Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-04-12
GAELIC TRANsLATloNs.



the scotch Their ..saudies.-
Touching the now notorious Irish
constable, Jeremiah Sullivan, Labou-
ehere, of the London Truth, said TO
Hibernian acquaintance: How is it
that your people who are popularity
supposed not to spend much time read
ing the Scriptures, call about half
their children Jeremiahs or ferries?
What has made this prophet SO popu-
lar in Irelandp- ..Oh, " said he, they
are not Jeremiahs at all they are
Diarmuids or Dermonts, called after
the famous Diarmuid ODuibhne, from
whom half the families in Ireland and
Scotland are supposed to be descended
But the slender ID OF the Irish gram
marans-i. e.. the ID before 'e or il
being sounded something like ~
| Diarmuid has come to be considered
the Irish for Jeremiah, and is always
SO translated.
These so-called translations are az
numerous as they are absurd in both
the Gaelic-speaking countries. In Ire
land .Domhnall'' is invapiable trans
lated Daniel" though in Scotland he
usually is content to Anglicize himself
"Donald. But on the other hand,
the Scotch translate Angus into
'.Aeneas,r and "Eachan' (genitive
Eachain) into Hector" See Walter
Scott who makes :" Bas air son Eachain''
into death for the sake of Hector
So 'Alister" from the most ancient
times has been TRANSLATED" '.Alexan-
DER which, corrupted to SANDY
and Saunders" has given a nickname
to the whole Scotch race. Una" (pro-
nounced Oonah). which, in spite of its
Latin look, is a genuine old Irish name,
is now invariably translated Whey
and Winifred.n ''Jilh' pronounced
Sheelah) is turned into Julia" and
Judy "Connor,n az Christian
name, is always translated ..Corne
Illus" But the funniest translation
of all is thit of O'Sewell. whs
from some fancied connection
with the Irish verb '.siubhal, I" to walk
now calls himself Walker Thos,
''translations" have arisen partly from
ignorance, partly from snoobery ant
the desire to appear English, partl.
from the difficulty of getting Gaeli
name pronounced by the Saxon. ant
partly from the desire of Catholi
priests (not often Gaelic scholars o
antiquarians) to place the chill
brought to them for baptism under tn
protection of some recognized saint
When the Irish-speaking god-paren
suggests Domhnall." or ID armuid
or "Unah,n the priest translates
the name into Daniel. Jeremiah o
Winifred, as the case may be.
So long as the practice of translatio
is confined to Christian names it doe
not much matter, but when o Mulliga
(OMaolagain) translates himself
as he does very frequently. into Bald
| win, because Maof' means bald. h
. obviously lays very dangerous ira
for the aftercoming ethnologist, VIII
!, will certainly take this shame-face
Gael for bluff Saxon. OMulligar
however. generally speaking, makes
Frencbnan of himself as Molyneul
> O'Birn and o Brian, of Roscommon an
. Wicklow, once content to misspe
1 themselves as O'Beirne and 0'Byrr
respectively. have now great fame
for calling themselves Biron an
: Byron. and sometimes DeByron, ar
q desire to be thought OF Norman origil
: Nearly ali the O'Darcys and Mazda
> cys, of Connaught, who used to humb
: AEglicize Darkeyn (for the Gael
/ SCI is hard, now have assumed Il
: name and arms of Darcy from Il
well-known Meath family of that nan
8 whose Norman origin is undoubte
I MacMullen, by the way, does not see
y to know when to stop. He can't |
/ his name alone. | remember when
g modestly Anglicized himself Mullins
u Now ne is Desmoulins or Demoleyn
g God forgive him. Times.
|