Irish Translation Forum

Can anyone tell me why "fear gorm" is used as well as "fear dubh"?


Go raibh maith agut.

Maybe fear gorm is used to mean 'black man' because fear dubh is traditionally used to refer to the devil. Incidentally, the proper term for 'white man' is fear geal (not bán - I suppose fear bán could be taken to mean a 'fair-haired man'). Fíon geal is 'white wine'.

Hi, is 'dubh' not also used to describe hair color as in 'Aodh Dubh' or am I way off once again,Christy.

One explanation is that the Irish for satan (fear dubh) was in use long before they came across a coloured person. Not entirely plausable but it keep coming up on google[/i]

Hi , again I remember 'fear dubh' was used in 'Sceal Seadhna' a school reader ,Christy. Is the name 'Gormley' anything to do with being a 'fear gorm'?

Tadhg an Mhargaidh wrote:Fíon geal is 'white wine'.

This reminds me... for all you non-teetotallers out there, what in the heck is "brown wine" (fíon donn)? I've heard it in a couple of songs now...

Abigeál wrote:

Tadhg an Mhargaidh wrote:Fíon geal is 'white wine'.

This reminds me... for all you non-teetotallers out there, what in the heck is "brown wine" (fíon donn)? I've heard it in a couple of songs now...

No idea. Maybe a poetic name for beer or whiskey? Or perhaps a fortified wine, such as port or sherry (they can look rather brown...in fact, we use tawny port for communion at our church, as it stains the altar linens less than the ruby ports do!).

Redwolf

Not too sure but it's the only explanation I can get that makes sense.

Fear gorm.
Again, a memory from a time past. Fear gorm is used to describe a black man because when the Arabs of Spain and North Africa traded with Galway people noticed the colour of their dress (indigo) and not their faces.
Of course it could also be that the high-lights on a black person's skin is usually blue.