Vocabulary L to Q.

**

Leprachaun**; a sort of fairy, called by several names in different parts of Ireland:- luricaun, cluricaun, lurragadaun, loghryman, luprachaun. This last is the nearest to the Gaelic original, all the preceding anglicised forms being derived from it. Luprachaun itself is derived by a metathesis from Irish *luchorpán, *from lu, little, and *corpán, *the dim. of *corp, *a body:- ‘weeny little body.’ The reader will understand all about this merry little chap from the following short note and song written by me and extracted from my ‘Ancient Irish Music’ (in which the air also will be found). The leprachaun is a very tricky little fellow, usually dressed in a green coat, red cap, and knee-breeches, and silver shoe-buckles, whom you may sometimes see in the shades of evening, or by moonlight, under a bush; and he is generally making or mending a shoe: moreover, like almost all fairies, he would give the world for pottheen. If you catch him and hold him, he will, after a little threatening, show you where treasure is hid, or give you a purse in which you will always find money. But if you once take your eyes off him, he is gone in an instant; and he is very ingenious in devising tricks to induce you to look round. It is very hard to catch a leprachaun, and still harder to hold him. I never heard of any man who succeeded in getting treasure from him, except one, a lucky young fellow named MacCarthy, who, according to the peasantry, built the castle of Carrigadrohid near Macroom in Cork with the money. Every Irishman understands well the terms *cruiskeen *and *mountain dew, *some indeed a little too well; but

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for the benefit of the rest of the world, I think it better to state that a *cruiskeen *is a small jar, and that mountain dew is pottheen or illicit whiskey.

In a shady nook one moonlight night,

A leprachaun I spied;

With scarlet cap and coat of green;

A cruiskeen by his side.

‘Twas tick tack tick, his hammer went,

Upon a weeny shoe;

And I laughed to think of a purse of gold:

But the fairy was* *laughing too.

With tip-toe step and beating heart,

Quite softly I drew nigh:

There was mischief in his merry face;-

A twinkle in his eye.

He hammered and sang with tiny voice,

And drank his mountain dew:

And I laughed to think he was caught at last:-

But the fairy was laughing too.

As quick as thought I seized the elf;

‘Your fairy purse!’ I cried;

‘The purse!’ he said - ‘tis in her hand -

‘That lady at your side!’

I turned to look: the elf was off!

Then what was I to do?

O, I laughed to think what a fool I’d been;

And the fairy was laughing too. **

Let out**; a spree, an entertainment. (General.) ‘Mrs. Williams gave a great let out.’ **

Libber**; this has much the same meaning as flipper, which see: an untidy person careless about his dress and appearance - an easy-going *ould sthreel *of a man. I have heard an old fellow say, regarding those that went before him - father,

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Long family**; a common expression for a large family. **

Lood, loodh, lude**; ashamed: ‘he was lude of himself when he was found out.’ (South.) **

Loody**; a loose heavy frieze coat. (Munster.) **

Loof**; the open hand, the palm of the hand. (Ulster.) Irish lámh [lauv], the hand. **

Loo-oge** or lu-oge; the eel-fry a couple of inches long that come up the southern Blackwater periodically in myriads, and are caught and sold as food. (Waterford: Healy.) Irish luadhóg, same sound and meaning. **

Loose leg**; when a person is free from any engagement or impediment that bound him down - ‘he has a loose leg’ - free to act as he likes. ‘I have retired from the service with a pension, so that now I have a loose leg.’ The same is often said of a prisoner discharged from jail. **

Lord**; applied as a nickname to a hunchback. The hunchback Danny Mann in ‘The Collegians’ is often called ‘Danny the lord.’ **

Losset**; a kneading tray for making cakes. **

Lossagh**; a sudden blaze from a turf fire. Irish las [loss], a blaze, with the usual termination ach.**

Lossoge**; a handful or little bundle of sticks for firing. (Mayo.) Irish *las *[loss], fire, a blaze, with the diminutive termination. **

Low-backed car**; a sort of car common in the southern half of Ireland down to the middle of the last century, used to bring the country people and their farm produce to markets. Resting on the shafts was a long flat platform placed lengthwise

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and sloping slightly downwards towards the back, on which were passengers and goods. Called trottle-car in Derry. **

Loy**; a spade. Used in the middle of Ireland all across from shore to shore. Irish *láighe, *same sound and meaning. **

Luck-penny**; a coin given by the seller to the buyer after a bargain has been concluded: given to make sure that the buyer will have luck with the animal or article he buys. **

Ludeen** or loodeen [d sounded like th* ***in *then]; *the little finger. Irish *lúidín, *same sound and meaning. From lu, little, with the diminutive termination. **

Lu-oge**: see Loo-oge. **

Luscan**; a spot on the hillside from which the furze and heath have been burned off. (Wicklow and round about.) From Irish *lose *to burn: *luscan, *‘burned little spot.’ **

Lusmore**; fairy-thimble, fairy-finger, foxglove, *Digitalis purpurea; *an herb of mighty power in fairy lore. Irish lus, herb; mór, great; ‘mighty herb.’ **

Lybe**; a lazy fellow. (MacCall: Wex.) See Libber. **

Lyre**; the full of the two hands used together: a beggar usually got a *lyre *of potatoes. (Munster: same as *gopen *in Ulster.) Irish *ladhar, *same sound and meaning. **

** 

MacManus, Seumas, 5, &c. **

Mad**; angry. There are certain Irish words, such as *buileamhail, *which might denote either *mad *or very *angry: *hence in English you very often hear:-’ Oh the master is very mad with you,’

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i.e. angry. ‘Excessively angry’ is often expressed this way in dialect language:- ‘The master is blazing mad about that accident to the mare.’ But even this expression is classical Irish; for we read in the Irish Bible that Moses went away from Pharaoh, air lasadh le feirg, ‘blazing with anger.’ ‘Like mad’ is often used to denote very quickly or energetically: Crofton Croker speaks of people who were ‘dancing like mad.’ This expression is constantly heard in Munster. **

Maddha-brishtha**; an improvised tongs, such as would be used with a fire in the fields, made from a strong twig bent sharp. (Derry.) Irish *maide *[maddha], a stick; *briste, *broken:- ‘broken stick.’ **

Maddhiaghs** or muddiaghs; same as last, meaning simply ‘sticks’: the two ends giving the idea of plurality. (Armagh.) **

Maddhoge** or middhoge; a dagger. (North and South.) Irish meadóg or miodóg.

Made**; fortunate:- ‘I’m a made man’ (or ‘a *med *man’), meaning my fortune is made.’ (Crofton Croker - but used very generally.) **

Mag**; a swoon:- ‘Light of grace,’ she exclaimed, dropping in a *mag *on the floor. (Edward Walsh: used all over Munster.) **

Maisled**; speckled; a lazy young fellow’s shins get maisled from sitting before the fire. (Knowles: Ulster.) **

Make**; used in the South in the following way:- ‘This will make a fine day’: ‘That cloth will make a fine coat’: ‘If that fellow was shaved he’d make a handsome young man’ (Irish folk-song): ‘That Joe of yours is a clever fellow: no doubt he’ll

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make a splendid doctor.’ The noun *makings *is applied similarly:- ‘That young fellow is the makings of a great scholar.’ **

Man above**. In Irish God is often designated *an Fear suas *or *an t-É suas (‘the Man above,’ ‘the Person above’): thus in Hardiman’s ‘Irish Minstrelsy’ (I.228):- Comarc an t- É tá shuas ort: *‘the protection of the Person who is above be on thee’: an Fear suas occurs in the Ossianic Poems. Hence they use this term all through the South:- ‘As cunning as he is he can’t hide his knavery from the Man above.’

Man in the gap**, 182. **

Mankeeper**; used North and South as the English name of the little lizard called in Irish ‘Art-loochra,’ which see. **

Mannam**; my soul: Irish *m’anam, *same sound and meaning:- ‘Mannam on ye,’ used as an affectionate exclamation to a child. (Scott: Derry.) **

Many**; ‘too many’ is often used in the following way, when two persons were in rivalry of any kind, whether of wit, of learning, or of strength:- ‘James was too many for Dick,’ meaning he was an overmatch for him. **

Maol, Mail, Maileen, Moileen, Moilie** (these two last forms common in Ulster; the others elsewhere); a hornless cow. Irish *Maol *[mwail], same meaning. Quite a familiar word all through Ireland.

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One night Jacky was sent out, much against his will, for an armful of turf, as the fire was getting low; and in a moment afterwards, the startled family heard frantic yells. Just as they jumped up Jacky rushed in still yelling with his whole throat.

What’s the matter-what’s wrong!’

‘Oh I saw the divel!’

‘No you didn’t, you fool, ‘twas something else you saw.’

‘No it wasn’t, ‘twas the divel I saw - didn’t I know him well!’

‘How did you know him - did you see his horns?’

‘I didn’t: he had no horns - he was a *mwail *divel - sure that’s how I knew him!’

They ran out of course; but the *mwail *divel was gone, leaving behind him, standing up against the turf-rick, the black little *maol *Kerry cow. **

Margamore**; the ‘Great Market’ held in Derry immediately before Christmas or Easter. (Derry.) *Irish margadh *[marga], a market, mór [more], great. **

Martheen**; a stocking with the foot cut off. (Derry.) Irish *mairtín, *same sound and meaning. *Martheens *are what they call in Munster *triheens, *which see. **

Mass**, celebration of, 144. **

Mau-galore**; nearly drunk: Irish maith [mau], good: go leor, plenty: ‘purty well I thank you,’ as the people often say: meaning almost the same as Burns’s ‘I was na fou but just had plenty.’ (Common in Munster.) **

Mauleen**; a little bag: usually applied in the South to the little sack slung over the shoulder of a potato-planter, filled with the potato-sets (or *skillauns), *from which the setter takes them one by one to plant them. In Ulster and Scotland, the word is *mailín, *which is sometimes applied to a purse;- ‘A *mailin *plenished (filled) fairly.’ (Burns.) **

Maum**; the full of the two hands used together

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(Kerry); the same as *Lyre *and *Gopan, *which see. Irish *Mám, *same sound and meaning. **

Mavourneen**; my love. (Used all through Ireland.) Irish *Mo-mhúirnín, *same sound and meaning. See Avourneen. **

May-day customs**, 170. **

Méaracaun** [mairacaun]; a thimble. Merely the Irish *méaracán, *same sound and meaning: from *méar, *a finger, with the diminutive termination *cán. *Applied in the South to the fairy-thimble or foxglove, with usually a qualifying word:- Mearacaun-shee *(shee, *a fairy - fairy thimble) or Meara caun-na-man-shee (where na-man-shee is the Irish *na-mban-sidhe, *of the *banshees *or fairy-women). ‘Lusmore,’ another name, which see. **

Mearing**; a well-marked boundary-but not necessarily a raised *ditch *-a fence between two farms, or two fields, or two bogs. Old English. **

Mease**: a measure for small fish, especially herrings: - ‘The fisherman brought in ten mease of herrings.’ Used all round the Irish coast. It is the Irish word *mias *[meece], a dish. **

Mee-aw**; a general name for the potato blight. Irish *mí-adh *[mee-aw], ill luck: from Irish mí, bad, and ádh, luck. But *mee-aw *is also used to designate ‘misfortune’ in general. *

Meela-murder*; ‘a thousand murders’: a general exclamation of surprise, alarm, or regret. The first part is Irish - mile [meela], a thousand; the second is of course English.

Meelcar’ [*car *long like the English word *car]; *also called *meelcartan; *a red itchy sore on the sole of the foot just at the edge. It is believed by the

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people to be caused by a red little flesh-worm, and hence the name míol [meel], a worm, and *cearr *[car], an old Irish word for red:- Meel-car, ‘red-worm.’ (North and South.) **

Meeraw**; ill luck. (Munster.) From Irish mí, ill, and ráth [raw], luck:- ‘There was some *meeraw *on the family. **

Molder of corn**; the quantity sent to the mill and ground at one time. (Ulster.) **

Memory of History** and of Old Customs, 148. **

Morrow**; a mermaid. Irish *murrughagh *[murrooa], from *muir, *the sea. She dives and travels under sea by means of a hood and cape called cohuleen-dru: *cochall, *a hood and cape (with diminutive termination); *druádh, *druidical: ‘magical cape.’ **

Midjilinn **or middhilin; the thong of a flail. (Morris: South Monaghan.) **

Mihul or mehul** [i and e short]; a number of men engaged in any farm-work, especially corn-reaping still used in the South and West. It is the very old Irish word *meithel, *same sound and meaning. **

Mills**. The old English game of ‘nine men’s morris’ or ‘nine men’s merrils’ or *mills *was practised in my native place when I was a boy. We played it on a diagram of three squares one within another, connected by certain straight lines, each player having nine counters. It is mentioned by Shakespeare (‘Midsummer-Night’s Dream’). I learned to be a good player, and could play it still if I could meet an antagonist. How it reached Limerick I do not know. A few years ago I saw two persons playing mills in a hotel in Llandudno; and my heart went out to them.

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Mind**; often used in this way:- ‘Will you write that letter to-day?’ ‘No: I won’t mind it to-day: I’ll write it to-morrow.’ **

Minnikin**; a very small pin. **

Minister**; always applied in Ireland to a Protestant clergyman. **

Miscaun, mescaun, mescan, miscan**; a roll or lump of butter. Irish *míoscán *[miscaun]. Used all over Ireland. **

Mitch**; to play truant from school. **

Mitchelstown**, Co. Cork, 155. **

Moanthaun**; boggy land. Moantheen; a little bog. (Munster.) Both dims. of Irish *móin, *a bog. **

Molly**; a man who busies himself about women’s affairs or does work that properly belongs to women. (Leinster.) Same as *sheela *in the South. **

Moneen**; a little *moan *or bog; a green spot in a bog where games are played. Also a sort of jig dance-tune: so called because often danced on a green *moneen. *(Munster.) **

Month’s Mind**; Mass and a general memorial service for the repose of the soul of a person, celebrated a month after death. The term was in common use in England until the change of religion at the Reformation; and now it is not known even to English Roman Catholics. (Woollett.) It is in constant use in Ireland, and I think among Irish Catholics everywhere. But the practice is kept up by Catholics all over the world. Mind, ‘Memory.’ **

Mootch**: to move about slowly and meaninglessly; without intelligence. A mootch is a slow stupid person. (South.)

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Moretimes**; often used as corresponding to sometimes: ‘Sometimes she employs herself at sewing, and moretimes at knitting.’ **

Mor-yah**; a derisive expression of dissent to drive home the untruthfulness of some assertion or supposition or pretence, something like the English ‘forsooth,’ but infinitely stronger:- A notorious schemer and cheat puts on airs of piety in the chapel and thumps his breast in great style; and a spectator says:- Oh how pious and holy Joe is growing - mar-yah! ‘Mick is a great patriot, mor-yah! - he’d sell his country for half a crown.’ Irish *mar-sheadh *[same sound], as it were.’ **

Mossa**; a sort of assertive particle used at the opening of a sentence, like the English *well, indeed: *carrying little or no meaning. ‘Do you like your new house?’ - ‘Mossa I don’t like it much.’ Another form of wisha, and both anglicised from the Irish *md’seadh, *used in Irish in much the same sense. **

Mountain dew**; a fanciful and sort of pet name for pottheen whiskey: usually made in the mountains.**

Mounthagh, mounthaun**; a toothless person. (Munster.) From the Irish mant [mounth], the gum, with the terminations. Both words are equivalent to gummy, a person whose mouth is all gums.

Moutre**. In very old times a mill-owner commonly received as payment for grinding corn one-tenth of the corn ground - in accordance with the Brehon Law. This custom continued to recent times - and probably continues still - in Ulster,

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where the quantity given to the miller is called moutre, or muter, or mooter.

Mulharten**; a flesh-worm: a form of meelcartan. See Meelcar. **

Mullaberta**; arbitration. (Munster.) Merely the Irish *moladh-beirte, *same sound and meaning: in which *moladh *[mulla] is ‘appraisement’; and *beirte, *gen. of beart,:- ‘two persons’:- lit. ‘appraisement of two.’ The word mullaberta has however in recent times drifted to mean a loose unbusinesslike settlement. (Healy.) **

Mummers**, 171. **

Murray, Mr. Patrick**, schoolmaster of Kilfinane, 153, 154, and under ‘Roasters,’ below. **

Murrogh O’Brien**, Earl of Inchiquin, 165. **

Musicianer** for musician is much in use all over Ireland. or English origin, and used by several old English writers, among others by Collier.

  **

Nab**; a knowing old-fashioned little fellow. (Derry.) **

Naboc’lesh**; never mind. (North and South.) Irish *ná-bac-leis *(same sound), ‘do not stop to mind it,’ or ‘pass it over.’ **

Nail, paying on the nail**, 183. **

Naygur**; a form of *niggard: *a wretched miser:-

‘I certainly thought my poor heart it would bleed

To be trudging behind that old naygur.’

(Old Munster song; ‘The Spalpeen’s Complaint’: from ‘Old Irish Folk Music and Songs.’)

‘In all my ranging and serenading,

I met no naygur but humpy Hyde.’

(See ‘Castlehyde’ in my ‘Old Irish Music and Songs.’)

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Nicely**: often used in Ireland as shown here:- ‘Well, how is your [sick] mother to-day?’ ’ Oh she’s nicely,’ or ’ doing nicely, thank you’; i.e. getting on very well - satisfactorily. A still stronger word is *bravely. *‘She’s doing bravely this morning’; i.e. extremely well-better than was expected. **

Nim** or nym; a small bit of anything. (Ulster.) Noggin; a small vessel, now understood to hold two glasses; also called naggin. Irish noigin.**

Nose**; to pay through the nose; to pay and be made to pay, against your grain, the full sum without delay or mitigation.

 

Oanshagh; a female fool, corresponding with omadaun, a male fool. Irish *óinseach, *same sound and meaning: from *ón, *a fool, and *seach, *the feminine termination. **

Offer**; an attempt:- ‘I made an offer to leap the fence but failed. **

Old English**, influence of, on our dialect, 6. **

Oliver’s summons**, 184. **

On or upon**; in addition to its functions as explained at pp. 27, 28, it is used to express obligation ‘Now I put it *upon *you to give Bill that message for me’: one person meeting another on Christmas Day says:- ‘My Christmas box on you,’ i.e. ‘I put it as an obligation on you to give me a Christmas box.’ **

Once**; often used in this manner:- ‘Once he promises he’ll do it’ (Hayden and Hartog): ‘Once you pay the money you are free,’ i.e. if or *when *you pay. **

O’Neills** and their war-cry, 179.

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Oshin** [sounded nearly the same as the English word ocean]; a weakly creature who cannot do his fair share of work. (Innishowen, Donegal.) **

Out**; used, in speaking of time, in the sense of *down *or subsequently:- ‘His wife led him a mighty uneasy life from the day they married out.’ (Gerald Griffin: Munster.) ‘You’ll pay rent for your house for the first seven years, and you will have it free from that out.’

Out**; to call a person out of his *name *is to call him by a wrong name. **

Out**; ‘be off out of that’ means simply go away.**

Out**; ‘I am out with him’ means I am not on terms with him - I have fallen out with him. **

Overright**; opposite, in front of: the same meaning as *forenenst; *but *forenenst *is English, while overright is a wrong translation from an Irish word - *ós comhair. Os *means over, and *comhair *opposite: but this last word was taken by speakers to be *cóir *(for both are sounded alike), and as *cóir *means right or just, so they translated *os-comhair *as if it were *os-comhair, *‘over-right.’ (Russell: Munster.)

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Paddhereen**; a prayer: dim. of Latin *Pater (Pater *Noster). *Paddereen Paurtagh, *the Rosary: from Irish *páirteach, *sharing or partaking: because usually several join in it. **

Páideóge** [paudh-yoge]; a torch made of a wick dipped in melted rosin (Munster): what they call a *slut *in Ulster. **

Paghil or pahil**; a lump or bundle, 108. (Ulster.) **

Palatines**, 65. **

Palleen**; a rag: a torn coat is ‘all in *pal1eens.’ *(Derry.)

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Palm**; ‘the yew-tree, 184. **

Pampooty**; a shoe made of untanned hide. (West.) **

Pandy**; potatoes mashed up with milk and butter. (Munster.) **

Pannikin**; now applied to a small tin drinking-vessel: an old English word that has fallen out of use in England, but is still current in Ireland: applied down to last century to a small earthenware pot used for boiling food. These little vessels were made at Youghal and Ardmore (Co. Waterford). The earthenware pannikins have disappeared, their place being supplied by tinware. (Kinahan.) **

Parisheen**; a foundling; one brought up in childhood by the *parish. *(Kildare.) **

Parson**; was formerly applied to a Catholic parish priest: but in Ireland it now always means a Protestant minister. **

Parthan**; a crab-fish. (Donegal.) Merely the Irish *partan, *same sound and meaning. **

Parts**; districts, territories:- ‘Prince and plinny-pinnytinshary of these parts’ (King O’Toole and St. Kevin): ‘Welcome to these parts.’ (Crofton Croker.) **

Past**; ‘I wouldn’t put it *past *him,’ i.e. I think him bad or foolish enough (to do it). **

Past**; more than: ‘Our landlord’s face we rarely see past once in seven years’ - Irish Folk Song. **

Pattern** (i.e. *patron); *a gathering at a holy well or other relic of a saint on his or her festival day, to pray and perform *rounds *and other devotional acts in honour of the patron saint. (General.) **

Pattha**; a pet, applied to a young person who is brought up over tenderly and indulged too much:-

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‘What a *pattha *you are!’ This is an extension of meaning; for the Irish *peata *[pattha] means merely a *pet, *nothing more. **

Pelt**; the skin:- ‘He is in his pelt,’ i.e. naked. **

Penal Laws**, 144, and elsewhere through the book. **

Personable**; comely, well-looking, handsome:- ‘Diarmid Bawn the piper, as personable a looking man as any in the five parishes.’ (Crofton Croker: Munster.) **

Pickey**; a round flat little stone used by children in playing *transe *or Scotch-hop. (Limerick.) **

Piggin**; a wooden drinking-vessel. It is now called pígin in Irish; but it is of English origin. **

Pike**; a pitchfork; commonly applied to one with two prongs. (Munster.) **

Pike** or croppy-pike; the favourite weapon of the rebels of 1798: it was fixed on a very long handle, and had combined in one head a long sharp spear, a small axe, and a hook for catching the enemy’s horse-reins. **

Pillibeen or pillibeen-meeg**; a plover. (Munster.; ‘I’m king of Munster when I’m in the bog, and the *pillibeens *whistling about me.’ (‘Knocknagow.’) Irish *pílibin-miog, *same sound and meaning. **

Pindy flour**; flour that has begun to ferment slightly on account of being kept in a warm moist place. Cakes made from it were uneatable as they were soft and clammy and slightly sour. (Limerick.) **

Pinkeen**; a little fish, a stickleback: plentiful in small streams. Irish *pincín, *same sound and meaning. See Scaghler. **

Piper’s invitation**; ‘He came on the piper’s invitation,’ i.e. uninvited. (Cork.) A translation of

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Irish *cuireadh-píobaire *[curra-peebara]. Pipers sometimes visited the houses of well-to-do people and played - to the great delight of the boys and girls - and they were sure to be well treated. But that custom is long since dead and gone. **

Pish minnaan’** [the aa long as *a *in car]; common wild peas. (Munster.) They are much smaller - both plant and peas - than the cultivated pea, whence the above anglicised name, which has the same sound as the Irish *pise-mionnáin, *‘kid’s peas.’ **

Pishmool**; a pismire, an ant. (Ulster.) **

Pishoge, pisheroge, pishthroge**; a charm, a spell, witchcraft:- ‘It is reported that someone took Mrs. O’Brien’s butter from her by pishoges.’**

Place**; very generally used for house, home, homestead:- ‘If ever you come to Tipperary I shall be very glad to see you at my place.’ This is a usage of the Irish language; for the word *baile *[bally], which is now used for *home, *means also, and in an old sense, a place, a spot, without any reference to home. **

Plaikeen**; an old shawl, an old cloak, any old covering or wrap worn round the shoulders. (South.) **

Plantation**; a colony from England or Scotland settled down or *planted *in former times in a district in Ireland from which the rightful old Irish owners were expelled, 7, 169, 170. **

Plaumause** [to rhyme with sauce]; soft talk, plausible speech, flattery - conveying the idea of insincerity. (South.) Irish *plámás, *same sound and meaning. **

Plauzy**; full of soft, flattering, *plausible *talk. Hence

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the noun *pláusoge *[plauss-oge], a person who is plauzy. (South:) **

Plerauca**; great fun and noisy revelry. Irish *pléardca, *same sound and meaning. **

Pluddogh**; dirty water. (MacCall: Wexford.) From Irish plod [pludh], a pool of dirty water, with the termination ach.

Pluvaun**; a kind of soft weed that grows excessively on tilled moory lands and chokes the crop. (Moran: Carlow.) **

Poll-talk**; backbiting: from the *poll *of the head: the idea being the same as in backbiting. **

Polthogue**; a blow; a blow with the fist. Irish *palltóg, *same sound and meaning. **

Pooka**; a sort of fairy : a mischievous and often malignant goblin that generally appears in the form of a horse, but sometimes as a bull, a buck-goat, &c. The great ambition of the pooka horse is to get some unfortunate wight on his back; and then lie gallops furiously through bogs, marshes, and woods, over rocks, glens, and precipices; till at last when the poor wretch on his back is nearly dead with terror and fatigue, the pooka pitches him into some quagmire or pool or briar-brake, leaving him to extricate himself as best he can. But the goblin does not do worse: he does not kill people. Irish púca. Shakespeare has immortalised him as Puck, the goblin of ‘A Midsummer-Night’s Dream.’ **

Pookapyle**, also called Pookaun; a sort of large fungus, the toadstool. Called also *causha pooka. *All these names imply that the Pooka has something to do with this poisonous fungus. See Causha-pooka (pooka’s cheese).

[p.309] **

Pookeen**; a play - blindman’s buff: from Irish púic, a veil or covering, from the covering put over the eyes. Pookeen is also applied in Cork to a cloth muzzle tied on calves or lambs to prevent sacking the mother. The face-covering for blindman’s buff is called *pookoge, *in which the dim. óg is used instead of ín or *een. *The old-fashioned *coal-scuttle *bonnets of long ago that nearly covered the face were often called *pookeen *bonnets. It was of a bonnet of this kind that the young man in Lover’s song of ‘Molly Carew ’ speaks:-

Oh, *lave *off that bonnet or else I’ll *lave *on it

The loss of my wandering sowl:-

because it hid Molly’s face from him. **

Poor mouth**; making the poor mouth is trying to persuade people you are very poor - making out or pretending that you are poor. **

Poor scholars**, 151, 157. **

Poreens**; very small potatoes - mere *crachauns *(which see)

• any small things, such as marbles, &c. (South: *porrans *in Ulster.) **

Porter-meal**: oatmeal mixed with porter. Seventy or eighty years ago, the carters who carried bags of oatmeal from Limerick to Cork (a two-day journey) usually rested for the night at Mick Lynch’s public-house in Glenosheen, They often took lunch or dinner of porter-meal in this way:- Opening the end of one of the bags, the man made a hollow in the oatmeal into which he poured a quart of porter, stirring it up with a spoon : then he ate an immense bellyful of the mixture. But those fellows could digest like an ostrich.

[p.305]

In Ulster, oatmeal mixed in this manner with buttermilk, hot broth, &c., and eaten with a spoon, is called croudy**

Potthalowng**; an awkward unfortunate mishap, not very serious, but coming just at the wrong time. When I was a boy ‘Jack Mullowney’s potthalowng’ had passed into a proverb. Jack one time went *courting, *that is, to spend a pleasant evening with the young lady at the house of his prospective father-in-law, and to make up the match with the old couple. He wore his best of course, body-coat, white waistcoat, caroline hat (tall silk), and *ducks *(ducks, snow-white canvas trousers.) All sat down to a grand dinner given in his honour, the young couple side by side. Jack’s plate was heaped up with beautiful bacon and turkey, and white cabbage swimming in fat, that would make you lick your lips to look at it. Poor Jack was a bit sheepish; for there was a good deal of banter, as there always is on such occasions. He drew over his plate to the very edge of the table; and in trying to manage a turkey bone with knife and fork, he turned the plate right over into his lap, down on the ducks.

The marriage came off all the same; but the story went round the country like wildfire; and for many a long day Jack had to stand the jokes of his friends on the *potthalowng. *Used in Munster. The Irish is *patalong, *same sound and meaning; but I do not find it in the dictionaries. **

Pottheen**; illicit whiskey: always distilled in some remote lonely place, as far away as possible from the nose of a gauger. It is the Irish word poitín

[306]

[pottheen], little pot. We have partly the same term still; for everyone knows the celebrity of potstill whiskey : but this is *Parliament *whiskey, not *pottheen, *see p. 174. **

Power**; a large quantity, a great deal: Jack Hickey has a power of money: there was a *power of cattle in the fair yesterday: *there’s a power of ivy on that old castle. Miss Grey, a small huckster who kept a little vegetable shop, was one day showing off her rings and bracelets to our servant. ‘Oh Miss Grey,’ says the girl, ‘haven’t you a terrible lot of them.’ ‘Well Ellen, you see I want them all, for I go into a *power of society.’ *‘This is an old English usage as is shown by this extract from Spenser’s ‘View’: - Hee also [Robert Bruce] sent over his said brother Edward, with a power of Scottes and Red-Shankes into Ireland.’ There is a corresponding Irish expression (*neart airgid, *a power of money), but I think this is translated from English rather than the reverse. The same idiom exists in Latin with the word *vis *(power): but examples will not be quoted, as they would take up a power of space. **

Powter** [t sounded like *th *in pith]; to root the ground like a pig; to root up potatoes from the ground with the hands. (Derry.) **

Prashagh**, more commonly called prashagh-wee; wild cabbage with yellow blossoms, the rape plant. Irish *praiseach-bhuidhe *[prashagh-wee]1 yellow cabbage. Praiseach is borrowed from Latin brassica.

Prashameen**; a little group all clustered together:- ‘The children sat in a prashameen on the floor.’ I have heard this word a hundred times in Limerick

[p.307]

among English speakers: its Irish form should be *praisimín, *but I do not find it in the dictionaries. **

Prashkeen**; an apron. Common all over Ireland. Irish *praiscín, *same sound and meaning. **

Prawkeen**; raw oatmeal and milk (Mac Call: South Leinster.) See Porter-meal. **

Prepositions**, incorrect use of, 26, 32, 44. **

Presently**; at present, now:- ‘I’m living in the country presently.’ A Shakespearian survival:- Prospero:- ‘Go bring the rabble.’ Ariel:- ‘Presently?’ [i.e. shall I do so now?] Prospero:- ‘Ay, with a wink.’ Extinct in England, but preserved and quite common in Ireland. **

Priested**; ordained: ‘He was priested last year.’ **

Priest’s share**; the soul. A mother will say to a refractory child:- ‘I’ll knock the priest’s share out of you.’ (Moran: Carlow.) **

Professions hereditary**, 172. **

Pronunciation**, 2, 91 to 104. **

Protestant herring**: Originally applied to a bad or a stale herring: but in my boyhood days it was applied, in our neighbourhood, to almost anything of an inferior quality:- ‘Oh that butter is a Protestant herring.’ Here is how it originated:- Mary Hewer of our village had been for time out of mind the only huckster who sold salt herrings, sending to Cork for a barrel from time to time, and making good profit. At last Poll Alltimes sent for a barrel and set up an opposition shop, taking away a large part of Mary’s custom. Mary was a Catholic and Poll a Protestant: and then our herrings became sharply distinguished as Catholic herrings and Protestant herrings: each party eating herrings

[p.308]

of their own creed. But after some time a horrible story began to go round - whispered at first under people’s breath - that Poll found *the head of a black *with long hair packed among the herrings half way down in her barrel. Whether the people believed it or not, the bare idea was enough; and Protestant herrings suddenly lost character, so that poor Poll’s sale fell off at once, while Mary soon regained all her old customers. She well deserved it, if anyone ever deserved a reward for a master-stroke of genius. But I think this is all ‘forgotten lore’ in the neighbourhood now. **

Proverbs**, 105. **

Puck**; to play the puck with anything: a softened equivalent of *playing the devil. Puck *here means the Pooka, which see. **

Puck**; a blow:- ‘He gave him a puck of a stick on the head.’ More commonly applied to a punch or blow of the horns of a cow or goat. ‘The cow gave him a puck (or pucked him) with her horns and knocked him down.’ The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his *caman *or hurley is always called a *puck. *Irish *poc, *same sound and meaning. **

Packaun**; a he-goat. (South.) Irish *poc, *a he-goat, with the diminutive. **

Puke**; a poor puny unhealthy-looking person. **

Pulling a cord** (or *the cord); *said of a young man and a young woman who are courting: - ‘Miss Anne and himself that’s pulling the cord.’ (‘Knocknagow.’) **

Pulloge**; a quantity of hidden apples: usually hidden by a boy who steals them. (Limerick.) Diminutive of the Irish *poll, *a hole.

[p.309] **

Pusheen**; the universal word for a kitten in Munster: a diminutive of the English word *puss; *exactly equivalent to pussy. **

Puss** [u sounded as in *full]; *the mouth and lips, always used *in dialect *in an offensive or contemptuous sense:- ‘What an ugly puss that fellow has.’ ‘He had a puss on him,’ i.e. he looked sour or displeased - with lips contracted. I heard one boy say to another:- ‘I’ll give you a *skelp *(blow) on the puss.’ (General.) Irish *pus, *the mouth, same sound. **

Pusthaghaun**; a puffed up conceited fellow. The corresponding word applied to a girl is *pusthoge *(MacCall: Wexford): the diminutive termination *aun *or *chaun *being masculine and óg feminine. Both are from pus the mouth, on account of the consequential way a conceited person squares up the lips.

Quaw or quagh; a *quag *or quagmire:- ‘I was unwilling to attempt the *quagh.’ *(Maxwell: ‘Wild Sports’: Mayo, but used all over Ireland.) Irish *caedh *[quay], for which and for the names derived from it, see ‘Irish Names of Places ’: ii.896. **

Quality**; gentlemen and gentlewomen as distinguished from the common people. Out of use in England, but general in Ireland:- ’ Make room for the quality.’ **

Queer**, generally pronounced *quare; *used as an intensive in Ulster:-This day is quare and hot (very hot); he is quare and sick (very sick): like *fine and fat *elsewhere (see p.89). **

Quin** or quing; the swing-tree, a piece of wood used

[p.310]

to keep the chains apart in ploughing to prevent them rubbing the horses. (Cork and Kerry.) Irish *cuing *[quing], a yoke. **

Quit**: in Ulster ‘quit that’ means *cease from that: *‘quit your crying.’ In Queen’s County they say *rise out of that. *

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