Coburg St., Cork
I had wondered on a number of occasions as to the translation of Coburg St to Sráid Uί hUigίn. I just had a mental note that the Irish translation appeared to apply to both Coburg and Higgins - reinforcing my view that names should not be translated.
I recently purchased a new book by Tom Spalding – Layers : The Design, History and Meaning of Public Street Signage in Cork and other Irish Cities and was amused to read:
I had wondered on a number of occasions as to the translation of Coburg St to Sráid Uί hUigίn. I just had a mental note that the Irish translation appeared to apply to both Coburg and Higgins - reinforcing my view that names should not be translated.
I recently purchased a new book by Tom Spalding – Layers : The Design, History and Meaning of Public Street Signage in Cork and other Irish Cities and was amused to read:
“From the evidence it seems that it was not until 1904 that bilingual signage was erected. Many of the thoroughfares where these cast iron street signs were set up are quite minor, and they are generally restricted to the north inner city, where the proposal had originated. In most cases, the Irish names were a simple translation of the English one. However in one case the League decided to play a trick on the council. Coburg St was the only streetname translated which referred to the British Royals, in thise case Prince Albert. It was rendered into Irish as ‘Sráid Uί hUigίn’. I believe this was a reference tp Bernardo O’Higgins, whose father was from Sligo and who fought for Chilean independence against the Spanish, and therefore was more attractive to the translators.”
When discussing this with a resident of Coburg St., he had understood that the translation referred to the sculptor, Joseph Higgins, but if translated in 1904, the date would probably be too early to substantiate that theory.
