Focal an Lae #53
The Word of the Day in Irish
Word: slog (SLOG)
Meaning: slog = swallow
Usage:
- Níor shlog mé gan chogaint é. (NEE-uhr HLOG may guhn XO-gwint ay)
= I took it with a grain of salt. (lit., I didn’t swallow it without chewing.)
- “Agus méaracha mo mháthar ag slogadh clocha paidrín”
= and my mother’s fingers gulping rosary beads - line from a song by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin
History: Old Irish “slucid” (swallows) comes from Common Celtic *slunk- (compare Welsh “llyncu” and Breton “lonka”),
which descends from the Indo-European root *(s)leug- (swallow).
German “schlucken” (to swallow) is a cognate, and English “a slug of whiskey” is probably a borrowing from the Irish or Scottish Gaelic.
Scottish Gaelic: sluig