Brogue (accent)

The term brogue (/broʊɡ/ BROHG) generally refers to an Irish accent. Less commonly, it may also refer to certain other regional forms of English, in particular those of Scotland or the English West Country.[1][2]

For other accents named Brogue, see Brogue § Language.

The word was first recorded in 1689.[3] Multiple etymologies have been proposed: it may derive from the Irish bróg ("shoe"), the type of shoe traditionally worn by the people of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, and hence possibly originally meant "the speech of those who call a shoe a 'brogue'".[4] It is debated that the term comes from the Irish word barróg, meaning "a hold (on the tongue)", thus "accent" or "speech impediment".[5]

An alternative etymology suggested that brogue means 'impediment', and that it came from barróg which is homophonous with bróg in Munster Irish. However, research indicates that the word for 'impediment' is actually bachlóg and that the term brogue to describe speech is known to Irish speakers in Munster only as an English word.[6]

A famous false etymology states that the word stems from the supposed perception that the Irish spoke English so peculiarly that it was as if they did so "with a shoe in their mouths".[6]


See also

References
  1. "brogue". Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
  2. McArthur, Tom (2005). Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192806376.
  3. McCrum, Robert (1986). The Story of English. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0670804672.
  4. "brogue (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  5. "Word of the Day: brogue". Merriam-Webster. 2009-07-10. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  6. Walshe, Shane (2009). Irish English As Represented in Film. Peter Lang. p. 15. ISBN 978-3631586822.


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