58: #58 | The Tribe of Dé Danann

"Hamlet has been performed in Klingon" Aisling Carolan. For a poet, the fact that the Irish word tír (country) and the English word tear (a sad drop of water) sound the same is profoundly significant. For a linguist, however, this is a coincidence and a cursed one at that. How much weight should we attribute to similar sounding words with similar meanings in different languages? In this week's episode, we consider the theory, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, that Hebrew and Gaelic languages are linked… and that the source of this link is that the Gaels were a lost tribe of Israel. Some of this is down to soundalikes, but do grammatical parallels prove a deeper link? Darach and Clodagh are assisted in their work by crafty classicist/linguist/artist Aisling Carolan, who is determined to prove a link between Pokemon and Púca. Today's episode is swear-free. --- Contact the show at https://twitter.com/motherfocloir or email us at motherfocloir@headstuff.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices