Top ten words invented in Ireland - useful for St. Patrick’s Day

The comments below are more interesting than the article! :)

Words invented in Ireland - aw give us a break! These are derivations from the Gaelic. Now if you want a word invented in Ireland take QUIZ. A Dublin publican made a bet he could invent a word which would go in the dictionaries within 24 hours. He hired as many yokels as he could find and in the darkness of night they went around the City writing the QUIZ in every available space. By morning everyone was querying what the word meant and as they say the rest is history.

(... more) On a map of Nth America, USA is called United States of the Home Ruler while Canada is Land of the Home Ruler... very baffling that! Quebec is Narrow Water Place, New York is New Wild Boar Village, Boston is St. Heraldwolf’s Stone, Chicago is Stinking Onion and the Mississippi is isisis ... anyone guess? ... No, no, no - it’s not ‘Old Man River Number Two’ but Father of Waters. There are loads more for Fun Reading in the comments by loads of people, from USA, Canada and mainland Europe talking about the meaning of the names of cities in their countries. Enjoy it if like me you’ve not found it before... Hope it brings a smile to everybody. I’ll probably be shot by Molly Muldoon for hijacking her article (– gaf muh lah skale, a Volley... *whack* - Ouch!) -but it might give yez something to laugh and talk about on St. Patrick’s Day. Ok, so I’m not the first to discover web sites for ‘Atlas of True Names’. Cartographers did, whoever he or she is – duh!

(...more) On mainland Britain, you’ll see South England is called Angleland while North England is Great Land of the Tattooed. Scotland is Land of the Wanderers and Wales is Land of Strangers. Norfolk is Northern Folk and Suffolk is Southern Folk (not baffled by that!) London is called both Hillfort and Town of the Unfordable River, Glasgow is Green Hollow and Edinburgh is Slopecastle. Oddly enough Land’s End is still Land’s End but John O’Groats is called Cape by the Dark Warriors Village. (more...)

But hey all, c’mere c’mere...!! Gotta tell youse all this (begging pardon of Molly Muldoon, Searlit (no seanachai here) and antoman (no I didn’t eat a stone of Blarney’s Castle)), especially those into etymology... While looking for old Irish words in the internet in relation to the above 10 words, I came upon a map of the British Isles in, well... in English! Here are some old names given to present day places: Dublin – Blackpool (or Dark Pool); Belfast – Fordmouth of the Sandbank; Derry – Oakwood; Limerick – Bareground; Cork - Marshton. The Provinces are: Leinster – Land of the Spear Folk; Ulster is North Westland; Connaught is Firewood and Munster is Motherland. And for all youse Americans... wait for this!! The River Shannon is called... Old Man River. I kid you not! (more..)

RE No 8 – Loch or lough is lake alright but a lake is not an inlet from the sea. It is an inland body of water, usually of freshwater fed by a river flowing through it (like Lough Derg on the River Shannon and Lough Neagh) or by water flowing off steep glacial mountain slopes as in Glendalough. In Nth Ireland, Lough Foyle, which is the sea inlet into Derry City, Lough Swilly and Belfast Lough are all exceptions... I wonder why? Anyone care to offer explanations? An inlet from the sea is called, in Irish, cuain (pron coo-in) or inbhear (pron inver). Many of the 10 words above are Gaelic, rather than Irish – e.g. as in Scotland - Loch as in Loch Lomond, Glen as in Glen Garry or Glen Ross and Inver as in Inverness.