Erin go Bragh sometimes Erin go Braugh, is the anglicisation

Anglicisation

Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...

 of a Gaelic

Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...

 phrase, and is used to express allegiance to Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever."

Origin

Erin go Bragh is an anglicisation of the Irish

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 phrase , in which is the dative of (meaning "Ireland"). In standard modern Irish the phrase is . It is probable that the English version was taken from what was a "dative" context, such as ("May I stay in Ireland for ever") or ("May go back to Ireland for ever").

Alternatively, given that in a few local dialects (particularly in Waterford Irish and South Connacht Irish) has replaced as the ordinary name for Ireland, it could be that the phrase was taken from a speaker of such a dialect. This replacement of the nominative by the dative is common among Irish feminine and some masculine nouns of the second and fifth declensions, and is most widespread in the two dialect areas mentioned. The word is an adjective/nominal which is equivalent to "for ever", "eternal", "always", "still", and conveys the global semantics of "unchanging"—such as in the phrases ("Just wait - don't move - be patient and wait a bit more") or ("he got the letter and without waiting off with him to the priest to show him it").

A phrase confused with Erin go Bragh is . This is actually ("Ireland is (doing) fine/great/excellent").

Usage

Anglo-Irish usage

From the emergence of the Irish Patriot Party

Irish Patriot Party

The Irish Patriot Party was the name of a number of different political groupings in Ireland throughout the 18th century. They were primarily supportive of Whig concepts of personal liberty combined with an Irish identity that rejected full independence, but advocated strong self-government within...

 and its chequered success after 1780, a number of groups such as the Irish Whigs used phrases and slogan

Slogan

A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm . Slogans vary from the written and the...

s like "Erin go bragh" to proclaim an Irish identity, even though the users may not have been Irish speakers. By the time of the 1798 rebellion, the famous London cartoonist James Gillray

James Gillray

James Gillray , was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his etched political and social satires, mainly published between 1792 and 1810.- Early life :He was born in Chelsea...

 cruelly portrayed the Patriot leader Henry Grattan

Henry Grattan

Henry Grattan was an Irish politician and member of the Irish House of Commons and a campaigner for legislative freedom for the Irish Parliament in the late 18th century. He opposed the Act of Union 1800 that merged the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain.-Early life:Grattan was born at...

 as a rebel leader shouting "No Union" (no union with Britain) and "Erin go Brach". Grattan was not a rebel in 1798 but suffered in the aftermath for his liberal views.

Emigrant nationalism

In time, the phrase became Anglicized. By 1847, it was already in use as "Erin Go Bragh". That year, a group of Irish volunteers, including U.S. Army deserters, joined the Mexican side in the U.S.–Mexican War. These soldiers, known as Los San Patricios, or Saint Patrick's Battalion

Saint Patrick's Battalion

The Saint Patrick's Battalion , formed and led by Jon Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. Most of the battalion's members had...

, flew as their standard a green flag with a harp on it, with the motto "Erin Go Bragh" underneath. Variations on this flag design have been used at different times to express Irish nationalism.

By 1862, there was an emigrant ship operated by the Black Ball Line called the Erin go Bragh, which had the dubious honour of making the longest voyage up to that time, sailing from Britain to Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay is a bay on the eastern coast of Australia 45 km from Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, a 196-day journey. She suffered many dead on the voyage, according to an unpublished contemporary account and, coincidentally, arrived in the same week that Black Ball's Young Australia completed the fastest crossing.

Sport

In the late 19th century, the Edinburgh football club Hibernian F.C.

Hibernian F.C.

Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...

 adopted 'Erin Go Bragh' as their motto and it adorned their shirts. Founded in 1875 by Edinburgh Irishmen and the local Catholic Church, St Patrick's, the club's shirts included a gold harp set on a green background. The flag can still be seen at a lot of Hibernian matches to this day.

In 1887 a gaelic games

Gaelic games

Gaelic games are sports played in Ireland under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The two main games are Gaelic football and hurling...

 club was set up in Clonsilla

Clonsilla

Clonsilla is a suburb of Dublin in the district of Fingal, Ireland.-Location and access:Originally a small village in its own right, Clonsilla is now a large residential suburban area, with Ongar and other localities developing their own subsidiary identities...

, Dublin under the name Erin go Bragh GAA

Erin go Bragh GAA

Erin go Bragh GAA are a Dublin based Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Clonee, Littlepace/Castaheaney/Ongar district in Dublin 15. The club currently field teams in Junior football, Junior hurling , Under 15, 13, 10 Ladies Football and camogie, and Under 8 to Under 14 football and...

. There is also an "Erin go Bragh GAA" club in Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Other uses

The phrase was paraphrased by a pun

Pun

The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...

ning New York Times headline Erin go broke, written by economist Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman

Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...

, referring to the 2008–2009 Irish financial crisis

2008–2009 Irish financial crisis

The 2008–2011 Irish financial crisis, which had stemmed from the financial crisis of 2008, is a major political and economic crisis in Ireland that is partly responsible for the country falling into recession for the first time since the 1980s...

. In the 2009 film The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is the 2009 sequel to 1999's The Boondock Saints. Written and directed by original Boondock Saints creator Troy Duffy, the film stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, who return to their roles, as well as several of the other actors from the first...

 Norman Reedus's character Murphy MacManus phrases it as: "It's Irish for, 'you're fucked.'" A Scottish song from the 19th century entitled "Erin-go-Bragh" tells the story of a Highland Scot

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 who is mistaken for an Irishman. The first two verses are:
A version of the song opens Dick Gaughan

Dick Gaughan

Richard Peter Gaughan usually known as Dick Gaughan is a Scottish musician, singer, and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs.-Early years:...

's 1981 album Handful of Earth.

External links

• What does 'Erin go braugh' mean? (FAQ Farm)