Irish since about 2005 with a small study group that, until the Covid pandemic, met every Wednesday night at the East Side Irish-American Club in Euclid, Ohio.

Irish is spoken as an every-day community language in the Gaeltachts, Irish -speaking areas mostly in the west of Ireland. They are located in Counties Donegal (very strong Gaeltacht), Mayo, Galway (very strong), the Aran Islands (very strong), the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry (strong area), small areas in County Cork, and a couple other places, Counties Waterford and Meath. The Gaeltachts get state subsidies to support the language, but they are not protected ghettoes. Non-speakers can move in and fluent speakers can move out. In theory an area could lose its status as a Gaeltacht. For a nice overview of Ireland's Gaeltachts, check out the Wikipedia entry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaeltacht

So maybe 100,000 Irish speakers are in the Gaeltachts (of the 4+ million residents of the Republic). But many people outside these areas can speak, read, and understand Irish, to varying degrees. It's said that about a million people in Ireland have competence in Irish. Even that's not the whole story. Almost everyone in the country, in the Republic of Ireland at least, knows some Irish. It's really part of the everyday language, Hiberno-English (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-English). Also, almost all children study Irish in the schools. More on that in a minute.

So even if the number of Irish speakers in the Gaeltachts is decreasing, there is still hope and lots of energy for the language. There are six Celtic languages: Welsh, Breton (in Brittany, Northwestern France), Cornish (Cornwall, England); and the Gaelic-type: Manx Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and Irish (Gaeilge). The one doing best right now is Welsh, with Irish the runner-up.

Much of that energy is generated in the gaelscoil, Irish language schools that instruct children in Irish, basically immerse them in Irish. These are prized and honored schools, and there’s competition to get a place in one of them. They are located all throughout the Republic of Ireland and serve about 50,000 children in some 200 schools. The Wikipedia article on the Gaelscoil is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaelscoil There are also Irish-language schools in Northern Ireland, believe it or not.

Besides the instruction in the Gaeltachts and Gaelscoil, there are language programs in various parts of the country where children (and older students) can go for Irish instruction via immersion for various periods of time (from weekends to weeks or months). These schools are often in the Gaeltacht regions, but there are some held in the USA and Canada.

Irish Language College Programs.

There are programs in American and Canadian colleges. The University of Notre Dame in Indiana has a very good program, but you have to be a Notre Dame student to participate, and that is expensive. There are Irish study programs all over the USA and Canada: https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/education/the-definitive-list-of-irish-studies-programs-united-states-and-canada

There are many free resources and at least one free college program. The internet is now full of Irish language resources. The greatest resource is free! It is the great Irish and Irish-English dictionaries offered by www.teanglann.ie. This resource can be accessed by any computer and it is fully downloadable for free to smartphones. I use it every day. It even has a function that pronounces words in the three major dialects.

The free college courses that I know about are offered by Dublin City University: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/irish-language

There are other sources that people use to study Irish, including Duolingo, Rosetta Stone, and many others. You can also get books with tapes, cd’s, or online audio. A good way is to find a group led by a competent teacher. Cleveland, Ohio has at least two, one on the East Side and one on the West Side. Daltaí Gaeilge (“Students of Irish”) has some of these resources: http://www.daltai.com/classes/ There are probably classes in Montana, Washington, and Oregon, maybe even in Portland. The "daltai" website might tell you.

Conclusion.

Despite the decline in everyday Irish use in the Gaeltachts of Ireland, Irish is actually flourishing in other areas. What is really hopeful is all the popular culture Irish activity, including radio (RTE), television (TG4), TikTok, Twitter, and so on. Gaeilge Abu!

Postscript.

• Irish is an Indo-European language like most of the languages spoken in Europe and like many languages spoken in Asia (Persian, Hindi, Russian). But it does feel very different than, say, German or Spanish or Italian. The word order is a bit unfamiliar (Verb-Subject-Object); there’s a tendency to use what we call in formal English “sentence fragments”; there is no one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds (the phonological rules are daunting at first).

• It’s hard to learn Irish on your own. At some point to achieve fluency you need an immersion experience.

• Irish has a very rich literature, but physical books are still hard to come by in American bookstores and even Amazon.com. Books can be shipped from Irish bookstores (like Kennys Bookshop in Galway (www.Kennys.ie) or www.Litriocht.com), but it’s expensive. Sometimes Irish books are available as e-books or can be borrowed from big American libraries (the Cleveland Public Library comes to mind).

• A heartening thing about Irish is that many immigrants from all over the world are becoming fluent, including People of Color, and many from Eastern Europe. Their fluency almost shames some native-born Irish who don't even know their country's language very well. There's a great short movie that illustrates this issue, "Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom," which translates “My Name Is Yu Ming.”  It is available on YouTube and has English subtitles: https://youtu.be/JqYtG9BNhfM. This film is about 13 minutes long and is very funny.

Bob Coughlin / April 28, 2021

A Poem About Nothing/Something (The Strange Irish Language)

Nothing Is Something--In Irish-Gaelic

Irish has many words for different kinds of nothingness:

Ladhar, the empty spaces between your fingers and toes;

Ioscaid, the hollow space behind the knee.

Do they have a Gaelic word for the emptiness of my brain on a Thursday night in February?

Or the hollowness of my heart after my mother died?

Or how my soul would feel if you ever left me?

Yes, the Irish,

And really all of us humans,

Understand a lot about nothing.

[Bob Coughlin / June 20, 2014]

A Wonderful Song in Irish Gaelic--by Irish School Children

Look at this wonderful Irish-Gaelic rendition (and "cup" performance) of the song "You're Going to Miss Me When I'm Gone" by Irish school children:

"Three Little Pigs" in Irish-Gaelic

 

“Na Trí Mhuicín” [a portion of the story]                “The Three Little Pigs”—In Irish Gaelic

1. Bhí  na trí mhuicín ina suí go moch ar maidin.

Chuaigh siad amach ag obair.

[The three little pigs were sitting early in the morning. Then they went out to work.]

2. Rinne Dónall Muicín teach beag tuí.

Rinne Colm Muicín teach beag adhmaid.

Rinne Brian Muicín teach beag bríce.

[Little Pig Donall made his little house out of straw. Little Pig Colm made his little house out of wood. Little Pig Brian made his little house out of brick.]

3. Tháinig an mac tire gránna go dtí an teach beag tuí.

“Lig isteach mé. Lig isteach mé, a chara mo chroí,” arsa an mac tire.

[The ugly wolf came to the little house of straw. “Let me in. Let me in, my dearest,” said the wolf.]

4. “Ní tusa mo charasa,” arsa Dónall Muicín leis an mac tire gránna. “Ní ligfidh mé isteach thú. Imigh leat abhaile.”

[You’re not my friend,” said Little Pig Donall to the ugly wolf. I will not let you in. Go home.”]

5. “Huth! Huth! Hó!” arsa un mac tire gránna.

“Huh! Huth! Hé! Séidfidh mé agus leagfaidh mé do theach beag tuí.”

Ansin shéid sé agus shéid sé agus leag sé an teach beag tuí.

[Huth! Huth! Ho! Said the ugly wolf. Huth! Huth! Hey! I will blow and I will knock down your little house of straw.” Then he blew and he blew and he knocked down the little house of straw.]

Approximate pronunciation of the story above (capitalized syllables receive greater stress):

1. VEE nuh TREE WUCK-EEN in-uh SEE guh MUKH er MAH-jin.

KHOO-ee SHE-ud ah-MAKH egg UH-ber

2. RINN-uh DOH-nal MUH-KEEN CHYAKH BEE-ug TEE.

RINN-uh CAH-lum MUH-KEEN CHYAKH BEE-ug AH-mudge.

RINN-uh BREE-un MUH-KEEN CHYAKH BEE-ug BREE-kuh

3. HAW-nig un MAHK TEER-uh GRAW-nuh guh JEE un CHYAKH BEE-ug TEE.

LIG ih-SHTAHKH MAY. LIG ih-STAHKH MAY, a KHAR-uh muh KHREE, AR-suh un MAHK TEER-uh.

4. NEE TOO-suh muh KHAR-uh-suh, AR-suh DOH-nal MUH-KEEN lesh un MAHK TEER-uh GRAW-nuh.

NEE LIG-ee MAY ih-SHTAHKH HOO. IH-MEE laht uh-WHILE-yuh.

5. HUH HUH HO, AR-suh un MAHK TEER-uh GRAW-nuh.

HUH HUH HAY. SHAY-ee MAY AH-gus LAHG-ee MAY duh HAHKH BEE-ug TEE.

Ahn-SHIN HADE SHAY AH-gus HADE SHAY AH-gus LAHG SHAY un CHYAHKH

BEE-ug TEE.

It’s hard to write a phonetic transcription without the International Phonetic Alphabet. But I gave it a try using fairly standard English spellings. When I used “h” after a vowel, as in “MAHK,” I’m indicating a lengthening of that vowel. “KH” is being used to show the “ch” sound at the end of a word like “loch.”

Two Wonderful Irish Tunes (with Lyrics)

A couple weeks ago we heard Shanua perform at the Hiram (Ohio) Christian Church--which is across the street from historic Hiram College. Shanua has to be one of the strangest groups in history--a fusion of Irish and Estonain. Dermot Somerville is the Irishmnan, from Dublin but now living in Greater Cleveland. His wife Ulle is Estonian. Together with wonderful musicians (including Paul Dreisbach on oboe), a violinist, a double bass player, and a chorus, Shanua creates astonishingly beautiful music.

I finally figured out the meaning of the name "Shanua." It comes from two Irish words: "sean" means old; "nua" means new. Shanua fuses the old and the new.

At the Hiram concert (and on Shanua's new album, "Enchantment") there are a couple of wonderful songs sung in Irish-Gaelic. The words of "Eamon an Chnoic" ("Ned of the Hill") are below, with an English translation following. After that I've copied and pasted the beautiful anthem, "Trasna na dTonnta" (Across the Waves"):

éamon an chnoic [Traidisiúnta Éireannach]Cé hé sin amuigh, a bhfuil faobhar ar a guth, Ag réabadh mo dhorais dúnta? Mise Ĕamon a' Chnoic, atá báite fuair fliuch, Ó shíorshúil sléibhte is gleannta. A lao ghil s'a chuid, cad a dhéanainnse dhuit, Mura gcuirfhinn ort binn de mo ghúna? Is go bhfuil púdar go tiubh á shiorshéadadh leat, Is go mbéimish ar aon múchta. Is fada mise 'muigh faoi shneachta's faoi shioc, ‘s gan dánacht agam ar aon neach, Mo sheisreach gan scor, is mo bhranar gan cur, Agus gan iad agam ar aon chor. Níl cairid agam, is danaid liom san, A ghlachfadh mé moch ná déanach, Is go gcaithfidh mé gabháil thar farraige sned of the hill [Traditional Irish]O who is outside with an edge on his voice Beating my bolted door? It is Ned of the Hill, soaked and cold From long trudging the mountains and glens. My darling and my dear, what could I do But cover you with my gown? And with powder so thick firing upon you, We should both be killed. I am a long time outside in snow & sleet Daringly facing all challenges. My plow without cut & my field without seed And neither my own anyway. I have no friend with whom I could stay Or who'd take me in early or late, So I must traverse the ocean east Where alas are none of my family. Trasna na dtonnta [Traidisiúnta Éireannach]Trasna na dtonnta, dul siar, dul siar, Slán leis an uaigneas ‘is slán leis an gcian; Geal é mo chroí, agus geal í an ghrian, Geal bheith ag filleadh go hÉirinn! Chonaic mo dhóthain de Thíortha i gcéin, Ór agus airgead, saibhreas an tsaoil, Éiríonn an croí ‘nam le breacadh gach lae ‘S mé druidim le dúthaigh mo mhuintir! Ar mo thriall siar ó éirigh mo chroí An aimsir go hálainn is tonnta deas réidh Stiúradh go díreach go dúthaigh mo chliabh over the waves [Traditional Irish]Over the waves, going west, going west! Farewell to loneliness and to remoteness. Bright is my heart and bright is the sun, Bright to be returning to Ireland! I saw my fill of countries abroad, Gold and silver, the wealth of the world, My heart rises in me at the break of each day, As I draw closer to the land of my people! Westward bound - oh my heart rose, Weather so beautiful, waves so calm. Steer directly to land of my bosom And I'll be in Ireland tomorrow!

Funny video: "Irish Girls Never Say 'No' (or 'Yes')"

As a student of the Irish-Gaelic language, I've discovered there is no simple way to say yes or no. This language peculiarity carries over into the speaking of English by the Irish (the variety of speech sometimes known as "Hiberno-English") and is humorously demonstrated in the following youtube video (URL link is below). By the way, English may have been forced upon the Irish by the Sasanach, but the Irish have made it into one of the world's most beautiful languages.

You can click on the title of this blog entry to launch the youtube video.

http://youtu.be/hcepgXwWbjI

"Northern Lights" Poem in Irish-Gaelic: "Fainne ó Thuaidh"

“Northern Lights” -- Fainne ó Thuaidh
by Bob Coughlin, translated into Irish by Paul Curran

Dúradh san nuachtán gur thaibhsigh siad aréir

Mar taibhse i mo chodlata sámh.

Las siad suas spéir na hoíche Baile Chardon

Le taipéisí damhsach datha san oíche dhubh

An mbeidh mé na soilse sin a fheiceáil riamh?

Tá sé mar a fhéachtar an aghaidh Dé

An splanc ghlas le luí na gréine

Cat fiáin san choill oíche

Is Tómas mé --

"Cuirim mo lámha isteach san creachta nó ní chréidim é!"

A Fhainne ó Thuaidh

Aurora Borealis

Lig dom rince leat a dheanamh

Oíche uaigneach éigin geimhridh

Congratulations, Colin!

Colin, my beautiful grandson, is ten months old today--and he just started walking! A great achievement (yet, of course, one that we all accomplish). Walking takes balance, strength, coordination. And it is accomplished after so much falling. The great strength of babies is that they don't let failure, don't let falling, stop them. They won't be discouraged! If a human could take this approach throughout life--can you imagine what could be accomplished?

As we would say in Irish-Gaelic, Maith Thú, a Colin! Good for you, boy-o!

St. Patrick' Day Greeting in Irish-Gaelic

Dia Dhuit. Is mise Bob Coughlin. Tá mé i mo chonaí i gCleveland, Ohio.
Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Duit!
Beannachtaí! Slán!

Hello [God to you]. I am Bob Coughlin. I live in Cleveland, Ohio.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!
Blessings! Goodbye!

Started a New Blog on Learning Irish-Gaelic

I have decided to create a new blog, this one focused on learning to speak, read, and write Irish-Gaelic. The focus will be on the needs and interests of beginner or intermediate Irish students. I'll probably copy some of my current blog entries into this new blog (www.learningirishgaelic.blogspot.com) instead of reinventing the wheel. From time to time I will ask my teachers and classmates at the Irish study group (Wednesday nights, 7 PM, in the basement of the Irish-American Club, East Side, in Euclid, Ohio) to make some contributions to the blog.

Irish-Gaelic--What a Language!

So you have a drop of Irish blood in your veins and you are thinking about learning Gaelic, the language of your ancestors. Think again . . . then go ahead and dive into the deep end!

What's the Name of This Language?

Everything about Gaelic is complicated . . . and fun. Grist for lots of humor and conversation over a couple/few Guinness. Even the name of the language is tricky. When speaking English, the Irish don't call their language "Gaelic" --they save that term for the language of the Highland Scots. They call their language "Irish." When they are speaking in their Celtic tongue (and only about 1/4 of the Irish can do this (some estimates range up to 42%), they call their language "Gaeilge"--unless they come from parts of Munster, southwest Ireland, where the language is called "Gaelinn." In a few isolated places, there are even other names for this language. This issue of the name of the language has political ramifications to it--don't get me started on that! Here is what Wikipedia says about the name of the language: "Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht Gaeilge mentioned above, include Gaedhilic/Gaeilic/Gaeilig or Gaedhlag in Ulster Irish and northern Connacht Irish and Gaedhealaing/Gaoluinn/Gaelainn Munster Irish." Anyway, it's hard as hell to figure out what this language is even called!

At the Edge of Annihilation.

Irish came this close to extermination. The forces of annihilation included the power of British government and law, that feared and disdained Gaelic Ireland; the devastation of the Great Famine of the mid 1800's; and the imperial power of English and American popular culture. In the 1800's the language began retreating underground and became mostly the oral language of the poor, those without land, money, or means (our ancestors!). This despite an almost 2000 year written history and a rich literature. When the famine, An Gorta Mor, hit in the mid 1840's, a huge number of the poor Irish-speaking population died or emigrated to save their lives (about 1/4 of the population died or left). Astonishingly, we find large Irish-speaking emigres in the most unlikely places--for example, in the mining communities around Butte, Montana, and in the Gold Rush communities in the Yukon and Alaska.

A. Astonishing, Byzantine Grammar.

My teachers, Warren Clay and Paul Curran, and sometimes Ellen Holland Keller, often begin an Irish grammar lesson by saying something like, "You can't make this stuff up!" That is how astonishing and byzantine the grammar of Irish is. The truth of the complexity is beyond any fiction you could invent. What many people don't realize is that their own native language is filled with hundreds of rules, exceptions to rules, and options as strange as those in Irish. I know that entire books have been written about the use of articles (a, an, and the) in English. What seems second nature to a native speaker is like Chinese torture to those learning English (or Irish, or whatever) as a second language. I won't go into the details of Irish grammar here, but let's just say that almost every element of the language, from vocabulary to syntax to pronunciation, is different and at times feels much more foreign than, say, German or French.

B. Difficulty in Using a Dictionary.

Irish isn't the hardest language for using a dictionary. Can you imagine trying to figure out how to use a Chinese or Japanese dictionary? But it is tricky because Irish words and their spellings transmute in various situations. One reason they change is because of tense, when verbs are involved, and in grammatical case, when nouns come into play. Noun plurals change much as in Latin, but without Latin's regularity (as far as I know). So the noun cara (friend) is cairde in the plural (friends). but in so many real contexts, these words appear as chara and chairde, and those spellings won't be found in Irish dictionaries. This is because of a process called lenition, in which the initial consonant of Irish words is "softened," changed--sometimes rather dramatically! There are rules for this process, so it's not a big problem after about five years of studying the language! But at first it seems like an insane problem.

Verbs can also present a big problem because many common verbs have wildly irregular forms, and because verbs change endings under many circumstances. This same thing is true for most Indo-European languages, and probably many other language families. [examples will follow]

C. How Do You Pronounce This?

The first time you try to read a passage written in Irish-Gaelic is an eye-opener. The letters look like the familiar Roman alphabet (unless you are reading an older Irish font--that presents some modest problems at first). But you won't be able to come very close to actual Irish pronunciation. Before I get into some actual details of Irish pronunciation, let me try to describe what the language sounds like. My first impression was that the language sounds like the wisperings of the wind, with lots of soft, breathy sounds. And there is some truth in that--some passages, some poems and songs, sound like the West Wind blowing in from the North Atlantic. Other times, the language sounds oddly like German or even like Hebrew. You hear/ch/ sounds as in words like loch (lake) or oiche (night)--sounds which don't exist in many dialects of English. The sentence rhythms seems very unlike English too. Sometimes the rhythms of Irish remind me of Scandanavian rhythms. Also, you can begin to notice the heavy accenting of initial syllables, the presence of strong /r/ sounds (and a few odd /r/ sounds similar to the "hairy r" in Czech words and names like Dvorak). All in all, the lanuage as spoken by a native sounds very very foreign, quite different from English (except Hiberno-English, the Irish twist on English, which picks up many feaures from the Irish-Gaelic).

My teacher Paul Curran always reminds us that "Irish is pronounced exactly the way it's spelled." That is a bit of a joke, because it takes a couple years to figure out the letter-sound correspondences of Irish. But for the most part, the language is consistent, unlike English. In that regard, Irish is more like Italian or Spanish--or a better analogy might be French, which is mostly consistent but strange indeed!


D. Strange Words Where None Exist in English.

It is never possible to translate word-for-word from one language to another. Those little computers they sell as translators make me laugh--they can do some things well, but they can't make perfectly accurate translations!

A fun part of studying a foreign language is discovering words that don't have a simple corresponding word in your native language. A couple of examples from German are the words Gemuetlichkeit and Fingerspitzengefuehl. You can explain these words with an English phrase or sentence, but usually not with a single word. Fingerspitzengefuehl is a nice German word that literally means the "feeling-you-have-at-the-tips-of-your-fingers." We might say that it means "intuition," but that's not exactly right or accurate--it's more than that.

Here are some fun Irish words and their definitions:

Baclainn, "crooked arm," the way your arm is when you bend your elbow (to carry a baby, for example). Bhi an leanbh ina baclainn aici, She was carrying the child in the crook of her arm.

Ioscaid, the hollow space behind your knee.

Ladhar, the space between your fingers and your toes.

Masach, having big buttocks.

There are many more and I will add to this list as I run across interesting new words.



E. Lack of Words for Certain Things.

There is no simple way in Irish to say the following things: yes, no, to have, to want. You can say “yes” in Irish by saying a version of “it is” (and "no" by saying “it isn’t” in some contexts). Other times you need to repeat the subject and the verb. So if you are asked something like “Do you drive a car?” you could answer “I drive.” In some ways this is like Latin (which from ninth grade Latin I remember this rule: “To say ‘yes’ you can say sic, vero, itaque, certe, or repeat the verb”). Saying “no” also involves a negative particle plus a verb or a repetition of the sentence with a negator. Maybe this is why the Irish are so garrulous!

To indicate possession (we do it in English with the verb "have"), Irish speakers say something like: “The book is at me,” Tá an leabhar agam, word-for-word, “is the book at-me.” There are many similar idiomatic ways to express things in Irish that strike an English speaker as odd.

F. English Words Borrowed from Irish Gaelic. A sampling.

Words:

banshee (bean sí, literally, woman of the fairies)
bard
blarney (name of a town and castle near Cork, Ireland)
bog (bog, soft)
boreen (botharín, little road)
brogue (bróg, shoe)
cairn (carn, pile of stones, often a prehistoric archeological site)
clan
colleen (cailín, girl)
galore (go leor, much, many)
glen (gleann)
gob (and gob-smacked),
keen (caoinadh, crying, wailing)
kibosh (from the Online Etymological Dictionary: "One candidate is Ir. caip bháis, caipín báis "cap of death," sometimes said to be the black cap a judge would don when pronouncing a death sentence, but in other sources identified as a gruesome method of execution 'employed by Brit. forces against 1798 insurgents' [Bernard Share, 'Slanguage, A Dictionary of Irish Slang']. ")
leprechaun
loch (lake)
poteen (poitín, homemade whiskey)
shamrock (seamróg)
shanty (sean tí, old house)
shillelagh
slew
slogan
smithereens (smideríní, little pieces)
tory
whiskey (uisce beatha, water of life)

Other possibilities: lynch, hooligan, shenanigans . . .

Phrases:

Erin go bragh (Ireland forever), dún do bheal (shut your mouth), póg mo thóin (kiss my behind), cead mile failte (a hundred thousand welcomes), slainte! (health; toast).

Personal Names: ( a small sampling, using mostly Anglicized spellings)

Brigid, Brian, Cieran, Colleen, Conal, Cormac, Deirdre, Dermot, Donal, Eamon, Ellen, Enya, Erin, Fergus, Finbar, Kathleen, Kenneth, Kevin, Malachy, Molly, Murray, Maeve, Maura, Maureen, Maurice, Murphy, Neil, Niav (Neeve), Nuala, Owen, Patrick (a name adopted by the Irish--their language originally did not have the letter "p"), Rosheen, Rory, Ryan, Sean, Shiela, Tadg (or Ty), Una (or Oona), and so on!

Place Names:

So many place names are borrowed from Irish! A surprising one is Baltimore, a town in county Cork and a city in Maryland. Here in Ohio we have our own Dublin, which means "black pool." Derry, Vermont has its namesake in Ulster. The name means something like"oak grove." Coleraine is a township in southwest Ohio and a town in the north of Ireland. So many towns, subdivisions, and roads are named after Irish cities and villages that it would be impossible to list them! My great-great grandparents, Daniel and Mary Crowley Coughlin, lived with their children, including my great grandfather Cornelius Coughlin, on Cork Road, in the Town of Scipio, Cayuga County, New York. These immigrants brought parts of Ireland with them and gave these names to their new homes.

An Gorta Mór (The Great Famine in Ireland)

“An Gorta Mór: An Fath Mo Clan a D’fhág as Éirinn”

(Le Robaird Mícheál Ó Cochláin)

Bhí mo shin-seanathair, Conn Ó Cochláin, a rugadh i meán an Gorta Mór áit éigin in iarthair Contae Chorcaí, Éire, in aice le baile “An Scoil” ó “An Sciobarín”. Bhí sé an mac Dónal Ó Cochláin is Máire Ní Crualaigh. Bhí 2 dheartháir, Jeremiah is Bartholemew, aige agus aon deirfiúr amháin, Cáitlín. Bhí Dónal feirmeoir bocht. Níor sé úinéir talún.

Sa bhlíain 1857 ó 1858, bhí Dónal, Máire, Jeremiah, Bartholemew, Cáitlín is Conn ag dul ar imirce go dtí Méiriceá, sa baile i “Scipio Town,” i Contae Cayuga, Nua-Eabhrac. Thosaigh siad ag deanamh feirmoireacht an talamh in aice le “Cork Road” (An Bóthar Corcaigh”). B’fheidir go labhair siad Gaeilge i Scipio Town.

Translation:

"The Great Famine: The Reason My Family Left Ireland"

(by Robert Michael Coughlin)

My great grandfather, Cornelius Coughlin [also spelled Coghlin] was born in the midst of the Great Famine, somewhere in West County Cork, Ireland, [possibly] near the towns of Skull or Skibbereen. He [Cornelius] was the son of Daniel O'Coghlin and Mary O'Crowley. He had 2 brothers, Jeremiah and Bartholemew, and only one sister, Catherine. Daniel [Cornelius's father] was a poor farmer. [As far as we know] he never was a land owner.

In the year 1857 or '58, Daniel, Mary, Jeremiah, Catherine, and Cornelius emigrated to America, to the town of Scipio in Cauyuga County, New York. They [then] began to farm the land near Cork Road. It's possible that Gaelic was spoken in Scipio Town [because so many Cork emigrees lived there].

First Irish Poet: Aimhirgin

It is said that the first person to ever set foot in Ireland was Aimhirgin (in full, Aimhirgin Gluingheal mac Mileadh), the warrior-poet. The name would be pronounced something like /AV-ur-GEEN/. Well, that is a tall tale, in a land of tall tales, by the inventors of blarney. But such wonderful blarney! Below is Aimirgin's poem, in Irish-Gaelic and in English, as set forth in the wonderful book Aniar: Voices and Verse from the Edge of the World, by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagain, Ceara Conway, and John Ryan:

Is mé an gaoth ar muir
Is mé an tonn tréan
Is mé glór na mara
Is me seitreach daimh
Is mé seabhac na haille
Is mé an gá greine
Is mé ailleacht na luibhe
Is mé torc ar ar ghail
Is mé an bradan sa linn
Is mé an loch ar an má.

I am the wind on the ocean
I am the crashing wave
I am the song of the sea
I am the bellow of the stag
I am the ray of sunlight
I am the beauty of the herb
I am the furious boar
I am the salmon in the pool
I am the lake on the plain.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Approximate ponunciation of the Irish-Gaelic: LAW HAY-luh PAW-drick HUN-uh DIT

Word-for-word: day + of the feast + of Patrick + happy + to you

Idiomatically: "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

See www.daltai.com for more on Irish-Gaelic

Whiskey, Water, and Irsh-Gaelic

"Uisce beatha." For the past few years, I've been studying Irish-Gaelic [what we normally just call "Irish"] at the East-Side Irish-American Club in Euclid, Ohio. The Irish word for "water" is uisce, pronounced something like /ISH-kuh/. This is the source of the English word "whiskey." The actual Irish word for whiskey is uisce beatha, pronounced /ISH-kuh BAH-hah/, which literally means "water of life."

Irish is a very interesting and difficult language for most people. It has a very foreign feel to it at first, with sounds and rhythms so different from most varieties of English. The rules and exceptions are absolutely astonishing, and I will discuss that from time to time in this blog. These rules could only have been invented by some perverse . . . well, Irishmen and Women, probably as a puzzle to befuddle the Sasanach (the English), the speakers of Bearla (the English language). Most likely a pint or two was involved in this process, maybe some uisce beatha.

In Sligo town, in the northwest of Ireland, there are circular brass covers in the sidewalks that say something like "Sligeach Uisce" (Sligo Water), and a tricky Irishman told me that it was proof that whiskey was piped to every house in town. I will try to upload a photo of one of these.