English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 33

Condon, Mr. John, of Mitchelstown, 155.

{239}

Conny, canny; discreet, knowing, cute.

Contrairy, for _contrary_, but accented on second syll.; cross, perverse, cranky, crotchety, 102.

Convenient: see Handy.

Cool: hurlers and football players always put one of their best players to _mind cool_ or _stand cool_, i.e. to stand at their own goal or gap, to intercept the ball if the opponents should attempt to drive it through. Universal in Munster. Irish _cul_ [cool], the back. The full word is _cool-baur-ya_ where 'baur-ya' is the goal or gap. The man standing cool is often called 'the man in the gap' (see p. 182).

Cool; a good-sized roll of b.u.t.ter. (Munster.)

Cooleen or coulin; a fair-haired girl. This is the name of a celebrated Irish air. From _cul_ the back [of the head], and _fionn_, white or fair:--_cuil-fhionn_, [p.r.o.n. cooleen or coolin].

c.o.o.nagh; friendly, familiar, _great_ (which see):--'These two are very _c.o.o.nagh_.' (MacCall: Wexford.) Irish _cuaine_, a family.

c.o.o.nsoge, a bees' nest. (Cork.) Irish _cuansa_ [c.o.o.nsa], a hiding-place, with the diminutive _og_.

Cooramagh; kindly, careful, thoughtful, provident:--'No wonder Mrs.

Dunn would look well and happy with such a _cooramagh_ husband.' Irish _curamach_, same meaning.

Coord [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _bathe_], a friendly visit to a neighbour's house. Irish _cuaird_, a visit. Coordeeagh, same meaning.

(Munster.)

Cope-curley; to stand on the head and throw the heels over; to turn head over heels. (Ulster.)

Core: work given as a sort of loan to be paid back. {240} I send a man on _core_ for a day to my neighbour: when next I want a man he will send me one for a day in return. So with horses: two one-horse farmers who work their horses in pairs, borrowing alternately, are said to be in _core_. Very common in Munster. Irish _cobhair_ or _cabhair_ [core or co-ir, 2-syll.] help, support.

Coreeagh; a man who has a great desire to attend funerals--goes to every funeral that he can possibly reach. (Munster.) Same root as last.

Corfuffle; to toss, shake, confuse, mix up. (Derry.)

Correesk; a crane. (Kildare.) Irish _corr_, a bird of the crane kind, and _riasc_ [reesk], a marsh.

C[=o]sher [the _o_ long as in _motion_]; banqueting, feasting. In very old times in Ireland, certain persons went about with news from place to place, and were entertained in the high cla.s.s houses: this was called _coshering_, and was at one time forbidden by law. In modern times it means simply a friendly visit to a neighbour's house to have a quiet talk. Irish _coisir_; a banquet, feasting.

Costnent. When a farm labourer has a cottage and garden from his employer, and boards himself, he lives _costnent_. He is paid small wages (called _costnent_ wages) as he has house and plot free. (Derry.)

Cot; a small boat: Irish _cot_. See 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 226, for places deriving their names from _cots_.

Cowlagh; an old ruined house. (Kerry.) Irish _coblach_ [cowlagh].

Coward's blow; a blow given to provoke a boy to fight or else be branded as a coward. {241}

Cow's lick. When the hair in front over the forehead turns at the roots upward and backward, that is a _cow's lick_, as if a cow had licked it upwards. The idea of a cow licking the hair is very old in Irish literature. In the oldest of all our miscellaneous Irish MSS.--The Book of the Dun Cow--Cuculainn's hair is so thick and smooth that king Laery, who saw him, says:--'I should imagine it is a cow that licked it.'

c.o.x, Mr. Simon, of Galbally, 156.

Craags; great fat hands; big handfuls. (Morris: South Mon.)

Crab; a cute precocious little child is often called an _old crab_.

'Crabjaw' has the same meaning.

Cracked; crazy, half mad.

Cracklins; the browned crispy little flakes that remain after _rendering_ or melting lard and pouring it off. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Crahauns or Kirraghauns; very small potatoes not used by the family: given to pigs. (Munster.) Irish _creathan_.

Crans (always in pl.); little tricks or dodges. (Limk).

c.r.a.pper; a half gla.s.s of whiskey. (Moran: Carlow.)

Craw-sick; ill in the morning after a drunken bout.

Crawtha; sorry, mortified, pained. (Limerick.) Irish _craidhte_ [crawtha], same meaning.

Crawthumper; a person ostentatiously devotional.

Creelacaun; see Skillaun.

Creel; a strong square wicker frame, used by itself for holding turf, &c., or put on a.s.ses' backs (in pairs), or put on carts for carrying turf or for taking calves, _bonnives_, &c., to market. Irish _criol_.

(All through Ireland.) {242}

Creepy; a small stool, a stool. (Chiefly in Ulster.)

Crith; hump on the back. Irish _cruit_, same sound and meaning. From this comes _critthera_ and _crittheen_, both meaning a hunchback.

Cro, or cru: a house for cows. (Kerry.) Irish _cro_, a pen, a fold, a shed for any kind of animals.

Croaked; I am afraid poor Nancy is croaked, i.e. doomed to death. The raven croaks over the house when one of the family is about to die.

(MacCall: Wexford.)

Croft; a water bottle, usually for a bedroom at night. You never hear _carafe_ in Ireland: it is always _croft_.

Cromwell, Curse of, 166.

Crumel'ly. (Limerick.) More correctly _curr amilly_. (Donegal.) An herb found in gra.s.sy fields with a sweet root that children dig up and eat.

Irish 'honey-root.'

Cronaun, croonaun; a low humming air or song, any continuous humming sound: 'the old woman was cronauning in the corner.'

Cronebane, cronebaun; a bad halfpenny, a worthless copper coin. From Cronebane in Co. Wicklow, where copper mines were worked.

Croobeen or crubeen; a pig's foot. Pigs' croobeens boiled are a grand and favourite viand among us--all through Ireland. Irish _crub_ [croob], a foot, with the diminutive.

Croost; to throw stones or clods from the hand:--'Those boys are always _croosting_ stones at my hens.' Irish _crusta_ [croostha], a missile, a clod.