Cobh in County Cork is 13 miles from Cork City. On holiday I loved the wild flowers of woodland field and shore. On a summer’s day I saw the herring at high tide, popping on to and over the quay wall.
In Gaelic, it is spelled Cob’; the dot is called a “Builta”; (and “na” means “the”); and the builta changes the pronunciation. Now-a-days “h” replaces the dot; Cobh is pronounced Cove.
Gaelic is a Celtic language. In prehistoric times the Celts came from Central Europe, and were the first to use iron. Other Gaelic tongues are Welsh, Scottish and the native tongue of Brittany or Bretagne.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) started the Penal Laws, under which Irish dress (the kilt) and Gaelic language were suppressed.
In the 17th century Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) implemented even fiercer Penal Laws, which made Irish people foreigners in their own land; and planted whole swathes of Ireland with English people.
This led in time to Irish people, having lost 95% of the land, turning to potatoes for food; and which in turn ,due to blight , caused the Great Hunger or Famine of 1846,1847 and 1848. The dreadful Corn Laws added to the disaster, as they kept the price of bread artificially high.
In the Famine, millions emigrated through the port of Cobh. This emigration to almost the ends of the earth is called the “Irish Diaspora” and resulted in such names as Kennedy, Clinton, Nixon, and even G.W.Bush, arriving in America.
Many emigrants spoke only Gaelic, or English with Gaelic phrases. Even today I find myself using Gaelic phrases.
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