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A guest post, via email from Maitiú Ó Coimín:

I just watched the interview Rob's Words on YouTube did with you last year. You mentioned that you'd like to hear about eggcorns in other languages. I think I have two for you from my first language: Irish.

The first relates to the animal the squid. One of the Irish names for a squid is a "máthair shúigh". The two component words are "máthair" generally meaning "mother" and "shúigh" which is a genitive form of the word "súiche", meaning "soot". The "mother" in this sense means "source of" rather than a female parent. The name basically means "thing that creates/is the source of soot", referring to the blue-black ink released by squids. "Súigh", without the h, is the verb "to suck" and people think the squid's name refers to the suction pads on its tentacles, something like a "sucking mother".

The second one is the phrase "a chairde gaoil" which people use at the start of speeches to address a crowd of friends or family etc. The components are the vocative particle "a", "cairde" meaning friends, and "gaol" meaning here "kindred", "related" or "dear". The phrase sort of means "dearly beloved" or something like that. People think it is "a chairde Gael", which means something like "Gaelic friends" or "Irish friends".

Update — the author adds:

I thought of another one I often hear:

There is an organisation that promotes traditional Irish music called "Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann", which means "Irish Society of Musicians". The word "comhaltas" here is the "society", it comes from "comhalta" meaning a fellow or a member. The organisation is usually just known as "Comhaltas" for short, but people hear/say it as the non-word "Ceoltas" which is sort of a mix of "ceol", meaning music, and comhaltas. I nearly go so far as to say ceoltas has nearly superceded Comhaltas in speech. I'm not sure if that's an eggcorn though because it relates to a sort of brand name.

There are two others listed on Wikipedia, one I don't believe is actually in use, but the other seems plausible though I've never heard it myself.

They are "diúracán" instead of "dearcán" which sound similar, diúracán meaning a projectile/something cast and dearcán meaning acorn. I think this one is not an actual eggcorn rather a Wikipedia editor trying to give an example based on the English eggcorn/acorn root.

The second one is the proverb "aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile", directly translated it means "a beetle recognises another beetle". The Wikipedia eggcorn given is "taitníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile" which means "a beetle likes another beetle" which can be taken to have the same meaning.

I'm a journalist with the national newspaper Tuairisc. I'll ask the other other journalists and editors if they know more and get back to you with a list if I can.

Above is a guest post by Maitiú Ó Coimín.

July 12, 2024 @ 6:31 am · Filed by Mark Liberman under Eggcorns

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