Fingallian or the Fingal dialect is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

Anglic language The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (History of the English language, English, History of the Scots language, Scots, and Yola language, Yola) and Frisian languages, Frisian varieties of the West Germanic languages. The Anglo-Frisian lang ...

formerly spoken in

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. ...

, Ireland. It is thought to have been an offshoot of

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

, which was brought to Ireland during the

Norman invasion The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

, and was extinct by the mid-19th century. Although little is known of Fingallian, it is thought to have been similar to the

Forth and Bargy dialect Yola, historically the Forth and Bargy dialect, is a revived Anglic language once spoken widely in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland. It is thought to have evolved from Middle English, which was brought to Ireland dur ...

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...

. The surviving literature of Fingallian consists of two satirical or humorous poems, the short "Fingallian Dance" and the much longer ''Purgatorium Hibernicum''. Both poems are anonymous and are thought to be humorous parodies of Fingallian by non-native speakers, so their value from a linguistic point of view may be limited.

History

Fingallian was spoken in the region of

, traditionally the part of

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

north of the

River Tolka The River Tolka (; , "the flood"), also once spelled ''Tolga'', is one of Dublin's three main rivers, flowing from County Meath to Fingal within the old County Dublin, and through the north of Dublin city, Ireland (the other main rivers are t ...

. It was spoken in the area near the northern border. The name "Fingal" is from the Irish ''Fine Gall'', or "territory of foreigners", probably a reference to a Norse settlement in the area. Linguist

Alf Sommerfelt Alf Sommerfelt (November 23, 1892October 12, 1965), was a Norwegian linguist and the first professor of linguistics in Norway, working at the University of Oslo from 1931 to 1962. Personal life Sommerfelt was born in Trondheim, Norway. He marri ...

proposed the idea of a Norse influence on the Fingallian dialect, though later scholars have found no evidence of such a connection. Like the Yola dialect of Forth and Bargy in

, Fingallian is thought to have derived from

, which was introduced by "

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

" settlers after the

Norman invasion of Ireland The Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland took place during the late 12th century, when Anglo-Normans gradually conquered and acquired large swathes of land from the Irish, over which the kings of England then claimed sovereignty, all allegedly sanc ...

in 1169. Middle English was well established in southeastern Ireland until the 14th century, when the area was re-

Gaelicized Gaelicisation, or Gaelicization, is the act or process of making something Gaelic, or gaining characteristics of the ''Gaels'', a sub-branch of celticisation. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group, traditionally viewed as having spread from Irel ...

and English was displaced. As such, the Yola and Fingal dialects would have been the only attested

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

s of this original English variety in Ireland.

''The Fingallian Dance''

The poem most likely to have been composed by a native speaker of Fingallian is ''The Fingallian Dance,'' a brief, three-stanza poem written between about 1650 and 1660. It is a mildly indecent poem about a man going to see dancers at a

bullring A bullring is an arena where bullfighting is performed. Bullrings are often associated with the Iberian Peninsula, but they can also be found through Iberian America and in a few Spanish and Portuguese ex-colonies in Africa. Bullrings are o ...

(

bull fighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

was practised in 17th century Ireland). Although the poem is likely to have been standardised when written down, it gives a flavour of Fingallian, particularly forms like ''fat'' for "what" or ''fen'' for "when". Other words that need explanation are ''ame'' for "them", ''plack-keet'' for "

placket A placket (also spelled placquet) is an opening in the upper part of trousers or skirts, or at the neck or sleeve of a garment. Plackets are almost always used to allow clothing to be put on or removed easily but are sometimes used purely as a d ...

" (a slit at the top of a petticoat, here used to mean a vulva), and ''abateing'' for " abutting, bordering on". ''The Fingallian Dance'' c.1650 y my soul, I did spy ocile, tractable o hell with them! hance, here meaning "account" hy Keep quiet, for goodness' sake!"

''Purgatorium Hibernicum''

The ''Purgatorium Hibernicum'' is a humorous and bawdy burlesque or travesty on the Roman poet

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...

''. It exists in three versions: the original manuscript (''Purgatoriam Hibernicum''), another manuscript entitled ''The Fingallian Travesty: the Sixt Book of Virgill's Aenoeids a la mode de Fingaule'' (1670–5), and a printed version called ''The Irish Hudibras'' or ''The Fingallian Burlesque'' (1689). Virgil's prince Aeneas and his noble lover Dido are transformed into a bumbling young Fingallian called 'Prince' Nees and a coarse ex-nun Dydy. The names of all the characters are converted into mock 'Irish' forms and the places mentioned in Virgil's text become places in Fingal. Part of the humour for the Anglo-Irish readers of the poem is that Nees and Dydy converse with each other in broad Fingallian. Although the intention is supposedly to mock their speech, it is rendered with such vitality and wit that the effect is actually to give the reader an appreciation of its richness. The short extract below provides a good example of Fingallian. In it Nees encounters Dydy again and seeing her look pale and unwell realises that he may have been responsible for giving her the 'flame' or venereal disease. A few features need explanation: 'V' is used instead of 'W' in Fingallian; 'suggam' is a kind of straw rope'; Ful dea ro is derived from Irish ''fuil Dé, a rogha'' 'God's blood, my sweetheart':

:'Sure, Sure!' sayes Nees, 'dis me old vench is!' :But when he drew more neare her quarters, :And know her by her suggam garters, :'Ful dea, ro, dou unlucky jade, :I'll chance upon dee! Art thou dead? :Fat devill vas be in dee, vench? :Vas he soe hot is cou'd no quench :De flame?' Indeed, oh no! but Nees chief :Occasion is of all dis mischeif'.

Nees continues with an attempt to sweet talk Dydys and asks her for a 'pogue', but his fears are justified and Dydy is having none of it. She tells him that if he think he can have another 'bout' with her, he can think again – after he has ''play'd the vagge'' (been a wag) with her and given her the ''bagge'' (rejected her) she will ''vatch de vales'' ('watch the walls', be on guard) and foil his plan:

:'I, Nees', sayes she in mighty snuffe, :'and be! is tink is varm enough, :If dou cam shance but to find out :Dee old consort to have a bout – :and den, fen dou has play'd de vagge, :to give me, as before, de bagge! :Butt I will vatch de vales, Nees, :And putt foile on dee by dis chees,'

Then Dydy goes on her way in high dudgeon.

''Letters from Ireland''

John Dunton John Dunton (4 May 1659 – 1733) was an English bookseller and author. In 1691 he founded The Athenian Society to publish '' The Athenian Mercury'', the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England. In 1693, for ...

's ''Letters from Ireland'' (1698) he writes that in Fingal "they have a sort of jargon speech peculiar to themselves, and understand not one word of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, and are as little understood by the English". Dunton gives a sample of the language; a

lamentation A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...

that a mother made over the grave of her son, who was a keen fisher and hunter. Note that and are from the Irish "(secret) love" (vocative) and "love" (lit. "little trust"): This is roughly translated as: Robin my love Robin my dear Thou wast good for land, strand and mountain Good with a tool and troast nga whiting Ready the tackle Gather the

bannocks The Bannock tribe were originally Northern Paiute but are more culturally affiliated with the Northern Shoshone. They are in the Great Basin classification of Indigenous People. Their traditional lands include northern Nevada, southeastern Oreg ...

Drink a groat at Nanny Halfpenny's lehouse

Modern Fingal English

Although Fingallian is no longer spoken, a large number of dialect words unique to Fingal have survived, especially in traditional Fingal towns and villages such as Swords (now a very large suburb of Dublin), Skerries, Rush, Lusk, Donabate, Garristown, Oldtown, Balrothery, Portrane and Naul. Major sources for these include glossaries in an article in the folklore Journal ''Béaloideas'' by J. J. Hogan and Patrick O'Neill and a book on Fingal lore entitled ''Fair Fingall'' by Patrick Archer. Examples from Archer's Glossary include: *Cinnit (pronounced with hard 'C') – a dodger, trickster *Cloustered – covered up in clothes *Dalk – a thorn, Ir. ''dealg'' *Dawney – delicate, weak *Glauming – groping *Lawneyday – an exclamation of surprise or regret, Ir. ''Láine Dé'' *Mullacking – working or walking in mud *Possing – sopping wet *Rossie – robust, blustering female *Scut – a short, mean person, a wren Examples from Hogan and O'Neill's Glossary include: *Barney – a quarrel, a row *Bunched – ruined, finished *Buthoon – a bad blunder, Ir. ''Botún '' *Clift – an idiot, especially a normally sensible person who has done something stupid *Cobby – cunning, worldly wise *Dugging – prodding or punching a person, fighting *Foopah – a blunder, Fr. ''faux pas'' *Gollockers – eyes (contempuously) *Go-boy – a sly fellow who goes about doing harm in secret *Launa-wallya – something to think about 'a bellyful', Ir. ''Lán a' mhála'' (meaning 'bagful') *Malavogue – to beat or maul *Moggy – a fat lazy person *Randyvoo – a house where people meet for a chat or mischief, Fr. ''rendez-vous'' *Raucie – a girl given to gadding about *Simmy-saumy – a foolish-looking person *Squib – a word used to address a stranger, esp. a boy e.g. 'hey, squib' *Tamboo – a shebeen, a miserable looking house *Whack – nothing, nobody, Ir. ''faic''

Notes

* * * *

References

External links

Some words and expressions from Skerries, north Co. DublinMarks, Bernadette, 'Lawneyday', – article about Fingal words at swordsheritage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fingallian Language Languages attested from the 17th century Languages extinct in the 19th century Anglic languages Extinct Germanic languages History of Fingal Languages of the Republic of Ireland Medieval languages Middle English