English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 41

Hurling; the common game of ball and hurley or _commaun_. The chief terms (besides those mentioned elsewhere) are:--_Puck_, the blow of the hurley on the ball: The _goals_ are the two gaps at opposite sides of the field through which the players try to drive the ball. When the ball is thrown high up between two players with their {276} commauns ready drawn to try which will strike it on its way down: that is _high-rothery_. When two adjacent parishes or districts contended (instead of two small parties at an ordinary match), that was _s...o...b..en_ or 'conquering goal' (Irish _scuab_, a broom: _s...o...b..en_, _sweeping_ the ball away). I have seen at least 500 on each side engaged in one of these _s...o...b..ens_; but that was in the time of the eight millions--before 1847. Sometimes there were bad blood and dangerous quarrels at s...o...b..ens. See Borick, Sippy, Commaun, and Cool.

(For the ancient terms see my 'Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland,' p. 513.) For examples of these great contests, see Very Rev.

Dr. Sheehan's 'Glenanaar,' pp. 4, 231.

Hurt: a whortleberry: hurts are _fraughans_, which see. From _whort_.

(Munster.)

Husho or rather huzho; a lullaby, a nurse-song, a cradle-song; especially the chorus, consisting of a sleepy _cronaun_ or croon--like 'shoheen-sho Loo-lo-lo,' &c. Irish _suantraighe_ [soontree]. 'The moaning of a distant stream that kept up a continual _cronane_ like a nurse _hushoing_.' 'My mother was hushoing my little sister, striving to quieten her.' (Both from Crofton Croker.) 'The murmur of the ocean _huzhoed_ me to sleep.' (Irish Folk Song:--'McKenna's Dream.')

Idioms; influence of the Irish language on, 4:--derived from Irish, 23.

If; often used in the sense of _although_, _while_, or some such signification, which will be best understood from the following examples:--A Dublin {277} jarvey who got sixpence for a long drive, said in a rage:--'I'm in luck to-day; but _if I am_, 'tis blazing _bad_ luck.' 'Bill ran into the house, and if he did, the other man seized him round the waist and threw him on his back.'

If that. This is old English, but has quite disappeared from the standard language of the present day, though still not unfrequently heard in Ireland:--'If that you go I'll go with you.'

'_If_ from Sally _that_ I get free, My dear I love you most tenderlie.'

(Irish Folk Song--'Handsome Sally.')

'And _if that_ you wish to go further Sure G.o.d He made Peter His own, The keys of His treasures He gave him, To govern the old Church of Rome.'

(Old Irish Folk Song.)

Inagh' or in-yah' [both strongly accented on second syll.]; a satirical expression of dissent or disbelief, like the English _forsooth_, but much stronger. A fellow boasting says:--'I could run ten miles in an hour': and another replies, 'You could _inah_': meaning 'Of course I don't believe a word of it.' A man coming back from the other world says to a woman:--'I seen your [dead] husband there too, ma'am;' to which she replies:--'My husband _inah_.' (Gerald Griffin: 'Collegians.') Irish _an eadh_, same sound and meaning.

Inch; a long strip of level gra.s.sy land along a river. Very general.

Irish _inis_ [innish], of the same family as Lat. _insula_: but _inis_ is older than _insula_ which is a diminutive and consequently a derived form. 'James, go out and drive the cows down to the inch.'

Insense'; to make a person understand;--'I can't {278} insense him into his letters.' 'I insensed him into the way the job was to be done.'

[Accent on -sense'.]

In tow with; in close acquaintance with, courting. John is in tow with Jane Sullivan.

Ire, sometimes _ira_; children who go barefoot sometimes get _ire_ in the feet; i.e. the skin chapped and very sore. Also an inflamed spot on the skin rendered sore by being rubbed with some coa.r.s.e seam, &c.

Irish language; influence of, on our dialect, 1, 23.

Jackeen; a nickname for a conceited Dublin citizen of the lower cla.s.s.

Jack Lattin, 172.

j.a.p or jop; to splash with mud. (Ulster.)

Jaw; impudent talk: _jawing_; scolding, abusing:--

'He looked in my face and he gave me some jaw, Saying "what brought you over from Erin-go-braw?"'

(Irish Folk Song.)

Jingle; one of Bianconi's long cars.

Johnny Magorey; a hip or dog-haw; the fruit of the dog-rose. (Central and Eastern counties.)

Join; to begin at anything; 'the child joined to cry'; 'my leg joined to pain me'; 'the man joined to plough.' (North.)

Jokawn; an oaten stem cut off above the joint, with a tongue cut in it, which sounds a rude kind of music when blown by the mouth. (Limerick.) Irish _geocan_, same sound and meaning.

Jowlter, fish-jowlter; a person who hawks about fish through the country, to sell. (South.)

Just: often used as a final expletive--more in {279} Ulster than elsewhere:--'Will you send anyone?' 'Yes, Tommy just.' 'Where are you going now?' 'To the fair just.'

Keenagh or keenagh-lee: mildew often seen on cheese, jam, &c. In a damp house everything gets covered with _keenagh-lee_. Irish _caonach_, moss; _caonach-lee_, mildew: _lee_ is Irish _liagh_ [lee], grey. (North and North-West of Ireland.)

Keeping: a man is _on his keeping_ when he is hiding away from the police, who are on his track for some offence. This is from the Irish _coimead_, keeping; _air mo choimead_, 'on my keeping.'

Keeroge; a beetle or clock. Irish _ciar_ [keer], dark, black, with the diminutive _og_: _keeroge_, 'black little fellow.'

Kelters, money, coins: 'He has the kelthers,' said of a rich man.

_Yellow kelters_, gold money: 'She has the kelthers': means she has a large fortune. (Moran: Carlow.)

Kemp or camp; to compete: two or more persons kemp against each other in any work to determine which will finish first. (Ulster.) See Carleton's story, 'The Rival Kempers.'

Keolaun; a contemptible little creature, boy or man. (South and West.)

Keowt; a low contemptible fellow.

Kepper; a slice of bread with b.u.t.ter, as distinguished from a _dundon_, which see.

Kesh; a rough bridge over a river or mora.s.s, made with poles, wickerwork, &c.--overlaid with bushes and _scraws_ (green sods).

Understood all through Ireland. A small one over a drain in a bog is {280} often called in Tipperary and Waterford a _kishoge_, which is merely the diminutive.

Kib; to put down or plant potatoes, each seed in a separate hole made with a spade. Irish _ciob_, same sound and meaning.

Kickham, Charles, author of 'Knocknagow,' 5, &c.

Kiddhoge, a wrap of any kind that a woman throws hastily over her shoulders. (Ulster.) Irish _cuideog_, same sound and sense here.

Kilfinane, Co. Limerick, 147.

Killeen; a quant.i.ty:--'That girl has a good killeen of money. (Ulster.) Irish _cillin_ [killeen].

Killeen; an old churchyard disused except for the occasional burial of unbaptised infants. Irish _cill_, a church, with the diminutive _in_.