#irish curses

[sdefec]

I was talking to some older people recently and I was reminded how fun and creative Irish curses are like.

Go n ithe an cancar thu. Which means may grumpiness devour you, Like WHAT thats so funny

[banrionceallach]

10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

Interesting one, because I grew up being taught my native language in school rather than speaking it naturally day to day (thanks colonialism!) and teachers for some reason never got around to the ‘swear words’ part of the curriculum.

So I don’t have swear words exactly. I do have some elaborate curses which we were allowed to learn because they fell under the heading of ‘folklore’ and were thus deemed appropriate.

One I particularly like is this:  Go ndeine an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn

Roughly it translates to ‘may the devil make a ladder out of your backbones to pick apples in the garden of hell’

[wanderlustspider]

Do you do Irish specific cursing? Do you have any information on it if you do?

I don’t have much experience or knowledge in irish/gaelic specific curses or hexes of the sense that I’m assuming you’re thinking of (i.e. you have a target and your curse/hex centers around specific irish deities or ingredients). Though I do use old irish sayings that are meant as curses, and twist my own flair into them to bring them to use in my craft sometimes!

For example: if one were to take the old saying “May you be afflicted with an itch and have no nails to scratch with.” 

This in and of itself is all the curse an irishman would use. Though if you wanted to take it and twist some witchcraft into it, you could make this saying into a sigil or scribe it onto a piece of paper and form your hex around it.

i.e. If you find yourself with access to something like poison ivy/poison oak, or anything that might cause some skin irritation, you could wrap that around the aforementioned sigil or scribed paper and a taglock of the target. Then you could wrap that up in something like a paper towel or small piece of cloth and stick that into a small container of some sort, with either nail clippings (or literal nails) all around it. Your end result would be the person surrounded by something extremely irritating, and the cloth would be preventing the nails from reaching and itching that scratch!

If your looking for something a bit more on the traditional end, though, I’m afraid that I’m not going to be of much help. If you do find someone who does, let me know! I’m always open to learning new methods of hexing and cursing :)

[sdefec]

P.2 of fun irish curses

go gcuire se sconna ort which means "May it give you the runs"

[sageiswherethemageis]

I need you guys to understand how incredible old Irish curses are. You look up “Irish curses” and instead of getting their version of “bitchass motherfucker” you get shit like “May your fields and your wife both be barren.”

Like damn. I’m learning a lot. Like don’t mess with me, I’ll curse your bloodline to end and your livelihood to die :)

[teenpelagius]

'A Íosa, a Dhia dhílis, agus a Athair an Uain, A chíonn sinn i gcuibhreah agus i gceangal róchrua, Faoi mar a dheinis Críostaithe dínn ó Aoine go maidin Dé Luain, Dein díon dúinn agus díbir an ghraithin seo uainn!' 'Oh Jesus, dear God and Father of the Lamb! Who sees us in fetters and in bondage so hard! As you made us Christians between Friday and Monday, Protect us and banish this scum from us.'

Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin, a curse to banish soldiers from town

[consultingzoologist]

Doctor, fuck? For the translating thing tiny bit immature

Doctor is “dochtúir” (doc-tour). “Fuck” is a little more difficult, but as far as I know, this means “go fuck yourself”: “Gabh suas ort féin”

Irish has some really random curses, such as:

“Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat.” (May the cat eat you and may the Devil eat the cat)

In a play I had to study (set in the 50′s) “striapach” (prostitute/whore/hooker), amadán/oinsean (fool) were both used quite freguently, as well as bastaridin (once) which means “little bastard”.

Here’s some more:

http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/a-guide-to-cursing-in-irish-for-st-patricks-day-get-your-irish-up-with-these-phrases-as-gaelige-198433411-237783261.html

http://www.gaelicmatters.com/irish-curses.html

Enjoy

[kimanda]

Visit Original Link

enter-the-darkside, I saw you were asking for audio recordings on the old Irish curses so I decided to make you a recording of them. ^^ I speak Munster Irish so some words will be pronounced slightly different in Connacht or Ulster Irish, but at least the recording will give you a feel for how those Irish words are pronounced. I tried speaking slowly to enunciate the words, so normally these curses would be said more quickly than this. Hope it’s helpful!

Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat = May the cat eat you, and may the devil eat the cat

Titim gan éirí ort = May you fall without rising

Imeacht gan teacht ort = May you leave without returning

Plá ar do theach = A plague on your house

Dóite agus loisceadh ort = Burning and scorching on you

Briseadh agus brú ar do chnámha = Breaking and crushing to your bones

Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn = May the devil make a ladder of your back bones while picking apples in the garden of hell

Go hIfreann leat a shlíomadóir lofa = To hell with you, you rotten bastard

Edit: Can someone confirm if this audio post is working? It works on my side. If it doesn’t, try going on my blog to listen to it. (the other post wouldn’t work on the dash but it would work on my blog)