Hello,

My sister is considering getting an Irish word as a tattoo and wants to know the word for "changeling" (if there is one).

I haven't been on here in a million years - I was the one who did the thesis last year - everyone on here was very helpful then I've been avoiding everything school-related since I graduated but my sister is apparently unable to pick up a dictionary herself so I might be on here again

I'm sure this is a question you've been asked before. Thank you in advance.

Iarlais is how you would say changeling in Irish.

I got this one straight from the horse's mouth: A native speaker from the Kerry Gaeltacht

"Síofra" is the term I'm familiar with.

Does your sister know, though, that a "changeling" is a pretty horrific thing in Irish mythology? They were babies who sickened quickly and died...thought to be elderly/ailing fairies substituted for healthy human children. Not something most people would want as a tattoo!

Redwolf

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing myself, but I didn't want to say anything; I can't imagine why somebody would want a tattoo of that!

Doesn't seem that great in English either:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling

Is there a particular type of fictional character your sister is referring to?

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I figure it's always worth mentioning. That way the person can at least make an informed decision.

I think a lot of Americans are confused about this term "changeling," thinking it means something like a human who finds out she's actually a fairy with magical attributes, or a human with elfin characteristics. I've found that most people here also don't realize that fairies in Irish mythology aren't exactly nice or lovely beings...their idea of "fairy" is informed by popular culture (Tokien's or Mercedes Lackey's elves, for example) rather than traditional culture. That may or may not be the case here, but figure it's worth mentioning, just in case.

Redwolf

Oh, she knows. My sister's a little weird

Thank you - further searching brought up síofra, so that's what I told her. I never saw the other word - would the meaning be different? Or would that be from a specific place?

Iarlais is in the dictionary and of course, is a perfectly valid word that means "changeling". But there is nothing wrong with síofra either, so that'll work, too.

There is another word 'Malartán' which can be used. Leanbh Malartánach. Probably the first one which comes to my mind.

Aoireacht/ Aeracht is another option. Although síofra does mean "changeling", I think it is also one of the many terms for the "Irish fairies" in general ; such as: na daoine maithe, an slua aerach, aingil/ dream an Uabhair and Ulster also has bunadh na gcnoc. Certainly, Seán Ó Conaill used síofra to describe the fairies in general. These fairies were believed to have been banished from Heaven after the battle with Lucifer; the fallen angel. Although, these fairies were meant to be evil, they wished to be accepted back into Heaven and sometimes did a good turn in the hope they would be.

They hated water and fire and due to this there has been some harrowing stories associated with the fairies; of children, who didn't develop in the right way e.g talking, walking etc... as a usual child would, being burned, beaten, scalded or drowned to death; as people thought they had been replaced by a cranky changeling. For example Dr. Wilde (father of Oscar Wilde) tells the story of a Kerry women who roasted her child to death or in Tra Lee a women drowned her child or the story of Philip Dillon of Clonmel who was roasted on a spade by his two neighbours Anastatia O' Rourke and Ellen Cushion when his mother was out of the house. Sadly, they were roasted or drowned as the fairies hated water or fire. The law took a light view to these crimes, as it viewed them as superstitious lunacy; this may have led to the death of the only one adult Bridget Cleary (The Burning of Bridget Cleary), question is, was it a belief in fairies or just murder?

You might think this extremely strange, but you must look at it from the perspective of the people of the time. Many were illiterate and uneducated with no real understanding of science or medicine to explain the untimely death of a child or young person. Therefore, superstition ran wild and the belief of changelings was a comfort mechanism for parents to explain what happened and to fill in the gaps that science or rationality could not. For instance, Seán Ó Conaill tells the tale of Gáire an Bhuachalla Bhreoite "The Laugh of the Sick Child". A boy was stretched out in his bed and was in a bad way, his friends and neighbours called to the house, the child suddenly shot up and started laughing. The next day she asked him why he was laughing and he foretold an incident that was going to befall Seán na gCon. The child died and at his funeral his mother asked Seán if the incident occurred; and it had! This may or may not be a true story, probably not. If it were true the child probably died of pneumonia and his laughter may have been caused by a fever but the idea and motif of the changeling was adapted to explain the child's death.

The fairies were also used to prevent taboos or to warn people against certain dangers such as being out to late at night or going into the forest by yourself- so stories were created of fairies playing tricks on people rather than warning people against realistic dangers such as falling and banging your head in a field as you were coming home in the dark. Sometimes supernatural dangers can be more scary than the realistic ones. Fairies were also used to explain infertility in women!



I have never seen "Malartán" in the literature- where do they use that? it looks like a direct translation of the English, unless it was the other way round!

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice