What does 'Erin go braugh' mean?

Answer

I am Irish and live in Dublin and like most Irish people have studied Irish for about 12 years. 'Erin go braugh' is an incorrect spelling and is essentially meaningless. 'Erin go brea' however is the correct phrase and means 'Ireland the beautiful'. 'Erin go deo' means ireland forever. The various misspellings of 'go brea' are possibly due to the americanization of the phrase, which could come from people using it who are unfamiliar with its meaning or due to regional variants in the Irish language causing confusion abroad.

For the sake of others researching this colloquial phrase: Other common spellings include "Erin go brah" and "Erin go bragh".

It also seems possible that the meaning of this term has evolved into this phonetic variant over the years as the language that spawned it has gradually died out in Ireland. The Irish themselves are often illiterate when it comes to the Irish language. It is only in Gaeltacht areas that a lot of Irish people can speak and write fluently in Irish.

The correct spelling of the phrase is 'Éirinn go Brách' or in some dialects of Gaeilge 'Éirinn go Brágh'. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the phrase 'Éirinn go breá.'

'Éirinn go Brágh' is now commonly used as a patriotic cry meaning 'Ireland forever,' - 'go Brágh' meaning forever. 'Go brách' is actually quite a common word in the Ulster dialect of Gaeilge, spoken mainly in Donegal.

The phrase is thought to have originated from Scottish Gàidhlig, and then brought into Irish Gaeilge.

First answer by susan neumann. Last edit by Jadedknightly. Contributor trust: 20 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 407 [recommend question]