NYT on Daniel Cassidy--("Big Onion" = NYC); second follow-up

[Wilson Gray]

Nice of you to try to give Cassidy his props, G, but the real problem
has to do with showing the existence of a dialect of Irish in which
_anonn_ is pronounced "onion." _Átha beál_ certainly means "ford
mouth." Offhand, I can't say whether it also means "ford _of_ mouth" I
can't say, off the top of my head, but I doubt it. It certainly
doessn't mean "mouth (of) ford." I also find it hard to believe that
an Irish-speaker would say "big átha" and not "átha mór." "Meircea" is
pronounced [mjeirikj@] and not "mayrkeah." Etc. Etc.

I'm not going to bother with Cassidy's crap, anymore. He seems to know
less about Irish than someone who has read through (or should that be
"read done") Teach Yourself Irish.

-Wilson

On 11/11/07, Gerald Cohen <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Gerald Cohen <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      NYT on Daniel Cassidy--("Big Onion" = NYC); second follow-up
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> See below for Cassidy=B9s ads-l =B3Big Onion=B2 treatment three years ago.  He
> fortunately had second thoughts about including his Irish derivation of =B3Bi=
> g
> Apple=B2 in his book, but this good judgment evidently did not extend to =B3Big
> Onion.=B2
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> Date:         Sun, 5 Sep 2004 03:07:53 EDT
> Reply-To:     American Dialect Society <[log in to unmask]>
> Sender:       American Dialect Society Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
> From:         Daniel Cassidy <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      BIG ONION BIG APPLE  redux
> Comments: To: [log in to unmask]
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=3D"ISO-8859-1"
>
> The Big Onion and the Big Apple (redux)
>
> "Long before it was dubbed the Big Apple, those who knew New York City
> called=20
> it the  Big Onion" The Big Onion Guide to New York City Ten Historic Tours
> By Seth Kamil and Eric Wakin Foreword by Kenneth T. Jackson
> NYU Press,  April 2002
>
> The Big Onion
> The Big Anonn  (pron. "onion")
> The Big Beyond.
>
> Anonn (pronunced "onion"): Beyond, over yonder; over to the other side.
> (Dineen, p. 47)
>
> Anonn thar abhainn, (pron. "onion har awainn") over to the other side of th=
> e
> river. =20
> Anonn go Meircea, (pron. "onion guh meyrkeah"), beyond to America.
> (O'Donaill, p. 49).
>
> The Big Anonn (big onion) was the "big beyond" for millions of Irish and
> Scottish Gaelic-speaking  emigrants to the Port of New York. The Port they
> dubbed:=20
> the great "ford at the mouth" of the great North (Hudson) River. The Big
> Apple.
>
> "The Big Apple:=20
> The Big Ath Be/il (pron. Ahh-bayl)
> The Big "Crossing at the Mouth (of the river)
>
> Apple
>
> A/th Be/il"   (Pronounced: Ahh-Bel; the "t" is silent)
> Ford of a river's mouth.
>
> =C1/th, gen. a/tha: A ford; a river crossing.
> Be/al, gen. be/il: Mouth (of a river).
>
> The Irish words A/th (pron. Ahh) and Be/al appear in hundreds (if not
> thousands) of place names in Ireland and Scotland where there is a crossing
> or Ford=20
> near the mouth of a river. The ancient name of Dublin's is Baile A/tha
> Cliath=20
> (bally-ah-cleeah) the "Place or Townland of the Ford of the Hurdles."
>
> "Belfast" is derived from the Irish words "Be/al Feirste" meaning "mouth of
> the sandy-banked river.
>
> Other Irish placenames derived from a/th and be/al are Aclare, ford of the
> Plank, Adare, ford of the oak, Affane, middle crossing, Ayhane, little ford=
> ,
> Annalong (A/th na long) ford of the ships, and Athlone (a/th luan) Luan's
> Crossing. and ballyna (mouth of the ford, NYC's moniker in reverse) and
> Bellanagare,=20
> meaning "river mouth of the cars (chariots)."
>
> The Big A/th Beil is the ancient  Celtic name for the great modern crossroa=
> d
> that became New York City. The "Big beyond" (The Big "Anonn," pron. big
> onion)=20
> was the Big Onion at the crossing at the mouth of the (North or Hudson)
> River.
>
> Daniel Cassidy
> Professor of Irish Studies
> The Irish Studies Program
> New College of California
> 777 Valencia Street
> San Francisco, Ca. 94131
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>


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