In the Dark

I mentioned last week that I attended a public lecture by journalist Seán Mac an tSíthigh called Celestial Echoes: the Night Sky in Irish folklore. The talk was largely about some of the names given to celestial objects and the stories attached to those names. Much of the material was drawn from an extensive National Folklore Collection held at University College, Dublin. Unfortunately, however, the index to this collection is not very good at names for stars and constellations. In some cases it isn’t obvious what those names that are recorded actually refer to and in some cases the words themselves are obscure. The lecturer stressed that many of these words would have been known by the parents or grandparents of people in the audience, but have since been lost. There’s an article here that makes a similar point in a wider context. One prominent source of folklore, for example, is the traditional style of mackerel fishing, done at night so that the phosphorescence produced by the fish could be seen, which basically no longer exists so the folk names of stars and constellations used by the fishermen for navigation have been forgotten. Some other names have obviously been influenced by the Greco-Roman constellation names, etc.

I didn’t take many notes during this very enjoyable talk, but I did jot down a few words and phrases that I thought I’d pass on here. Given that my knowledge of modern Irish is very limited and many of the words used are dialect or archaic words that you won’t find in dictionaries, I’ll restrict myself to just a few of the things that caught my ear. Many of these are very similar in Scots Gaelic. Apologies in advance for misspellings, mistranslations or other forms of incompetence!

Before we start let me just mention that the Irish word for “star” is réalta (plural réaltai), which can also mean “a light”. There is also a diminutive, réiltín. Astronomy is réalteolaíocht and astrophysics is réaltfhisic. I’ve always liked the way astrophysics looks like “real physics”!

• The Milky Way is usually Bealach na Bó Finne (the Way of the White/Fair Cow). The legend that goes with this name is of a cow that produces an endless supply of milk. The Milky Way can also have the more literal name Claí Mór na Réaltaí (the Great Wall of Stars); in Irish mór means “big or great” and must be cognate with the Welsh mawr. Another folk name is An Láir Bhán (the White Mare).
• Orion is An Bodach which can mean a man, specifically an old man, or a ghost.
• Betelgeuse is An Spor Dearg (the Red Spur); Rigel is An Spor Liath (the Grey Spur).
• The Orion Nebula is An Sparán (the purse, pouch); cf. Scots sporran.
• In modern Irish, the Pleaides is An Tréidín (the Little Flock or Herd) but there are a variety of other terms including Buaile an Bhodaigh (the ghost’s milking place) and Na Cearrbhaigh (the Gamblers, because they look like people playing cards..).
• The constellation of Leo is An Corrán (the Hook, Sickle).
• Polaris is An Réalta Thuaidh (the North Star) but also Réalta Eolais (guiding star)
• Sirius is An Réalta Mhadra (the Dog Star).
• Ursa Minor is An Dragbhoth (the Fiery House).
• Ursa Major is An Mathghamhain Mór (the Great Bear); a more modern alternative word for “bear” is mathúin. The Plough is An Camchéachta
• The Aurora Borealis can be Soilse na Speire Thuaidh (lights of the Northern sky) or na Gealáin Thuaidh or na Saighneáin.
• A Comet is réalta (an) eireabaill, (star with a tail) réalta mhongach (long-haired or maned star) or réalta (na) scuaibe (star with a brush). There is an (extremely exaggerated) account of a comet in the famous book (and mainstay of the Irish language leaving certificate) by Peig Sayers; given the timing it may have been Halley’s Comet near its 1910 perihelion.

That’s enough for now. I have a few more, but they’ll have to wait…