A little Irish language, a bit of Blarney...

Céad Míle Fáilte!

"One-hundred thousand welcomes" to the 5th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture!

Today is St. Ciarán's Day! Well, one of many St. Ciarán's days celebrated throughout the Irish calendar year. It turns out that Ciarán (or Kieran) is quite a popular Irish name, particularly for saints.

Ready for a little introduction to the Irish language (An Ghaelige), its cousin Hiberno-English, and the Irish way with words? If you are a new student of the language of the Irish people or just curious about Irish ways and words, you'll find info galore among the following articles. If Irish is your native tongue, I hope you'll find some fun reading our little tribute to the language.

So settle back, do your best impression of a good Irish brogue, and join us as we laud the language of the bards of Ireland!

You might think that my interest in Irish Gaelic and my idea to focus an edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture on it stems from my vast personal knowledge of the language. If you thought so, think again! As much as I'd like to begin to understand the Irish language, I realize that anyone hearing me try to pronounce anything more than "Céad Míle Fáilte!" would probably say, "Níl Gaeilge aici". (Translation: "She does not have Irish.") Read more about my limited Irish language skills and a little introduction to Hiberno-English at my post Sad news: there is "no Irish at me" here at A light that shines again.

Want to hear from an Irish speaker who knows his stuff? Colm Doyle, a language teacher from Ireland living in Estonia, has a knowledge of and devotion to the Irish language and languages in general. His contribution to our carnival is on his blog Corcaighist (he has three - one of which is written in Irish). Ambasadóirí na Gaeilge - Ambassadors of the Irish Language is, as he states, "a post about the importance of every single speaker of Irish in ensuring a future for the language." Wonder what the status of the Irish language is today? Want to hear one insider's perspective on the issues that it faces within Ireland and to learn about its spread outside of the country? Read the words of this Irishman who "has a grá for the language" and finds that it "warms the cockles of the heart and brings a tear to [his] eye".

Colm's post makes mention of the "political, emotional and societal baggage" which the Irish language carries today. For an introduction to a good resource on the history of the language see my post entitled "Sticks and stones can break my bones... here at A light that shines again. The book I've found takes a look at the background behind today's state of the Irish language through a look at primary sources that tell the story of its history back to the year 1366.

If you are personally interested in learning to speak a little Irish yourself, be sure to get a reliable teacher. It can be dangerous to depend on someone else to teach you their language, as Colleen Johnson illustrates with her story Gabh Mo Leithscéal or Pardon Me. What do you get when mix an Irish grandmother from County Clare with an appreciation for a good laugh, a slew of similar-minded Irish folk, and a naive young granddaughter visiting from the United States? You guessed it: trouble. Read Colleen's post to "feel her pain" as she tells the story of her embarrassing Irish language moment.

If you are like Barbara Joly and myself, your Irish immigrant ancestors go back a little farther in the generations and your family's experience with the Irish language passed on before your arrival. In a tribute to Tipperary, one of Barbara's family's counties of origin, Barbara shares the story of her heritage as she knows it in Tiobraid Árann and I at Our Carroll family Genealogy. Her post includes an explanation of the background of the well-known song It's a Long Way to Tipperary and introduces another Tipperary musical tribute that is much prefered by the Irish.

While we're on the subject of Tipperary (Tiobraid Árann in the Irish language), stop by for a visit to Smoky Mountain Family Historian. Lori Thornton gives a little introduction to learning about Ireland and County Tipperary from an outsider's perspective in her post It's a Long Way to Tipperary. Lori's surprise at the name of Killarney reminded me how easily things can be misconstrued in translation. A tip for would-be Irish geography students: check out an introduction to irish placenames such as DoChara's or About.com's. You'll be feeling better about visiting Killarney and all places starting with Kil- or Kill- knowing that they are named for woods or churches and not what you might have first feared!

Back to the topic of Irish grandmothers, Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family shares fond memories of his great-grandmother's and other relatives' attempts to ensure that he knew of his Irish heritage. His post, entitled Irish Words, Irish Ways, is a tribute to the "gift of gab" that he received from his relatives and through which he learned many beloved family stories. As Thomas states, "my family didn't use Gaelic words but as you can see, they were schooled in the Irish tradition of storytelling". I hope that the Irish way with words is more of an inherited trait, yet as Thomas shows, it sure helps to be schooled in it by a dedicated Irish grandmother!

For a little more on Blarney, that famous Blarney stone, and some treasured Irish proverbs from another Irish grandmother (Janice Brown's "lovely gram") visit Cow Hampshire to read New Hampshire: Blarney Spoken Here. Janice also shares a few suggested links on the Irish language including an Irish dictionary and an online translator.

Janice's post mentions that in New Hampshire - as in many places influenced by the Irish - "you can't help but hear wee ghosts of the lilting Gaelic language in the current accents, and in certain words still used". It is a language that won't die easily. As I mentioned in my post about Hiberno-English, it carries on in the speech of those who now speak another language. Shades of it also remain, as we have seen, in the "gift of gab" of many who had a story-telling grandmother of Irish descent.

It is my hope, as I have written in my article The death of memory, that the Irish language will overcome its modern obstacles and remain a part of the Ireland of the future, as well as a keeper and reminder of our beloved Irish culture and heritage.

In closing, I wish you all an Irish blessing:

Saol fada chugat!

Long life to you...
...and long life to the Irish language!

Go maire an Ghaeilge go deo!

For an introduction to the upcoming 6th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture, see What does it mean to be Irish? over at Small-leaved Shamrock. Hope to see you at the carnival!

"Sticks and stones can break my bones...

...but words can never hurt me!"

This childhood chant is familiar to many of us in a different context, yet I thought of it as I pondered the long history of Ireland and the struggles it has had over the centuries with conquerors and foreign tongues.

Words, it seems, do have the power to hurt a person - and to hurt a people.

Since I have a limited understanding of the full historical context of the struggles of the Irish language, I was happy to find a book that provided firsthand, through primary sources, a look at the relatively recent history of the language and its troubled life.

Tony Crowley's The Politics of Language in Ireland 1366-1922: A Sourcebook is a compilation of texts covering six centuries worth of Irish lingual history. From the Statute of Kilkenny in 1366 to the constitution of the Irish Free State in 1922, these historical documents provide a glimpse into the complex history of Ireland and its language.

Crowley states in the book's introduction:

The story of the relations between the two main languages of Ireland over the past 600 years is quite as complicated as the history of the political relationship between Ireland and England (and later, Ireland and the United Kingdom). Quite as tortuous and characterised just as much by rivalry, confusion, misapprehension and bitterness, as well as fascination, apparently inevitable attraction, and striking achievement.

It is, by any standards, an extraordinary history and the aim of this collection is to provide access to it.

Crowley's introduction goes on to warn against "simple versions of history" which are "dangerous, though not as pernicious as the belief that all versions of the past are equally acceptable". Crowley states that:

In the case of the history of the relations between the languages of Ireland, however, the intent of the selection [of primary sources in the book] is to show that the reality has been much more difficult, convoluted...and complex, than has often been thought.

The history of language in Ireland is an important topic with much application to modern events today. We all have a lot to learn.

Sad news: there is "no Irish at me"

When (thanks to Colm Doyle's Corcaighist) I came across Gaelchultúr's Language Placement Test on the Irish language, I thought I would at least give myself a chance to try out one or two questions. One quick look at the test made me think otherwise. I decided right then and there to "make quick the road" (an Irish phrase meaning "to head home before trouble begins") and instead work on my Hiberno-English as a starting point.

What is Hiberno-English? This phrase refers to English as it is often spoken in Ireland. Another way of looking at it is this: Hiberno-English is English spoken in the style of the Irish language. The syntax of the two languages is very different (in fact Irish syntax is very different from most Indo-European languages). A native Irish speaker automatically gives their own twist to the use of the English language. That is how Hiberno-English came about.

Let me give you an example. The Irish language does not have words that translate directly to yes or no. If you would like to reply negatively or positively to someone's question, you must rephrase the question and make a full reply.

For example, if asked "Are you coming for dinner?" a Hiberno-English speaker might answer, "I am" intead of "Yes". If asked, "Is your friend coming with you?" they would be likely to answer, "She's not" instead of "No".

In Hiberno-English, someone who can speak a language is refered to as "having a language". This phrase borrows from the Irish translation. As further explained on Wikipedia's Hiberno-English webpage, the sentence "She does not have Irish" is translated as "Níl Gaeilge aici", literally meaning "There is no Irish at her". Sadly, I realize that I "do not have Irish". The way that sentence sounds makes it seem like I could just go out and get it. If only learning a language was so easy!

According to the History of the Irish Language webpage,

The version of English spoken in Ireland, known as Hiberno-English bears striking similarities in some grammatical idioms with Irish. Some have speculated that even after the vast majority of Irish people stopped speaking Irish, they perhaps subsconsciously used its grammatical flair in the manner in which they spoke English. This fluency is reflected in the writings of Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and more recently in the writings of Seamus Heaney, Paul Durcan, Dermot Bolger and many others.

The distinct Hiberno-English may today be losing some of its hold over Ireland, particularly within younger age groups and in urban areas, yet the impact of the Irish language on its birthplace (and the world) remains.

After all, who ever referred to Cork County? Of course, the correct name is County Cork - a result of the original Irish word order. The same is true of lakes and rivers, such as Lough Neagh (the largest lake in the United Kingdom) and the well-known River Shannon, Ireland's longest.

Cork itself appears to have its own "dialect" of Hiberno-English, recognizable by its commonly generous use of emphasis words. Here's an example, in case you are in need of a good insult:

"You are a howling, thundering, rampaging, galloping, creeching langer, so you are!"

(Warning: it might not be a good idea to use this on your friends.)

Now it's time for me to put the kibosh on. In closing, I thought you might enjoy a reminder of some of the words that the English language has borrowed from Irish. Where would we be today without galore, phoney and smithereens?

I hope that this little introduction to Hiberno-English got you thinking, and that you'll find time to dabble in a little bit of Irish slang yourself.

Need a good starting place? Try Slanguage: A Dictionary of Irish Slang by Bernard Share and A Dictionary of Hiberno-English by T.P. Dolan, both recommended by Corcaighist's Colm Doyle.

Go n'éirí an t-ádh leat! (Pronounced guh nye-ree un taw laht)

The best of luck to you!

The death of memory

There is a Mexican saying that we die three deaths: the first when our bodies die, the second when they are lowered into the earth, and the third when we no longer remain in the memory of any of the living.

It was only three generations after his own that Patrick Tierney's descendants lived much of their lives never having heard their great-grandfather's name. They were born less than a half-century after his death in 1900, yet they had no knowledge of his life or any of its details.

Thanks to the discovery of census records, vital records, city directories and a newspaper obituary he has been "brought to life" again within his own family.

Such a tragedy - to so quickly lose the memory of a man who had paved the way for his family to own the American dream through his own sweat, tears and often immigrant shame. Lost was the knowledge of his beginnings in Tipperary, of his childhood triumph over the death-dealing famine, of his struggling beginnings as an immigrant in a country that didn't want him.

I am thankful to be able to know the name of my great-great-grandfather Patrick and to have a small glimpse into his life and times.

In the resurrection of his memory and the telling of his story, I hope to continue to pass his life down through the generations.

As the loss of one man's memory left a void in those who had come into his family a few generations after him, the loss of the Gaelic language has left a void in the Irish people - yet on a much grander scale.

With the departure of a language goes the loss of the heart of a culture and much of its deep heritage. The British must have known that as they forced the Irish to suffer for use of their native tongue. Perhaps they considered it the only way to truly fight the headstrong Irish - by taking from them the shared language and heritage that was their strength.

The Oxford Companion to Irish History, a dictionary-like reference work on all things Irish edited by S.J. Connolly, has an entry on the Irish language (see language) which reads as follows:

The shift from the indigenous language (Irish) to the language of the conquerors (English) weakened the attachment of the Irish to their own country. Indeed it can be argued that the loss of the Irish language is the decisive event in Irish history, since it altered radically the self-understanding of the Irish and destroyed the continuity between their present and their past.

The loss of the Irish language is not only a concern with regard to not being able to understand old Irish records and literature. Its loss is the departure of the ability to view the world from a truly Irish perspective, since the differences in vocabulary and syntax of other languages cause the speaker to view their world in a different way.

I'm not a resident of the Gaeltacht nor do I have an understanding of all the current complexities in the efforts toward promoting the use of the native language of the Irish people. I do know, however, that this language of my ancestors has a beautiful uniqueness that cannot be matched, particularly to the ears and eyes of those of us with Irish descent. My hope is that the Irish language will find its life continually sustained and that it will not come near to approaching its first death as a spoken language, not to mention the death of its memory.

Go maire an Ghaeilge go deo.

(Literal translation: That lives the Irish [language] forever.)

Great-great-granddaughter's note: Patrick Tierney's name in proper Irish Gaelic is Padraig Ó Tighearnaigh. Since at the time of his birth immediately before the Great Famine, the language was spoken by about half the population of 8 million people (according to The Oxford Companion to Irish History) - many in County Tipperary - chances are good that this was his given name.

Time for a little Gaelige!

Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná Béarla cliste.

I'll take comfort in the Irish Gaelic proverb above as we get ready for the 5th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture. It means: It is better to have broken Irish than clever English. My Irish Gaelic is certainly at the broken point, if you can even consider it in existence. I'm new to the language of my Irish ancestors.

Irish Gaelic is still alive in the Emerald Isle today (and outside of Ireland as you will read in our carnival). Have you ever come into contact with Irish Gaelic? Have a story to tell about your experience with an Irish Gaelic name or proverb? Join us for the 5th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture to be hosted here at A light that shines again. The theme is Irish Gaelic (or your experience with it, no matter how limited) and the deadline is Sunday, April 27. Hope to see you there!

Thanks to Wikiquote's page on Irish Proverbs for the proverb at the beginning of this post.

"Out of the dusk of slow-accomplished Time..."

I am fascinated by beautiful poetry. When written well, poetry consists of "the best words in their best order" as Samuel Taylor Coleridge put it. When I find a poem that strikes a chord in me, I enjoy reading it again and again.

It is a special treat to find a poem that is not only appealing as a bit of poetry, but is able to call to mind strong images of places and people and/or a particular time in history.

Emily Lawless, a writer and poet born in 19th-century Ireland, was one such poet who was able to bring history alive with her poetry. Out of What Began: A History of Irish Poetry in English shares a few snippets of her writings including a poem entitled Afterward (which was originally published in The Inalienable Heritage in 1914). According to the book, in this little poem she expresses beautifully "the poet's role as bringing to life the voices of the past".

Afterward
by Emily Lawless

Out of the dusk of slow-accomplished Time,
Out of the shadows, out of the long past,
Lifting that past up on thy haughty rhyme,
Wakening those silenced voices, heard at last;
Fierce with the tumults of eight hundred years,
Loud with their cries of echoing strife and scorn;
Soft with their woes; child of their hopes and fears,
Poet we look for, come; awake! Be born!

Emily Lawless brings a strong image alive in her poem entitled Honor's Grave (also originally published in The Inalienable Heritage). This poem conjures up pictures for me of what the lives of my women ancestors might have been like. After reading her words, I can't help but feel the desire to go and visit their graves to pay my respects to them in the places where "very soundly doth they sleep".

Honor's Grave
by Emily Lawless

Tender soul of womanhood,
All her silent suffering past,
Pious, pitiful, and good,
Safe at last;
Sheltered from the rough wind's blast.
Veiling mists, which come and go,
With transparent fingers mark
Where she lies. Remote and low,
Hark! Oh hark!
What voice whispers through the dark?

Very soundly doth she sleep,
Though around the blown-sand flies,
Though above the storm-clouds sweep
The burdened skies.
She hears nothing where she lies.
Ancient cross, misused and grey,
Ancient cross, with broken arms,
Hold her, shield her night and day,
Safe from harms;
Shield her by thy sovereign charms.
Tiny snail-shells, pencilled, pale,
In the sands about her lie;
Tiny grass-tufts, thin and frail,
Cluster slenderly,
Gather round her tenderly.

Ave Maria! mother mild,
Mary, unto whom she prayed,
Shield thy loving-hearted child,
Gentle maid!
Shield the spot where she is laid.

Lastly, one more poem to share with you on this, Poem in Your Pocket Day 2008.

Forever
by John Boyle O'Reilly

Those we love truly never die,
Though year by year the sad memorial wreath,
A ring of flowers, types of life and death,
Are laid upon their graves.

For death the pure life saves,
And life all pure is love; and love can reach
From heaven to earth, and nobler lessons teach
Than those by mortals read.

Well blest is he who has a dear one dead:
A friend he has whose face will never change -
A dear communion that will not grow strange;
The anchor of a love is death.

The blessed sweetness of a loving breath
Will reach our cheek all fresh through weary years.
For her who died long since, ah! waste not tears,
She's thine unto the end.

Thank God for one dear friend,
With face still radiant with the light of truth,
Whose love comes laden with the scent of youth,
Through twenty years of death.

Make room in your pockets for poetry

Home to the likes of Ann Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and Mary Oliver (not to mention my poetry-loving grandfather), Massachusetts has long been a hotbed of poetic inspiration.

The Boston area in particular has had a long relationship with poetry. Who couldn't love the city with the nation's oldest all-poetry bookstore?

Boston is also the birthplace of the Favorite Poem Project, begun by Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky as an attempt to encourage the role of poetry in the lives of Americans. View the website's collection of fifty short videos of Americans reading their favorite poems and explaining how poetry has touched their lives.

My two favorite videos so far (I haven't viewed them all) include Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's A Psalm of Life read by Rev. Michael Haynes and Eavan Boland's The Emigrant Irish read by Stephen Murphy.

The Emigrant Irish is a touching tribute to the brave Irish that struggled for their very existence in new lands generations before us. Its use of light as both simile and metaphor struck me. I can't resist sharing it here on A light that shines again. Here is the poem:

The Emigrant Irish
by Eavan Boland

Like oil lamps, we put them out the back —

of our houses, of our minds. We had lights
better than, newer than and then

a time came, this time and now
we need them. Their dread, makeshift example:

they would have thrived on our necessities.
What they survived we could not even live.
By their lights now it is time to
imagine how they stood there, what they stood with,
that their possessions may become our power:
Cardboard. Iron. Their hardships parceled in them.
Patience. Fortitude. Long-suffering
in the bruise-colored dusk of the New World.

And all the old songs. And nothing to lose.

Enjoyed this poem and want to share it? Have other favorites that have touched you or that you have memorized and made a part of you? Why not place a copy in your pocket for Poem in Your Pocket Day, Thursday April 17. If you can't come up with just the right poem, take a look at these choices, already pre-formatted into pocket size.

Happy National Poetry Month!

A challenge to all readers who write their own blogs: Share a favorite poem on your blog for Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 17, 2008. I look forward to reading all of your favorites!

Source: Eavan Boland, "The Emigrant Irish," from Outside History: Selected Poems 1980-1990. Copyright © 1987 by Eavan Boland.

Dust off your Irish Gaelic for the carnival!

Doing your spring cleaning (glanadh an earraigh)? Dust off your Irish Gaelic dictionary and help us air out a few new words and phrases in time for the the Irish Gaelic edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture.

It is springtime! The time has come to put away the winter clothes (tá an t-am tagtha éadaí an Gheimhridh a chur ar leataobh) and bring some Irish Gaelic out into the fresh air!

Hope you'll join us for the 5th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture here at A light that shines again as we honor the beauty of the Irish language with a focus on Irish Gaelic names and words.

• Has the charm of the name of a place in Ireland always called to you to visit someday?
• As a child did you secretly wish you had the Irish name of a great-grandparent instead of the name you were born with?
• Do you have a story to tell about someone with an Irish surname?
• Is there an Irish proverb that you have always loved to let slide off of your tongue in its original language?

Join us for the carnival. The only prerequisite is that your post must tie in with our focus on the Irish Gaelic language.

Posts for this edition of the carnival are due April 27. Submit your entries here. The carnival will be posted at A light that shines again on St. Ciarán's Day, April 30. (Well, one of the St. Ciarán's days - there are actually 14 in the calendar of Irish saints. Now there's one popular Irish Gaelic name!)

There is no better way to revive Irish

than for a crowd of people to spread it.
~ Douglas Hyde

Passing the torch: sharing Irish history with young people

In my post entitled Ready for battle: history for kids over at Small-leaved Shamrock I explained my desire to bring history and genealogy alive to young people. As I stated there, it is important to me to share what I've learned about my family's history and its place in the overall context of world history with my children, my nieces, nephews, second cousins, etc. I find joy in the knowledge that the next generation has an understanding of the sacrifices of those that lived before them and takes pride in their heritage.

I was well into adulthood before I had even basic knowledge about the Great Irish Famine, not to mention Irish history in general. With the intention of preventing that sort of "lapse of memory" within future generations, I would like to continue to share with children what I've learned about my own family history and the history of the Irish. On the sidebar of A light that shines again and my other blogs Small-leaved Shamrock and 100 Years in America, you can find Related Reading lists that include not only books for adults, but also books geared to children of various ages.

I enjoyed learning about one young lady who has taken an interest in her own Irish heritage to heart - so much so that at the age of 17 she has published a book of fiction based on her interest in Irish family history and culture.

Amanda Burris' novel, entitled "Remember The Dance: The Story of Nora Shanahan", was the result of an interest in her family's heritage and her research into all things Irish, including the Gaelic language and Irish dance. A homeschool student in her final year of high school, Amanda spent several years writing the book. According to the Remember the Dance website, the book gives readers a chance to:

Come explore the rich history that has long been forgotten by many and discover the difficult, yet exciting life of Nora Shanahan, a spirited, young Irish girl whose love of dancing brings her through times of starvation and oppression. But when the time comes to leave the land she loves so much, will the remembrance of the dance keep her spirits alive, even in a frightening, unwelcoming new land of America?

You can read more about Amanda's book in the following online articles: Teen Writer Brings History to Life and Kannapolis teenager publishes novel based on Irish ancestry.

Thanks to Dear Myrtle for sharing the story of Amanda Burris' book.

The borrowed days: an old Irish weather warning

Worried about bad weather in April? Maybe you should be.

An old Irish tradition warns that early April will hold some mean weather. Laethanta na Riabhaiche (the Borrowed Days) were said to be a trick from the month of March who had "borrowed" some days from April and then paid her back with bad weather. Nasty old March!

For more on this legend and what to watch out for in early April, read Bridget Haggerty's article The Borrowed Days at the Irish Culture & Customs website.