The county of Kildare, sometimes referred to as the land of the three S’s (sheep shite and soldiers) is more widely known as the short grass, due to the grazing of sheep on The Curragh plain. Her residents are known as Lilywhites. Or at least we were. The Central Statistics Office has just reported that only 4 out of 10 living here are from the county.
I knew that. I didn’t need to see census figures. Most of my neighbours have Dublin accents. In my local shop I’m served by Russians and Pakistanis. The filling station is staffed by Indians and Chinese. Strolling the length of the main street in Naas I will hear 20 languages. There are signs over shops in Hindi and one finance provider advertises 100% mortgages in Polish. Does this make me an ethnic minority? I’d find that kind of cool, but then I hear the pay is not great.
Is Naas suffering an identity crisis because of this? I think so, though it manifests in subtle ways. The council have funded signage and pathways for walking tours in the guise of tourism initiatives. Are they really telling the newcomers to go get to know their new home town? Submissions were requested from interested parties on the provision of places of worship for heretofore uncommon religions. But not before a big shiny new GAA complex was built - GAA being the true religion of the Gael.
The latest débâcle is reminiscent of the Dingle-An Daingean-Daingean Uí Chúis saga mentioned recently by Conor and previously by Eolaí. No, there is no attempt being made to adopt the Irish name for the town. Rather the issue is one of deciding what the town’s Irish name actually is. An Nás appears over the court house. The county council offices show An Nais. The sign on the post office reads Nás na Ríogh. On other signs the accent is omitted from Ríogh and some don’t have it in Nás either - Nas na Riogh. Even Nás na Rí pops up in places.
Councillor Seamie Moore is calling for a plebiscite to settle this once and for all - “People recently moved to the town refer to it as An Nass, they don’t see the fada, and we don’t want to have an association with an ass”. Seamie may have his head buried up his Nass because this is something I’ve never heard. Many of the newcomers are more used to accented vowels than we Irish are. Why some have even cracked the accented consonant thing. Seamie might better serve the community feeding the gondolas.
Even if a vote happens and a name is selected I have my doubts we’ll see conformity in signage. After all, this is the council who named a new road after Theobald Wolfe Tone and then erected a sign reading Wolftone Street.
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Its right when you say Foreigners are better with prenounciation and using Fada’s hyphen etc. In Ireland may name gets spelt what ever way the speller thinks it should be, in Lebanon they ask ?
Its a very simple thing and its a wonder why Irish people don’t use it but then I guess we would have as many different names if they did.
Is Ríogh not the same word as Rí only losing simplified following the Caighdeán?
Plebiscites are not always a good idea; they can facilitate people voting for green to be called red. It’s generally better if people just did their jobs properly - particularly those who were elected.
I like Nás na Ríogh/Rí, but can live with An Nás as a kind of shorthand. It’s common in English usage to have longer and shorter versions of names; I don’t know that people should get upset about seeing both of them on signs - and certainly not vote to ban all but one of them out of signed existence.
Mac - Yes, despite all our claims we are monolingual and foreigners/visitors/immigrants put us to shame.
Eolaí - Correct - Ríogh and Rí are the same. An Nais is the only one I cannot live with.* Yet this is the one on the County Council building i.e. the offices of those who were elected. For once, a plebiscite may be in order. But don’t you think Councillor Moore is making a mountain out of a molehill? Don’t you think he is simply trying to stress his Irishness and Kildareness by starting the argument? Clinging onto his identity in a time when a Mosque is being proposed for the town? Something unheard of just 10, no, 5 years ago.
*An Nais could actually be more correct. It is older. Nás na Rí/oigh only came into use in 1933. Why, I don’t know. But I will try find out. Surely a decision such as this is the responsibility of the Place Names Commission and not a town council.
Oh yes it smacks of the bad stuff that bad people do when they don’t like other people. Definitely mountain and molehill territory.
If he truly cared I would think he should quietly find out what is correct i.e. is it really green or really red and then get the names commission to do their job and it to be followed suit by relelvent authorities - but not because of an ass. I’d still be inclined against a plebescite in the sense that it would be terrible for people to obliterate their own history through the ignorant meanderings of a politician. But maybe that’s what civilization is?
Eolaí - I really don’t think it’s bad stuff that bad people do. At least not consciously. But yes, the commission is the way to go. In fact they have already decided* on An Nás.
But as with many laws and rulings it is not enforced. I can see Mr. Moore vehemently objecting to the omission of the royal reference.
*Bloody big PDF. Be warned.
It is common for Irish-language placenames to come in two forms, one short and one with an epithet, such as Bré and Bré Cualann, An Daingeann and Daingeann Uí Chúis, An Nás and Nás na Ríogh. I don’t know the details of this, but I do remember from one lecture on placenames where I didn’t fall asleep that the epithet versions are actually not historical, they were invented by some chap during the Celtic Revival in the 18th century simply because he thought they were cuter that way. That’s why the placenames authorities these days tend to drop them, and that’s why your town is offically called An Nás and not Nás na Ríogh.
A Chainteoir - As far as I know, the na Ríogh appendage appeared first in the early 1900’s, which fits in with what you say. How the County Council came to use An Nais on their new offices is another story. I’ll add it to my list of things to look into when I have time.
Could it be the genitive case (with a fada missing)? Comhairle Chontae an Náis would be perfectly correct.
A Chainteoir - Yes, that could be it if it is referring to the Town rather than County council offices. They share the same building. Perhaps Cllr. Moore mistook it as the sign for the County. And now I feel stupid for taking his word for it. I really need to go take a look for myself.