Зеленая Ирландия… Родина клевера, вересковых fields, castles, mysterious swamps, amazingly beautiful bays, aromatic coffee and ginger ale. How much magic, charm and beauty in this emerald country, which can not be astonished ?!
Fairytale nation
No state can simplyexist without its own people. The Irish are completely unique in this regard. Who has not heard of their famous St. Patrick's Day? Who did not admire their folk dances, and especially fairy tales and legends full of mysteries, secrets and magic?
And how many famous, prominent people come from the emerald country? We list some Irish names. Take at least the eternal James Bond - Pierce Brosnan. The actor was born and raised in the city of Drogheda.
Both Killian Murphy and Colin Farrell are also natives of Ireland. It was here that Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and, of course, Jonathan Swift, who gave the world Gulliver, were born.
The most famous Irish names
Perhaps there is no person in the world who is not familiar withtragic, but at the same time beautiful love story of Tristan and Isolde. Everyone loves their loyalty and courage, but few know that both of these names are traditional for Ireland.
Another example of this kind is the namePatrick. Yes, it has great popularity due to St. Patrick, to whom a special holiday is dedicated. They honor this saint, dressing up their clothes in green, using the symbolism of clover and visiting pubs, but this was not always the case. Initially, tribute to Patrick was given solely through prayers. By the way, since we are talking about this figure of Irish culture, it should be noted that initially Saint Patrick was called Sukkat.
Few people know, but such common and long-accustomed names like John, Rory or Charles are originally Irish.
Why we know little about Irish names
Say what you like, but it has come down to our daysthere is little information about which names are typical of the people of Ireland. In this case, we mean the fact that the traditional names and surnames having the original origin are extremely rare.
And this happened because for a very long time England had an extremely powerful influence on the culture of Ireland, which led to the desire of the people to give children traditional British names.
Recall that modern residents of heatherheathlands and emerald fields are direct descendants of the ancient Celts. Nevertheless, by the 17th century, the original culture under the influence of England was almost forgotten.
Nowadays, the opposite is true.tradition - more and more Irish people are turning to the historical memory of their people. They are interested in folklore, study their history and give children Irish names, or more precisely Celtic names.
Features of country names leprechauns and ales
Of course, every country, every nation has its own concept of a name. Ireland is no exception. A characteristic feature of the names of this people can be called their semantic content.
Of course, in the most general sense, we can talk aboutthat any name has a certain meaning, regardless of the nationality that uses it. Yes it is. Nevertheless, the Irish names and their meanings in this regard are something quite special.
Все дело в том, что кельты изначально отличались his unshakable faith in the power of the word, and therefore treated him with reverence and utmost caution. Each name, each name of the city not only meant something important to them, but also gave a person or territory strength, certain magical properties, endowed with certain features.
That is why almost all native IrishNames have a specific translation. In the Russian tradition, for example, it is represented by just a few examples, the most prominent of which will be the names Faith, Hope and Love. For clarity, we note that a distinctive feature of such names is that their primary meaning is not lost and is easily understood by any native speaker.
Names of the people of the country clover
If we are considering in this article Irish names, a list of which is diverse, attention should be paid to the names of this amazing people. Especially since it's worth it.
For example, recall the traditional form “Isuch and such a son, a grandson of such and such of a kind ... ". So, this is the traditional Irish surname formula. Initially, its main function was to determine the relationship to a particular genus.
Naturally, such a long and rather complicatedthe design was not convenient for use, therefore, obeying the omnipotent law of saving speech effort, the Irish gradually began to shorten their names and reduce them to specific values. Nevertheless, the echoes of the tradition of enumerating the genealogical tree are still preserved in the form of adding the prefixes O and Poppy.
Modern Irish names and surnames will become clearer if the meaning of the prefixes they like to use is explained.
The prefix O ", for example, literally means"grandson". Thus, the surname O "Henry means affiliation to a specific clan, the founder of which had such a surname. By the way, this could also be a name that has gone through a certain semantic transformation over time.
As for the prefix Mack, its direct meaning is expressed in the word "son".
Names of Irish Men
Let's start with the names that are well known.The famous British actor Alan Rickman is admired by a good half of the fair sex around the world. Few people know, but in the Celtic tradition, his name means "beautiful." Perhaps this partly explains his success.
Remember the story of how Arthur managed to get Excalibur out of stone? So, this is also no accident, because his name literally means "strong as a bear." “Coincidence!” - you will say. Maybe…
Irish male names are almost all relatedwith strength, courage and intelligence. For example, such a name as Angus means “very strong man”, and the name Art means “stone”. Perhaps this is due to the fact that representatives of the stronger sex were supposed to protect their kin, country, and be a support for the state from ancient times.
Nevertheless, there are Irish male names and a much softer meaning. Bedvir, for example, is “knowledgeable,” and Eoghan is “born of a yew tree.”
The name Tristan, which was mentioned earlier, by the way, means "bold."
About the woman
With men, everything is more or less clear.Pay attention to the Irish female names. Like the representatives of the stronger sex, the ladies of Ireland are named after them. Their semantics is more focused on fragility, femininity and beauty, rather than strength or courage. The name Ain, for example, means "shine", and Kinney translates as "beauty."
The name of Rowen, known in principle, carries the semantics of prettiness, and the name Shyla means "woman fairy".
Irish female names are distinguished by the fact that they endow their owners with additional properties, thereby determining their fate.
Speaking of fate, we recall the famous actress Sirsha Ronan, whose name means “freedom”. A person familiar with the girl's filmography can easily identify a parallel between the roles and the semantics of the name.
Analogs of Irish names in the Russian tradition
Of course, Irish names, like any others,have their analogues in other cultural traditions. If we talk about the names that are familiar to the Russian people, first of all, Peter is recalled, which corresponds to the Irish Patrick.
Irish names like Evelyn (“light”) or Eoghann (“born of a yew tree”) also have their own correspondences (Evelyn, Ivan), which have long become familiar to the ears of a Russian person.
