This colourful collection of Irish insults dates from the Early Medieval era and is primarily based on the period’s satirical poetry and prose. The insults are sourced from the electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language which in this instance relies heavily on Róisín McLaughlin’s ‘Early Irish Satire‘.

1 ‘you moulting desert ram‘ (a reithi folta fasaigh ar fiadh) 2. ‘you ugly, case-carrying, cold-handed bag carrier!’ (a thíagánaig étig aitig úarlámaig!) 3. ‘you grandson of a ploughman [who is] filthy like a badger’ (uí airim brocṡalaig) 4. ‘you flea-ridden woodcock‘ (a chrebair chuilig) 5. ‘you son of a stammering, surly, puffed-up foreign woman‘ (mac ro boí oc gaillsig goit grúcbuirr) 6. ‘you sallow … bog-barren one‘ (a apaide acaite anachluim) 7. ‘you greedy voracious ox‘ (a chonadmairt chícaraig) 8. ‘you comb of a castrated cockerel, smoky-coloured, bent and crooked‘ (a ulcha gaillín detbudánaig cúarlúpánaig) 9. ‘you pitch on the rim of a goblet‘ (a bí ar burd ardáin) 10. you ‘boiled cow’s udder‘ (uth bo bruithi) 11. you are ‘dark and crooked, harsh and wrinkled, harsh and pot-bellied‘ (doburlúpánaig bodurgrúcánaig bodurmétlánaig) 12. you ‘horn of an infertile cow‘ (adarc bó rodraige) .

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