Finding of Moses/'Terinachers'

Subject: Finding of Moses/"Terinacher"
From: GUEST,Guest, Ed Silberman
Date: 27 Mar 04 - 02:07 AM

I'm looking for a dialect word definition. A long time ago I learned a version of The Finding of Moses (differnt from the "Zozimus" one found here in the DT) with the word "terinacher" in it . "She picks up the bahby an' she sez in accents mild 'terinachers' daughters which o'yas owns a child' ". There are three similar words already listed in the DT:

    "Thunderin' Jayzus girl, how, but which of yis owns the child!"

    Said, "Tar an' ages, gerrils, which of yez owns the child?"

    "Oh tar-an-a-gers, now me girls, which one of yis owns the child?"

I've also stumbled upon tattheration in an Irish folk tale: "Oh, tattheration to that theif of a gardener" and is I suspect terinacher might be related. Anyone got any clues what terinacher means and how to properly pronounce it?

Subject: RE: Finding of Moses/'Terinachers'
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 27 Mar 04 - 04:50 AM

Sounds a bit like Walter Brennan saying tarnation, there seems to be a lot of near rude exclamations about, and I think that damnation may be the root of some of these words that end in nation. Gosh darn! is another one used instead of God damn! Also there seems to be a fashion for made up words in a lot of Irish songs, like contagious used instead of contiguous in A Sailor Courted a Farmers Daughter.I suspect that Irish Gaelic may also be at the root of some of these word elisions.
John

Subject: RE: Finding of Moses/'Terinachers'
From: MartinRyan
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 05:24 AM

Nowadays, people often sing the more basic and blasphemous "Thunderin' Jazus, gerruls!" but the original has a long and somewhat weird origin. Not Gaelic as far as a I now. Fans of Joyce may remember it in Finnegans Wake.

I need to check a few sources before summarising.

Regards

Subject: RE: Finding of Moses/'Terinachers'
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 06:18 AM

The Oxford Book of Irish Verse has it as "Tearin' ages, gerruls, which of yez owns the child?"

Subject: RE: Finding of Moses/'Terinachers'
From: GUEST,GUEST, Ed Silberman
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 02:35 AM

Thank you for your helpful and thought provoking answers. Didn't know the was an Oxford Book of Irish Verse. What does "tearin' ages" mean?
Martin Ryan, I'll be intersted in seing what you can come up with afte checking your sources. For some reason I wrote-off Gaelic, thought it sounded more like English dialect. This give me ideas for othre avues to pursue. Thank you, each, again

Subject: RE: Finding of Moses/'Terinachers'
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 07:01 AM

T P Dolan's book A dictionary of Hiberno-English has the following:

tare and ages
An interjection. (Christ's)tears (shedding) or tears (torn flesh) and agues.

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That may seem unlikely, but the next entry is:

tare and 'ouns
An interjection. (Christ's)tears (shedding) or tears (torn flesh) and wounds.

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... and that one is supported by Partridge's Dictionary of Historical Slang.. Both give examples from early 19 C. Irish writers.

I wonder if Dolan is working by analogy?

Regards