BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Irish Culture Gaelic Morphin' Nouns

I got this message from a good friend this morning: "Gotta love it when tumult and revels morph into darling/delight!"

As I scrolled down, I saw she had attached the American Heritage Dictionary definition of the Irish word, mavourneen. It read: mavourneen: SYLLABICATION: ma�vour�neen, VARIANT FORMS: also ma�vour�nin; NOUN: Irish My darling.

++++++ and now here's the good part ++++++
ETYMOLOGY: Irish Gaelic mo mhuirn�n : mo, my (from Old Irish; see me-1 in Appendix I) + muirn�n, darling, diminutive of muirn, delight (from Old Irish, tumult, revels).

Yep, clever lady. Darling, delight, revels, tumult.

Lovely Gaelic.



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