What two Irish words come from last names? You might know one, but I doubt you know the second. I am currently reading Culture Shock Ireland and was surprised to find out these little nuggets of history.
"Queen Elizabeth I of England is credited with having introduced a new word into the language as a result of being on the receiving end of this innate capacity to charm through talk...she wanted Lord Blarney to give up his extensive lands to her as a many other clan leaders had done. In return he would be able to lease back his lands from her and would be free from any threat from her armies. Unwilling for obvious reasons to comply but equally unwilling to refuse her, he procrastinated. Receiving yet another humble but noncommittal letter from him she is said to have declared that the letter was a 'load of blarney'". (pg. 13 &14)
In the 1880's in Ireland, years after the Famine the struggle between landlord and tenant grew more and more violent and it was during this time that "boycott" became a word. "Captain Boycott was that land agent in county Mayo whose neighbours refused to harvest the crops of the farms whose tenants he had evicted." (pg. 37)
