English loanwords in Irish explained

Present-day Irish has numerous loanwords from English. The native term for these is Irish: béarlachas (in Irish pronounced as /ˈbʲeːɾˠl̪ˠəxəsˠ/), from Irish: Béarla, the Irish word for the English language. It is a result of language contact and bilingualism within a society where there is a dominant, superstrate language (in this case, English) and a minority substrate language with few or no monolingual speakers and a perceived "lesser" status (in this case, Irish).

Types

Anglicisms exists in many forms, from the direct translation of English phrases to the common form of creating verbal nouns from English words by adding the suffix Irish: -áil (this is also used to form verbs from native roots, such as Irish: trasnáil, "cross over", from Irish: trasna "across", Irish: tuigeáil (Connacht, Ulster) "understanding" (Munster Irish: tuiscint), from Irish: tuig "understand", and so on).[1] [2] Irish: Táim ag runáil go dtí an siopa ("I'm running towards the shop") is an anglicism, as "runáil" is a verb created from the English word "run" with the Irish suffix Irish: -áil attached; the traditional Irish for this would be Irish: Táim ag rith go dtí an siopa.[3]

Calquing also occurs; it is called Irish: béarlachas in Irish[4] and describes when an English phrase is literally translated into Irish, even though an equivalent Irish phrase already exists.[5] An example of this is "Moilligh síos" ("slow down" – Irish: moill "delay" + Irish: síos "downwards", calqued from English), instead of the more traditional Irish: Maolaigh ar do luas ("reduce your velocity"), or simply Irish: Maolaigh! ("Slow down!").

Semantic loaning occurs too with the meaning of some terms being broadened to match English. An example is oráiste, originally meaning the orange fruit but also being used to describe to the colour. The meaning of Irish colours has been brought more in line with English in recent times. Teachers will often teach bándearg (pink or lit. white-red) to be one of the 11 basic colour terms but to native speakers it is just seen as a light shade of dearg (red) like how bánbhuí (lit. white-yellow) is just a light shade of buí (yellow) along with flannbhuí (orange). Glas is taught to mean "green" but to native speakers it can also mean grey or certain shades of blue.

Scottish Gaelic learners will often be taught wrongly that "glas" means "grey".

Old borrowings

Many words that are commonly thought by "purists" to be anglicisms have been a part of the Irish language for a long time, and have become "nativised". At the same time, certain words that are sometimes assumed to be from English are actually from Norse or Norman French, and as such are not true anglicisms. For example:

"fork" (both from Latin Latin: furca)

"plate" (both from Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: plate, from Medieval Latin Latin: plata)

"group" (both from French French: groupe)

Other words are 'early anglicisms', having entered the language in the 18th and 19th centuries:

The word Irish: péint may have been borrowed directly from English "paint" or from Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: peint. The verb Sango: pinntél ("to paint") appears in some Old Irish works.[6]

Other words are actually Celtic roots that have entered English:

"car" (Old Irish Irish, Old (to 900);: carr, "wagon", from Proto-Celtic *karros)[7] [8]

"cross" (the Irish word is from Latin Latin: crux; the English form with -s at the end may be a borrowing directly from Old Irish)[9]

"clock" (Old Irish Irish, Old (to 900);: cloc, Latin Latin: clocca, possibly of Celtic derivation)[10]

"leather" (Old Irish Sango: lethar, Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: leþer; both words derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *létrom)[11]

"pet (animal)" (entered English from Scottish Gaelic, from Middle Irish Irish, Middle (900-1200);: pet[t]a; possibly from French French: petit, "small," or Brittonic *petti-, "thing, piece")[12]

False cognates

Modern concepts

Words used for foreign inventions, imports, and so on, where a native Irish word does not exist, are often a macaronic import as well. These are strictly speaking not anglicisms, but examples of loans from foreign languages. In some cases an Irish word has been developed, and in others it has not. This has been a characteristic of word development in the language for as long as written records exist, and is not limited to anglicisms. In some cases the original Irish word is no longer known, or has a different meaning within the same semantic field:

Modern examples[21] [22] !English!New loanword!Original Irish
phone
bicycle
Older forms include words such as:

Variation

In some cases, the foreign loan has an official pronunciation in Irish, and a colloquial one based on English; the colloquial form is an anglicism, while the official form is a Gaelicisation of the foreign word:

The most striking forms of anglicisms, however, are the names of the letters of the alphabet—the vast majority of which are normally said in the English way, except for —as well as the use of words such as ("well"), ("no"), ("just"), and Irish: álraight ("all right" – for). Such words are used with their English syntax in Irish:

Letters that are not traditionally used in Irish orthography occur (such as, as well as at the beginning of words), though in older English loans the foreign sounds have been gaelicised:

Most words that begin with in the language are also foreign loans, as did not exist in prehistoric or early Old Irish (such as Irish: póg "kiss" (Old Welsh pawg, Latin Latin: pacem "peace"), Irish: peaca (Latin Latin: pecatum "sin").

Republican use

See also: Irish language in Northern Ireland. During The Troubles, between the 1970s and the 1990s, many physical force Irish republican prisoners in Long Kesh (later the Maze Prison) often spoke in Irish, for cultural reasons and to keep secrets from warders. This was dubbed the "Jailtacht", a portmanteau of "jail" and "Gaeltacht", the name for an Irish-speaking region.[23]

It is thought by some that the Republican slogan Irish: [[Tiocfaidh ár lá]] ("Our day will come") is a form of anglicism, more idiomatic equivalents being ("Our day will be with us") or ("We will have our day"). However, the verb, meaning "come", is often used in a variety of phrases to express the "coming" of days, such as ("the day came when I had to leave the island)".

List of loanwords

Algartam (algorithm)

Badhsacal (Bicycle) (Native word: Rothar)

Bus (bus)

Coincréit (concrete)

Cócó (cocoa)

Coilíneacht (colonialism)

Crómasóm (chromosome)

Druga (drug)

Faró (Pharaoh)

Feimineach (femininist)

Fócas (focus)

Gunna (gun)

Institiúid (institution)

Lachtáit (lactate)

Lachtós (lactose)

Laibhe (lava)

Leaid (lad)

Micreathonnán (microwave)

Mód (mode)

Náisiún (nation)

Poblacht (republic)

Seacláid (chocolate)

Scútar (scooter)

stáisiún (station)

Táibléad (tablet)

Traein (train)

Trófaí (Trophy)

Veigeán (vegan)

Volta (volt)

Vóta (vote)

Zú (Native word: gairdín ainmhithe) (English: Zoo)

List of terms calqued from English

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

I

L

M

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

X

Y

Semantic loans

Oráiste meaning Orange (fruit). Flannbhuí which is considered a shade of buí (yellow) in Irish is the proper word for the colour.

Aerach meaning gay (feeling). The proper term for homosexuality is homaighnéasachas. All native non-calqued or semantically altered words relating to homosexuality in Irish such as piteog, síog, cam and gearrán all have negative meanings.

Similar phenomenon in Scottish Gaelic

The same concept also exists within Scottish Gaelic, in which language it is referred to as Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[beurlachas]]. Some examples include:

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2022-03-22 . 1st conj. ending in -ail . 2023-12-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220322023052/http://nualeargais.ie/gnag/typ1ail.htm . 22 March 2022 .
  2. Web site: Gael-Taca website (Irish language promotion organisation) Examples of 'Béarlachas' . 2007-12-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071010111136/http://www.gaeltacabac.com/7i.htm . 2007-10-10 . dead .
  3. Web site: English–Irish Dictionary (de Bhaldraithe): run . https://web.archive.org/web/20231218190142/https://www.teanglann.ie/en/eid/run . 2023-12-18 . 2023-12-18 . www.teanglann.ie . en.
  4. Web site: "béarlachas" . 2023-12-18 . téarma.ie.
  5. Web site: Béarlachas & Loanwords . 2023-12-18 . Tumblr . en.
  6. Web site: eDIL - Irish Language Dictionary. www.dil.ie.
  7. Web site: Car, n. meanings, etymology, and more . subscription . December 18, 2023 . Oxford English Dictionary.
  8. Web site: car Etymology of car by etymonline . 2023-12-18 . www.etymonline.com . en.
  9. Web site: cross Search Online Etymology Dictionary . 2023-12-18 . www.etymonline.com.
  10. Web site: clock Search Online Etymology Dictionary . 2023-12-18 . www.etymonline.com.
  11. Book: Mallory. J. P.. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Adams. D. Q.. 2006-08-24. OUP Oxford. 978-0-19-928791-8. en.
  12. Web site: Pet, n2 & adj. meanings, etymology, and more . subscription . December 18, 2023 . Oxford English Dictionary.
  13. Web site: Annotated list of Celtic loanwords, and possible Celtic loanwords, in Proto-Germanic. . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20231218183754/https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kroch/courses/lx310/handouts/handouts-09/ringe/celt-loans.pdf . December 18, 2023 . December 18, 2023 . Linguistics at University of Pennsylvania.
  14. Book: Meaning in the History of English: Words and texts in context. Andreas H.. Jucker. Daniela. Landert. Annina. Seiler. Nicole. Studer-Joho. December 15, 2013. John Benjamins Publishing. 9789027270894. Google Books.
  15. Web site: Y Cymmrodor: The Magazine of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion .... December 2, 1880. The Society. Google Books.
  16. Web site: eDIL - Irish Language Dictionary. www.dil.ie.
  17. Web site: eDIL - Irish Language Dictionary. www.dil.ie.
  18. Kroonen, Guus (2013) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill
  19. Book: MacLeod, Sharon Paice. Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld: Mythic Origins, Sovereignty and Liminality. May 17, 2018. McFarland. 9781476669076. Google Books.
  20. Book: Beaven, Peter. Building English Vocabulary With Etymology Introduction. May 13, 2017. Lulu.com. 9780982474006. Google Books.
  21. Web site: Béarlachas & Loanwords . 2023-12-18 . Tumblr . en.
  22. https://bwpl.unibuc.ro/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/BWPL_2010_nr-2_Chudak.pdf
  23. Book: Mac Giolla Chriost . Diarmait . Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1972–2008 . 5 January 2012 . University of Wales Press . 978-0-7083-2497-4 . 88–91 . en.

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