Manx English

Location of the Isle of Man within the British Isles.

Manx English, or Anglo-Manx, is the historic dialect of English spoken on the Isle of Man, though today in decline. It has many borrowings from the original Manx language, a Goidelic language, and it differs widely from any other English, including other Celtic-derived dialects such as Welsh English and Hiberno-English.

Early strata of Anglo-Manx contain much of Gaelic and Norse origin, but more recent Anglo-Manx displays heavy influence from Liverpool and Lancashire in North West England. A.W. Moore noted that the dialect varied to some slight extent from parish to parish and from individual to individual, but in the main the same turns of phrase and the same foundational stock of words pervaded the whole Island.

The best known recorder of the Anglo-Manx dialect was the poet T.E. Brown. Following him, many poems and plays were written in Anglo-Manx at around the turn of the Twentieth Century, notably by Cushag, J. J. Kneen and Christopher R. Shimmin. More recently, Kathleen Faragher wrote a number of Anglo-Manx poetry books in the 1950s and 1960s. The published work of all these writers featured footnotes to explain much of the dialect terms.

In recent years, the Anglo-Manx dialect has almost disappeared in the face of increasing immigration and cultural influence from the United Kingdom. Sources such as A.W. Moore's A Vocabulary of the Anglo-Manx Dialect (Oxford University Press, 1924) and W.W. Gill's Manx Dialect Words and Phrases (J.W. Arrowsmith, 1934) document the dialect in the last stages before its decline from common use – few of the words noted are still in common parlance today.

Moore's work notes the specific patterns of pronunciation for words in the dialect, many of which are no longer present in the last vestiges of the Manx dialect because of the influence of mainstream English.

Modern Anglo-Manx lexicon

Some of the following terms surviving from the original Anglo-Manx dialect are still in occasional use today. The task of identifying dialectical usage is complicated by the large cross-over between Manx Gaelic, idiomatic usage and technical/organisational terms such as "advocate" and "deemster".

Manx loanwords

Words of Manx Gaelic origin frequently cropped up in the original dialect, as did patterns of speech derived from Gaelic usage. In modern usage, much fewer words of Gaelic origin are used, symptomatic of the decline of Manx Gaelic in its later years.

Norse origin

Superstitions and word replacement

V'eh mee-lowit dy enmys mwaagh er boayrd, as conning, marish roddan as kayt. Va'n mwaagh 'fer yn chleaysh vooar', as yn conning 'pomet', as yn roddan 'sacote', as yn kayt 'scraverey'.
Neddy Beg Hom Ruy 1831–1908, Skeealyn 'sy Ghailck
It was forbidden to name a hare on board, or a rabbit, or a rat or a cat. The hare was 'the big-eared fellow', and the rabbit 'pomet', and the rat 'sacote', and the cat 'scratcher'.
Edward Faragher 1831–1908, Skeealyn 'sy Ghailck

Because of the unpredictable nature of weather in the Irish sea, fishing could be a dangerous business – sailors were consequently very superstitious and it was considered taboo to use certain words or behaviours (using the word "conney" for rabbit, or whistling, for example) whilst on board ship. Some names were substituted for others – "rat" became "sacote" or "long-tailed fellow", amongst other names.

This has evolved into a modern superstition where the word "rat" (roddan in Manx) is considered unlucky, even when not used aboard ship. Although this particular sea-taboo was one amongst many and was not held to apply on land, it has become a popular modern belief that the word is somehow unlucky and the sea-taboo has been adopted by some as a typical Manx practice, despite the fact that the old Manx had no qualms in using the word, or its Manx equivalent, "roddan". In modern times, even non-local and unsuperstitious people will refrain from using the word "rat" perhaps in an effort to fit in with those who take it seriously, or in an attempt to sound folksy. In reality this is a rather warped version of the original sea-taboo.

Alternate words for rat in neo-Anglo-Manx dialect include Longtail,Iron fella,Joey,Jiggler,Queerfella,Ringie,an r-a-t (a more recent expression).

Anglo-Manx phrases

A few phrases have survived to become common parlance, amongst these (all of Gaelic origin):

See also

Other English dialects heavily influenced by Celtic languages

References

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