| I was recently looking up that great bastion of British respectability, the
Collins English Dictionary, and came across the entry for Tory.
I've forgotten the full entry, but the origin is apparantly an old Gaelic word
meaning rebel.
Don't forget you first read it here, folks!
Paul
|
| > <<< Note 834.5 by FORTY2::MOORE "If it works, don't fix it" >>>
> -< Toryism and the Irish Link >-
>I've forgotten the full entry, but the origin is apparantly an old Gaelic word
>meaning rebel.
>Don't forget you first read it here, folks!
I think you'll find this interesting....
<<< MARVIN::DISK$TOOLS:[NOTES$LIBRARY]SCOTLAND.NOTE;1 >>>
-< The Scotland conference >-
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Note 29.29 Jokes and amusing stories about Scotland 29 of 45
MARVIN::COCKBURN "Edinburgh: A Capital city" 48 lines Fri 20-Apr-90 14:13
-< Gaelic amusement about the Tories ! >-
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Some current English words have very funny backgrounds !!!
Article 2715 of soc.culture.british:
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From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: eunet.politics,soc.culture.celtic,soc.culture.british
Subject: Maggie sa toir orainn ....
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 13 Apr 90 14:05:01 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Department, Trinity College Dublin
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Xref: shlump.nac.dec.com soc.culture.celtic:3298 soc.culture.british:2715
In the context of Auntie Maggie's new Poll Tax, and the many protests
against it, it may be interesting to study the origin of the nickname
of the Conservative party (Tory).
To quote from an (old) edition of the Oxford Dictionary:
tory, n&a. (Member) of the party that opposed the Revolution of 1688,
supported policy of George III, opposed Reform Bill of 1832 & and has been
succeeded by Conservative party (cf. Whig); T. Democrat, Conservative who
inclines to some democratic principles. Hence toryism n. [ orig. =
Irish robber, f.Ir. toiridhe, toruighe, pursuer, cf. Gael. toir pursuit]
"some" democratic principles, "robber", "pursuer"
I rest my case.
--
, , , ,
"Is e an chead bhraon a rinne mo sharu;
chan fhuil dolaidh ar bith sa chuid deireanach"
Another old Armagh proverb
"Ask not what your country can do for you,
But rather what you can do your country for"
New Armagh proverb
Some other info on Gaelic words in English....
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Note 120.22 Info on Scots (the language) 22 of 23
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Some Gaelic words which have made their way in Scots:
Ben, Glen, Strath, Bog, Clan, Bard, Slogan, Caber, Whisky, Ghillie, Sporran
And some more surprising ones:
The rain came teaming down. Teaming comes from the Gaelic thaoman.
The full expression in Gaelic is "th�inig uisge 'na thaoman"
the day, meaning today. The Gaelic is 'an diugh' (an = the)
smashing, meaning good. Gaelic is " 's math sin", virtually identical
pronounciation. Literal translation is 'that is good'
galore, comes from gu le�r. Literal translation is enough or plenty.
and of course Whisky from uisge beatha (water of life).
Craig
|
| Another one that reached American is "slew", meaning crowd, which originates
from the Gaelic word slua.
The influence of Celtic languages is not limited to English. Large parts of
Northern Europe were speaking dialects of Celtic languages, giving rise to a
"Celtic empire" of sorts, but one that was not concentrated in towns. This lack
of central organisation meant that it was not match for the spread of the Roman
empire, and only remnants in scattered Northeastern Europe survive. However,
Celtic-originated words exist in for example Dutch, where asal is the word for
donkey, and a word very similar in spelling to the Gaelic "coinnaoin" exists for
the word rabbit.
- Paul
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