DINNSEANCHAS
Ballinamallard – Béal Átha na Mallacht – mouth of the ford of the curses
The village of Ballinamallard (in Co. Fermanagh derives from the Irish Béal Átha na Mallacht ‘mouth of the ford of the curses’. According to legend, St Colmcille placed a curse on the roosters here in the sixth century. The element mallacht appears also in two places called Lisnamallard (Lios na Mallacht ‘fort of the curses’) in Tyrone and Fermanagh, and in Drummallard (Droim Mallacht ‘ridge of the curses’) in Tyrone.
In Ballinamallard, the second element -mallard has been reinterpreted as referring to the large duck that bears that name in English. The local soccer team, Ballinamallard United, features a duck on their club crest, and are referred to by the nickname ‘the ducks’. However, the local dialect of Irish may also have facilitated this development as the ending -cht is pronounced -rt in varieties of Ulster Irish (for example in the Irish of Gaoth Dobhair)
SEANFHOCAL
Nuair is crua don chailleach, caithfidh sí rith.
When the old woman is hard pressed she must run.
This proverb might conjure up images of some granny with smoke and sparks coming form her Nike Air trainers as she sprints through Belfast city centre but it basically means that whenever it comes to hardy people do whatever is needed to achieve something or to avoid something terrible.
People sometimes find supernatural strength when it is most needed. Apparently, it’s called Hysterical strength and my old friend, Mr Wikipedia tells me that it is “a display of extreme strength by humans, beyond what is believed to be normal, usually occurring when people are in life-and-death situations.” It’s thought it might be caused by adrenaline.