Iasg na Fairrge

This article is the second in the two-part series about fish and other sea-side animals, taken from Séamus Mac con Iomaire’s famous book Cladaigh Chonamara. As in the previous post, the list here pulls from the original print run of the book, and thus uses the older spellings and likely reflects a bit more on the dialectal heritage of the area than the newer one. The English translations come from a variety of sources: Dinneen’s wonderful dictionary, Téarma, and Ó Dónaill are all used. However, this is a wonderful four-part essay, Local Irish Names of Fishes, which features information from across the dialect spectrum. Links can be found here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. If I can’t find a translation, I leave a ? beside it, as well as for any translations that I’m not 100% sure about. Please comment if you have any remarks that could help clarify those. In each bullet point, the first is the singular name, the second the plural.

• Ribe róibéis, ribeacha róibéis – prawn
• luathóg, luathóga – elver
• muireicín, muireicíní – ? (possibly muiricín, which is a ‘pogge’, or ‘armed bullhead’)
• sgadán gainimh, sgadáin ghainimh – sand lance/sand eel
• iasgán an ghaith nimhe – lesser weaver
• snáthad mhara, snáthada mara – pipefish
• breac giúirlinne, bric ghiúirlinne – wreckfish
• láimhíneach, láimhíneacha – angler fish
• gréasaidhe cladaigh, gréasaidhthe cladaigh – cobblers
• searróg, searróga – butterfish, gunnel
• mac siúbháin, mic siúbháin – goby
• breac eitill, bric eitill – flying fish
• fíogach, fíogaigh – spur dog, pickey dog, nurse hound
• freangach, freangaigh – small spotted dogfish
• an roc, na ruic – ray
• sgolaburd, sgolabuird – likely scolabard, ‘skate’
• bod gorm, buid ghorma – goldsinny
• sgadán, sgadáin – herring
• lannach, lannacha – grey mullet
• bran, brain – sea bream
• faoitín, faoitíní – whiting
• glasóg, glasóga – coalfish, saithe
• an ghobóg, na gobóga – tope shark
• easconn, easconna – eel
• langa, langaí – ling
• an colmóir, na colmóirí – hake
• cadóg, cadóga – haddock
• cudal, cudail – cutlefish
• leatha, leathadha – flatfish
• sól, sólanna – black sole
• leatha riabhach, leathadha riabhacha – dab
• plás, plásanna – plaice
• dubh-leatha, dubh-leathadha – flounder
• leatha leice, leathadha leice – topknot
• breac geal, bric gheala – white trout, sea trout
• an liabhán mór, na liabháin mhóra – basking-shark
• an turbard, na turbaird – turbot
• an bollamán, na bollamáin – horse mackerel or scad (bolmán)
• an ceannruadhán, na ceannruadháin – shanny
• an trosg, na troisg – cod
• trosgán stupóige – bib? (Farran has ‘trosgan sturoige’)
• iasgán nimhe, iasgáin nimhe – dragonet
• an ronnach, na ronnaigh – mackerel
• an cnúdán, na cnúdáin – grey gunnard
• láir bhán, láireachaí bána – murlins, badderlocks
• ronnach spáinneach, ronnaigh spáinneacha – garfish
• an ballach, na ballaigh – ballan wrasse
• mangach, na mangaigh – pollock
• an searc, seirc – shark