Ancient word of the day: Bóithrín

Ancient word of the day: Bóithrín

From Irish: Bóithrín

The word bóithrín comes from small (ín) Cow (bó) path. This is a path can either be man-made or created by cow meandering. Bóthar for road and botharín for small road – in the diminutive form. This became boreen or bohereen in Hiberno-English.

Adventures on the Isle of Skye
A highland coo. Copyright Content Catnip 2010

Twitchel

The word Twitchel originates from Nottingham, England. It means a narrow lane that’s usually unpaved and lined with hedgerows or drystone walls.

Ancient word of the day: Bóithrín

Here is the word Twitchell in 1435, in a record of common land owned and rented in the area “All the breadth of the common twitchel that lies on the north side of the Flesh-house, 3 shillings”

Ancient word of the day: Twitchel
Source: Archive.org

Other variants include:

From Cumbria: Lonning

From Scots: Lòininn

From Shetland: Strodi

Paved Bóithrín, Galway. Wikimedia
 Sit Down By The Fire by Shane MacGowan 

They're the things that you see
When you wake up and scream
The cold things that follow you
Down the boreen
They live in the small ring of trees on the hill
Up at the top of the field
Ancient Word of the Day: Reave
Ancient word of the day: Bóithrín

Published by Content Catnip

Content Catnip is a quirky internet wunderkammer written by an Intergalactic Space Māori named Content Catnip. Join me as I meander through the quirky and curious aspects of history, indigenous spirituality, the natural world, animals, art, storytelling, books, philosophy, travel, Māori culture and loads more.

8 thoughts on “Ancient word of the day: Bóithrín

  1. One of my great grandfathers told my mother that when he was a schoolboy in Galway, he could “hear the fairies singing” on the other side of the rock walls on his way to school. It may have been that Bóithrín!.

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    1. How cool if it was that bóithrín…it sounds like it was a nice story too…a lot of faery stories seem to come from Ireland. I loved it there, definitely magical in terms of the landscape and nature.

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    1. Highland coo…I guess I want a little ott with my Scottish pronunciation but it didn’t come out in writing clearly hehe

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