# Gaelic in English

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-in-english/330992>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 14, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-in-english/330992 "2005-11-14T15:16:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-in-english/330992/41 "2005-11-16T14:29:14Z")

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> [@MEBuckner](#):
>
> Is it really the “great majority”? I thought it was about 50-50 Anglo-Saxon or Germanic vs. French and/or Latin.

I’m not sure exactly how it’s counted - establishing what is and isn’t a word for these purposes is a nontrivial task. Numbers I’ve heard are more in the 70% Latin range. But of course the majority of that 70% are learned or technical words rather than everyday vocabulary, which tilts more towards the Germanic.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-in-english/330992/42 "2005-11-16T15:18:44Z")

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> [@Bytegeist](#):
>
> Hey now, “bog” is on _both_ of those lists.
> 
> And some of these I think you’re just making up. (_Usquebaugh?!_)

A while back, I bought a bottle of Irish Whiskey in a crockery jug. Right underneath the words Irish Whiskey were the words **Ouisque Baugh.**

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaelic-in-english/330992/43 "2005-11-16T16:01:37Z")

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> [@MEBuckner](#):
>
> Is “back” really from Gaelic? All the sources I can find indicate it’s from Anglo-Saxon (see [here](http://www.bartleby.com/61/95/B0009500.html), for example.)

No, not _that_ back. I was referring to the other word _back_ meaning ‘A shallow vat or tub used chiefly by brewers’. [Dutch _bak_, from French _bac_, from Vulgar Latin _bacca_, a water vessel, perhaps from Celtic.] I looked through Irish and Welsh dictionaries for cognates. Perhaps Irish _báigh_ ‘drown, immerse, sink, inundate’ is related.

_Usquebaugh_ is a word you might find in historical novels. It’s 17th-century English, based on Irish _uisce beatha_. The English in those days had an annoying habit of transcribing foreign words using “-augh” to represent a simple vowel sound /_a_/ which was temporarily lacking from English phonetics due to the ongoing Great Vowel Shift. The vowel seems to have returned to English in the 18th century when the vowels finally stabilized.

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