Sir, – Kieran O'Rourke (December 10th), responding to Ronan McGreevy's "An Irishman's Diary" of December 9th, which quoted a letter by James Doherty, a Leitrim man serving in the Salonika campaign in the first World War, who wrote that the mosquitoes were worse than the "clag" (midges) at home, asks if the term "clag" is particular to Leitrim.
When growing up in North Louth in the 1940s I was frequently bitten by what I then heard as “clegs”. But I’m quite happy to believe that, if anybody had thought to write of that experience at the time, the word would have appeared as “clags”. – Yours, etc,
JOHN CASEY,
Bray, Co Wicklow.
A chara, –The word “clag” is not confined to Leitrim, but is used in the north of Ireland as well as in Scotland and northern England. In Down and doubtless elsewhere it is pronounced “cleg”. – Yours, etc,
MÁIRE NIC MHAOLÁIN,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – “Clag” was in common use in Co Down during my childhood some 60 years ago. However we pronounced it “cleg”.
I believe it may have some connection with the Irish “cuileog”, a fly.
The word has declined in usage, as has the frequency of being bitten by those loathsome creatures, which for a variety of reasons are now rarely encountered in our countryside. – Is mise,
BRIANPATTERSON,
Newry,
Co Down.
Sir, – “Clag” in Leitrim would most likely be a local pronunciation of “cleg”, a widespread alternative name for the gadfly or horse-fly.
That the meaning of the word was also extended by some people to refer to the midge – another annoying biting insect – is understandable. Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary (1905) has "clag" for "cleg" from Yorkshire. But in the north of Ireland, pronunciations of the letter "e" with a lower or more open vowel sound more like the one usually represented by the letter "a" in words like "thresh", "Derry", "rector", giving "thrash", "Darry", "ractor", are still fairly common and were more widespread in the past.
It’s not surprising that this should be found in the Border county of Leitrim, and perhaps especially in the names of insects we would associate with farms and country walks.
Another possibility is that Leitrim folks have adopted the word “clag”, meaning “stick to”, and applied that to insects that stick to people in very unpleasant ways. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN McCAFFERTY,
Rådal,
Norway.