854
AN GAODHAL.
cap, calla.
captain of a ship, carasóir,
carcase, cairbh, conáblach.
carriage, drubh, caráisde, carbad.
cart, caph.
carver, caondualach.
cathedral-church, ceall-port.
cell, dúrbhadh.
celebration, cliudhadh.
challenge, cairteal.
change, taocladh.
cheat, calghaois.
chemise, caimis.
chessboard, ceancaomh.
We shall go through the dictionary
and pick out all the words that are
not in common use and print them, so
that the readers of An Gaodhal will be
able to give the Irish of all the words
asked of them. This is worth a $.
MISTRANSLATED IRISH NAMES.
London Truth has recently published a very in¬
teresting article about the way Irish and Scotch
Gaelic names get mistranslated. The editor of
Truth asked a Celtic savant how it came to pass
that the Irish, who were not remarkable for script¬
ture reading, had so many scripture names among
them, and above all, how they came to have so
many Jerries and Jeremiahs. The Celtic savant
said; "They are not Jeremiahs at all, they are
Diarmuids or Dermots, called after the famous
Diarmuid O'Duibhne, from whom half the fami¬
lies in Ireland and Scotland are supposed to be
descended. But the 'slender D' of the Irish Gram¬
marians — i. e. the 'D’ before e or i — being sound¬
ed something like 'J,' Diarmuid has come to be
considered the Irish for Jeremiah, and always
so 'translated.'"
These so-called translations are as numerous as
they are absurd in both the Gaelic-speaking coun-
tries. In Ireland "Domhnall" is invariable trans¬
lated "Daniel", though in Scotland he usually is
content to Anglicize himself "Donald." But on
the other hand, the Scotch translate "Angus" into
"Æneas," and "Eachan" (genitive Eachain) into
"Hector." See Walter Scott who makes "Bas air
son Eachain," into "Death for the sake of Hect¬
or." So "Alister" from the most ancient times has
been "translated" "Alexander," which, corrupted
to "Sandy and Saunders," has given a nick name
to the whole Scotch race. "Una" (pron. Oona),
which, in spite of its Latin look, is a genuine old
Irish name, is no invariable translated "Winey"
and "Winifred." "Sile" (pronounced Sheela) is
turned into "Julia and Judy." "Conor" as a
Christian name, is always translated "Cornelius."
But the funniest translation is that of O'Sewell,
who (from some fancied connection with the Irish
verb siubhal, to walk) now calls himself Walker.
These translations have arisen partly from ignor¬
ance, partly from snobbery, and the desire to ap¬
pear English, partly from the difficulty of getting
a Gaelic name pronounced by the Saxon, and
partly from the desire of Catholic priests (not of¬
ten Gaelic scholars or antiquarians) to place the
child brought to them for baptism under the pro¬
tection of some recognized saint. When the Irish-
speaking god parent suggests "Domhnall," or
"Diarmuid" or "Una," the priest translates the
name into Daniel, Jeremiah, or Winifred, as the
case may be.
So long as the practice of translation is confined
to Christian names it does not much matter, but
when O'Mulliagan (O'Maolagain), translates him¬
self, as he does very frequently, into Baldwin, be¬
cause Maol means bald, he obviously lays a very
dangerous trap for the after coming ethonologist,
who will certainly take this shame-faced Gael for
a bluff Saxon. O'Mulligan, however, generally
speaking makes a Frenchman of himself, as Moly¬
neux. O'Birn and O'rian of Roscommon and
Wicklow, once content to misspell themselves as
O'Beirne and O'Byrne, respectively, have now a
great fancy for calling themselves Biron and By¬
ron, and sometimes De Byron, and desire to be
thought of Norman origin. Nearly all the O'Dar¬
ceys and McDarceys of Connaught, who used to
be humbly anglicised Darkey (or the Gaelic c is
hard), now have assumed the name and arms of
D'Arcy from the well-known Meath family of that
name whose Norman origin is undoubted. Mac-
Mullen, by the way, does not seem to know when
to stop. He can not let his name alone. I remem¬
ber when he modestly Anglicized himself Mul¬
lins. Now he is Desmoulins or Moleyne, God for¬
give him. — Chicago Citizen.
JUBILEE ODE.
Some wag sent us the following stanzas and dared
us publish them, — We do — with a tail! —
G
e
r
m
a
n
P
a
u
p
e
r
God grant a people's tribute prayer!
Each grateful heart whose homage rare
Rises to thy throne of grace,
Midst anthemed joy that fills all space,
And swells the glorious jubilee,
Now ringing through all lands to thee.
Praise to Victoria, Empress, Queen,
As mother to great nations been,
Universal love thus shown
Pervades all hearts from hut to throne,
Each suppliant knee, each trembling voice,
Reflects from Earth to Heaven its choice.
The price of An Gaodhal is only 60
cents a year, in advance.
