Home
About Scoil Mhuire
News Letter
Contact Us
 
Local History

Irish Words

The following words would be familiar to the older people in the parish and some are still used

Word

Meaning

a leana cúra (a leanbh cumhra)!

my fragrant child - sweet smelling

a leanbh!  mo chumhra bán!

child! my beloved fragrance

a mhic!

my son

a stór!

my treasure!

ainnis

miserable (sick person, not well)

amadán

a fool

baitín (bateen)

strong stick or baton

banbh

bonham or piglet

bastún (bostoon)

an ignorant kind of person

bean sí- banshee

a fairy woman, also called the ‘bow’

beart (of hay, straw etc)

bundle carried on back

bia!bia (bee,bee)

calling turkeys (food!)

bogán

soft shelled egg

bóithrín (boreen)

little road (from bóthar which means cow pass)

botún

to make a botún (a mistake)

brosna (brusna)

armful of sticks,firewood

brus

dust (bits of straw) (bruscar)

buachalán buí

rag wort, noxious weed also ‘geosadán’

buaile

a ‘booley’ (milking place)

cáibín (caubeen)

an old hat

caoineadh (keening)

crying at a wake long ago

cíléir (keeler)

shallow wooden vessel where milk ‘set’ in during churning, a cream tub,-cream was then skimmed

ciotóg

left-handed person

cipín

little stick

cis (pronounced ‘kish’)

a basket (from ciseán)

créatúr (craythur)

a person to be pitied.

crúibín

pig’s foot

doirnín (a durneen)or dúirnín

one of the two grips on a scythe

dromán (drumawn)

strap on horse’s back when ploughing

dúidín (dudeen)

short stemmed pipe (usually refers to a clay pipe)

flaithiúlacht

a generous person

gabhlóg

fork shaped stick used for cutting bushes with a sickle

gaisce

a deed

gasúr (gorsoon)

young boy

geansaí

a jersey

giorróg (gearróg)

short drill or furrow

gog (goggy)

boiled egg

grafán

hoe, grubber

gríosach (greesock)

ashes with small burning coals or embers

gruamach

glum, sour person

losaid (losset)

wooden trough for kneading dough

lúbán

twisted or bent out of shape

ludramán

a lazy, idle fellow

lúidín

the little finger

marla

clay(marl), plasticine

meas

respect, ‘I have great meas on him’

megín

covering for a sore finger made from calico and tied at wrist- from ‘méirin’-the little finger

óinseach

a foolish (woman)

olagón

wail

pincín (pinkeen)

a minnow

piseog

superstition

plámás

flattery

poitín(poteen)

illicit whiskey

práiscín

an apron made from hemp bag

praiseach

a harmful weed (charlock), to break in pieces

pus

lips, mouth

ráiméis

nonsense, foolish talk

ráth

a rath, a fort:ráithín (raheen) a little fort

sceach

thorn bush

scealp

a skelp, a blow

sciollán (skillaun)

seed potato

scráib (scraub)

a scrape or scratch

scríd

a screed, a rag. ‘I didn’t have a screed to wear to the dance’.

searús

bitter person, sour

seilchide (sealakipuka)

a snail (seilide)

sí gí (si gaoithe)

whirlwind (fairy wind) (sigín- little whirlwind)

sibín (shebeen)

illicit ‘ale’ house (there was one in Ballybrazil)

slane (sleán)

turf spade

slibhín(sleveen)

a sly, sneaky fellow

smithiríní (smithereens)

broken in small pieces

soc

sock or share of a plough

sop

a wisp,a handful of hay

stibhín (stiveen)

stick for making holes- a dibble

stillín (stellan)

a stillion, shelf in kitchen for buckets of water, keelers

straoill

an untidy person

súgán

hay or straw rope

taobhín

a patch on a boot or shoe

taoscán (tay-us-kan)

a right taoscán (of drink)- a good quantity

tioc!tioc!

calling hens and chickens

tráithnín (trawneen)

a strong blade of grass

 

Please Return to Local History