Gàidhlig / English
imrich

imrich

Posted by Alasdair on Thursday 22 June 2017
We are familiar with the term imrich as a verb meaning ‘flit, move house!; migrate!’ and as a noun meaning ‘(act of) migrating; migration; (act of) flitting, moving house, removal’ (LearnGaelic).  It is clear on a record from Lewis in the DASG Fieldwork Archive, however, that the noun imrich has another sense which is perhaps less well-known: as a noun applied to clothing or utensils connected to the aforementioned kind of imrich; specifically to transhumance and the act of flitting from township to shieling in summer.  The following two phrases were recorded in Stornoway from a contributor from Arnol in 1972: Na chuir sibh a mach an imrich fhathast?; An d’thug sibh dhachaidh an imrich fhathast?  These are probably best translated as ‘Did you put the imrich out yet?’ and ‘Did you bring home the imrich yet?’ respectively.  An accompanying note sheds light on the specific application of imrich: “the clothing, utensils, etc. which were taken to the shieling at the beginning of summer and brought back at the end of the season.”
 
It is worth noting that this sense of imrich is recorded by Dwelly who defined the noun as ‘removal, changing of residence; effects or furniture so removed; emigration’, although Dwelly does not record a phrase in which the noun is used in this secondary sense.  There is evidence of this sense, however, in Corpas na Gàidhlig.  For example, it appears likely that the sense ‘effects, furniture in transit’ is the one in which imrich is used by Jonathan G. MacKinnon, editor of the Gaelic newspaper Mac-Talla, in a piece entitled ‘Cuairt do Eilean a’ Phrionnsa’ (‘A Trip to Prince Edward Island’) (vol. 5, no. 13, p. 1, 3 October 1896): “Tairnnidh so uine, agus fhad ’sa bhios na daoine tha mu ’n laimhrig a cur na h-imrich air a bhàta ’sa deanamh deiseil air son falbh bidh an luchd turuis a’ sealltuinn mu ’n cuairt.”  The relevant part of this passage describes people at the pier putting their effects or furniture aboard the boat and preparing to leave.  There are several other instances of imrich in Corpas na Gàidhlig with which the above instances might be compared and contrasted.
 
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