broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 1 Oidhreacht Feirste An Ghaeilge i mBéal Feirste Belfast Heritage Irish in Belfast Ag fiorú na Ceathrún Gaeltachta broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 2 San am i láthair, tá stair agus íomhá idirnáisiúnta Bhéal Feirste á n-athshamhlú agus á n-athmhúnlú leis an chathair a dhéanamh inaitheanta agus indíolta ag Réamhrá margaí an domhain. Is tráthúil, mar sin, oidhreacht Ghaelach Bhéal Feirste a fhógairt agus a cheiliúradh go neamhbhalbh nó ní féidir stair na cathrach seo cois cuain a aithris go beacht gan stair na Gaeilge a lua. Tá pearsana agus imeachtaí na staire greanta in ainmneacha Gaeilge na mbailte fearainn, agus tá lorg na Gaeilge ar chanúint Bhéarla na cathrach. Le corradh le dhá chéad bhliain tá an teanga Ghaeilge á hathshealbhú agus á hathbheochan agus is i mBéal Feirste a rinneadh an chéad irisleabhar Gaeilge, Bolg an tSolair, sa bhliain 1795. Bhí macasamhail Robert MacAdam (1808-95), an tionsclaí Preispitéireach, chomh tiomanta céanna don athbheochan chultúrtha agus a bhí sé do shaothrú na tionsclaíochta. Ar a gcostas féin a bhunaigh an chosmhuintir Cumann Chluain Ard i mblianta ocracha na 1930í agus ba é an toradh a bhí ar an obair cheannródaíoch sin gur gineadh an iliomad tionscnamh ina diaidh: Gaeltacht Bhóthar Seoigh, gaelscoileanna, Cultúrlann MacAdam- Ó Fiaich, an Cheathrú Gaeltachta agus go leor eile. Is mithid an stair shaibhir sin a insint. At the present time, the history and international image of Belfast are being reimagined and reworked so that the city can be presented to the markets of the world. There is no better time, therefore, to proclaim and celebrate Belfast’s rich Irish language heritage, without which any history of the city is incomplete. The people and events of the city’s history are encoded in the many names of its old townlands and the Irish language permeates the type of English spoken there. For over two hundred years Belfast has been at the hub of the Irish language revival and it was in the city that the first ‘magazine’ in Irish, Bolg an tSolair, was published in 1795. The likes of Robert MacAdam (1808-95), the Presbyterian industrialist, devoted equal energy to the preservation and revival of Irish as he did to the cause of industry. In the hard years of the 1930s the unemployed and working-class of the Falls Road founded Cumann Chluain Ard on their own money, and in so doing generated a wealth of cultural activity for many years to come - Shaws Road urban Gaeltacht, Irish-medium schools, Cultúrlann MacAdam-Ó Fiaich, the Gaeltacht Quarter and many other projects. This history deserves to be told. broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 3 Gaeil Bhéal Feirste ag ceiliúradh na Gaeilge sa Chathair Int én bec ro léic feit do rinn guip glanbuidi: fo-ceird faíd ós Loch Laíg, lon do chraíb charnbuidi. Belfast Irish speakers Celebrating Irish in the city the little bird that whistled shrill from the nib of its yellow bill: a note let go o'er Belfast Lough - a blackbird from a yellow whin Anonymous (ninth century) ( Translated by Ciaran Carson) broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 4 An Ghaeilge i Irish in Belfast mBéal Feirste ón from the earliest luathstair go dtí times until the an 17ú haois 1700’s Is dócha nach raibh am ar bith gan an It is most probable that there was never a Ghaeilge a bheith á labhairt i mBéal Feirste. time when Irish wasn't spoken in Belfast. It is Is i nGaeilge atá ainm an bhaile, Béal in Irish that the town was named Béal Feirste/Béal na Fearsaide. Tá an fhearsaid ar Feirste/The mouth of the sandbank ford. The Abhainn an Lagáin san áit ar bunaíodh an Farset is at the Lagan where the town was baile ina dhiaidh sin. established. Ba í an Ghaeilge an lingua franca, nó an Irish was the Lingua Franca, the common teanga choiteann, a bhí idir na Gaeil agus na language, between the Native Irish and the hAngla-Normannaigh a bhí ag cur fúthu idir Anglo-Normans who were settling in the cnoic Aontroma agus cnoic an Chaisleáin area between the Antrim and the Castlereagh Riabhaigh anuas go dtí Plandáil Uladh, tráth Hills up until the Plantation of Ulster, when a bunaíodh baile Bhéal Feirste i 1610. Is the Town of Belfast was established in 1610. iomaí ionad eaglasta a bhí ann, roimh an There were many ecclesiastical sites here Phlandáil, sa dúiche sin ina bhfuil cathair before the Plantation in the area in which Bhéal Feirste anois inti. Ba í an tSeanchill Belfast city is now situated. The Shankill (Shankill) an t-ionad ba mhó orthu uile agus (literally Old Church) was one of the most baisteadh ‘an tseanchill’ ar an pharóiste important of these centres and Shankill was shibhialta (civil parish) níos faide anonn. the name given to the later Civil Parish. broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 5 Is i gcoillte dlútha na Cromóige (Cromac In the thick glades of Cromac Wood at Wood), ag an Sruthán Milis, a bhí Cill Stranmillis stood the church of Patrick where Phádraig, mar a bhfuil Reilig Bhaile na Friars' Bush Cemetery now stands. There was mBráthar (Friars’ Bush Graveyard) anois ann. also another church there in medieval times Bhí séipéil eile ann sa Mhéanaois mar a where High Street now stands the Capella De bhfuil an tSráid Mhór (High Street): capella Vado or the Chapel of Ford and as well as de Vado nó Séipéal na Fearsaide agus, lena these there was the church at Knockbreda, chois sin, bhí séipéil ag Cnoc na Bréadaí one at Knock and the one at Mallusk. (Knockbreda), ag Cnoc Cholm Cille (Knock) agus ag Maigh Bhloisce (Mallusk). Albanaigh den chuid is mó a bhí i lucht na Most of the planters in this area were Scots Plandála agus choinnigh siad ainmneacha na and they retained the names of the mbailte fearainn mar a bhí siad. Is mar sin a townlands as they were. Thus did Belfast's mhair oidhreacht Ghaelach Bhéal Feirste sna heritage of placenames survive: logainmneacha: Ard Eoghain - Ardoyne Ardoyne - Eoghan’s Heights Baile na Saileán - Ballysillan Ballysillan (Literally Town of the Willow Groves) Baile Dhún Fionn – Ballydownfine Ballydownfine (Literally Town of the White Fort) Baile Mhic Airt - Ballymacarrett Ballymacarrett (Literally Town of the son of (ba dhuine de mhuintir Uí Néill, Clann Aodha Art) (Art was one of the O'Neill Clan of Buí é Art) Clandeboye). An Chromóg - Cromac - Cromac (Literally the little bend) (The place (áit a bhfuil casadh in Abhainn an Lagáin). where there is a turn in the Lagan River) Cnoc na gCoiníní – Knocknagoney Knocknagoney (Literally hill of the rabbits) Lios na Searrach - Lisnasharragh Lisnasharragh (Literally Town of the steeds) Tuath na bhFál - Falls Falls (Literally district of the enclosures) An Cnoc – Knock Knock (Literally the hill) Sceitheog an Iarla - Skegoneill Skegoneill (Literally Earl’s thornbush) An Sruthán Milis - Stranmillis Stranmillis (Literally the sweet or pleasant stream) broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 6 An Ghaeilge i mBéal Feirste i Irish in Belfast after the Plantation ndiaidh na Plandála The plantation put an end to the rule of the Chuir an Phlandáil deireadh le réimeas Uí O'Neills but even if it did we are left with Néill ach, má chuir, fágadh fianaise bhuan ample testimony of the O'Neills in the Book againn ar na Niallaigh i Leabhar Cloinne of Cladeboye. The book was compiled around Aodha Buidhe. I dtrátha 1680 a tionscnaíodh 1680 and it contains the genealogy of the an leabhar agus is ann atá ginealach Uí Néill O'Neills as well as praise poetry composed by chomh maith le dánta molta a scríobh filí de their hereditary poets of the Ó Gnímh and Ó mhuintir Uí Ghnímh agus Uí Eachagáin, go hEachagáin families, particularly about their háirithe, dá gcuid pátrún. Foinse staire patrons. The book is an exceptionally ríthábhachtach é Leabhar Cloinne Aodha important historical text which gives us an Buidhe a thugann léargas dúinn ar shochaí insight into Gaelic society before the na nGael roimh aimsir na Plandála. plantation. Seanmóireacht i nGaeilge Preaching in Irish Ba é mian Shasana an Ghaeilge a úsáid leis It was England's desire that Irish be used to an phobal Chaitliceach a iompú ina convert the Catholic community to bProtastúnaigh. I measc na cléire a thugadh Protestantism. Amongst the clerics who seanmóirí i nGaeilge i lár na 1600í bhí an preached in Irish in the mid 1600s was the tUrramach Jeremiah O’Quinn (Ó Coinn), Reverand Jeremiah O'Quinn, a native speaker cainteoir dúchais a d’iompaigh ina who had converted to Presbyterianism. The Phreispitéireach. Ba mhór an crann taca ag publication of the bible in Irish was a great lucht an iompúcháin é foilsiú an Bhíobla boon to the proselytisers. The new testament Gaeilge. Foilsíodh an Nua-Thiomna i 1602 was published in 1602 and a translation of agus foilsíodh aistriúchán ar an Sean-Tiomna the old testament was made by the English- le hEaspag agus scoláire Gaeilge de bhunadh born Gaelic schola, Bishop William Bedell in Shasana, William Bedell, sa bhliain 1685. the year 1685. broprint 09 21/12/09 08:55 Page 7 An Ghaeilge i Irish in Belfast mBéal Feirste i after 1700 ndiaidh 1700 Tá go leor fianaise ann go mbíodh an There is plenty of evidence for the use of Ghaeilge á labhairt ar imeall Bhéal Feirste go Irish on the outskirts of Belfast up until dtí an 18ú haois. the 18th Century.