Irish word for english

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For English words that originated in Ireland from other sources, see Hiberno-English.

This is a list of English language words from the Irish language with links provided to pronunciation in all three primarily Irish dialects, spoken by native Irish speakers, provided by Foras na Gaeilge.^[1]

banshee (from Irish bainsídhe/beansídhe, meaning «woman of fairy» or «of a fairy mound»^[2]

Bean (ban) is the Modern Irish word for woman. Síd(h) (modern spelling sí) is Irish for ‘mound’ (see Sidhe). In traditional Irish mythology, a spirit usually taking the form of a woman who sings a caoineadh (lament) warning of impending death in an old Irish family.

bog (from «boc», meaning «soft» or «marshy»^[3] and -aigh to form bogach meaning «soft soil composed primarily of peat»^[4])

Used as the Anglicized «bog» as slang for a mire, but also to become stuck or impeded.^[5]

bogeyman (possibly from bogaigh + English man)

The word bogaigh is pronounced approximately as «boggy», and the bogeyman legend originates from humanoid-appearing logs and human «bog-bodies» found well-preserved in peat. These occasional discoveries gave rise to unsettling stories some suggest may have been used to encourage good behavior from otherwise misbehaving children.

boreen (from bóithrín, meaning «country lane»)

A narrow, rural Irish road.

bother (possibly from bodhar, «deaf; bothered; confused»; or from bodhraigh, «to deafen; to annoy»)

The earliest use appears in the writings of Irish authors Sheridan, Swift and Sterne.^[6]

brock (from old Irish brocc^[7])

A badger.

brat (from Old Irish bratt meaning «cloak, mantle»^[8])

A cloak covering or cloth.^[9] Also as swadding-clothes^[10] and bird’s plumage.^[11]

brogan (from bróg, meaning «shoe»^[12] or «boot».^[13])

A boot or shoe of untanned leather, often with holes in the sides or over the toes intended for drying while worn in wet conditions.^[14]

brogue (from barróg, meaning «to wrestle or grasp»^[15] with teanga (tongue) to mean an impediment of speech.^[16])

Though found in wide use in English to indicate a heavy accent, the Irish do not use this term for the negative connotations.^[17]

clabber, clauber

(from clábar) wet clay or mud; curdled milk.

clock

O.Ir. clocc meaning «bell»; into Old High German as glocka, klocka^[18] (whence Modern German Glocke) and back into English via Flemish;^[19] cf also Welsh cloch but the giving language is Old Irish via the hand-bells used by early Irish missionaries.^[18][20]

colleen

(from cailín meaning «young woman») a girl (usually referring to an Irish girl) (OED).

corrie

a cirque or mountain lake, of glacial origin. (OED) Irish or Scots Gaelic coire ‘Cauldron, hollow’

craic

fun, used in Ireland for fun/enjoyment. The word is actually English in origin; it entered into Irish from the English «crack» via Ulster Scots. The Gaelicised spelling craic was then reborrowed into English. The craic spelling, although preferred by many Irish people, has garnered some criticism as a faux-Irish word.^[21]

cross

The ultimate source of this word is Latin crux, the Roman gibbet which became a symbol of Christianity. Some sources say the English wordform comes from Old Irish cros.^[22][23] Other sources say the English comes from Old French crois^[24] and others say it comes from Old Norse kross.^[25]

drum (ridge), drumlin

(from drom/druim meaning «ridge») a ridge often separating two long narrow valleys; a long narrow ridge of drift or diluvial formation. Drumlin is a linguistic diminutive of drum, and it means a small rounded hill of glacial formation, often seen in series (OED). A landscape of many Drumlins occurs in some parts of Ireland (including counties Cavan and Armagh). Drumlin is an established technical word in geology, but drum is almost never used.

drisheen

(from drisín or drúishin).

dulse

^[23] (from Old Irish duilesc).

esker

(from eiscir) an elongated mound of post-glacial gravel, usually along a river valley (OED). Esker is a technical word in geology.

Fenian

(from Fianna meaning «semi-independent warrior band») a member of a 19th-century Irish nationalist group (OED).

fiacre

a small four-wheeled carriage for hire, a hackney-coach. Saint Fiacre was a seventh-century Irish-born saint who lived in France for most of his life. The English word fiacre comes from French. (OED)

Gallowglass

(from gallóglach) a Scottish Gaelic mercenary soldier in Ireland between mid 13th and late 16th centuries.

galore

(from go leor meaning «til plenty») a lot (OED).

gob

(literally beak) mouth, though used in colloquial Irish more often to refer to a ‘beaky’ nose, i.e. a sticky-beak. Perhaps from Irish. (OED)

griskin

(from griscín) a lean cut of meat from the loin of a pig.

hooligan

(from the Irish family name Ó hUallacháin, anglicised as O’Houlihan) one who takes part in rowdy behaviour and vandalism.

keening

(from caoinim [ˈkiːnʲəmʲ] meaning «I wail») to lament, to wail mournfully (OED). No relation to «keen» = eager.

kibosh, kybosh

to finish, to put an end to: «That’s put the kibosh on it». The OED says the origin is obscure and possibly Yiddish. Other sources^[26] suggest that it may be from the Irish an chaip bháis meaning «the cap of death» (a reference to the «black cap» worn by a judge passing sentence of capital punishment, or perhaps to the gruesome method of execution called pitchcapping);^[27] or else somehow connected with «bosh», from Turkish «boş» (empty). (Caip bháis — pronounced as kibosh — is also a word in Irish for a candle-snuffer.)

Leprechaun

(from leipreachán, based on Old Irish luchorpán, from lu ‘small’ + corp ‘body’ (ODE).

Limerick

(from Luimneach)

lough

(from loch) a lake, or arm of the sea. According to the OED, the spelling «lough» was originally a separate word with a similar meaning but different pronunciation, perhaps from Old Northumbrian: this word became obsolete, effectively from the 16th century, but in Anglo-Irish its spelling was retained for the word newly borrowed from Irish.

phoney

(probably from the English fawney meaning «gilt brass ring used by swindlers», which is from Irish fáinne meaning «ring») fake.^[28]

poteen

(from póitín) hooch, bootleg alcoholic drink (OED)

shamrock

(from seamróg) a clover, used as a symbol for Ireland (OED).

Shan Van Vocht

(from sean-bhean bhocht meaning «poor old woman») a literary name for Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries.

shebeen

(from síbín meaning «a mugful») unlicensed house selling alcohol (OED).

shillelagh

(from sail éille meaning «a club with a strap») a wooden club or cudgel made from a stout knotty stick with a large knob on the end.

Sidhe

(Irish pronunciation: [ʃiː]) the fairy folk of Ireland, from (aos) sídhe (OED). See banshee.

sleveen, sleiveen

(from slíghbhín/slíbhín) an untrustworthy or cunning person. Used in Ireland and Newfoundland (OED).

slew

(from sluagh meaning «a large number») a great amount (OED). Note: as in a slew of new products, not as in slay.

slob

(from slab) mud (OED). Note: the English words slobber and slobbery do not come from this; they come from Old English.^[24]

slogan

(from sluagh-ghairm meaning «a battle-cry used by Gaelic clans») Meaning of a word or phrase used by a specific group is metaphorical and first attested from 1704.^[29]

smithereens

small fragments, atoms. In phrases such as ‘to explode into smithereens’. This is the word smithers (of obscure origin) with the Irish diminutive ending. Whether it derives from the modern Irish smidrín or is the source of this word is unclear (OED).

tilly

(from tuilleadh meaning «a supplement») used to refer to an additional article or amount unpaid for by the purchaser, as a gift from the vendor (OED). Perhaps more prevalent in Newfoundland than Ireland. James Joyce, in his Pomes Penyeach included a thirteenth poem as a bonus (as the book sold for a shilling, twelve poems would have come to a penny each), which he named «Tilly,» for the extra sup of milk given to customers by milkmen in Dublin.^[30]

tory

originally an Irish outlaw, probably from the Irish verb tóir meaning «pursue» (OED).

turlough

a seasonal lake in limestone area (OED) Irish tur loch ‘dry lake’

whiskey

(from uisce beatha meaning «water of life») (OED).

See also[edit]

• Hiberno-English
• List of English words of Scottish Gaelic origin
• Lists of English words of Celtic origin
• Lists of English words of international origin

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Concise English-Irish Dictionary (Foras na Gaeilge, 2020, ISBN 978-1-85791-024-1)

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Список ирландских слов, используемых в английском языке — List of Irish words used in the English language

Dozens of Irish English words and phrases were added to the OED in March 2022, including Irish words used in Irish English. I’ve written about some of these before (hames, notions, plámás, ráiméis, ruaille buaille); others include a chara, blow-in, bockety, ceol, ciotóg, cúpla focal, delph, ghost estate, grá, guard, sean nós, segotia, and shift.

OED editor Danica Salazar writes:

The words and phrases featured in the OED’s March update provide a small yet vivid snapshot of Irish English usage in the past and present. We will continue our efforts in enriching the dictionary’s coverage of Irish English and feature even more new words and senses in future updates.

This will be welcomed by scholars who feel that Celtic words – and word-origins – in the English lexicon have traditionally been under-acknowledged by linguistic authorities. Loreto Todd, in Green English: Ireland’s Influence on the English Language, says there has been ‘a long-standing reluctance to recognise the presence of Celtic words in the English language’.*

Yet for all the richness and strength of Irish English dialects in Ireland and of Irish literature internationally, the influence of Irish and Irish English on the broader English language has been modest. You might wonder why, given Ireland and Great Britain’s geographical, social, and political (though fraught, i.e., colonialist) closeness.

In a chapter on loan words in Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin – the book is a century old this year – Otto Jespersen writes:

We now understand why so few Keltic words were taken over into French and English. There was nothing to induce the ruling classes to learn the language of the inferior natives: it could never be fashionable for them to show an acquaintance with a despised tongue by using now and then a Keltic word.

But this claim oversimplifies things, and the claim to understanding seems premature. In his modern account The Stories of English, David Crystal reviews historical, cultural, linguistic, genetic, and onomastic factors before concluding: ‘Why such intimate contact with Celtic tradition did not result in a greater influx of Celtic loanwords into Old English remains one of the great puzzles in the history of the language.’

Crystal wonders why the Anglo-Saxons were not influenced ‘by the majority Celtic languages around them’. Aside from place names, he writes, the influence is small; many words said to have Celtic origin might not, and even if they do, they remain few. In 2011 Oxford Dictionaries Online said it listed a mere 160–170 words of Irish origin. I don’t know if the figure has changed much since ODO merged with Dictionary.com.

While Crystal’s discussion includes the hypothesis advanced by Jespersen, it also offers its opposite:

There are various explanations, but all are speculation. Perhaps there was so little in common between the Celtic way of life as it had developed in Roman Britain, and the Anglo-Saxon way of life as it had developed on the Continent, that there was no motivation to borrow Celtic words. There might even have been a conscious avoidance of them. This could have happened if the Anglo-Saxons perceived themselves to be so socially superior to the ‘barbarians’ that Celtic words would have been seen as ‘gutter-speak’. Or there could have been avoidance for the opposite reason: because many Celts would have become highly Romanized (for the Romans were in the country for the best part of 400 years), perhaps the Anglo-Saxons perceived them as ‘nouveau riche’ and wished to distance themselves from such ‘posh’ speech. Either factor could have been relevant, in different times and places.

Then again, a completely different line of reasoning might have been involved. Perhaps the two ways of life were so similar that the Anglo-Saxons already had all the words they needed. Celtic words which the Anglo-Saxons might most usefully have adopted might already have come into their language from Latin because of the Roman presence in Europe.

In a blog post some years ago, Katherine Connor Martin wrote: ‘Irish origins lurk in some unexpected corners of the English lexicon, where the connection to Ireland itself has been obscured.’ Some of those connections are hinted at in Séamas Moylan’s 2009 work Southern Irish English, which says that most Irish words retained in Irish English come from ‘quasi-technical and affective areas of the vocabulary’.

The former group includes báinín ‘flannel’, bairín breac ‘currant cake’, bodhrán ‘winnowing drum’, bóithrín ‘by-road’, cis ‘wicker basket’, currach ‘canvas-covered boat’, gríosach ‘embers’, láí ‘spade’, poitín ‘illicit whiskey’, práiscín ‘bag apron’, préataí-s ‘potatoes’, ráth ‘ringfort’, síbín ‘speakeasy’, sleán ‘turf spade’, and súgán ‘hay-rope’. The latter includes the insults amadán ‘fool’, balbhán ‘dummy’, bodach ‘lout’, and straoill ‘slattern’.

Moylan quotes P. L. Henry’s 1958 Linguistic Survey of Ireland saying Irish English was ‘changing considerably’ and that its Irish element was ‘tending more and more to be shed or left unutilized’. Even so, the small sample above suggests fruitful routes of crossover, with many such terms still used particularly in rural parts and among older generations.

Moylan wraps up with a long passage on Irish words and phrases that have become established in ‘General English’, some more stereotypical than others, such as banshee, bard, broc, brogue (< Irish barróg), carrigeen, colcannon, crannóg, drumlin, esker, keen (< caoineadh), rapparee, shamrock, shillelagh, sláinte, slew (< slua), tory, and turlough.

Pogue ma hone, from Irish póg mo thón ‘kiss my arse’, is among the most stereotypical. Yet, as Moylan notes, it’s ‘probably a translation of the E phrase, since the Ir. form is not heard among native speakers’. I’ve never heard the phrase from an Irish person in either tongue, nor used it myself: it is a marked ‘Oirishism’, like ‘Begorrah’ and ‘Top o’ the morning to ya’, existing here only ironically and on tourist merchandise, in my experience.

The OED has a page of resources on Irish English, where you can submit words for consideration. This is part of a much broader effort to document more vocabulary from ‘World Englishes’ – an enticing project for anyone looking to delve deeper. Oxford Languages has also uploaded a series of videos from its 2022 symposium on World English.

[The Sentence first archives have lots more on Irish English and the OED.]

*

* The desire to reverse this perceived bias has sometimes been taken to misguided extremes, as described by Grant Barrett and explored at length on the cassidyslangscam blog.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2022 at 6:37 pm and is filed under dialect, etymology, Hiberno-English, Ireland, language, lexicography, words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Привели грамматические различия между ирландским и британским вариантами английского, а также рассмотрели особенности ирландской лексики.

Ирландский английский — один из самых интересных и трудных для понимания вариантов английского. Соседствуя с ирландским языком, он перенял его лексику и грамматические конструкции. В результате ирландский вариант английского способен поставить в тупик не только изучающего английский, но и носителя английского языка.

Современная Ирландия — билингвальная страна, в которой официально признаны английский и ирландский языки. Начиная с XIX века английский язык играет ведущую роль, поэтому большинство ирландцев владеют им, как родным, а ирландский язык знает чуть меньше половины населения. За несколько столетий соседства оба языка оказали значительное влияние друг на друга. В итоге ирландский английский (Irish English) или гиберно-английский (Hiberno-English, от латинского названия Ирландии — Hibernia) обрел свой уникальный колорит.

Грамматика ирландского английского

Грамматика ирландского английского представляет собой комбинацию грамматических элементов английского и ирландского языков. При этом она считается достаточно консервативной, поскольку сохранила некоторые черты английской эпохи Елизаветы I (конец XVI — начало XVII века). Особенностей немало, хотя большинство из них остаются атрибутами разговорной речи и региональных диалектов. В статье приведем десять наиболее любопытных фактов о грамматике ирландского варианта английского языка:

1. Слова yes (да) и no (нет) редко используются при ответе на вопрос. Ирландцы склонны повторять вспомогательный глагол, например:

   — Are you hungry?
   — I am.
   — Ты голоден?
   — Да.

   — Has she been to the USA?
   — She hasn’t.
   — Она была в США?
   — Нет.

2. Существует несколько местоимений «вы»‎: единственное число — you, множественное число — ye:

   Did ye all read the paper? — Вы все читали газету?

   Обратите внимание, что в Дублине ye — это местоимение единственного числа, а yous/youse — множественного.

3. Для описания событий из недавнего прошлого используется конструкция after + герундий:

   My car is after fixing. — Я только что починил машину.
   She is after losing her job! — Она недавно потеряла работу.

4. Вместо привычного нам сказуемого используется следующая конструкция: вспомогательный глагол + the + герундий:

   If I had the doing of that exam again, I would prepare better. — Если бы мне снова пришлось сдавать этот экзамен, я бы лучше подготовился.

5. Предложения с would do и would have done нередко заменяют простое прошедшее и настоящее время:

   We would have lived in one city when we were children. — В детстве мы жили в одном городе.

6. Глаголы состояния используются во временах группы Continuous:

   I am understanding it now. — Теперь я понимаю.

7. Глагол to be (быть) имеет две формы настоящего времени. Одна из них совпадает со стандартным употреблением (am/is/are), другая — habitual be — описывает привычное состояние. Оно образуется с помощью вспомогательного глагола do/does. В переводе на русский значение глагола можно передать наречием «всегда»:

   She does be tired in the mornings. — Она всегда уставшая по утрам.

8. Глагол will используется вместо shall в приглашениях и предложениях:

   Will I open the window? — Мне открыть окно?
   Will we go to the cinema? — Пойдем в кино?
9. So используется в tag-фразах для усиления значения, а также для опровержения отрицательного утверждения:

   This is a difficult question, so it is. — Это сложный вопрос, действительно сложный.

   — You are not a good person.
   — I am so!
   — Ты нехороший человек.
   — Неправда, я хороший человек!

10. Частица to в глагольных фразах может опускаться:

    I’m not allowed (to) speak to strangers. — Мне нельзя разговаривать с незнакомыми людьми.

Лексика ирландского варианта английского

Ирландский английский включает лексику ирландского происхождения. Особенно много заимствований встречается в области культуры, мифологии и кулинарии — там, где в английском языке не нашлось аналогов. Например: a boxty (образовано от ирландского bacstaí) означает «традиционные картофельные оладьи», a banshee (образовано от bean sídhe) переводится как «сказочное создание, похожее на фею или ведьму». Также в ирландском английском немало сленга для описания более общих явлений и действий.

Произношение в ирландском варианте английского

В англоязычном мире сложилось представление о типичном ирландском произношении, которое сильно отличается от того, как говорят в Оксфорде или Нью-Йорке. Все открытые звуки (вроде /æ/ или /a:/) становятся «меньше», поэтому складывается ощущение, что ирландцы почти не открывают рот. Согласные звучат более мягко: слово a cat произносится как /kyat/, а garden — /gyarden/. Звук /r/ меняется до неузнаваемости, перемещаясь вперед ближе к зубам. А одной из самых важных особенностей ирландского английского считается его музыкальная интонация. Однако типичные ирландцы существуют только в голливудских фильмах, в реальности все не так просто. Дело в том, что на территории Ирландии существует несколько региональных акцентов. Произношение жителей северных регионов республики отличается от того, как говорят люди живущие на юге или в центральной части острова. И даже в одном Дублине различают два акцента — северный и южный. Чтобы понять, насколько они отличаются друг от друга, посмотрите видео Guide to Irish Accents.

Полезные ресурсы

Мы обозначили некоторые характеристики, которые делают ирландский английский одним из самых любопытных национальных вариантов языка. Тем, кто хочет познакомиться с ним ближе, узнать его историю и погрузиться в культуру Ирландии, а также послушать речь современных жителей республики, мы предлагаем изучить подборку полезных ресурсов.

Видеоролики:

• How to do an Irish Accent — тренинг по ирландскому акценту;
• Learn Niall Horan’s Irish English Accent — еще один тренинг;
• Learn IRISH slang, vocabulary and expressions — об ирландском сленге;
• Irish Slang and Phrases — еще о сленге;
• Actors Teach You English, Scottish and Irish Slang — урок ирландского, шотландского и британского сленга от известных актеров;
• The Irish Language (Gaelic) — об ирландском языке.

Подкасты:

• The Explainer — актуальная новостная повестка Ирландии;
• An Irishman Abroad — о жизни ирландцев в Ирландии и за рубежом;
• The Irish Times Women’s Podcast — о женщинах в Ирландии.

Статьи:

• Craic and Culture — блог о культуре и туризме в Ирландии, в том числе статья про сленг — 101 Irish Slang Words;
• ThoughtCo — статьи о языке, истории и культуре Ирландии, например: Irish English (language variety) — об особенностях ирландского английского в целом и его региональных вариантах, Irish Mythology: History and Legacy — о мифологии и верованиях, The Legend of St. Patrick — о главном национальном герое,The 50 Most Common Irish Surnames — об ирландских фамилиях;
• The Irish For: Brexit and the rise of Hiberno-English — колонка о перспективах ирландского английского в Европейском союзе;
• Hiberno-English in Transition — научная статья об истории и современности гиберно-английского языка;
• “Is it English what we speak?” Irish English and Postcolonial Identity — научная статья о языке и идентичности в Ирландии.

Хотите свободно общаться с иностранцами и узнавать об их культуре из первых уст? Тогда записывайтесь на уроки английского к носителям языка.

Надеемся, теперь вам не составит труда найти общий язык с интересным собеседником из ирландского паба. Поделитесь в комментариях, какой еще вариант английского вам было бы интересно разобрать.