Dear Martin,

Not being an expert, I won't argue with your claim that the word might not be an 'old' Irish word. But, being that it is in the 'new' Irish dictionaries, and is in use in modern Irish, I was just trying to explain to Sheila what it meant and/or how it was used. However, I have seen the word used in the way I described in works of literature as Gaeilge that were written contemporary with World War II. However, I have to say that the authors were writing in the Ulster dialect. I wish I could tell you which ones they were, but the books were borrowed from a friend and have since been returned to him. I do remember, however, that they were typeset in the seanchló. But I seem to recall seeing Séamas Ó Grianna and his brother, Seosamh, using the word in at least one of their books.

And you're absolutely right about words being funny things.

-- Áine