Colour Blind in Irish

Does Blue = Black = Yellow = Orange?

Blackboy Road, Limerick - An Bealach Buí ( The Yellow Way)

Boherbue, Co. Cork - An Bóthar Buí (The Yellow Road)

“When I'm born I'm black, when I grow up I'm black, when I'm in the sun I'm black, when I'm sick I'm black, when I die I'm black, and you... when you're born you're pink, when you grow up you're white, when you're cold you're blue, when you're sick you're blue, when you die you're green and you dare call me colored"― Oglala Lakota”

Blue = Black

I remember learning last year in my conversational Irish class that ‘Fear Dubh’ which literally translates as ‘Black Man’ is actually the ‘devil’ whereas a man with black coloured skin is ‘fear gorm’ which translates as ‘blue man’.

The Black Man bar in Dublin Pike outside Cork City uses ‘Fear Dubh’ as opposed to ‘Fear Gorm’ so maybe they sell a devil of a pint.

One in my Irish class commented that in the distant past, it was probable that the ‘devil’ was more likely to be encountered than a ‘black man’.

Black = Yellow

It may be similar to Lover’s Walk and Leopardstown where the name in English appears to come from the sound in Irish. ‘Bealach ‘ is pronounced as ‘Bal-ack’ which might be interpreted or heard as ‘Black’. ´Buí’ is pronounced  as ‘Bwe’ which in certain accents may be heard as ‘Boy’.

This is my best explantion why ‘The Yellow Way’ is actually the ‘Blackboy Road’.

Yellow = Orange

When checking my understanding as to the colours in the online dictionaries, I then learnt that a members of the Orange Order, known as Orangemen, are, in Irish, ‘Fir Bhuí’ which literally translate as ‘Yellow Men’.

 

My conversational Irish is definitely improving but the more one learns, the more anomalies like these colours that I come across.

Imagine the additional sentences that Oglala Lakota could have written with a little knowledge of Irish.

Leper's Walk

‘The name-title of the townland of Ballinamoughtderives from the Gaelic compound – Baile na mBocht. In translation, it means the town of the poor. The prefix ‘Baile’ as with many place names in Ireland denotes ‘town’ or ‘land’, whilst the reference to poor (na mBocht) in this name place is not an explanatory remark on the fertile terrain of the area but rather the inhabitants at that time. It is evident from local oral traditions that Baile na mBocht was once a leper colony. With regards to the colony, it is said to have been located somewhere near the Village during the middle ages. The leprosy was a light type resembling a skin rash. The McCarthy family in Blarney Castle were the patrons of this settlement.

The northside of Cork City was a remote and wooded area in those days. The lepers used to meet at the cross-roads of St Luke’s which is still known in Irish as Crosaire na mBocht and from there they would walk down a high walled route from the Montenotted ridge area to bathe in the River Lee. The route they took was known in Irish as Suil na Labhar (Lepers walk). But this has been incorrectly translated as Lovers walk. Midway in Leper’s walk overlooking the River Lee stood a mansion where stayed the legendary Sarah Curran. During her liaison with the Irish Patriot Robert Emmet, they used to confine their strolls to the area known as Leper walk, but because they were seen there often, it became known as Lovers Walk. The affair broke up later and Sarah Curran married Captain Henry Sturgeon, a member of the British Army. The Marriage took place in the small Protestant Church situated on Church Hill, close to Glanmire Village. Where to this day can be seen a stained glass window which was donated to the church by Sarah Curran.'

Bailenamought Cork Mayfield – A Sense of Place – Mayfield Local History & Folklore Group (2001 Published by Mayfield Local History& Folklore Group)

“Black
adjective darkest colour
dubh adj1  c m u

it's black tá sé dubh, tá dath dubh air
it turned black d'éirigh sé dubh, tháinig dath dubh air
the raven is a large black bird is éan mór dubh é an fiach

adjective (also Black) of race
dubh adj1  c m u
gorm adj1  c m u

50% of the population is black daoine dubha iad 50% den daonra

Foclóir.ie”

“Black
dubh adjective
graded duibhe, plural dubha
black
tá gruaig dhubh air he has black hair
opposite meaning bán, geall

PotaFocal.com”

“an t-aon duine gorm the only black person

PotaFocal.com”

“diúltaigh »

An Fear Dubh, diúltaímid dó! The Devil, far be he from us!

fear »

An F~ Thíos, an ~ dubh, ~ na n-adharc, ~ na gcrúb, the Devil.

 Foclóir.ie”

“buachaill masculine noun

genitive buachalla, nominative plural buachaillí, genitive plural buachaillí

 boy

buachaill beag a small boy

PotaFocal.com”

“buí adjective
graded buí, plural buí
yellow

líon an fhoirm bhuí fill out the yellow form
na Fir Bhuí Orangemen

PotaFocal.com”

“bealach masculine noun

genitive bealaigh, nominative plural bealaí, genitive plural bealaí way, path, route (for travelling) PotaFocal.com”

“bóthar masculine noun
genitive bóthair, nominative plural bóithre, genitive plural bóithre

road

lean an bóthar sin follow that road
tá mé i mo chónaí ar Bhóthar na Carraige I live on Carrick Road

PotaFocal.com”

“flannbhuí adjective

graded flannbhuí, plural flannbhuí

 orange (colour)

same or similar meaning oráiste

#colours oráiste adjective

graded oráiste, plural oráiste

orange (colour)

same or similar meaning flannbhuí

PotaFocal.com”

“gorm adjective

graded goirme, plural gorma

 blue

tá an spéir gorm the sky is blue

#colours

black-skinned

bean ghorm black woman

an cine gorm the black race

opposite meaning geal

PotaFocal.com”

UPDATE 2015.02.14

Many thanks to EC who emailed with link to Bitesize Irish who have even more observations on the multiple use of colour in Irish.

UPDATE 2015.02.15

There are further twists on this colourful adventure in translation – thanks to sharp-eyed SOB (fear leis an súil ghéar).

A ‘walk’ (noun) in Irish is ‘siúlóid’ whereas ‘to walk’ (verb) is ‘siúil’.

‘Ar Siúl’ means ‘In Progress’ or ‘In Motion’.

I don’t think I will be able to travel that road again without thinking of ‘Lovers in Progress’ or ‘Lepers in Motion’.