Let’s get back to nature and take a bitesized look at how to say the names of some species of fish in Irish.
We’ll start with humble cod. The Irish for cod is trosc /thrussk/
The Irish for haddock is cadóg /kad-owg/
Should you want to say hake in Irish the word you require is colmóir /kul-um-oe-irr/
The Irish for sea bream is deargán /dar-ug-awn/
This word deargán also features in the Irish term for the bird redwing (Turdus iliacus). That is deargán sneachta /dar-ug-awn shnok-theh/
Perhaps you recognise this word sneachta. It means ‘snow’. This makes sense as the redwing is, of course, a winter visitor to Ireland.
‘Amhrán na Scadán’ is an irish sean nós /shan nowss/ song (it also makes a cameo appearance on Belfast rap trio Kneecap’s debut album). This word scadán /sskuh-dawn/ is the Irish term for herring.
This word is used in the Irish term for herring gull: faoileán scadán /fwee-lyawn sskuh-dawn/
There is, of course, another term in Irish for herring gull. That is faoileán an airgid /fwee-lywn un ar-ig-idd/.
But I digress – back to fish!
Have you ever swum in the same water as a shoal of mackeral? I have, and seen underwater on a sunny day their colours are breathtaking.
I’m going to share two terms in Irish for mackeral with you. The first is similar to the English language word. That is maicréal /mak-ir-ay-ul/ (Notice that we manage to squeeze four syllables out of it!).
The other term for mackeral in Irish is ronnach /runn-ukh/
The Irish word for salmon is one that varies noticeably in how it is pronounced depending on which of the 3 main dialects of Irish is spoken.
The word is bradán.
In West Kerry, where I am from we pronounce it bradán / burd-awn/
In Connacht it is bradán /brud-dawn/
While in Ulster it is bradán /brod-awn/
Moving on to flatfish. The two Irish terms for flatfish, as a category fish are:
(1) leathóg /la-howg/
..and
(2) iasc leathógach /ee-assk la-howg-ukh/
The first of these terms above doubles as the word for plaice.
Another type of flatfish is flounder. The Irish term for this one is nice and easy to pronounce: leith /leh/
You won’t flounder when trying to pronounce flounder!
Moving out to deeper waters, the Irish term for monkfish is bráthair /braw-hirr/
You may have noticed that this word bráthair looks quite like the English language word ‘brother‘. In Irish we do not use it to refer a blood relative. Rather, we use it to refer to a comrade, a colleague or a member of a religious order such as the Christian Brothers. So, in a sense, its use here in the name of the species monkfish is similar (but different!) to the use of ‘monk’ in English. The Irish for monk, of course, is manach /mon-ukh/
The Irish term for the species of fish ray is roc /ruk/
You may also encounter the term rotha /ruh-huh/
Trout is only freshwater fish on our list today. The Irish term for this fish is breac /brrak/
The trout features in the seanfhocal /shan-uk-ul/, or Irish language proverb, that we will conclude with today. This one is similar in sentiment to the English language proverb ‘one swallow does not summer make’.
It goes like this: Ní scaoth breac /nee sskway brrak/
This translates as ‘one trout is not a multitude’.