Home Manx Life A Few Nicknames

A Few Nicknames

by Bernadette Weyde

To show you how nearly every person has a nick-name on the Isle of Man, a story is told of a Peel Coroner (legal official) who summoned four men in Court as jurymen, by the following names, to which the men answered:


“Mac y Teare ny mollag; stollag mat y Cleary; guilley bwee glion mooar; glastin mooar mac Killey, hass shiu stiagh dy ghoaill y loo ayns daa ghooinney jeig.”


That is:


“Son of Teare, the mollag (bladder); young man, son of Clarke; yellow boy of Glen Mooar; big bulky lad, son of Killey, stand in to take the oath as jurymen.”



(source Wm. Cashen’s Manx Folk-lore (1912); artwork ‘The Jury’ by John Morgan http://bit.ly/1brGwJG)

You may also like