Fingallian or the Fingal dialect is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

dialect 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 pe ...

formerly spoken in

Fingal Fingal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which ...

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

, which was brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion, Although little is known of Fingallian, it is thought to have been similar to the

Yola dialect Yola, more commonly and historically the Forth and Bargy dialect, is an extinct dialect of the Middle English language once spoken in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland. As such, it was probably similar to the Fingall ...

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. 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.

History

Origins

Fingallian was spoken in the region of

, traditionally the part of

County Dublin County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...

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. The linguist Alf Sommerfelt proposed

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

influence on the Fingallian dialect, but 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 , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

" settlers after the

Anglo-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 in Ireland over which the List of English monarchs, monarchs of England then claimed sovere ...

in 1169, and

Leinster Irish Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigen ...

. 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 Ire ...

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 ...

(

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 a finished opening in the upper part of trousers or skirts, or at the neck, front, or sleeve of a garment. The finish frequently consists of a fold of fabric that is attached to the opening in order for the f ...

" (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 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 (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

''. 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''

In John Dunton'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, 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 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 large

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

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 Extinct languages of Europe