Present-day Irish has numerous loanwords from English. The native term for these is béarlachas (Irish pronunciation:[ˈbʲeːɾˠl̪ˠəxəsˠ]), from 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 -áil (this is also used to form verbs from native roots, such as trasnáil, "cross over", from trasna "across", tuigeáil (Connacht, Ulster) "understanding" (Munstertuiscint), from tuig "understand", and so on).[1][2]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 -áil attached; the traditional Irish for this would be Táim ag rith go dtí an siopa.[3]
Calquing also occurs; it is called 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" – moill "delay" + síos "downwards", calqued from English), instead of the more traditional Maolaigh ar do luas ("reduce your velocity"), or simply 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:
coinneal: "candle" (both ultimately from Latin candēla)
páipéar: "paper" (páipér; both words derive from Old French paper, papier)
Other words are 'early anglicisms', having entered the language in the 18th and 19th centuries:
praghas: "price" (also possibly from Norman French preis, pris)
dabht: "doubt" (the Irish words are: ambras, gó)
The word péint may have been borrowed directly from English "paint" or from Old French peint. The verb pinntél ("to paint") appears in some Old Irish works.[6]
Other words are actually Celtic roots that have entered English:
cros: "cross" (the Irish word is from Latin crux; the English form with -s at the end may be a borrowing directly from Old Irish)[9]
clog: "clock" (Old Irish cloc, Latin clocca, possibly of Celtic derivation)[10]
leathar: "leather" (Old Irish lethar, Old English leþer; both words derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *létrom)[11]
peata: "pet (animal)" (entered English from Scottish Gaelic, from Middle Irish pet[t]a; possibly from French petit, "small," or Brittonic *petti-, "thing, piece")[12]
iarann: "iron" (both words ultimately derive from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom, "iron")[13]
False cognates
The word ród ("road, route"), most commonly seen in iarnród (iron road, i.e. railway) is actually derived from Old Irish rót (from ro-sét, "great path", or rōut, "distance, length") and is not a borrowing of English road, although it may have been influenced by the Old English root rād ("riding").[14][15][16][17]
Oigheann, the Irish word for "oven", is not derived from the English; it comes from Middle Irishaigen ("cooking-vessel, pan"), from Celtic root *aginâ ("vessel"). English oven is from Old English ofn, from Proto-Germanic *uhnaz.
Domhan ("world") is derived from a Celtic root *dubnos, meaning "deep"; it is not related to English domain, which is ultimately from Latindomus, "house".[19][20]
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:
iarla (from Norse jarl), in place of tiarna (Irish), meaning "lord, earl"
bád (from Old Norse), in place of currach (Irish), meaning "boat"
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 ⟨a⟩—as well as the use of words such as bhuel ("well"), no ("no"), jost ("just"), and álraight ("all right" – for go maith). Such words are used with their English syntax in Irish:
Bhuel, fanfaidh mé jost anseo, dhiúnó, go dtiocfaidh tú ar ais.
Well, I'll just wait here, you know, till you come back.
'bhFuil tú álraight ansin, a bhuachaill? - No, nílim álraight anaonchor.
Are you all right there, lad? - No, I'm not all right at all.
Letters that are not traditionally used in Irish orthography occur (such as ⟨j, k, q, v, w, x, y, z⟩, as well as ⟨h⟩ at the beginning of words), though in older English loans the foreign sounds have been gaelicised:
Jab: Job (beside post from French, obair from Latin)
w > bh / v: bhálcaereacht, válcaereacht "strolling, walking"
Most words that begin with ⟨p⟩ in the language are also foreign loans, as ⟨p⟩ did not exist in prehistoric or early Old Irish (such as póg "kiss" (Old Welsh pawg, Latin pacem "peace"), peaca (Latin pecatum "sin").
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 Tiocfaidh ár lá ("Our day will come") is a form of anglicism, more idiomatic equivalents being Beidh ár lá linn ("Our day will be with us") or Beidh ár lá againn ("We will have our day"). However, the verb teacht, meaning "come", is often used in a variety of phrases to express the "coming" of days, such as tháinig an lá go raibh orm an t-oileán d’fhágaint ("the day came when I had to leave the island)".
List of loanwords
Word
Meaning
algartam
algorithm
badhsacal
bicycle
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
zoo
List of terms calqued from English
A
abairt scoilte
abhacréalta
aerfhórsa
aerfort
aerghiotár
aerinneall
aerlíne
aerlínéar
aerpháirc
ailbheolach
ainm cleite
airgead beo
airgead póca
amach is amach
amadán Aibreáin
amchlár
amhábhar
anaigineas
anamorfacht
antatocsain
aonadfhad
aonidéachas
aschuir
aschur
B
baintreach dhubh
ballachlár
béabharchlár
béarmhargadh
bithábhar
bithbhreosla
bithshlándáil
bloc-chlár
bogearraí
bréagnuacht
broc meala
C
caidhp bháis
cailc-chlár
cairdín pianó
cárta creidmheasa
caschlár
céad mháta
ceannbhalla
ceanncheathrú
ceanntréan
ceap dearnála
cearc fhraoigh
ceirnín dlúth
cianrialtán
clár aimsire
clár cailc
clár toinne
clibchlár
clóscríobh
cluasmharcáil
comhthéacs
córas oibriúcháin
corcscriú
Corn an Domhain
craftpháipéar
crosbhogha
crosfhocal
crua-chlár
cúl-líne
cúlchlár
D
dátphluma
deireadh seachtaine
donnóg
dordfhocal
dordlíne
E
each-chumhacht
eitpheil
eochairchlár
F
fear gnó
féin-chomhfhiosach
féineach
féinín
físcheamara
físghránnán
físráiteas
fístéacs
foghareolaíocht
fóineolaíocht
folúsghlantóir
fotheideal
fréamh-roghchlár
G
gairmuimhir
gan dabht
go maith as
I
Idirlíon
ionchur
íoslódáil
L
LADT
lán-nóta
lánchúlaí
lánstad
lasc-chlár
leag an bord
lig ar
lingchlár
linn snámha
luasbhád
M
mála droma
máthairchlár
-méadrach
meaisínghunna
meánaois
Meánaois
míolsiorc
O
obair bhaile
oighearaois
P
pasfhocal
péist talún
pianóchairdín
pionna srathrach
pionnachlár
plánchlár
plástarchlár
R
Ríocht Aontaithe
ríomhaire
S
saol gnéis
Sasana Nua
scamall a naoi
scórchlár
seoléadach
síonchlár
slischlár
solasbhliain
sreabhchlár
Stáit Aontaithe
stílbhileog
stocmhargadh
suíomh gréasáin
T
tabhair suas
taeghairdín
taoschnó
teilifís
tonnchlár
trasinscneach
tuíchlár
U
uachtar reoite
uasghrádaigh
uaslódáil
ubhthoradh
uiscechlár
V
vatuair
Vicífhoclóir
voltaimpéar
X
X-chrómasóm
X-gha
Y
Y-chrómasóm
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 beurlachas. Some examples include:
stòraidh, "story" (instead of sgeulachd)
gèam, "game" (instead of cluiche)
tidsear, "teacher" (instead of the older mùin(t)ear)
