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Discussion Groups / British English / December 2006What is "Lagan"?
Hello! By reading "My Lagan Love" lyrics by The Corrs, i wonder about this word, "lagan": it seems to be a proper noun, but is always so? I can't understand its meaning. In a vocabolary I read "lagan, lagend, ligan": what this sort of declension is? "Lagan" reminds of an unrecoverable object on the sea bed. But why do The Corrs use it as a proper noun? Is a male or a female name? Is it actually used? Thank you for your explanation, if you can. Bye, Rocky3  Signature"Il sapere e la ragione parlano, l'ignoranza ed il torto urlano". Arturo Graf / Indro Montanelli / Anonimo > By reading "My Lagan Love" lyrics by The Corrs, i wonder about this > word, "lagan": it seems to be a proper noun, but is always so? [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > bed. But why do The Corrs use it as a proper noun? > Is a male or a female name? Is it actually used? It is indeed a proper noun: it is the name of a river in Northern Ireland. The song was not written by The Corrs, it was written over a hundred years ago, and the melody is probably a traditional one. Google is your friend, as is the Wikipedia. Please do not ask us what a "lenanshee" is. SignatureJohn Briggs John Briggs schrieb: >>By reading "My Lagan Love" lyrics by The Corrs, i wonder about this >>word, "lagan": it seems to be a proper noun, but is always so? [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Please do not ask us what a "lenanshee" is. This is the English transliteration of "leannán sidhe", which is a fairy lover in Irish mythology. Regards, Einde O'Callaghan At 20:42:51 on Sun, 26 Nov 2006, Einde O'Callaghan <einde.ocallaghan@planet-interkom.de> wrote in <4su8ubF11ci2gU1@mid.individual.net>: >John Briggs schrieb: >> Please do not ask us what a "lenanshee" is. > >This is the English transliteration of "leannán sidhe", which is a >fairy lover in Irish mythology. The word sidhe also exists in Scots Gaelic, and can be seen, anglicised, in placenames like Glen Shee and the beautiful mountain Schiehallion. SignatureMolly Mockford They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety - Benjamin Franklin (My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.) >> By reading "My Lagan Love" lyrics by The Corrs, i wonder about this >> word, "lagan": it seems to be a proper noun, but is always so? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >It is indeed a proper noun: it is the name of a river in Northern Ireland. As it happens I live on the hillside which is one side of the valley of the River Lagan. In an hour or two I'll be going to collect my wife from a ferry from Scotland. It will sail up Belfast Lough which is the estuary of the River Lagan. See: http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=54.596&lon=-5.914&scale=200000&icon=x The Lagan is the blue line going south (down) from Belfast. It wiggles its way west (left) towards Lisburn. (Ignore dotted/dashed lines. These are administrative boundaries.) >The song was not written by The Corrs, it was written over a hundred years >ago, and the melody is probably a traditional one. > >Google is your friend, as is the Wikipedia. > >Please do not ask us what a "lenanshee" is. Google can help there. http://www.mythography.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=903 SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in uk.culture.language.english) > >> By reading "My Lagan Love" lyrics by The Corrs, i wonder about this > >> word, "lagan": it seems to be a proper noun, but is always so? > >> I can't understand its meaning. > >> In a vocabolary I read "lagan, lagend, ligan": what this sort of > >> declension is? "Lagan" reminds of an unrecoverable object on the sea > >> bed. "Unrecoverable" may not be an appropriate descriptor for lagan. At least one dictionary says that lagan is distinguished from flotsam and jetsam in that its location is marked with a buoy to facilitate recovery. > >> But why do The Corrs use it as a proper noun? Since you mention it as part of a title, it's not necessarily being used there as a proper noun. In a title, nearly all words are capitalized. Compare _The Birth of a Nation_. > >> Is a male or a female name? Is it actually used? > >It is indeed a proper noun: it is the name of a river in Northern Ireland. > As it happens I live on the hillside which is one side of the valley > of the River Lagan. But the etymology of "lagan" in a dictionary suggests that the seabed debris definition could conceivably be the one they had in mind: Etymology: Middle French lagan, lagand, or Medieval Latin laganum debris washed up from the sea, the right to possess such debris, If that definition lingered in modern speech, a lagan lover could be metaphorically one who had been cast off by another lover, the right to whose love was claimed by yet another lover. > In an hour or two I'll be going to collect my wife from a ferry from > Scotland. It will sail up Belfast Lough which is the estuary of the > River Lagan. But you're undoubtedly right. > But the etymology of "lagan" in a dictionary suggests that > the seabed debris definition could conceivably be the one > they had in mind: Who had in mind? > If that definition lingered in modern speech, a lagan lover > could be metaphorically one who had been cast off by another > lover, the right to whose love was claimed by yet another > lover. Read the lyrics for the context. SignatureJohn Briggs > > But the etymology of "lagan" in a dictionary suggests that > > the seabed debris definition could conceivably be the one > > they had in mind: > Who had in mind? Is it really not obvious that the ones who had "lagan" in mind were the ones who composed the title _My Lagan Love_? How could they use it without having it in mind? Or, if it was composed by only one person, whose sex would be unknown to me, the word "they" is the customary generic third-person-singular pronoun that's used in informal discourse to avoid saying "he or she". > > If that definition lingered in modern speech, a lagan lover > > could be metaphorically one who had been cast off by another > > lover, the right to whose love was claimed by yet another > > lover. > Read the lyrics for the context. The tone of that rather rude command fills me with apprehension that I may be subject to severe penalties if I don't read the lyrics. I think I'll take the chance, though; I decline to read the lyrics. Nothing can inhibit pleasurable flights of fancy like cold facts. > "John Briggs" said: > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > third-person-singular pronoun that's used in informal > discourse to avoid saying "he or she". The lyrics were written (around 1904) by Joseph Campbell (also known as Seosamh MacCathmhaoil). "Lagan" only occurs in the context "Where Lagan stream sings lullaby" and "on the Lagan side". SignatureJohn Briggs Il Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:46:57 GMT, John Briggs ha scritto: > The lyrics were written (around 1904) by Joseph Campbell (also known as > Seosamh MacCathmhaoil). "Lagan" only occurs in the context "Where Lagan > stream sings lullaby" and "on the Lagan side". Thank you for all your posts! Rocky3 Signature"Il sapere e la ragione parlano, l'ignoranza ed il torto urlano". Arturo Graf / Indro Montanelli / Anonimo >>> By reading "My Lagan Love" lyrics by The Corrs, i wonder about this >>> word, "lagan": it seems to be a proper noun, but is always so? [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >Scotland. It will sail up Belfast Lough which is the estuary of the >River Lagan. I can now confirm that there is still water in the Lagan. ;-) SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in uk.culture.language.english) |
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