2 – Lessons:
Enrichment and Extras

A note about languages in Barry Anderson:
I use non-English phrases with a lot of care and research.  That being said, I’m unilingual, despite working on learning Irish for this novel, and it’s entirely likely that I might get things wrong sometimes, especially when it comes to grammar, etc.  And especially with languages I’m less familiar with, such as my usage of Italian or Tagalog in later chapters.

It’s also difficult to find clear guidance on the internet sometimes when it comes to the Celtic languages.  Irish and Scottish Gaelic have a decent amount of resources online, but still pronunciation guidance is always a headache to find.  Cornish resources are abysmal.

In light of this, but also just because it works lore-wise, in Barry fay/fairies tend to use Irish for nice phrases, Irish/Gaeilge and Scottish Gaelic for official fairy terms, Latin and occasionally Greek for scientific terms… and Cornish for swears/expletives/inappropriate phrases.

These are realistic for where their terms come from.  Fay culture is a melting pot of Celtic culture over many centuries, mixed with local cultures that fairies live in.  So sometimes you get a “Spanglish” thing happening.  Would a native Gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker) use Irish words very differently than Dania does?  Probably; but she’s not Irish, she’s a fairy.

Why Cornish for swears?  Well, pixies are natively from Cornwall, and that’s how pixies are.  (It also works out well for me, because you can find lists of Cornish swears, even when it’s harder to learn Cornish grammar.)

In my mind it’s very similar to how English steals phrases from other languages based on contexts.  Like how so many of our fashion terms and fine dining/cooking terms are French, because the French taught us that stuff.  I might be able to use “Aloha,” “kawaii,” or “taco” with ease… that doesn’t mean I speak Hawaiian, Japanese or Spanish.

Likewise, Dania would have grown up hearing fay usage of lovely Irish phrases, and people talking dirty in Cornish.  She has a working understanding of those, and Scottish Gaelic, especially when it comes to the most frequented phrases.

Anyway, I hope anyone with more native knowledge of these languages (even though I think very few people in the world grow up as native Gaeilge or Kernewek (Cornish) speakers anymore), will forgive my very rudimentary usage of these beautiful languages.

And I hope everyone will forgive the Cornish swears.  I blame pixies.

Tír nAill – “The Other Land”/”The Other Place” in Irish (Gaeilge); one name for the Celtic Otherworld.  In Barry lore, specifically a name for the Fayemark, the dimension where all magic comes from.

Dachaigh – “Home”; Scottish Gaelic.  In Barry, the historical name for default spells.

Wee – “Small”; a diminutive in Scotland and Ireland.

Féileacán – “Butterfly”; Irish (Gaeilge).

Pièce de résistance – Masterpiece; French.

An diwvronn na yw bras-oberys – “Those breasts are big/magnificent”; Cornish.  (This phrase took so much research on my part, and I’m still not positive I got the grammar right.  And no, the “bra” part isn’t the breast part.)

Sīdī – “Master”/”Lord”/”Sir”; Arabic.  (Pronounced like “Sayidi”, which I know how to pronounce because of LOST *sage nod*.)  In Barry, the title jinn/genies use for their current master, to whom they grant wishes.  If you’re curious, the feminine title would probably be “Lalla”, but it wouldn’t be as widely used by jinn, and they’d likely use Sīdī for a male or female master, especially modernly.  (Dania also pluralizes it by throwing an English “s” on the end.  That’s not how you’d pluralize it in Arabic, I gather, but she’s pluralizing a noun the way she would naturally do it.  She’s better about Celtic plurals, but she’s more familiar with those.)

Seelie/Unseelie – Benevolent vs Antagonistic classifications of fairies; Scots, meaning “happy”, “lucky,” or “blessed;” vs. “unhappy”, “misfortunate,” or “unholy.”

Go raibh maith agat Titania – “Thank Titania”; Irish (Gaeilge).  Yes, Irish takes four words to say “thank you.”
In Barry, Fairy Queen Titania is invoked by fairies in figurehead/goddess type expressions; “[Thank you], Titania,” as an idiom of relief; “[Please], Titania,” as a supplication, etc., often used snarkily, such as “Titania, le do thoil [please]! Give me patience right now.”
(In contrast, red fairy Oberon is often invoked in exasperated phrases, such as, “For Oberon’s sake!”, pixie queen Mab is invoked in cheeky phrases like “[Mab’s fair fart]”; and lastly Puck (also a red fay) is usually the subject of expletives which I won’t mention at the moment, lol.)

Prionsa – “Prince”; Irish (Gaeilge).