Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Coleen Rooney (left) who accused Rebekah Vardy (right) of selling stories from her private Instagram to tabloids. John Walton

The Irish For The varieties of cailín and the deductive Coleen Rooney

Coleen is derived from cailín, the Irish word for a girl, writes Darach Ó Séaghdha.

MY FRIEND’S UNCLE claims that in the 1960s, there was a power cut across the West of Ireland during the final episode of hit TV show The Fugitive because during the ad break, everyone put the kettle on at the same time.

An equally urgent craving for tea happened this week when an lucht ar líne (the online community) were treated to a scéal mearscaipthe (viral story) packed with sleuthing, celebrities, betrayal, gossip and drama.

I am referring, of course, to Coleen Rooney’s Scooby-Doo epilogue in which she explained the detailed process of deduction used to identify the traitor in her circle of friends.

If only Game of Thrones had such a satisfying ending. It just so happens that this crafty Liverpudlian is the bearer of a very Irish name, one which leads us down an appropriately long and twisty rabbit hole.

Coleen is derived from cailín, the Irish word for a girl. This name (more frequently spelled with two Ls) is far more popular in Irish communities abroad than it has ever been in Ireland, never exceeding 25 births in a year in the Republic.

This was once also true of the name Erin, although that name has soared in popularity in 21st century Ireland while Colleen has not.

Compare this to Massachusetts where roughly 150 Colleens a year were born in the 1980s, or New York where over 200 Colleens a year arrived in the same time period.

Irish emigrants didn’t bring the name Colleen with them, but they did bring the word, which was used intentionally in song lyrics when the word girl just wouldn’t do.

This was one of a suite of Irish loanwords used in sentimental songs about Ireland to evoke authenticity and nostalgia. Consider this extract from The Bard of Armagh.

At a fair or a wake, I could twist my shillelagh
Or trip through a jig with my brogues bound with straw
And all the pretty colleens around me assembled
Loved the bold Phelim Brady, the bard of Armagh

Another example is the Oedipal dirge Mother Machree (a phonetic rendering of mo chroí - my heart), originally from the show Barry of Barrymore but probably better known to modern audiences from Netflix film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. 

There’s a spot in my heart, which no colleen may own
There’s a depth in my soul, never sounded or known
There’s a place in my memory, my life that you fill
No other can take it, no one ever will 

Just as the loanwords mañana, schadenfreude and ennui have their literal meaning enhanced by Anglophone perceptions of the language they originated from, colleen does not merely mean girl in these lyrics – in English, it means an Irish girl.

This understanding must have been fairly widespread in New York City when Dion Boucicault’s play The Colleen Bawn (the fair Irish girl, or the darling girl) opened there in 1860.

Unlike his better-known fellow Dublin writers with streets and bridges named after them, Boucicault wrote smash hits and this play was filmed three times in the silent movie era.

Silent movies also give us one of the earliest recorded incidences of Colleen as a woman’s name with actress Colleen Moore, a style icon during the flapper era of fashion.

Although this was a stage-name (as was also the case with other early adapters like Coleen Gray) her popularity contributed to more baby girls being so named over the coming decades.

Finally, many Irish teachers like to stun their pupils by telling them that cailín is technically a masculine noun. However, you shouldn’t block all but one languages in your search: the English word girl originally meant a child regardless of gender.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
16 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alan Hayes
    Favourite Alan Hayes
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:13 PM

    It was savage craic. People travelled from all over Ireland, several from US and many from UK & rest of Europe. Donations to Irish Cancer Society, the only group providing Night Nurse service to terminal cancer patients at home. Proud to have been involved.

    196
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Crístóir Ó Duinn
    Favourite Crístóir Ó Duinn
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:02 PM

    Perfect weather for a ginger convention too, overcast.

    124
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Skillington
    Favourite Tony Skillington
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 9:13 PM

    Lot of copper tops

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Darren Doyle
    Favourite Darren Doyle
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:51 PM

    Nothing sexier than a woman with red hair

    90
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eyepopper
    Favourite Eyepopper
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:59 PM

    I dunno…. dat sheep!

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Donal O Neil
    Favourite Donal O Neil
    Report
    Aug 23rd 2016, 8:50 PM

    Oh she’s lovely !!!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rumpelstiltskin
    Favourite Rumpelstiltskin
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:50 PM

    First they meet up….then they plot the take over

    72
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Girl
    Favourite The Girl
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 2:59 PM

    The only pure Irish…Ginger, Porcelain skin, Freckle face :-). Gingers Rule.

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute kieran fitzgerald
    Favourite kieran fitzgerald
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:04 PM

    Sure they are, let’s just ignore that the original inhabitants of this Little rock came up from Iberia shall we and go with some Victorian notion of racial purity.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Girl
    Favourite The Girl
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:15 PM

    Relax @Kieran…life’s too short.

    77
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ted Murray
    Favourite Ted Murray
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:20 PM

    We should have an annual begrudgery festival :p

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute An_Beal_Bocht
    Favourite An_Beal_Bocht
    Report
    Aug 23rd 2016, 10:38 AM

    It’s thought red heads were of Norman royalty origin, Henry VIII was a flaming ginger. The native Gaelic were most likely dark haired

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tomás Ó Briain
    Favourite Tomás Ó Briain
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 4:13 PM

    Bloody redheads! They think that they’re smarter just because they’ve got higher IQs!

    60
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gary Heslin
    Favourite Gary Heslin
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:29 PM

    Have to agree with “The Girl” kieran relax life is way way too short..give someone a hug.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute dublinlad
    Favourite dublinlad
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 2:45 PM

    The king looks bald to me?

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute BERTIE
    Favourite BERTIE
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:59 PM

    Slap head gathering

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute voice of raisin
    Favourite voice of raisin
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 5:32 PM

    Funny, I was told that not one soul turned up…

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Nolan
    Favourite Chris Nolan
    Report
    Mar 24th 2017, 3:50 PM

    @voice of raisin: Nice dad joke, go back to watching two and half men.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tomás Ó Briain
    Favourite Tomás Ó Briain
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 4:12 PM

    Bloody redheads! Think that they’re smarter than everyone else just because they’ve got higher IQs.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ailbhe Gator
    Favourite Ailbhe Gator
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 5:05 PM

    The redheaded queen looks quite brunette in that picture

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute manbearpig
    Favourite manbearpig
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 3:54 PM

    Day walkers

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Nolan
    Favourite Chris Nolan
    Report
    Mar 24th 2017, 3:58 PM

    @manbearpig: South park called they want their shit jokes back.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Judd
    Favourite John Judd
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 8:27 PM

    Gingers are hot ;)

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mindfulirish
    Favourite Mindfulirish
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 4:29 PM

    God help them — mutant be able to afford blonde dye.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Nolan
    Favourite Chris Nolan
    Report
    Mar 24th 2017, 3:53 PM

    @Mindfulirish: I hope you dye.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute JJ O Riordan
    Favourite JJ O Riordan
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 9:55 PM

    They don’t like being singled out, yet they have a convention

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stuart Kelly
    Favourite Stuart Kelly
    Report
    Aug 22nd 2016, 8:33 PM

    New research concludes that gingers have no souls.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Nolan
    Favourite Chris Nolan
    Report
    Mar 24th 2017, 4:07 PM

    @Stuart Kelly: I’ve got two soles, hows about i shove one of them up your smelly old arse.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds