DINNSEANCHAS
Swatragh - An Suaitreach - townland of the billeted soldier
Swatragh is derived from An Suaitreach, a shortened form of Baile an tSuaitrigh ‘townland of the billeted soldier’.
The word suaitreach appears to be a borrowing into Irish from Norse or Old French; early sources suggest the meanings ‘foreign, hired or billeted soldier’. In medieval times, it was common for soldiers to be billeted or lodged temporarily in houses belonging to civilians. The Irish lords depended heavily on hired soldiers from Gaelic-speaking Scotland from the thirteenth to the early seventeenth centuries; these were known as gallóglaigh (galloglas), possibly with reference to Inse Gall (the Hebrides) from which many of them originated. Millford in County Donegal is Baile na nGallóglach ‘townland of the galloglas’.
The Place-Name Project, Queen’s University (@placenamesni)
SEANFHOCAL
Ná tarraing an anachain ort mara bhfuil tú i riocht é a chur díot.Don’t draw calamity down on yourself unless you are in shape to shake it off.Well, there could be a couple of ways of looking at this. The translation is pretty convoluted so here’s a few examples.The letter A in your keyboard sticks so you get a pair of pliers and take the computer apart, fix the sticky key, but then can’t put your laptop together again.You carry out everyone’s dinner on a wonky tray and the bangers and mash end up on the floor. Oops.Or you’re the adviser to Boris Johnson who wants to rip British society apart and rebuild it in your own dystopian vision – oh, wait a minute...