Irish word???

martarg

Hello everyone,

I have a little query. I am working on a Ph. D. thesis on the Fenians, and I am not an Irish speaker (I'm not even Irish). Reading a manuscript letter I have come across a word that does not look like English, but I don't know if it is Irish, or what it may mean. Since I have no access to Irish dictionaries, you are my last hope ...

Does anyone know what "inagh" is? is it even Irish? (the whole sentence is actually "Toleration, inagh!!")

Thanks

Marta.

Ex_hale

i dont think inagh is an irish word as such, ive never heard it myself and i checked out the dictionary as well, however, there is a place in Co. Clare called Inagh..

Keeks

Is it a handwritten manuscript or typed.

Is there any chance you could post the whole paragrph it contained in...or a lest the few sentences around it.

Or better still scan it and post it up for us to view.

martarg

Thanks a lot to both!

Unfortunately I don't have the original manuscript, these are just my typed notes from library research. The context is not too helpful, but there it goes. He is trying to establish a newspaper, and he is writing about his competitors:

"As you cannot see our friends, Con, Joe, Andy, &c., should be very busy. The traitor’s rag (=newspaper) should be tabooed and speedily as possible crushed. Let there be no squeamishness on this head: the sudden enlargement of the rag should be like the sudden enlargement of the liver—death. There should be no babble about toleration and a’ that. Folk can’t afford to tolerate your thimblerig and your assassin swings for his crime. Can we afford to tolerate treason with all its colossal disasters. Let us be simply just. Wisdom and duty will admit of no more. Toleration inagh! Urge on the advances and subscriptions. Dublin should make a handsome figure in the business and I cannot bear the thought of its doing otherwise."

I am pretty sure about the spelling, not 100%, but tolerably. This person's handwriting is not particularly difficult, and I am pretty well acquainted with it by now. The only other option I can think of is that it may be an alternative spelling for "enough". Any thoughts?

In any case, thanks again, you have been very helpful. Cheers.

Marta.

Victor

What period is the piece?

Ex_hale

Originally posted by martarg
The only other option I can think of is that it may be an alternative spelling for "enough". Any thoughts?

yeah that seems fairly plausible

Jpaulik

Maybe its a variation of inniu ?

Try http://www.ucc.ie/celt

Fairly helpful people there.

martarg

Hi everyone, thanks again for your replies,

Victor, it is a 19th c. letter. I believe this person was not really an Irish speaker, but I have seen him use Irish words a couple of times, so I did not want to disregard the idea completely. Then again, he may not have known how to actually write Irish... I guess I just wanted to know if there was any word remotely resembling what he wrote, which could make any sense in that context.

JPaulik, I have checked that URL. Looks helpful, thanks a lot...

Marta.

martarg

Hi everyone,

By chance I have just found that word again, this time on a published text, so it seems my spelling was right. I don't think it is actually a version of "enough", it sounds more like an ironic "indeed!" kind of exclamation. What do you think? This is the other text:

"Is it not written that we Irish are an aristocratic people? It is too true; and to this reverence for rank our people owe much of their past and present sufferings and debasement. "The old stock"--Inagh! Well, I have a sneaking regard for "old stocks" myself--when I find them producing something better than old scoundrels!"


Marta.

Keeks

It sounds to mean to be a persons name. It is, as stated about to be a place in Clare, and I've have seen it used as a persons name, somewhere. In the second context it does look like an persons name, quoting someone.

Will try and find out more for you, but wouldn't expect much.

Keeks

Here is the name in use today

http://www.cs.tcd.ie/Inagh.Whelan/

other than that i can't say anymore.

martarg

Hi Keeks,

Thanks for your answer. It is interesting that Inagh is used as a person's name, but I am not too sure that this is the case here. I haven't come across it more than a couple of times, so I am not sure this was anybody they knew. He would have cropped up more often. But it makes me a lot more curious about the actual meaning of the word. I am an etymology fan... thanks a lot, again.

Marta.

Keeks

no probs...any other questions feel free to ask...as you can see we're a friendly bunch...and like strange questions

Victor

Originally posted by martarg
it sounds more like an ironic "indeed!" kind of exclamation. What do you think?

What about the Engligh colloquial "innit" (isn't it), but based on keeks post it might be a name (but male or female?)

martarg

Hi again,

Well, as I said, I am not sure this is a person's name in this particular case. They were stuck-up Victorians (the year is 1863), so there should be a "Mr." involved somewhere. Certainly it couldn't be a woman, because there was always the Miss or Mrs added before the name. As for the "innit" expression, I don't know, my colloquial English is pretty poor , and I know even less about colloquial usages from last century... that is a good suggestion, I will keep it in mind.... cheers,

Marta.

Ps. Since you like strange questions, one day I might ask you to translate a line for me...

Victor

Originally posted by martarg
Well, as I said, I am not sure this is a person's name in this particular case. They were stuck-up Victorians (the year is 1863), so there should be a "Mr." involved somewhere.

From the context, I disagree. Magazines like "Punch" were around at the time. The independance of newspapers at the time was also very questionable (much like today?), so obviously political pieces (more direct than propaganda) were often included (as opposed to the occassional 'guest' opinion pieces done by politicians and commentators these days). Given the more 'local' times 140 years ago, it is not inconceivable that first name terms would be used.

martarg

Well, perhaps you are right on the "Mr." thing, I was a little strict there ... in any case, these people addressed each other by their last names much oftener than by their first names. The first text I posted (the "toleration" one) is a private letter. The second one is a fragment from a travel diary that the writer later published in a newspaper. Neither is strictly a political piece for publication.
In any case the use of Inagh as a person's name there really sounds strange to me. These are the two only occurrences of the word I have found so far, and if he had been someone else they knew there would have been other allusions to him, some kind of historical record... unless it was someone from Irish mythology for instance, an equivalent to the English "by Jove", or something like that... but that would be straining it a little... it still sounds like an exclamation, now I should need to find out its meaning...

Marta.

Yoda

Marta asked:
Does anyone know what "inagh" is? is it even Irish? (the whole sentence is actually "Toleration, inagh!!")

It is a sarcastic interjection meaning 'is that so?', derived from Irish "an ea?" meaning 'is that so?'. It is stressed on the second syllable.

martarg

Thanks a million, Yoda! I was really intrigued about this word, more so from the moment I got so many people thinking about it for me:) (thanks everybody!!). It is very interesting, it does resemble Victor's theory about the English "innit" ...


Marta.

Victor

Originally posted by martarg
I got so many people thinking about it for me

Think, nah, I was just spamming

martarg

Good enough... makes me feel less guilty...

Marta.