# Irish: shenanigans



## L'irlandais

Hello,
Well, I've looked at some obscure Irish loan words.  I wanted to ask about some more widespread loan-words that may be of Irish origin.



> For example : shenanigan  probaly (or should that be possibly) from *sionnachuighim*, meaning _"I play the fox."_
> Making remarks intending to deceive; deceit. Often used in the plural, as in _"I've had enough of your shenanigans!"_


Since the origin given as unknown in my Oxford English dictionary, is it fanciful on my part to believe this to be a loan word of Irish origin?

_Bain taithneamh as an deireadh seachtaine. _ (Have a good week-end.)


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## Pedro y La Torre

It looks to be Irish indeed l'irlandais, this might be of some interest to you.


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## pieanne

Ca peut peut-être se traduire par "des frasques"?


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## elianecanspeak

I did not find it listed in Cassidy's book on Irish words that migrated to become American slang.


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## L'irlandais

Hi there,
Thanks for that.
The jury is still out on just how scholarly many of Daniel Cassidy examples (of the influence of Gaelic on American English) are. ~shrug~ The same jury probaly wouldn't think much of my proposals either, since they rely on published evidence for what's very much an oral culture.





> One example I like from "A Review of How the Irish Invented Slang":
> •Giggle (considered “vulgar slang well into the 19th century according to Cassidy; a merry squeaking laugh) derived from giog gheal meaning a happy squeak, a merry squeal.  Source


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