Vocabulary R to Y.

Rabble; used in Ulster to denote a fair where workmen congregate on the hiring day to be hired by the surrounding farmers. See Spalpeen.*

Rack**. In Munster an ordinary comb is called a *rack: *the word *comb *being always applied and confined to a small close fine-toothed one. **

Rackrent**; an excessive rent of a farm, so high as to allow to the occupier a bare and poor subsistence. Not used outside Ireland except so far as it has been recently brought into prominence by the Irish land question. **

Rag on every bush**; a young man who is caught by and courts many girls but never proposes. **

Raghery**; a kind of small-sized horse; a name given to it from its original home, the island of Rathlin or Raghery off Antrim. **

Rake**; to cover up with ashes the live coals of a turf fire, which will keep them alive till morning:- ‘Don’t forget to rake the fire.’ **

Randy**; a scold. (Kinahan: general.) **

Rap**; a bad halfpenny: a bad coin:- ‘He hasn’t a rap in his pocket.’

Raumaush or raumaish; *romance *or fiction, but now commonly applied to foolish senseless brainless talk. Irish *rámás *or rámáis, which is merely adapted from the word romance.

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Raven’s bit**; a beast that is going to die. (Kinahan.) **

Rawney**; a delicate person looking in poor health; a poor sickly-looking animal. (Connaught.) Irish *“ránaidhe, *same sound and meaning. **

Reansha**; brown bread: sometimes corrupted to *range-bread. *(MacCall: Wexford.) **

Red** or redd; clear, clear out, clear away:- Redd the road, the same as the Irish *Fág-a-ballagh, *‘clear the way.’ If a girl’s hair is in bad tangles, she uses a *redding-comb *first to open it, and then a finer comb. **

Redden**; to light: ‘Take the bellows and redden the fire.’ An Irishman hardly ever *lights *his pipe: he *reddens *it. **

Redundancy**, 52, 130. **

Ree**; as applied to a horse means restive, wild, almost unmanageable. **

Reek;** a rick:- A reek of turf: so the Kerry mountains, ‘MacGillicuddy’s Reeks.’ **

Reel-foot**; a club-foot, a deformed foot. (Ulster.) ‘Reel-footed and hunch-backed forbye, sir.’ (Old Ulster song.)

Reenaw’lee; a slow-going fellow who dawdles and delays and hesitates about things. (Munster.) Irish *ríanálaidhe, *same sound and meaning: from *rian, *a way, track, or road: ríanalaidhe, a person who wanders listlessly along the way.

Reign**. This word is often used in Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, in the sense of to occupy, to be master of: ‘Who is in the Knockea farm?’ ‘Mr. Keating reigns there now.’ ‘Who is your landlord?’ ‘The old master is dead and his son Mr. William reigns over us now.’ Long may

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your honour [the master] reign over us.’ (Crofton Croker.) In answer to an examination question, a young fellow from Cork once answered me, ‘Shakespeare reigned in the sixteenth century.’ This usage is borrowed from Irish, in which the verb *riaghail *[ree-al] means both to rule (as a master) and to reign (as a king), and as in many other similar cases the two meanings were confounded in English. (Kinahan and myself.) **

Relics of old decency**. When a man goes down in the world he often preserves some memorials of his former rank - a ring, silver buckles in his shoes, &c. - ’ the relics of old decency.’ **

Revelagh**; a long lazy gadding fellow. (Morris: Monaghan.) **

Rib**; a single hair from the head. A poet, praising a young lady, says that ‘every golden *rib *of her hair is worth five guineas.’ Irish *ruibe *[ribbe], same meaning. **

Rickle**; a little heap of turf peats standing on ends against each other. (Derry.) Irish *ricil, *same sound and meaning. **

Riddles**, 185. **

Ride and tie**. Two persons set out on a journey having one horse. One rides on while the other sets out on foot after him. The first man, at the end of a mile or two, ties up the horse at the roadside and proceeds on foot. When the second comes to the horse he mounts and rides till he is one or two miles ahead of his comrade and then ties. And so to tile end of the journey. A common practice in old times for courier purposes; but not in use now, I think.

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Rife**, a scythe-sharpener, a narrow piece of board punctured all over and covered with grease on which fine sand is sprinkled. Used before the present emery sharpener was known. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish *riabh *[reev], a long narrow stripe. Right or wrong: often heard for *earnestly: *‘he pressed me right or wrong to go home with him.’ **

Ringle-eyed**; when the iris is light-coloured, and the circle bounding it is very marked, the person is *ringle-eyed. *(Derry.) **

Rings**; often used as follows:- ‘Did I sleep at all?’ ‘Oh indeed you did-you slept rings around you.’**

Rip**; a coarse ill-conditioned woman with a bad tongue. (General.) **

Roach lime**; lime just taken from the kiln, burnt, *before *being slaked and while still in the form of stones. This is old English from French *roche, *a rock, a stone. **

Roasters**; potatoes kept crisping on the coals to be brought up to table hot at the end of the dinner-usually the largest ones picked out. But the word *roaster *was used only among the lower class of people: the higher classes considered it vulgar. Here is how Mr. Patrick Murray (see p. 154) describes them about 1840 in a parody on Moore’s ‘One bumper at parting’ (a *lumper; *in Mr. Murray’s version, means a big potato):-

One *lumper at *parting, though many

Have rolled on the board since we met,

The biggest the hottest of any

Remains in the round for us yet.’

In the higher class of houses they were peeled and brought up at the end nice and brown in

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a dish. About eighty years ago a well-known military gentleman of Baltinglass in the County Wicklow - whose daughter told me the story - had on one occasion a large party of friends to dinner. On the very day of the dinner the waiter took ill, and the stable boy - a big coarse fellow - had to be called in, after elaborate instructions. All went well till near the end of the dinner, when the fellow thought things were going on rather slowly. Opening the diningroom door he thrust in his head and called out in the hearing of all:- Masther, are ye ready for the *roasthers?’ *A short time ago I was looking at the house and diningroom where that occurred. **

Rocket**; a little girl’s frock. (Very common in Limerick.) It is of course an old application of the English-French rochet.**

Rodden**; a *bohereen *or narrow road. (Ulster.) It is the Irish *róidín, *little road. **

Roman**; used by the people in many parts of Ireland for *Roman Catholic. *I have already quoted what the Catholic girl said to her Protestant lover:- ’ Unless that you turn a *Roman *you ne’er shall get me for your bride.’ Sixty or seventy years ago controversial discussions - between a Catholic on the one hand and a Protestant on the other - were very common. I witnessed many when I was a boy - to my great delight. Garrett Barry, a Roman Catholic, locally noted as a controversialist, was arguing with Mick Cantlon, surrounded by a group of delighted listeners. At last Garrett, as a final clincher, took up the Bible, opened it at a certain place, and handed it to his opponent, with:-

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‘Read that heading out for us now if you please.’ Mick took it up and read ‘St. Paul’s Epistle to the *Romans’ *‘Very well,’ says Garrett: ‘now can you show me in any part of that Bible, ‘St. Paul’s Epistle to the *Protestants’? *This of course was a down blow; and Garrett was greeted with a great hurrah by the Catholic part of his audience. This story is in ‘Knocknagow,’ but the thing occurred in my neighbourhood, and I heard about it long before ‘Knocknagow’ was written. **

Rookaun**; great noisy merriment. Also a drinking-bout. (Limerick.) **

Room**. In a peasant’s house the *room is *a special apartment distinct from the kitchen or living-room, which is not a ‘room’ in this sense at all. I slept in the kitchen and John slept in the ‘room.’ (Healy and myself: Munster.) **

Round coal**; coal in lumps as distinguished from slack or coal broken up small and fine. **

Ruction, ructions**; fighting, squabbling, a fight, a row. It is a memory of the *Insurrection *of 1798, which was commonly called the ‘Ruction.’ **

Rue-rub**; when a person incautiously scratches an itchy spot so as to break the skin: that is *rub-rub. *(Derry.) From *rue, *regret or sorrow. **

Rury**; a rough hastily-made cake or bannock. (Morris: Monaghan.) **

Rut**; the smallest bonnive in a litter. (Kildare and Carlow.)

 

Saluting, salutations, 14.

Sapples; soap suds: *sapple, *to wash in suds. (Derry.)

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Saulavotcheer**; a person having *lark-heels. *(Limerick.) The first syll. is Irish; *sál *[saul], heel. **

Sauvaun**; a rest, a light doze or nap. (Munster.) Irish *sámhán, *same sound and meaning, from *sámh *[sauv], pleasant and tranquil. **

Scagh**; a whitethorn bush. (General.) Irish *sceach, *same sound and meaning. **

Scaghler**: a little fish - the pinkeen or thornback: Irish *sceach *[scagh], a thorn or thornbush, and the English termination ler. **

Scald**: to be *scalded *is to be annoyed, mortified, sorely troubled, vexed. (Very general.) Translated from one or the other of two Irish words, *loisc *[lusk], to burn; and *scall, *to *scald. Finn Bane says:- ‘Guary being angry with me he scorched me (romloisc), *burned me, *scalded *me, with abuse.’ (‘Colloquy.’) ‘I earned that money hard and ‘tis a great *heart-scald (scollach-croidhe) *to me to lose it.’ There is an Irish air called ‘The *Scalded *poor man.’ (‘Old Irish Music and Songs.’) **

Scalder**, an unfledged bird (South): *scaldie *and *scaulthoge *in the North. From the Irish *seal *(bald), from which comes the Irish *scalachán, *an unfledged bird. **

Scallan**; a wooden shed to shelter the priest during Mass, 143, 145. **

Scalp, scolp, scalpeen**; a rude cabin, usually roofed with *scalps *or grassy sods (whence the name). In the famine times - 1847 and after - a scalp was often erected for any poor wanderer who got stricken down with typhus fever: and in that the people tended him cautiously till he recovered or died. (Munster.) Irish *scailp *[scolp].

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Scalteen**: see Scolsheen. **

Scollagh-cree**; ill-treatment of any kind. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish *scallach-croidhe, *same sound and meaning: a ‘heart scald’; from *scalladh, *scalding, and *croidhe, *heart. **

Scollop**; the bended rod pointed at both ends that a thatcher uses to fasten down the several straw-wisps. (General.) Irish *scolb *[scollub]. **

Scolsheen or scalteen**; made by boiling a mixture of whiskey, water, sugar, butter and pepper (or caraway seeds) in a pot: a sovereign cure for a cold. In the old mail-car days there was an inn on the road from Killarney to Mallow, famous for scolsheen, where a big pot of it was always kept ready for travellers. (Kinahan and Kane.) Sometimes the word *scalteen *was applied to unmixed whiskey burned, and used for the same purpose. From the Irish scall, burn, singe, scald.

Sconce**; to chaff, banter; make game of:- ‘None of your sconcing,’ (Ulster.) **

Sconce**; to shirk work or duty. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Scotch Dialect**: influence of, on our Dialect, 6, 7. **

Scotch lick**; when a person goes to clean up anything-a saucepan, a floor, his face, a pair of shoes, &c. - and only half does it, he (or she) has given it a *Scotch lick. *General in South. In Dublin it would be called a ‘cat’s lick’: for a cat has only a small tongue and doesn’t do much in the way of licking. **

Scout**; a reproachful name for a bold forward girl. **

Scouther**; to burn a cake on the outside before it is fully cooked, by over haste in baking;- burned outside, half raw inside. Hence ‘to scouther’

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means to do anything hastily and incompletely. (Ulster.) **

Scrab**; to scratch:- ‘The cat near scrabbed his eyes out.’ (Patterson : Ulster.) In the South it is scraub:- *‘*He scraubed my face.’ **

Scrab**; to gather the stray potatoes left after the regular crop, when they are afterwards turned out by plough or spade. **

Scraddhin**; a scrap; anything small - smaller than usual, as a small potato: applied contemptuously to a very small man, exactly the same as the Southern *sprissaun. *Irish *scraidín, *same sound and meaning. (East Ulster.) **

Scran**; ‘bad scran to you,’ an evil wish like ‘bad luck to you,’ but much milder: English, in which *scran *means broken victuals, food-refuse, fare-very common. (North and South.) **

Scraw**; a grassy sod cut from a grassy or boggy surface and often dried for firing; also called *sccrahoge *(with diminutive óg). Irish *scrath, scrathóg, *same sounds and meaning. **

Screenge**; to search for. (Donegal and Derry.) **

Scunder or Scunner**; a dislike; to take a dislike or disgust against anything. (Armagh.) **

Scut**; the tail of a hare or rabbit: often applied in scorn to a contemptible fellow:- ‘He’s just a scut and nothing better.’ The word is Irish, as is shown by the following quotation:- ‘The billows [were] conversing with the *scuds *(sterns) and the beautiful prows [of the ships]. (Battle of Moylena: and note by Kuno Meyer in ‘Rev. Celt.’) (General.) **

Seestheen**; a low round seat made of twisted straw.

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(Munster.) Irish *súidistín, *same sound and meaning: from *suidhe *[see], to sit, with diminutive. **

Set**: all over Ireland they use *set *instead of let [a house or lodging]. A struggling housekeeper failed to let her lodging, which a neighbour explained by:- ‘Ah she’s no good at setting.’

Set**; used in a bad sense, like *gang *and *crew *‘They’re a dirty set.’ **

Settle bed**; a folding-up bed kept in the kitchen: when folded up it is like a sofa and used as a seat. (All over Ireland.) **

Seven’dable** [accent on ven]*, *very great, mighty *great *as they would say:- ‘Jack gave him a *sevendable *thrashing.’ (North.) **

Shaap** [the aa long as in car]*; *a husk of corn, a pod. (Perry.) **

Shamrock or Shamroge**; the white trefoil (*Trifolium repens). *The Irish name is *seamar *[shammer], which with the diminutive makes seamar.-óg [shammer-oge], shortened to shamrock.

Shanachus**, shortened to *shanagh *in Ulster, a friendly conversation. ‘Grandfather would like to have a shanahus with you.’ (‘Knocknagow.’) Irish *seanchus, *antiquity, history, an old story. **

Shandradan’** [accented strongly on *-dan]; *an old rickety rattle-trap of a car. The first syllable is Irish *sean *[shan], old. **

Shanty**: a mean hastily put up little house. (General.) Probably from Irish *sean, *old, and *tigh *[tee], a house. **

Shaugh**; a turn or smoke of a pipe. (General.) Irish *seach, *same sound and meaning.

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Shaughraun**; wandering about: to be on the *shaughraun *is to be out of employment and wandering idly about looking for work. Irish *seachrán, *same sound and meaning. **

Shebeen or sheebeen**; an unlicensed public-house or alehouse where spirits are sold on the sly. (Used all over Ireland.) Irish *síbín, *same sound and meaning. **

Shee**; a fairy, fairies; also meaning the place where fairies live, usually a round green little hill or elf-mound having a glorious palace underneath: Irish *sidhe, *same sound and meanings. Shee often takes the diminutive form - sheeoge.

Shee-geeha**; the little whirl of dust you often see moving along the road on a calm dusty day: this is a band of fairies travelling from one *lis *or elf-mound to another, and you had better turn aside and avoid it. Irish *sidhe-gaoithe, *same sound and meaning, where *gaoithe *is wind: ‘wind-fairies’: called ‘fairy-blast’ in Kildare. **

Sheehy, Rev. Father**, of Kilfinane, 147. **

Sheela**; a female Christian name (as in ‘Sheela Ni Gyra’). Used in the South as a reproachful name for a boy or a man inclined to do work or interest himself in affairs properly belonging to women. See ‘Molly.’ **

Sheep’s eyes**: when a young man looks fondly and coaxingly on his sweetheart he is ‘throwing sheep’s eyes’ at her. **

Sherral**; an offensive term for a mean unprincipled fellow. (Moran: South Mon.) **

Sheugh or Shough**; a deep cutting, elsewhere called a ditch, often filled with water. (Seumas MacManus: N.W. Ulster.)

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Shillelah**; a handstick of oak, an oaken cudgel for fighting. (Common all over Ireland.) From a district in Wicklow called Shillelah, formerly noted for its oak woods, in which grand shillelahs were plentiful. **

Shingerleens** [shing-erleens]; small bits of finery; ornamental tags and ends - of ribbons, bow-knots, tassels, &c.- hanging on dress, curtains, furniture, &c. (Munster.) **

Shire**; to pour or drain off water or any liquid, quietly and without disturbing the solid parts remaining behind, such as draining off the whey-like liquid from buttermilk. **

Shlamaan’** [*a like a in car]; *a handful of straw, leeks, &C (Morris: South Monaghan.) **

Shoggle**; to shake or jolt. (Derry.) **

Shoneen**; a *gentleman *in a small way: a would-be gentleman who puts on superior airs. Always used contemptuously. **

Shook**; in a bad way, done up, undone:- ‘I’m shook by the loss of that money’ ‘he was shook for a pair of shoes.’ **

Shooler**; a wanderer, a stroller, a vagrant, a tramp, a rover: often means a mendicant. (Middle and South of Ireland.) From the Irish *siubhal *[shool], to walk, with the English termination er: lit. ‘walker.’ **

Shoonaun**; a deep circular basket, made of twisted rushes or straw, and lined with calico; it had a cover and was used for holding linen, clothes, &c. (Limerick and Cork.) From Irish *sibhinn *[shiven], a rush, a bulrush: of which the diminutive *siubhnán *[shoonaun] is our word: signifying

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‘made of rushes.’ Many a shoonaun I saw in my day; and I remember meeting a man who was a shoonaun maker by trade. **

Short castle or short castles**; a game played by two persons on a square usually drawn on a slate with the two diagonals: each player having three counters. See Mills. **

Shore**; the brittle woody part separated in bits and dust from the fibre of flax by scutching or cloving.* *Called *shores *in Monaghan. **

Shraff, shraft**; Shrovetide: on and about Shrove Tuesday:- ‘I bought that cow last shraff.’ **

Shraums**, singular shraum; the matter that collects about the eyes of people who have tender eyes: matter running from sore eyes. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish *sream *[sraum]. Same meaning. **

Shrule**; to rinse an article of clothing by pulling it backwards and forwards in a stream. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish *srúil, *a stream. **

Shrough**; a rough wet place; an incorrect anglicised form of Irish *srath, *a wet place, a marsh. **

Shuggy-shoo**; the play of see-saw. (Ulster.) **

Shurauns**; any plants with large leaves, such as hemlock, wild parsnip, &c. (Kinahan: Wicklow.) **

Sighth** (for sight); a great number, a large quantity. (General.) ‘Oh Mrs. Morony haven’t you a *sighth *of turkeys’: ‘Tom Cassidy has a sighth of money.’ This is old English. Thus in a Quaker’s diary of 1752:- ‘There was a great sight of people passed through the streets of Limerick.’ This expression is I think still heard in England, and is very much in use in America. Very general in Ireland.

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Sign**; a very small quantity-a trace. Used all over Ireland in this way:- ‘My gardens are *every sign *as good as yours’: ‘he had no sign of drink on him ’: ‘there’s no sign of sugar in my tea’ (Hayden and Hartog): ‘look out to see if Bill is coming ’: ‘no - there’s no sign of him.’ This is a translation from the Irish rian, for which see next entry. **

Sign’s on, sign is on, sign’s on it**; used to express the result or effect or proof of any proceeding:- ‘Tom Kelly never sends his children to school, and sign’s on (or sign’s on it) they are growing up like savages’ : ‘Dick understands the management of fruit trees well, and sign’s on, he is making lots of money by them. This is a translation from Irish, in which *rian *means track, trace, sign: and ‘sign’s on it’ is ta *a rian air *(‘its sign is on it’). **

Silenced**: a priest is silenced when he is suspended from his priestly functions by his ecclesiastical superiors: ‘unfrocked.’

Singlings: the weak pottheen whiskey that comes off at the first distillation: agreeable to drink but terribly sickening. Also called ‘First shot.’ **

Sippy**; a ball of rolled *sugans *(i.e. hay or straw ropes) used instead of a real ball in hurling or football. (Limerick.) Irish *suipigh, *same sound and meaning. A diminutive of *sop, *a wisp. **

Skeeagh** [2-syll.]; a shallow osier basket, usually for potatoes. (South.) **

Skeedeen**; a trifle, anything small of its kind; a small potato. (Derry and Donegal.) Irish *scídín, *same sound and meaning.

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Skellig, Skellig List** - On the Great Skellig rock in the Atlantic, off the coast of Kerry, are the ruins of a monastery, to which people at one time went on pilgrimage - and a difficult pilgrimage it was. The tradition is still kept up in some places, though in an odd form; in connection with the custom that marriages are not solemnised in Lent, i.e. after Shrove Tuesday. It is well within my memory that - in the south of Ireland - young persons who should have been married before Ash-Wednesday, but were not, were supposed to set out on pilgrimage to Skellig on Shrove Tuesday night: but it was all a make-believe. Yet I remember witnessing occasionally some play in mock imitation of the pilgrimage. It was usual for a local bard to compose what was called a ‘Skellig List’ - a jocose rhyming catalogue of the unmarried men and women of the neighbourhood who went on the sorrowful journey - which was circulated on Shrove Tuesday and for some time after. Some of these were witty and amusing: but occasionally they were scurrilous and offensive doggerel. They were generally too long for singing; but I remember one - a good one too - which - when I was very young - I heard sung to a spirited air. It is represented here by a single verse, the only one I remember. (See also ‘Chalk Sunday,’ p.234, above.)

As young Rory and Moreen were talking,

Now Shrove Tuesday was just drawing near;

For the tenth time he asked her to marry;

But says she - ‘Time enough till next year.’

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‘Then ochone I’m going to Skellig:

O Moreen, what will I do?

‘Tis the woeful road to travel;

And how lonesome I’ll be without you !’

[From my ‘Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,’ p.56, in which also will be found the beautiful air of this.]

Here is a verse from another

Poor Andy Callaghan with doleful nose

Came up and told his tale of many woes:-

Some lucky thief from him his sweetheart stole,

Which left a weight of grief upon his soul:

With flowing tears he sat upon the grass,

And roared sonorous like a braying ass. **

Skelly**; to aim askew and miss the mark; to squint. (Patterson: all over Ulster.) **

Skelp**; a blow, to give a blow or blows; a piece cut off:- ‘Tom gave Pat a skelp’: ‘I cut off a skelp of the board with a hatchet.’ To run fast - ‘There’s Joe skelping off to school.’ **

Skib**; a flat basket:- ‘We found the people collected round a skibb of potatoes.’ (‘Wild Sports of the West.’) **

Skidder, skiddher**; broken thick milk, stale and sour. (Munster.) **

Skillaun**. The piece cut out of a potato to be used as seed, containing one germinating *eye, *from which the young stalk grows. Several skillauns will be cut from one potato; and the irregular part left is a *skilloge (Cork and Kerry), or a creelacaun (Limerick). Irish sciolláin, *same sound and meaning. **

Skit**; to laugh and giggle in a silly way:- ‘I’ll be

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bail they didn’t skit and laugh.’ (Crofton Croker.) ‘Skit and laugh,’ very common in South. **

Skite**; a silly frivolous light-headed person. Hence Blatherumskite (South), or (in Ulster), bletherumskite. **

Skree**; a large number of small things, as a skree of potatoes, a skree of chickens, &c. (Morris South Monaghan.) **

Skull-cure** for a bad toothache. Go to the nearest churchyard alone by night, to the corner where human bones are usually heaped up, from which take and bring away a skull. Fill the skull with water, and take a drink from it: that will cure your toothache. **

Sky farmer**; a term much used in the South with several shades of meaning: but the idea under-lying all is a farmer without land, or with only very little - having broken down since the time when he had a big farm - who often keeps a cow or two grazing along the roadsides. Many of these struggling men acted as intermediaries between the big corn merchants and the large farmers in the sale of corn, and got thereby a percentage from the buyers. A ‘sky farmer’ has his farm in the sky.**

Slaan** [aa long as the *a in car]; *a sort of very sharp spade, used in cutting turf or peat. Universal in the South. **

Slack-jaw**; impudent talk, continuous impertinences:- ‘I’ll have none of your slack-jaw.’ **

Slang**; a narrow strip of land along a stream, not suited to cultivation, but grazed. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Sleeveen**;a smooth-tongued, sweet~mannered, sly,

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guileful fellow. Universal all over the South and Middle. Irish *slíghbhín, *same sound and meaning; from *slígh, a *way: *binn, *sweet, melodious: ‘a *sweet-mannered *fellow.’ **

Slewder, sluder** [*d *sounded like *th in smooth]; *a wheedling coaxing fellow: as a verb, to wheedle. Irish *sligheadóir *[sleedore], same meaning. **

Sliggin**; a thin flat little stone. (Limerick.) Irish. Primary meaning a shell.**

Sling-trot**; when a person or an animal is going along [not walking but] trotting or running along at a leisurely pace. (South.) **

Slinge** [slinj]; to walk along slowly and lazily. In some places, playing truant from school. (South.) **

Slip**; a young girl. A young pig, older than a *bonnive, *running about almost independent of its mother. (General.) **

Slipe**; a rude sort of cart or sledge without wheels used for dragging stones from a field. (Ulster.) **

Slitther**; a kind of thick soft leather: also a ball covered with that leather, for hurling. (Limerick.) **

Sliver**; a piece of anything broken or cut off, especially cut off longitudinally. An old English word, obsolete in England, but still quite common in Munster. **

Slob**; a soft fat quiet simple-minded girl or boy ‘Your little Nellie is a quiet poor slob’: used as a term of endearment. **

Sloke, sloak, slake, sloukaun**; a sea plant of the family of *laver *found growing on rocks round the coast, which is esteemed a table delicacy - dark-coloured, almost black; often pickled and eaten with pepper, vinegar, &c. Seen in all the Dublin

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fish shops. The name, which is now known all over the Three Kingdoms, is anglicised from Irish *sleabhac, sleabhacán *[slouk, sloukaun]. **

Slug**; a drink: as a verb, to drink:- ‘Here take a little slug from this and ‘twill do you good.’ Irish *slog *to swallow by drinking. (General.) Whence *slugga *and *sluggera, *a cavity in a river-bed into which the water is *slugged *or swallowed. **

Slugabed**; a sluggard. (General in Limerick.) Old English, obsolete in England ‘Fie you slug-a-bed.’ (‘Romeo and Juliet.’) **

Slush**; to work and toil like a slave: a woman who toils hard. (General.) **

Slut**; a torch made by dipping a long wick in resin. (Armagh.) Called a *paudheoge *in Munster. **

Smaadher** [aa like *a *in car]; to break in pieces. Jim Foley was on a *pooka’s *back on the top of an old castle, and he was afraid he’d ‘tumble down and be *smathered *to a thousand pieces.’ (Ir. Mag.) **

Smalkera**; a rude home-made wooden spoon. **

Small-clothes**; kneebreeches. (Limerick.) So called to avoid the plain term breeches, as we now often say inexpressibles.

Small farmer**; has a small farm with small stock of cattle: a struggling man as distinguished from a ‘strong’ farmer. **

Smeg, smeggeen, smiggin**; a tuft of hair on the chin. (General.) Merely the Irish *smeig, smeigín; *same sounds and meaning. **

Smithereens**; broken fragments after a smash, 4. **

Smullock** [to rhyme with bullock]*; *a fillip of the finger. (Limerick.) Irish *smallóg, *same meaning.

[p.329] **

Smur, smoor**, fine thick mist. (North.) Irish smúr, mist.

Smush [to rhyme with bush]: anything reduced to fine small fragments, like straw or hay, dry peat-mould in dust, &c. **

Smush**, used contemptuously for the mouth, a hairy mouth:- ‘I don’t like your ugly smash.’**

Snachta-shaidhaun**: day powdery snow blown about by the wind. Irish *sneachta, *snow, and *séideán, *a breeze. (South.) **

Snaggle-tooth**; a person with some teeth gone so as to leave gaps. **

Snap-apple**; a play with apples on Hallow-eve, where big apples are placed in difficult positions and are to be caught by the teeth of the persons playing. Hence Hallow-Eve is often called ‘Snap-apple night.’ **

Snauvaun**; to move about slowly and lazily. From Irish *snámh *[snauv], to swim, with the diminutive:- Moving slowly like a person swimming. **

Sued**; to clip off, to cut away, like the loaves and roots of a turnip. Sued also means the handle of a scythe. **

Snig**; to cut or clip with a knife:- ‘The shoots of that apple-tree are growing out too long: I must snig off the tops of them.’ **

Snish**; neatness in clothes. (Morris: Carlow.) **

Snoboge**; a rosin torch. (Moran: Carlow.) Same as slut and paudheoge.

Snoke**; to scent or snuff about like a dog. (Perry.) **

So**. This has some special dialectical senses among us. It is used for if:- ‘I will pay you well *so *you do the work to my liking.’ This is old English:- ‘I am content *so *thou wilt have it so.’

[p.330]

(‘Rom. and Jul.’) It is used as a sort of emphatic expletive carrying accent or emphasis:- ‘Will you keep that farm?’ ‘I will *so,’ *i.e. ‘I will for certain.’ ‘Take care and don’t break them’ (the dishes) : ‘I won’t *so.’ *(‘Collegians.’) It is used in the sense of ‘in that case’:- ‘I am not going to town to-day’: ‘Oh well I will not go, so

• i.e. ‘as you are not going.’ **

Sock**; the tubular or half-tubular part of a spade or shovel that holds the handle. Irish soc.**

Soft day**; a wet day.’ (A usual salute.) **

Soil**; fresh-cut grass for cattle. **

Sold**; betrayed, outwitted:- ‘If that doesn’t frighten him off you’re sold’ (caught in the trap, betrayed, ruined. Edw. Walsh in Ir. Pen. Journal). **

Something like**; excellent:- ‘That’s something like a horse,’ i.e. a fine horse and no mistake. **

Sonaghan**; a kind of trout that appears in certain lakes in November, coming from the rivers. (Prof. J. Cooke, M.A., of Dublin: for Ulster) - Irish *samhain *[sowan], November: *samhnachán *with the diminutive *án *or *chán, *‘November-fellow.’ **

Sonoohar**; a good wife, a good partner in marriage; a good marriage: generally used in the form of a wish:- ‘Thankee sir and sonoohar to you.’ Irish *sonuachar, *same sound and meaning. **

Sonsy**; fortunate, prosperous. Also well-looking and healthy:- ‘A fine *sonsy *girl.’ Irish *sonas, *luck; *sonasach, sonasaigh, *same sound and meaning. **

Soogan, sugan, sugaun**; a straw or hay rope twisted by the hand. **

Soss**; a short trifling fall with no harm beyond a smart shock. (Moran: Carlow.)

[p.331] **

Sough**; a whistling or sighing noise like that of the wind through trees. ‘Keep a calm sough’ means keep quiet, keep silence. (Ulster.) **

Soulth**; ‘a formless luminous apparition.’ (W. B. Yeats.) Irish *samhailt *[soulth], a ghost, an apparition; *lit. *a ‘likeness,’ from *samhai *[sowel], like. Sources of Anglo-Irish Dialect, 1. **

Sowans, sowens**; a sort of flummery or gruel usually made and eaten on Hallow Eve. Very general in Ulster and Scotland; merely the Irish word *samhain, *the first of November; for Hallow Eve is really a November feast, as being the eve of the first of that month. In old times in Ireland, the evening went with the coming night. **

Spalpeen**. Spalpeens were labouring men-reapers, mowers, potato-diggers, &c.

• who travelled about in the autumn seeking employment from the farmers, each with his spade, or his scythe, or his reaping-hook. They congregated in the towns on market and fair days, where the farmers of the surrounding districts came to hire them. Each farmer brought home his own men, fed them on good potatoes and milk, and sent them to sleep in the barn on dry straw - a bed-as one of them said to me - ‘a bed fit for a lord, let alone a spalpeen.’ The word *spalpeen *is now used in the sense of a low rascal. Irish *spailpin, *same sound and meaning. (See my ‘Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,’ p.216; and for the Ulster term see Rabble above. **

Spaug**; a big clumsy foot:- ‘You put your ugly spaug down on my handkerchief.’ Irish *spág, *same sound and sense.

[p.332] **

Speel**; to climb. (Patterson: Ulster.)

Spink; a sharp rook, a precipice. (Tyrone.) *Splink *in Donegal. Irish *spinnc *and *splinnc, *same sounds and meaning.

Spit; the soil dug up and turned over, forming a long trench as deep as the spade will go. ‘He dug down three spits before he came to the gravel.’ **

Spoileen**; a coarse kind of soap made out of scraps of inferior grease and meat: often sold cheap at fairs and markets. (Derry and Tyrone.) Irish *spóilin, *a small bit of meat. **

Spoocher**; a sort of large wooden shovel chiefly used for lifting small fish out of a boat. (Ulster.) **

Spreece**; red-hot embers, chiefly ashes. (South.) Irish *spris, *same sound and meaning. Same as greesagh. **

Sprissaun**; an insignificant contemptible little chap. Irish *spriosán *[same sound], the original meaning of which is a twig or spray from a bush. (South.)

‘To the devil I pitch ye ye set of sprissauns.’

(Old Folk Song, for which see my ‘Ancient Irish Music,’ p.85.) **

Sprong**: a four-pronged manure fork. (MacCall: South-east counties.) **

Spruggil, spruggilla**; the craw of a fowl. (Morris South Monaghan.) Irish *sprogal *[spruggal], with that meaning and several others. **

Sprunge** [sprunj], any animal miserable and small for its age. (Ulster.) **

Spuds**; potatoes. **

Spunk**; tinder, now usually made by steeping

[p.333]

brown paper in a solution of nitre; lately gone out of use from the prevalence of matches. Often applied in Ulster and Scotland to a spark of fire: ‘See is there a spunk of fire in the hearth.’ Spunk also denotes spirit, courage, and dash. ‘Hasn’t Dick great spunk to face that big fellow, twice his size?’

‘I’m sure if you had not been drunk

With whiskey, rum, or brandy - O,

You would not have the gallant spunk

To be half so bold or manly - O.’

(Old Irish Folk Song.)

Irish sponnc.**

Spy farleys**; to pry into secrets: to visit a house, in order to spy about what’s going on. (Ulster.) **

Spy-Wednesday**; the Wednesday before Easter. According to the religious legend it got the name because on the Wednesday before the Crucifixion Judas was spying about how best he could deliver up our Lord. (General.) **

Squireen**; an Irish gentleman in a small way who apes the manners, the authoritative tone, and the aristocratic bearing of the large landed proprietors. Sometimes you can hardly distinguish a squireen from a *half-sir *or from a *shoneen. *Sometimes the squireen was the son of the old squire: a worthless young fellow, who loafed about doing nothing, instead of earning an honest livelihood: but he was too grand for that. The word is a diminutive of *squire, *applied here in contempt, like many other diminutives. The class of squireen is nearly extinct: ‘Joy be with them.’

Stackan; the stump of a tree remaining after the

[p.334

tree itself has been cut or blown down. (Simmons: Armagh.) Irish *staic, *a stake, with the diminutive. **

Stad**; the same as *sthallk, *which see. **

Stag**; a potato rendered worthless or bad by frost or decay. **

Stag**; a cold-hearted unfeeling selfish woman. **

Stag**; an informer, who turns round and betrays his comrades:- ‘The two worst informers against a private [pottheen] distiller, barring a *stag, *are a smoke by day and a fire by night.’ (Carleton in ‘Ir. Pen. Journ.’) ‘Do you think me a stag, that I’d inform on you.’ (Ibid.) **

Staggeen** [the t sounded like *th in thank], *a worn-out worthless old horse. **

Stand to or by a person**, to act as his friend; to stand *for *an infant, to be his sponsor in baptism. The people hardly ever say, ‘I’m his godfather,’ but ‘I stood for him.’ **

Stare**; the usual name for a starling (bird) in Ireland. **

Station**. The celebration of Mass with confessions and Holy Communion in a private house by the parish priest or one of his curates, for the convenience of the family and their neighbours, to enable them the more easily to receive the sacraments. Latterly the custom has been falling into disuse.

Stankan-vorraga [t sounded like th in thorn]***, ***a small high rick of turf in a market from which portions were continually sold away and as continually replaced: so that the *sthauca *stood always in the people’s way. Applied also to a big awkward fellow always visiting when he’s not wanted, and

[p.335]

always in the way. (John Davis White, of Clonmel.) Irish *stáca ‘n mharga *[sthaucan-vorraga], the ‘market stake or stack.’ **

Stelk or stallk**; mashed potatoes mixed with beans or chopped vegetables. (North.) **

Sthallk**; a fit of sulk in a horse-or in a child. (Munster.) Irish *stailc, *same sound and meaning. **

Sthoakagh**; a big idle wandering vagabond fellow. (South.) Irish *stócach, *same sound and meaning. **

Sthowl**; a jet or splash of water or of any liquid. (South.) Irish *steall, *same sound and meaning. **

Stim or stime**; a very small quantity, an iota, an atom, a particle:- ‘You’ll never have a stim of sense’ (‘Knocknagow’): ‘I couldn’t see a stim in the darkness.’ **

Stook**; a shock of corn, generally containing twelve sheaves. (General.) Irish *stuaic, *same sound and meaning, with several other meanings. **

Stoon**; a fit, the worst of a fit: same as English *stound: *a sting of pain:- ‘Well Bridget how is the toothache?’ ‘Ah well sir the stoon is off.’ (De Vismes Kane: Ulster.) **

Store pig**; a pig nearly full grown, almost ready to be fattened. (Munster.) **

Str**. Most of the following words beginning with *str *are derived from Irish words beginning with *sr. *For as this combination *ar does not exist in English, when an Irish word with this beginning is borrowed into English, a t ***is always inserted between the s and *r *to bring it into conformity with English usage and to render it more easily pronounced by English-speaking tongues. See this subject discussed in ‘Irish Names of Places,’

[p.336]

vol.1., p. 60. Moreover the t* ***in *str is *almost always sounded the same as th in think, thank.

Straar or sthraar** [to rhyme with star]*; *the rough straddle which supports the back band of a horse’s harness - coming between the horse’s back and the band. (Derry.) The old Irish word srathar [same sound], a straddle, a pack-saddle. **

Straddy**; a street-walker, an idle person always sauntering along the streets. There is a fine Irish air named ‘The Straddy’ in my ‘Old Irish Music and Songs,’ p. 310. From Irish *sráid, *a street. **

Strahane, strahaun**, *struhane; *a very small stream like a mill stream or an artificial stream to a pottheen still. Irish *sruth *[sruh] stream, with dim. **

Strammel**; a big tall bony fellow. (Limerick.) **

Strap**; a bold forward girl or woman; the word often conveys a sense slightly leaning towards lightness of character. **

Strath**; a term used in many parts of Ireland to denote the level watery meadow-and along a river. Irish srath.**

Stravage** [to rhyme with plague]*; *to roam about idly: -He is always stravaging the streets.’ In Ulster it is made stavage.

Streel**; a very common word all through Ireland to denote a lazy untidy woman - a slattern: often made *streeloge *in Connaught, the same word with the diminutive. As a verb, *streel *is used in the sense of to drag along in an untidy way:- ‘Her dress was streeling in the mud.’ Irish *sríl *[sreel], same meanings.

Streel is sometimes applied to an untidy slovenly-looking man too, as I once heard it

[337]

applied under odd circumstances when I was very young. Bartholomew Power was long and lanky, with his clothes hanging loose on him. On the morning when he and his newly-married wife - whom I knew well, and who was then no chicken - were setting out for his home, I walked a bit of the way with the happy bride to take leave of her. Just when we were about to part, she turned and said to me - these were her very words - ‘Well Mr. Joyce, you know the number of nice young men I came across in my day (naming half a dozen of them), and,’ said she - nodding towards the bridegroom, who was walking by the car a few perches in front - ‘isn’t it a heart-scald that at the end of all I have now to walk off with that streel of a devil.’ **

Strickle**; a scythe-sharpener covered with emery. (Simmons: Armagh.) **

Strig**; the *strippings *or milk that comes last from a cow. (Morris: South Monaghan.) **

Striffin**; the thin pellicle or skin on the inside of an egg-shell. (Ulster.) **

Strippings**; the same as strig, the last of the milk that comes from the cow at milking - always the richest. Often called in Munster sniug.**

Stroansha**; a big idle lazy lump of a girl, always gadding about. Irish stróinse, same sound and meaning. **

Strock’ara** [accent on strock-];* *a very hard-working man. (Munster.) Irish *stracaire, *same sound and meaning, with several other meanings. **

Strong**; well in health, without any reference to muscular strength. ‘How is your mother these times?’ ‘She’s very strong now thank God.’

[p.338] **

Strong farmer**; a very well-to-do prosperous farmer, with a large farm and much cattle. In contradistinction to a ‘small farmer.’ **

Stroup or stroop**; the spout of a kettle or teapot or the lip of a jug. (Ulster.) **

Strunt**; to sulk. (Simmons: Armagh.) Same as *sthallk *for the South. **

Stum**; a sulky silent person. (Antrim and Down.) **

Stumpy**; a kind of coarse heavy cake made from grated potatoes from which the starch has been squeezed out: also called muddly. (Munster.) **

Sturk, stirk, sterk**; a heifer or bullock about two years old: a pig three or four months old. Often applied to a stout low-sized boy or girl. Irish storc.** **

Sugan; a straw or hay rope: same as soogan. **

Sugeen**; water in which oatmeal has been steeped: often drunk by workmen on a hot day in place of plain water. (Roscommon.) From Ir. *sugh, *juice. **

Salter**; great heat [of a day]: a word formed from *sultry:- ‘*There’s great *sulther *to-day.’ **

Summachaun**; a soft innocent child. (Munster.) Irish *somachán, *same sound and meaning. In Connaught it means a big ignorant puffed up booby of a fellow. **

Sup**; one mouthful of liquid: a small quantity drunk at one time. This is English:- ‘I took a small sup of rum.’ (‘Robinson Crusoe.’) ‘We all take a sup in our turn.’ (Irish Folk Song.) **

Sure**; one of our commonest opening words for a sentence: you will hear it perpetually among gentle and simple: ‘Don’t forget to look up the fowls.’ ‘Sure I did that an hour ago.’ ‘Sure

[p.339]

you won’t forget to call here on your way back?’ ‘James, sure I sold my cows.’ **

Swan-skin**; the thin finely-woven flannel bought in shops; so called to distinguish it from the coarse heavy home-made flannel. (Limerick.) **

Swearing**, 66.

  **

Tally-iron or tallin-iron**; the iron for crimping* *or curling up the borders of women’s caps. A corruption of Italian-iron.

Targe**; a scolding woman, a *barge. *(Ulster.) **

Tartles**: ragged clothes; torn pieces of dress. (Ulster.) **

Taste**; a small bit or amount of anything:- ‘He has no taste of pride’: ‘Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?’ ‘Not a taste’: ‘Could you give me the least taste in life of a bit of soap?’ **

Tat, tait**; a tangled or matted wad or mass of hair on a girl or on an animal. ‘Come here till I comb the tats out of your hair. (Ulster.) Irish *tath *[tah]. In the anglicised word the aspirated t (th), which sounds like *h *in Irish, is restored to its full sound in the process of anglicisation in accordance with a law which will be found explained in ‘Irish Names of Places,’ vol. i., pp.42-48.

Teem; to strain off or pour off water or any liquid. To teem potatoes is to pour the water off them when they are boiled. In a like sense we say it is *teeming *rain. Irish *taom, *same sound and sense. **

Ten commandments**. ‘She put her ten commandments on his face,’ i.e. she scratched his face with her ten finger-nails. (MacCall: Wexford.) **

[p.340]

Tent**; the quantity of ink taken up at one time by a pen. **

Terr**; a provoking ignorant presumptuous fellow. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Thacka, thuck-ya, thackeen, thuckeen**; a little girl. (South.) Irish *toice, toicín *[thucka, thuckeen]. **

Thaheen**; a handful of flax or hay. Irish *tath, taithín *[thah, thaheen], same meaning. (Same Irish word as Tat above: but in *thaheen *the final t is aspirated to h, following the Irish word.) **

Thauloge**: a boarded-off square enclosure at one side of the kitchen fire-place of a farmhouse, where candlesticks, brushes, wet boots, &c., are put. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Thayvaun or theevaun**; the short beam of the roof crossing from one rafter to the opposite one. (South.) Irish *taobh *[thaiv], a ‘side,’ with the diminutive. **

Theeveen**; a patch on the side of a shoe. (General.) Irish *taobh *[thaiv], a side with the dim. *cen *taoibhin [theeveen], ‘little side.’ **

Thick**; closely acquainted : same meaning as ‘Great,’ which see. ‘Dick is very thick with Joe now.’ **

Thiescaun, thyscaun**, [thice-caun], or thayscaun: a quantity of anything, as a small load of hay drawn by a horse: ‘When you’re coming home with the cart from the bog, you may as well bring a little *thyscaun *of turf. (South.) Irish *taoscán *[thayscaun]3 same meaning. **

Think long**: to be longing for anything - home, friends, an event, &c. (North.) ‘I am thinking long till I see my mother.’

[p.341] **

Thirteen**. When the English and Irish currencies were different, the English shilling was worth thirteen pence in Ireland : hence a shilling was called a *thirteen *in Ireland:- ‘I gave the captain six thirteens to ferry me over to Park-gate.’ (Irish Folk Song.) **

Thivish**; a spectre, a ghost. (General.) Irish *taidhbhse *[thivshe]; same meaning. **

Thole**; to endure, to bear:- ‘I had to thole hardship and want while you were away.’ (All over Ulster.) **

Thon, thonder**; yon, yonder:- ‘Not a tree or a thing only thon wee couple of poor whins that’s blowing up thonder on the rise.’ (Seumas MacManus, for North-West Ulster.) **

Thoun’thabock**: a good beating. Literally ‘strong tobacco: Ir. *teann-tabac *[same sound]. ‘If you don’t mind your business, I’ll give you thounthabock.’ **

Thrape or threep**; to assert vehemently, boldly, and in a manner not to brook contradiction. Common in Meath and from that northward. **

Thrashbag**; several pockets sewed one above another along a strip of strong cloth for holding thread, needles, buttons, &c., and rolled up when not in use. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Thraulagh, or thaulagh**; a soreness or pain in the wrist of a reaper, caused by work. (Connaught.) Irish - two forms - *trálach *and *tádhlach *[thraulagh, thaulagh.] **

Three-na-haila**; mixed up all in confusion:-’ I must arrange my books and papers : they are all *three-na-haila.’ *(South.) Irish *trí na chéile, *through each other.’ The translation ‘through-other ’ is universal in Ulster.

[p.342] **

Three-years-old and Four-years-old**; the names of two hostile factions in the counties of Limerick, Tipperary, and Cork, of the early part of last century, who fought whenever they met, either individually or in numbers, each faction led by its redoubtable chief. The weapons were sticks, but sometimes stones were used. We boys took immense delight in witnessing those fights, keeping at a safe distance however for fear of a stray stone. Three-years and Four-years battles were fought in New Pallas in Tipperary down to a few years ago. **

Thrisloge**; a long step in walking, a long jump. (Munster.) Irish *trioslóg, *same sound. **

Throllop**; an untidy woman, a slattern, a *streel. *(Banim: very general in the South.) **

Thurmus, thurrumus**; to sulk from food. (Munster.) Irish toirmesc [thurrumask], same meaning:- ‘Billy won’t eat his supper: he is thuurrumusing.’

Tibb’s-Eve**; ‘neither before nor after Christmas,’ i.e., never: ‘Oh you’ll get your money by T’ibb’s-Eve.’ **

Till**; used in many parts of Ireland in the sense of ‘in order that’:- ‘Come here Micky *till *I comb your hair.’ **

Tilly**; a small quantity of anything given over and above the quantity purchased. Milkmen usually give a tilly with the pint or quart. Irish *tuilledh, *same sound and meaning. Very general. **

Tinges**; goods that remain long in a draper’s hands. (Moran: Carlow.j **

Togher** [toher]; a road constructed through a bog or swamp; often of brambles or wickerwork covered over with gravel and stones.

[p.343] **

Tootn-egg** [3-syl].], a peculiar-shaped brass or white-metal button, having the stem fastened by a conical-shaped bit of metal. I have seen it explained as *tooth-and-egg; *but I believe this to be a guess. (Limerick.) **

Tory-top**; the seed cone of a fir-tree. (South.) **

Towards**; in comparison with:- ‘That’s a fine horse towards the one you had before.’ **

Tradesman**; an artisan, a working mechanic. In Ireland the word is hardly ever applied to a shopkeeper. **

Trake**; a long tiresome walk: ‘you gave me a great trake for nothing.’ (Ulster.) **

Tram or tram-cock**; a hay-cock - rather a small one. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Trams**; the ends of the cart shafts that project behind. (North.) Called *heels *in the South. **

Trance**; the name given in Munster to the children’s game of Scotch hop or pickey. **

Traneen or trawneen**: a long slender grass-stalk, like a knitting-needle. Used all over Ireland. In some places cushoge.**

Travel**; used in Ulster for walking as distinguished from driving or riding:- ‘Did you drive to Derry?’ ‘Oh no, I travelled.’ **

Trice**; to make an agreement or bargain. (Simmons: Armagh.) **

Triheens**: a pair of stockings with only the legs: the two feet cut off. It is the Irish *troigh *[thro], a foot, with the diminutive - troighthín [triheen]. In Roscommon this word is applied to the handle of a loy or spade which has been broken and patched together again. (Connaught and Munster.) **

[p.344]

Trindle**; the wheel of a wheelbarrow. (Morris for South Monaghan.) **

Trinket**; a small artificial channel for water: often across and under a road. (Simmons and Patterson: East Ulster.) See Linthern. **

Turf**; peat for fuel: used in this sense all over Ireland. We hardly ever use the word in the sense of ‘Where heaves the *turf *in many a mouldering heap.’ **

Turk**; an ill-natured surly boorish fellow. **

Twig**; to understand, to discern, to catch the point:- ‘When I hinted at what I wanted, he twigged me at once.’ Irish *tuig *[twig], to understand.

 

Ubbabo; an exclamation of wonder or surprise; - ‘Ubbabo,’ said the old woman, ‘we’ll soon see to that.’ (Crofton Croker.) **

Ullagone**; an exclamation of sorrow ; a name applied to any lamentation:-’ So I sat down … andbegan to sing the Ullagone.’ (Orofton Croker.) ‘Mike was ullagoning all day after you left.’ (Irish.) **

Ullilu**; an interjection of sorrow equivalent to the English *alas ***or ***alack and well-a-day. *(Irish.) **

Unbe-knownst**; unknown, secret. (De Vismes Kane for Monaghan:** **but used very generally.) **

Under has its peculiar uses:- ‘**She left the fish out under the cats, and the jam out under the children.’ (Hayden and Hartog: for Dublin and its neighbourhood: but used also in the South.) **

Under-board**; ‘the state of a corpse between death and interment.’ (Simmons: Armagh.) ‘From the board laid on the breast of the corpse, with a plate of snuff and a Bible or Prayerbook laid on it. (S. Scott) Derry.)

[p.345] **

Venom**, generally pronounced *vinnom; *energy :-‘He does his work with great venom.’ An attempted translation from an Irish word that bears more than one meaning, and the wrong meaning is brought into English:- viz. neim or *neimh, *literally *poison, *venom, but figuratively *fierceness, energy. *John O’Dugan writes in Irish (500 years ago) *Rig gach ndruing do niad a neim: *‘against every tribe they [the Clann Ferrall] exert their *neim’ *(literally their *poison, *but meaning their energy or bravery). So also the three sons of Fiacha are endowed *coisin neim *‘with fierceness,’ lit. with poison or *venom. *(Silva Gadelica.) In an old Irish tale a lady looks with intense earnestness on a man she admires: in the Irish it is said ‘She put *nimh a súl *on him, literally the *‘venom *of her eyes,’ meaning the keenest glance of her eyes. Hence over a large part of Ireland, especially the South, you will hear: ‘Ah, Dick is a splendid man to hire: he works with such *venom.’ *A countryman (Co. Wicklow), speaking of the new National Teacher:- ‘Indeed sir he’s well enough, but for all that he hasn’t the vinnom of poor **Mr. O’Brien:’ i.e. he does not teach with such energy. **

Very fond**; when there is a long spell of rain, frost, &c., people say:- ‘It is very fond of the rain,’ &c.

Voteen; a person who is a *devotee *in religion: nearly always applied in derision to one who is excessively and ostentatiously devotional. (General.)

[p.346] **

Wad**: a wisp of straw or hay pressed tightly together. A broken pane in a window is often stuffed with a wad of straw. ‘Careless and gay, like a wad in a window’: old saying. (General.) **

Walsh**, Edward, 5, &c.

** 

Wangle**; the handful of straw a thatcher grasps in his left hand from time to time while thatching, twisted up tight at one end. By extension of meaning** **applied to a tall lanky weak young fellow. (Moran: middle eastern counties.) **

Wangrace**; oatmeal gruel for sick persons. (Simmons: Armagh.) **

Want**; often used in Ulster in the following way:- ‘I asked Dick to come back to us, for we couldn’t want him,’ i.e. couldn’t do without him.’ **

Wap**; a bundle of straw; as a verb, to make up straw into a bundle. (Derry and Monaghan.) **

Warrant**; used all over Ireland in the following way - nearly always with *good, better, *or *best, *but sometimes with bad:-’ You’re a good warrant (a good hand) to play for us [at hurling] whenever we ax you.’ (‘Knocknagow.’) ‘She was a good warrant to give a poor fellow a meal when he wanted it’: ‘Father Patt gave me a tumbler of pale stiff punch, and the divel a better warrant to make the same was within the province of Connaught.’ (‘Wild Sports of the West.’) **

Watch-pot**; a person who sneaks into houses about meal times hoping to get a bit or to be asked to join. **

Way**. ‘A dairyman’s *way, *a labourer’s *way, *means the privileges or perquisites which the dairyman or labourer gets, in addition to the main contract. A

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way *might be grazing for a sheep, a patch of land for potatoes, &c’ (Healy: for Waterford.) **

Wearables**; articles of clothing. In Tipperary they call the old-fashioned wig ‘Dwyer’s wearable.’ **

Weather-blade**, in Armagh, the same as ‘Goureenroe’ in the South, which see. **

Wee** (North), weeny (South); little. **

Well became**. ‘When Tom Cullen heard himself insulted by the master, well became him he up and defied him and told him he’d stay no longer in his house.’ ’ Well became’ here expresses approval of Tom’s action as being the correct and becoming thing to do. I said to little Patrick ‘I don’t like to give you any more sweets you’re so near your dinner’; and well became him he up and said:- ‘Oh I get plenty of sweets at home before my dinner.’ ‘Well became Tom he paid the whole bill.’ **

Wersh, warsh, worsh**; insipid, tasteless, needing salt or sugar. (Simmons and Patterson: Ulster.) **

Wet and dry**; ‘Tom gets a shilling a day, wet and dry’; i.e. constant work and constant pay in all weathers. (General.) **

Whack**: food, sustenance:- ‘He gets 2s. 6d. a day and his whack.’

Whassah or fassah**; to feed cows in some unusual place, such as along a lane or road: to herd them in unfenced ground. The food so* *given is also called *whassah. *(Moran: for South Mon.) Irish *fásach, *a wilderness, any wild place. **

Whatever**; at any rate, anyway, anyhow: usually put in this sense at the end of a sentence:-‘Although she can’t speak on other days of

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the week, she can speak on Friday, whatever.’ (‘Collegians.’) ‘Although you wouldn’t take anything else, you’ll drink this glass of milk, whatever.’ (Munster.) Curious, I find this very idiom in an English book recently published: ‘Lord Tweedmouth. Notes and Recollections,’ viz.:-’ We could not cross the river [in Scotland], but he would go [across] *whatever.’ *The writer evidently borrowed this from the English dialect of the Highlands, where they use *whatever *exactly as we do. (William Black: ‘A Princess of Thule.’) In all these cases, whether Irish or Scotch, *whatever *is a translation from the Gaelic ar mhodh ar bíth or some such phrase. **

Wheeling**. When a fellow went about flourishing a cudgel and shouting out defiance to people to fight him - shouting for his faction, side, or district, he was said to be ‘wheeling’:- ‘Here’s for Oola!’ ‘here’s *three years!’ *‘here’s Lillis!’ (Munster.) Sometimes called *hurrooing. *See ‘Three-years-old.’ **

Wheen**; a small number, a small quantity:- ‘I was working for a wheen o’ days’: ‘I’ll eat a wheen of these gooseberries.’ (Ulster.) **

Whenever** is generally used in Ulster for when:- ‘I was in town this morning and whenever I came home I found the calf dead in the stable.’ **

Which**. When a person does not quite catch what another says, there is generally a query:- ‘eh?’ ‘what?’ or ‘what’s that you say?’ Our people often express this query by the single word ‘which?’ I knew a highly educated and

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highly placed Dublin official who always so used the word. (General.) **

Whipster**; a bold forward romping impudent girl. (Ulster.) In Limerick it also conveys the idea of a girl inclined to *whip *or steal things. **

Whisht**, silence: used all over Ireland in such phrases as ‘hold your whisht’ (or the single word ‘whisht’), i.e;, be silent. It is the Gaelic word *tost, *silence, with the first *t *aspirated as it ought to be, which gives it the sound of *h. *They pronounce it as if it were written *thuist, *which is exactly sounded *wkisht. *The same word - taken from the Gaelic of course - is used everywhere in Scotland -When the Scottish Genius of Poetry appeared suddenly to Burns (in ‘The Vision’):- ‘Ye needna doubt, I held my whisht!’ **

Whisper, whisper here**; both used in the sense of ‘listen,’ ‘listen to me’:- ‘Whisper, I want to say something to you,’ and then he proceeds to say it, not in a whisper, but in the usual low conversational tone. Very general all over Ireland. ‘Whisper’ in this usage is simply a translation of *cogar *[cogger], and ‘whisper here’ of *cogar annso; *these Irish words being used by Irish speakers exactly as their dialectical English equivalents are used in English: the English usage being taken from the Irish. **

White-headed boy or white-haired boy**; a favourite, a person in favour, whether man or boy:- ‘Oh you’re the white-headed boy now.’ **

Whitterit or whitrit**; a weasel. (Ulster.) **

Whose owe?** the same as ‘who owns?’:- ‘Whose owe is this book?’ Old English. My correspondent

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states that this was a common construction in Anglo-Saxon. (Ulster.) **

Why**; a sort of terminal expletive used in some of the Munster counties:- ‘Tom is a strong boy why’: ‘Are you going to Ennis why?’ ‘I am going to Cork why.’ **

Why for?** used in Ulster as an equivalent to ‘for what?’ **

Why but?** ‘Why not?’ (Ulster.) ‘Why but you speak your mind out?’ i.e. ‘Why should you not?’ (Kane: Armagh.) **

Why then**; used very much in the South to begin a sentence, especially a reply, much as *indeed *is used in English:- ‘When did you see John Dunn?’ Why then I met him yesterday at the fair’: ‘Which do you like best, tea or coffee?’ ‘Why then I much prefer tea.’ ‘Why then Pat is that you; and how is *every rope’s length *of you ?’ **

Wicked**; used in the South in the sense of severe or cross. ‘Mr. Manning our schoolmaster is very wicked.’ **

Widow-woman** and widow-man; are used for *widow *and *widower, *especially in Ulster: but *widow-woman *is heard everywhere. **

Wigs on the green**; a fight: so called for an obvious reason:- ‘There will be wigs on the green in the fair to-day.’ *

Will you *was never a good fellow, 18, 114. **

Wine or wynd of hay**; a small temporary stack of hay, made up on the meadow. All the small wynds are ultimately made up into one large rick or stack in the farmyard.

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Wipe**, a blow: all over Ireland: he gave him a wipe on the face. In Ulster, a goaly-wipe is a great blow on the ball with the *camaun *or hurley: such as will send it to the goal. **

Wire**. To *wire in *is to begin work vigorously: to join in a fight. **

Wirra**; an exclamation generally indicating surprise, sorrow, or vexatibn: it is the vocative of ‘Muire’* *(*A Mhuire), *Mary, that is, the Blessed Virgin. **

Wirrasthru**, a term of pity; alas. It is the phonetic form of *A Mhuire is truaighh, *‘O Mary it is a pity (or a sorrow),’ implying the connexion of the Blessed Virgin with sorrow. **

Wit**; sense, which is the original meaning. But this meaning is nearly lost in England while it is extant everywhere in Ireland:- A sharp Ulster woman, entering her little boy in a Dublin Infant School, begged of the mistress to teach him a little wut.**

Witch**: black witches are bad; white witches good. (West Donegal.) **

Wish**; esteem, friendship:- ‘Your father had a great wish for me,’ i.e. held me in particular esteem, had a strong friendship. (General.) In this application it is merely the translation of the Irish *meas, *respect:- *Tá méas mór agum ort; *I have great esteem for you, I have a great *wish *for you, I hold you in great respect. **

Wisha**; a softening down of *mossa, *which see. **

With that**; thereupon: used all over Ireland. Irish *leis sin, *which is often used, has the same exact meaning; but still I think *with that *is of old

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English origin, though the Irish equivalent may have contributed to its popularity.

‘With that her couverchef from her head she braid

And over his litel eyen she it laid.’

(Chaucer.) **

Word**; trace, sign. (Ulster.) ‘Did you see e’er a word of a black-avised (black-visaged) man travelling the road you came?’ **

Wrap and run**: ‘I gathered up every penny I could wrap and run,’ is generally used: the idea being to wrap up hastily and run for it.

  **

Yoke**; any article, contrivance, or apparatus for use in some work. ‘That’s a *quare *yoke Bill,’ says a countryman when he first saw a motor car.

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