The Language of Kilkenny, by Seamus Moylan, is a 400 page wonder of a book, its author's memorial, no matter what else he produces from his cloister in University College, Galway, in the years ahead. I don't know Thomastown born Dr Moylan, but I sincerely hope that he will be spoken of with reverence on the banks of the Barrow, Nore and Suir.
Most of this fascinating book is taken up with a 290 page lexicon. Consider these words.
Glorags: The buttocks. Moylan does no more than ask us to compare the Irish Glar, soft mass, and Dinneen's Meall a Larag, his posteriors. Neither have I ever come across vage, found in the phrase "to make a vage", to go on a voyage or journey. This is from Old French, verage (modern French is voyage).
I've learned that in Callan a rustic is a type of baker's loaf, a "turnover". In Graiguenamanagh, saffron means (or meant) "sheep droppings, used in a cure for measles and whooping cough". Dinneen and O'Donaill have croch saffron, and Dinneen tells us that croch na gcaorach, juice of sheep droppings, steeped, was given to children suffering from measles. God Almighty!
Telemachus is the Kilkennyman's "clamour or out cry hullabaloo, bedlam". Was the reasonably mild mannered son of Odysseus and Penelope responsible for this word? How in God's name did it surface in Glenpipe, near Tullogher? A hedge school master's word?
The book preserves some of the lovely language of the three great rivers. Ceatu: "The Dark Drift". This drift coincides with the last quarter of the moon and the hour before the stop of the tide. It is an excellent drift for catching salmon. So, Irish survives on the dark waters. Stiuir in aghaidh, literally rudder against, is a call by a cod fisherman to direct the boat into the breeze. Teagar is the strong pull on a fishing net which indicates that a big fish has been netted. "There's no teagar on it"
hence a poor catch or none at all is to be expected. The word in Irish means substance, strength. A slack is a spent salmon. Aingiril and angaire are other Kilkenny words for it. Irish? Moylan is not sure. He's found sleaingir in Connemara.
I've mentioned only the lexicon. There are also sections on semantics and structures which may have a slightly less popular appeal. But for the 290 page lexicon alone all those interested in Anglo Irish speech should have this treasure of a book on their shelves. Geography Publications, £20.