Another small question from me. Most of the dictionaries I've searched give me two translations for 'wolf': faolchú and mac tíre. The second one got me interested. It looks poetic and archaic, much like a kenning. Is it used in modern everyday speech? Is it perceived as a metaphor or simply a word that can be used in any context?

Mac tíre is what I use in speech. Yeah, it's a nice word, literally it means "son of the land". There's also madra allta or madra alla.

Actually, the second one is much more common. You also have faol (as in my name ), madra(dh)/ madadh/ cú allta (literally, wild dog), you also have older more archaic words like sídheach, criun/críun/críuin, bréach

Crossed with Gumbi

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Same here (but the three of us use Munster, so this could be highly biased.) Machtíre is the normal word.
(It has a ch in Cork and Kerry).

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

I use mac tíre also. (The running dog is the closest I could find to a wolf.....)

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Many languages have ancient euphemisms like that for dangerous animals like wolves and bears, because of superstitions that, if you said the real name, the animal might appear and harm you. In some traditional cultures, one is not supposed to mention the name of a dead person, for similar reasons (the person's spirit might be invoked and do harm, or some other bad thing might happen).

In some languages, if you said the "real" name by mistake, there were charms you could use to un-invoke the feared animal (or evil spirit). If you've ever been around elderly Jewish people who use a lot of Yiddish, you may have heard them say "kay-nuh hurr-uh" (that's my phonetic version - I can't remember the usual Yiddish spelling when writing with Roman letters, and it can vary from person to person anyway) after they realize that they've complimented someone (especially a child complimented on its beauty). That comes from the German "[es soll] keiner hören" ("no one should hear") [or whatever the Middle High German version of that was], which is a charm said to ward off the evil spirits who might hear the compliment and might come to harm the child out of jealousy.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

I think Mac tíre written as two words is the fairly standard version, its the version I only heard while at school. Focal.ie only lists mac tíre, faolchú and funny enough bréach, but gives it under the heading ceol indicating it must be a musical term (bréach, is very uncommon nowadays usually its only seen in placenames).

Scottish Gaelic also has Gladaman.

Cian

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Thank you, guys! I love to find such words in the language, and it's great to know they are still used. The very fact that there are so many names for a single animal is amazing. It's always interesting to learn how and why people named animals and plants, especially animals and plants that are native to the country. Irish seems so eloquent and evocative in this regard.


Yes, I'm familiar with these things. Actually, that's why 'mac tíre' got me interested in the first place. It struck me as ancient, and I wondered if it was still common. Glad to know it is.

And thank you all for other words for 'wolf', that's fascinating.

I hope it's not too off-topic but in the part of the world where I spend Summer (la Haute Provence) we have them and they're creating havoc in the Summer pastures. Last year I came face to face with one and very impressive he was too. I don't know why but 'loupé' means you missed it or didn't do it properly and saying - 'il a un loup' - means there's something wrong. There's a well-known folk song and dance in Occitan (and now in standard French) which says 'I saw the wolf, the fox and the hare dancing' which is usually taken to mean that the impoverished peasant saw the three people who took taxes from him - the nobleman, the clergyman, and I can't remember who the hare stands for, enjoying themselves at his expense.

Of course, it's also possible that mac(h) tíre has nothing to do with fear of wolves.

The name could simply be based on an old folktale or belief (now lost in the mists of time) that had nothing at all to do with fear.