Yola people

Last updated January 14, 2025

Baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland Forth-Bargy.gif — Baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland

The Yola people, historically known as Forth and Bargy people or Forthers,^[1] were an ethnic group that formed in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford after the Norman invasion of Ireland at Bannow Bay in 1169. They were descendants of the original Norman invaders and hence they were distinct from the rest of Ireland in their customs, manners and appearance. As time progressed, the Yola people became mixed with the diverse medieval ethnic mix which colonized County Wexford, including French, Norman, Danish, Welsh, English, Irish, Flemish and the original Old Norse settlers who colonized the area prior to the invasion.

Customs, dress and manners

The Yola people had a number of customs that were thought to have originated in the old Duchy of Normandy.^{[ citation needed ]} These included mumming, patrons, and the tradition of placing funeral crosses on roadway trees, which still continue to this day.^{[ citation needed ]} They were known to be extremely law-abiding; incidents of robbery, murder and the like were seldom recorded in the baronies.

A woman's customary dress was a lilac kircher or bonnet with ribbons, and a large frock worn as the main garment, with ribbons of various colors tying them across the waist. A man wore a waistcoat, short trousers and long socks with a hat.

Norman utensils such as a "peeler" were used for cooking bread. Unique dishes, such as buskés, a type of spiced corn bread, were common in the area.^{[ citation needed ]}

A local custom was to take a daily afternoon nap known as an enteete in the local tongue, similar to the Spanish siesta. It was common at this time of day to cross from one end of the baronies to the other and not to see a single person on the roads.^{[ citation needed ]}

Language

The Yola dialect of Middle English, also known as the Forth and Bargy dialect, was a unique language that formed in the baronies. It was mainly spoken in the structure of Old/Middle English but also contained loanwords from Irish, Norman-French and Old Norse. It was somewhat similar to the Dorset dialects of West England, but its many loanwords have made it a source of research by academics. The Yola dialect "survived until the mid-nineteenth century".^[2]

Farming

The baronies of Forth and Bargy are unique in that they do not experience as harsh a climate as the rest of Ireland, which allows for crops to thrive in their flat and fertile plains.^{[ citation needed ]} The main crops grown by the Yola people were beans, peas and barley; potatoes were not relied upon as heavily as in the rest of Ireland. The farmers practised an advanced crop rotation and fertilizing system far ahead of the rest of the country. The baronies did not experience the effects of the Great Famine and "actually prospered" during that period, including by relying on the alternative crops, such as beans.^[3]

Decline

The Yola people eventually merged into Irish culture. Many lands were confiscated during the plantations and modern English was introduced at this time. The Yola language eventually succumbed to similar factors that suppressed the Irish language in the county,^{[ citation needed ]} including the stigmatization of the language and the introduction of English in schools.^[4] The language was officially declared extinct in the 1850s, however the language still had speakers till 1998 with the death of Jack Devereux.^[5] Their descendants still populate the baronies and some customs and words survive in the locality.^{[ citation needed ]}

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Yola may refer to:

Yola, more commonly and historically the Forth and Bargy dialect, is an extinct dialect of the Middle English language once spoken in the baronies of Forth and Bargy in County Wexford, Ireland. As such, it was probably similar to the Fingallian dialect of the Fingal area. Both became functionally extinct in the 19th century when they were replaced by modern Hiberno-English. The word yola means 'old' in the dialect. In modern times, there have been efforts to revive the dialect.

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The Anglo-Frisian languages are a sub-branch of the West Germanic languages encompassing the Anglic languages as well as the Frisian languages.

Fingallian or the Fingal dialect is an extinct dialect of Middle English formerly spoken in Fingal, Ireland. It is thought to have been an offshoot of Middle English, which was brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion, and was extinct by the mid-19th century. Although little is known of Fingallian, it is thought to have been similar to the Yola dialect of County Wexford.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bargy</span> Barony in County Wexford, Ireland

Bargy is a barony in County Wexford, Ireland. From the 12th century Bargy and the surrounding area, including the barony of Forth, saw extensive Anglo-Norman settlement following the Norman invasion of Ireland. A distinctive Anglic language, known as the Yola language or simply Yola, was spoken in this area into the late 19th century.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathleen Browne</span> Irish politician and writer (1878–1943)

Kathleen Anne Browne was an Irish politician, farmer, writer, historian and archaeologist. She was arrested after the Easter Rising and held in Kilmainham Gaol. During the Civil War, she was Pro-Treaty and joined Cumann na nGaedheal. She was a member of Seanad Éireann from 1929 to 1936. She was a fluent speaker of Yola, an Anglic language of Wexford.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forth (County Wexford barony)</span> Barony in County Wexford, Ireland

Forth is a barony in County Wexford in Ireland.

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Jacob Poole was an Irish antiquarian.

References

↑ Poole, Jacob (1867). "Glossary of the Dialect". In Barnes, William (ed.). A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland. London: John Russell Smith. pp. 27–28. Retrieved 28 April 2022– via Internet Archive. A lawful form from bren, to burn, but I know it not in another Teutonic speech. It is a good word. Did the Forthers make it?
↑ Colfer, Billy. "The Ethnic Mix in Medieval Wexford". History Ireland. Retrieved 14 January 2025. in the mid-seventeenth century, the highest concentration of Old English personal names in Ireland was to be found in Forth and Bargy and in this district [..] a unique dialect known as Yola survived until the mid-nineteenth century
↑ Ó Gráda, Cormac (2000). "Contexts and Chronology". In Mokyr, Joel (ed.). Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory. The Princeton Economic History of the Western World. Vol. 103. Princeston University Press. pp. 27–28. doi:10.1515/9780691217925. ISBN 9780691070155 – via Google Books. Few areas in Ireland can have escaped the famine as lightly as the baronies of Forth and Bargy in south Wexford in the 1840s. Indeed, a recent account claims that not only did they escape the worst, but that they "actually prospered." [...] The Forth and Bargy region was noted for its beans, and was less dependent on the potato than most of the country.
↑ Motherway, Susan H (28 April 2013). The Globalization of Irish Traditional Song Performance. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-1-4094-7301-5. According to Ó Muirithe, 'when literacy became widespread the Yola people became ashamed of the ways of the older people; by 1870 they were speaking Hiberno-English'
↑ Pepper, Maria (24 April 2020). "Fascinating book on Yola dialect of Forth and Bargy". Wexford People. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2022.

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[1] Poole, Jacob (1867). "Glossary of the Dialect". In Barnes, William (ed.). A Glossary, with Some Pieces of Verse, of the Old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland. London: John Russell Smith. pp. 27–28. Retrieved 28 April 2022– via Internet Archive. A lawful form from bren, to burn, but I know it not in another Teutonic speech. It is a good word. Did the Forthers make it?

[2] Colfer, Billy. "The Ethnic Mix in Medieval Wexford". History Ireland. Retrieved 14 January 2025. in the mid-seventeenth century, the highest concentration of Old English personal names in Ireland was to be found in Forth and Bargy and in this district [..] a unique dialect known as Yola survived until the mid-nineteenth century

[3] Ó Gráda, Cormac (2000). "Contexts and Chronology". In Mokyr, Joel (ed.). Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory. The Princeton Economic History of the Western World. Vol. 103. Princeston University Press. pp. 27–28. doi:10.1515/9780691217925. ISBN 9780691070155 – via Google Books. Few areas in Ireland can have escaped the famine as lightly as the baronies of Forth and Bargy in south Wexford in the 1840s. Indeed, a recent account claims that not only did they escape the worst, but that they "actually prospered." [...] The Forth and Bargy region was noted for its beans, and was less dependent on the potato than most of the country.

[4] Motherway, Susan H (28 April 2013). The Globalization of Irish Traditional Song Performance. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-1-4094-7301-5. According to Ó Muirithe, 'when literacy became widespread the Yola people became ashamed of the ways of the older people; by 1870 they were speaking Hiberno-English'

[5] Pepper, Maria (24 April 2020). "Fascinating book on Yola dialect of Forth and Bargy". Wexford People. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2022.

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