Erin Go Bragh

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To read about the horse named Erin Go Bragh, see Hideaway's Erin Go Bragh.

Erin Go Bragh (also commonly spelled Erin Go Braugh) is the Anglicization of a Gaelic phrase used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever", and pronounced /ˈɛrɪn gə brɔː/.

1 Origin
2 Meaning and Irish spelling
3 Emigrant nationalism
4 External links

[edit] Origin

Speakers of the Irish language often state that the phrase is a corruption of the Irish "Éire go brách", or "Éirinn go Brách", which would be pronounced /ˈeːrʲə gə brɑːx/. However, it should be noted that the Scottish Gaelic phrase "Èirinn gu bràth," which literally means "Ireland until the Day of Judgement," is pronounced almost identically to the Anglicized phrase.

It may seem surprising that a phrase which has come to so strongly represent Ireland could have come not from Irish (Gaeilge) but instead from Scottish (Gàidhlig). However, a Scottish song from the 19th century entitled "Erin-go-Bragh" may have had something to do with this unusual progression. It tells the story of a Highland Scot who is mistaken for an Irishman. The first two verses are presented here, and a link to the lyrics may be found in the External links section.

My name's Duncan Campbell from the shire of Argyll

I've travelled this country for many's the mile

I've travelled through Ireland, Scotland and a'

And the name I go under's bold Erin-go-bragh

One night in Auld Reekie as I walked down the street

A saucy big polis I chanced for to meet

He glowered in my face and he gi'ed me some jaw

Sayin' "When cam' ye over, bold Erin-go-bragh?"

[edit] Meaning and Irish spelling

The popular phrase "Erin go Bragh" or "Erin go Braugh" means "Ireland forever." It's the anglicised version of an Irish phrase which would be known to some Irish Americans (although its English spelling is quite meaningless). The correct spelling in Irish is "Éirinn go Brách."[1]

Today, the standardized spelling would be "Éire go Brách"; however, "Éirinn" (which survives as the dative form in the modern standard) is the form historically used by native speakers, and is the source of the Anglicized "Erin." This linguistic shift (dative forms replacing nominative) was common among Irish nouns of the fifth declension. [2]

[edit] Emigrant nationalism

However the phrase became Anglicized, it was already in use as "Erin Go Bragh" by 1847. In that year, a group of Irishmen serving in the United States Army during the U.S. - Mexican War deserted and joined the Mexican side. These soldiers, known as Los San Patricios, or Saint Patrick's Battalion, flew as their standard a green flag with a harp on it, with the motto "Erin Go Bragh" underneath it. Variations on this flag design have been used ever since to express Irish nationalism.

By 1862 there was an emigrant ship operated by the Black Ball Line called the Erin go Bragh, which had the dubious honour of making the longest trip from Britain to Moreton Bay, Australia. She suffered many dead on the voyage, according to an unpublished contemporary account and, ironically, arrived in the same week that Black Ball's Young Australia completed the fastest crossing.