Eirish

English

Etymology

Eire +‎ -ish. See also the usage note below

Adjective

Eirish (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, rare, deprecated) of the state called Eire or the Republic of Ireland, as distinct from the island of Ireland
   • 1937 July 24, “Eire is airy”, in The Digest Review of Reviews; incorporating The Literary Digest, page 9:

     The new Eirish constitution never mentions the Anglo-king or Empire. ... An Eirish Supreme Court takes the place of the British Privy Council as haven of last resort.

   • 1938 May 5, Graham White Eire (Confirmation of Agreements) Bill. HC Deb vol 335 c1090

     I wonder whether there is an adjective governing the word "Eire." We have been listening to the Prime Minister and the hon. Member above the Gangway and the hon. Member for Down (Sir D. Reid) and I hoped that I should hear an adjective corresponding to the word "Eire." I do not know whether I should be in order if I said "Eirish."

   • 1938 December 17, "Obiter Dicta: Eire Abroad" The Law Journal (London) vol.86 no.3805 p.416

     So far as the appointment of Consuls or even Ministers is concerned, His Majesty holds the same position for Eire as he does for Canada or South Africa. The only variance is that in the Eirish Act "King" is spelt with a small "k."

   • 1939 November 5, Winston Churchill; cited in Winston Churchill (1950, 3rd ed.) The Second World War; Vol.1: The gathering storm (London: Cassell) p.382

     The Board must realise that we may not be able to obtain satisfaction, as the question of Eirish neutrality raises political issues which have not yet been faced, and which the First Lord is not certain he can solve.

   • 1941 Denis Johnson, cited in Theodor Fontane, 1989,Delusions, confusions; and the Poggenpuhl family (New York: Continuum) →ISBN) p.121:

     It happened that in a talk for the Overseas Service he referred to Dublin as 'the Irish capital'. The disc had been played by mistake on the Home Service and so [George] Marshall had heard it. Johnston parried Marshall’s complaint by asserting that what he really said was 'It is the Eirish capital'!

   • 1944 April 1, George Bernard Shaw, "Eamon de Valera and the Second World War" Forward (Glasgow) -- reprinted in The matter with Ireland (University Press of Florida, 2001) p.326

     It is Mr Roosevelt’s first really stupid mistake. The Eirish leader, with all Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, behind him, Mr de Valera will tell the President, in fact, to go to hell.

   • 1948 November 24, John A. Costello, "The Republic of Ireland Bill, 1948—Second Stage" Dáil Éireann debates - Vol.113 No.3 c.395

     Section 2 provides a solution for these difficulties, and those malicious newspapers who want to refer in derogatory tones to this country as "Éire" and who have coined these contemptuous adjectives about it, such as "Eireannish" and "Eirish", and all the rest of it, will have to conform to the legal direction here in this Bill.

   • 1959, Joyce Cary, The captive and the free, (Penguin in association with Michael Joseph, 1985) →ISBN p.309:

     I know, of course, that a lot of people nowadays are all against the truth - they want a censorship - in the Spanish or Eirish style - they would like to shut up the free Press altogether.

   • 1983 August 1, “Ireland: deadlock everywhere”, in Intelligence Digest; World Report, Cheltenham, UK:

     Ulstermen are going to continue opposing all possibility of being ruled from Dublin for a dozen good reasons. One of the less important factors, but still significant in it's [sic] way, is the pathetic and time-wasting Eirish effort to re-create the Gaelic language.

Usage notes

"Éire" is the official Irish-language name of the state under its 1937 Constitution. In the United Kingdom "Eire" was used in English, officially until 1949 and unofficially for decades longer. The adjective "Eirish" was invented accordingly. The use in English of Eire, and even more so Eirish, was deprecated in the state of Ireland. See 1948 quote above and w:names of the Irish state.

Synonyms

• Eirean

Noun

Eirish (uncountable)

1. (historical) A proposed simplified standardised dialect of Irish for use by English-speaking learners
   • 1936, Diarmuid O Murcu, Minstrel of Eirish: being some of the best known hymns and songs done into standard Irish with originals‎^[1], Waterford:

     Every Celt under seventy can acquire Eirish ... the supporters of Irish mean to press for the official recognition of Eirish in the schools of Northern and Southern Ireland

   • c.1940 Diarmuid O Murcu, Irish made easy (Eirish); a self instructor for the adult
   • 1952 Standard Irish vocabulary: an English-Eirish vocabulary containing about 2,000 of the most useful Irish words, and including the basic English vocabulary (Eirish Society: Dublin)

Anagrams

• HiRISE, IrishE, hi-rise, reishi

Scots

Adjective

Eirish (comparative mair Eirish, superlative maist Eirish)

1. Alternative spelling of Eeirish
   • 1826 January, David Macbeth Moir, "The Bloody Business"; from "Mansie Wauch's Autobiography" Blackwood's Magazine Vol.19 no.108 p.77

     “Tailor Mansie,” quoth Maister Thomas Blister, with a furious cock of his eye; he was a queer Eirish birkie, come owre for his yedication

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1876, William Brockie, "Beenie Knox" The Confessional and Other Poems p.196 (Sunderland: T. F. Brockie):

Had he only been an Eirish Paddy,
An' she a Biddy, he micht ha' hied,
To Maister Dickson, the morn's mornin,
To gie in the names, to ha’ them cried.
But we canna do sic things i’ Scotland

Had he only been an Irish Paddy,

and she a biddy; he might have hied
To Master Dickson, the morn's morning, to give in the names, to have them cried

But we cannot do such things in Scotland