Spreading the Words
Spreading the Words
Spreading the Words is a series on the histories of Irish words from literature and everyday life written by Sharon Arbuthnot and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and produced in association with the book A History of Ireland in 100 Words and the electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (www.dil.ie).
Behind the words
Spreading the Words
Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and Sharon Arbuthnot tell Professor Margaret Kelleher about the making of the Spreading the Words series.
Lus an chromchinn (daffodil)
Spreading the Words
Over the centuries, some beautiful and memorable names of flowers and plants have been recorded in Irish.
Gaoth (Wind)
Spreading the Words
From 'the Night of the Big Wind' to Flann O’Brien’s description of wind-watching – how the wind has shaped Irish life and literature.
Grá (Love)
Spreading the Words
An insight into the eighteenth-century poem made famous again by Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat.
Leabharlann (Library)
Spreading the Words
Hear about how books were stored in medieval Irish libraries and about how we know of the existence of such places.
Amadán (Fool)
Spreading the Words
Unravelling the sinister history of amadán, the Modern Irish word for ‘fool’.
Craobh (Branch)
Spreading the Words
Find out why Douglas Hyde published verse under the pseudonym An Craoibhín Aoibhinn and why the All-Ireland Championship is referred to in Irish today as Craobh na hÉireann.
Crith Talún (Earthquake)
Spreading the Words
Medieval Irish chronicles and stories sometimes mention ‘the movement of the earth’, but was the north of Ireland actually struck twice by earthquakes in the early eighth century?
Cuing (Yoke)
Spreading the Words
The Irish are fond of referring to an ‘ould yoke’, but how were words for ‘yoke’ used in Old Irish?
Cró (Enclosure)
Spreading the Words
From cró madra ‘a dog kennel’ to cró snáthaide ‘the eye of a needle’, this episode takes us on a journey through the many uses of a truly versatile word.
Nollaig (Christmas)
Spreading the Words
Thoughts about recent Christmas lights and the long, dark winters of Christmases past.
Gorm (Blue)
Spreading the Words
How colour is described is determined by cultural, as well as linguistic factors. Discover how Irish ‘gorm’ can depict both the blue of eyes and the darkness of eyebrows.
Teaghlach (Household)
Spreading the Words
In medieval Ireland, the hearth was at the centre of the house, but what kinds of households feature in Irish literature of the period?
Ulcha (Beard)
Spreading the Words
Beards are status symbols in the world of early Irish literature. Such is their importance that Ulster hero Cú Chulainn created an imitation beard for himself of berry-juice or enchanted grass.
Dinnsheanchas (A Literature of Place)
Spreading the Words
Real space without and imaginative space within: how the poetry of Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, rooted in the landscape, echoes the interests of medieval Ireland.
Gloss/Clós/Glas
Spreading the Words
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s poem Gloss/Clós/Glas explores the sound and meaning of three interconnected English and Irish words. Her wonderfully creative word-play is celebrated in this special episode of Spreading the Words.
Fás aon oíche (Mushroom)
Spreading the Words
Ireland has a great biodiversity of fungi but how have the Irish referred to puffballs, stinkhorns and the like over the centuries?
Coll (Hazel tree)
Spreading the Words
Hazel trees have greatly benefited the people of Ireland since medieval times; hazel nuts have served as tasty, nutritional snacks and hazel rods have been used to construct houses and fences.
Dúlra (The Elements, Nature)
Spreading the Words
The connection between our state of mind and how we perceive things is explored in early Irish literature as well as in contemporary writings.
Damhán alla (Spider)
Spreading the Words
The Irish term for a spider has long been a source of puzzlement.
Immram (Voyage)
Spreading the Words
The theme of immram, or voyage, is central to a number of poems by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill.
Tarbh (Bull)
Spreading the Words
In early Ireland, many activities were not permitted on a Sunday; but you could still bring a bull to a cow.
Cleas (Trick or Feat)
Spreading the Words
The early Irish hero Cú Chulainn was accomplished in an array of feats including the all-encompassing ‘body-feat’.
Gé (Goose)
Spreading the Words
According to a ninth-century Irish poet, the sure signs of winter included the sound of a barnacle goose.
Clábar (Mud)
Spreading the Words
Irish clábar lies behind Hiberno-English clabber and clauber, but for long have we been saying ‘clabber to the knees’?
Duileasg (Dulse)
Spreading the Words
In his poetry, Seamus Heaney referred often to ‘dulse’, but how does this edible seaweed feature in medieval Irish law, literature and medicine?
Bog (Soft)
Spreading the Words
Some shared insights into the relationship between the Irish adjective bog ‘soft’ and the English noun meaning ‘bogland’.
Smugairle Róin (Jellyfish)
Spreading the Words
A look into the history of the Irish phrase smugairle róin, which is widely known and much-loved today as a name for a jellyfish.
Snámh (Swimming)
Spreading the Words
Could medieval Irish people swim? Did they swim for pleasure? Hear about traditions of wild swimming and the dangers of swimming on a full stomach.
Maighdean Mhara (Mermaid)
Spreading the Words
This episode explores the concept of fish-women and other sea-creatures mentioned in medieval Irish literature and historical records.