# Irish: Boreen



## L'irlandais

Tar isteach,
Yet another one (_Irish loan-word that is_) used in everyday English in Ireland.
_"We drove miles down this *boreen* only to find it was a cul-de-sac."_ _(Hang on, isn't that a French loan-word on the end?)_ 

_boreen_ = *bóithrín* meaning "_small road_" one of those windy little country roads.
Slán go fóill,


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## elirlandes

I love the fact that "cul-de-sac" translates into French as "voie sans issue"...


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## Brioche

L'irlandais said:


> Tar isteach,
> Yet another one (_Irish loan-word that is_) used in everyday English in Ireland.
> _"We drove miles down this *boreen* only to find it was a cul-de-sac."_ _(Hang on, isn't that a French loan-word on the end?)_
> 
> _boreen_ = *bóithrín* meaning "_small road_" one of those windy little country roads.
> Slán go fóill,



And *bóthar* [road] comes from *bó* = cow.

Originally roads in Ireland were cow-paths [and many still are!]


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## franc 91

As we're talking about roads and ways here - there's the Irish word cabhsa which means a causeway, but which I feel sure must come directly from the Norman French - la chaussée.


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## L'irlandais

That's a good find franc.  A little like the Norman word blancmanger (Blancmange (pudding) in English) becoming plámásaí (flatterer in Irish) by deformation.  I know I've mentioned it several times before, but think it's such a classic example of mispronuncation by my ancestors.  I suspect there were a great many loan-words from Norman way back when.


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