In Reply to: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: fear gorm. posted by Fear Dorcha on June 13, 2007 at 08:42:01:

It's perfectly in order - there are lots of threads on this board about the origin of words. The guy or gal at the beginning of this thread simply asked why we call black people blue people as Gaeilge. The answer is that the ancient Irish traders were familiar with blue-stained Berbers from North Africa as they bumped into them while trading on a regular basis.

It was easier to move around by boat then overland so the sea was the trading route and we traded and (and interbred) with those we met along the way as well as simply learning from them. The survivors of the Spanish Armada also added to the DNA of the West of Ireland people - many Moorish Spanish families too of course.

In years to come they will be speculating about peculiar Brazilian or Polish or Lithuanian traits that have turned up in the Irish population - but that's definitely not nostalgia - yet.