Irish Translation Forum

i watched the film In America to-day. it's about a poor irish family who moves to manhattan, new york, new york and tries to begin a new life. the family meets this black man with AIDS and the wife (samantha morton) says this: "in the irish language, black man is fear gorm but that means 'blue man.' fear dubh means the devil." how true is this?

páidín wrote:i watched the film In America to-day. it's about a poor irish family who moves to manhattan, new york, new york and tries to begin a new life. the family meets this black man with AIDS and the wife (samantha morton) says this: "in the irish language, black man is fear gorm but that means 'blue man.' fear dubh means the devil." how true is this?

I've heard this on the forum. I know fear gorm is 'blue man' but this IS Irish.....

I've heard that here, and also read it in at least one of my Irish texts. A black person is fear gorm.

Redwolf

I think it's a big *coughs* derogatory

fear gorm = a black man

fear dubh = a black-haired or swarthy man (according to Dineen)

I never heard of the Devil being called fear dubh

erigena wrote:fear gorm = a black man

fear dubh = a black-haired or swarthy man (according to Dineen)

I never heard of the Devil being called fear dubh

An fear dubh is an expression used to refer to the Devil.

This is correct.

An Fear Dubh = the Devil

fear gorm, bean ghorm -- black man/woman

gormán = sort of akin to "Negro."

I saw that movie awhile ago too. Cute little girls

Hey -
Yeah, fear gorm is how you'd refer to a black man. I have no clue why that would be... as it is "blue man" when translated.

Fear dubh would refer to the devil -- darkness and black can be used to refer to "bad" -- sinister, evil, or wrong-doings... much as light and white are associated with "good" things...
grá geal
leanabh bán
croí dubh
etc.

Perhaps, someone, somewhere, thought it would be better to call a black person a blue person than to use the word black because of how that word is often used in the language... and then again, maybe I'm giving that person too much credit.

Regardless, fear gorm is the translation and is used in text and in conversation -- and not as a slur.

Then again, where I come from a person can be named based on the color car they drive -- once, if you said Pat dearg to someone, they'd know who you meant. So, who the hell knows!

I don't think it's all that random. I always assumed it was referring originally to a specific type of black skin - the kind that has a sort of blue sheen off it.
People aren't black anyway - it's just that you're familiar with the term. I suppose light brown people and middle brown people and dark brown people doesn't have the same ring to it...