Omadhauns, Amadáns, Irish for Fools

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Diana Will, and I’m calling from Tucson, Arizona.

Well, welcome to the show, Diana. What can we do for you?

Well, I have a 65-year-old mystery, and my mystery is the word Amidon.

And when I was really young and the oldest of four ruffian siblings, my Irish grandmother would come over and babysit us so my mother could get a moment of clarity.

And she would chase us around the house yelling, you Amidans, you Amidans.

So I took that to mean kind of like we were little rascals or something.

But I’m 75 now, so that was 65 years ago.

But it’s been actually a passing fancy of mine over the years of what that actually meant.

And then lo and behold, one day in 1995, I was watching Braveheart with Mel Gibson.

And the Scottish, was it William Wallace, I believe, was fighting in the 13th century.

And he mentioned fighting the Amidons.

Now, that was 800 years ago, and that was in Scotland, right?

So I still persisted in wondering about it.

And I couldn’t really find anything about Scottish history and the Amidons.

How did it go from being like a 13th century, perhaps warring tribe in Scotland to coming out all these 800 years later out of the mouth of my Irish grandmother calling us Amidons?

I’m just I’m just really curious.

I’m imagining a bunch of children painted blue running around the house.

The secret answer here is not so secret, which is Amadon mentioned in the movie is not a tribe.

It just means fools. Idiots.

So he’s basically just insulting them.

Oh, no.

So is it Scottish or is it Irish?

It’s both.

Yeah, it comes from the shared Celtic language roots, the Gaelic and Gaelic roots.

Yeah, so it’s often spelled in Irish, O-M-A-D-H-A-U-N.

Interestingly, in the subtitles of the movie, they spell it A-M-E-R-D-A-N, which is not one of the established spellings of the word.

But you’ll also find it spelled as A-M-A-D-A-N with an acute accent on the final A.

And it might go back to Irish words meaning madness or craziness.

Not really sure.

But it is a very old word, and it is not surprising.

It wouldn’t have been surprising if that film were reliably historic.

It would not be surprising to find that word in a document from that far back.

Does it go back older than the 13th century?

Oh, I don’t know if it’s older than that, but it’s definitely got many centuries of use in it.

I mean, humans love to call each other rude names and have forever.

So, yeah, I’m not surprised.

In more modern writing, you’ll find it in Frank McCourt’s wonderful book, Angela’s Ashes, where one person says that he is sometimes called a dittering omadon, which means a dittering fool.

But generally fool is the translation, although simpleton is sometimes used.

Somebody who is just, as they say in the American South, just not right.

Oh, my gosh, Grandma.

Oh, Grandma.

So I assume when she was chasing you, it was in a lighthearted way and not an angry way.

No, it generally was, yeah.

I mean, we were always laughing about it when she would chase us like that.

But I’m sure we had been doing something wrong, which would be true.

Oh, of course.

What’s life with that little bit of doing wrong?

Yeah.

Well, that’s interesting because I was always looking up, oh, O-M-O, Ramadan.

And when I would do it to a series, and I’d go, what’s the meaning of Ramadan?

And it would give me the say, well, Ramadan is.

Oh, no.

So I came up thinking, you guys would have the answers.

If you want to find out more about this through Google, look for the spelling O-M-A-D-H-A-U-N.

And that’s going to give you more options.

But you’ll often find it anglicized, even among the Irish’s Amidon.

So they still say it?

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah, you will find it on Irish TV shows, Irish movies, Irish fiction, Irish nonfiction.

Yeah, it’s definitely still in use.

Oh, I never thought to ask my relatives who still live in Ireland.

I’m going to have to call them when I hang up.

Diana, I’m glad we were able to help you.

By the way, I do recommend that book, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCord.

It is sad and moving, but it is beautifully written.

I did read it.

I did read it.

I did read it.

I did read it, but I don’t recall seeing the word Amadon.

Yeah, Tiz, I think, is the next one, right?

Yeah, Tiz is the next one.

And yeah, I remember it in a scene where a teacher is sort of haranguing the students in Angela’s Ashes.

He uses that term.

Yeah, that’s the scene I was referring to.

Oh, well, I have the book actually on my shelf.

There you go.

Worth a reread.

Yeah, have a look.

Diana, thank you so much for spending some time with us.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, take care of yourself.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

All righty.

Bye.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

We love to talk to you about the memories you have of your parents, grandparents, and your relatives, and we love to hear about the things the young kids are bringing home from school.

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