Loveen - Gaelic or Galwegian Slang?

SarahFV

Afternoon!

This is my first post, so mods if it's in the wrong place please let me know and I'll move it.

My family are almost all from Galway & Tuam, and I've grown up hearing/using 'Loveen' as a term of endearment. Long story short, due to an accident I can't wear my wedding ring so I want to get this inked on my ring finger instead, but it occurred to me that I don't know whether it's a Gaelic word or if it's slang - or if it's spelled correctly.

Can anyone help with this?

Thank you in advance!

ETA: also, amockeen? Real word or not?

biko

Afaik it's just slang. Anglofication of little love.
You might be better off in Gaeilge forum here

dooroy

Amockeen I would say is " a mhacín ".
Mac is Irish word for son .
The "een" ("ín") at the end often suggests 'smaller/younger' but not always .

SarahFV

dooroy wrote: »

Amockeen I would say is " a mhacín ".
Mac is Irish word for son .
The "een" ("ín") at the end often suggests 'smaller/younger' but not always .

That makes sense - my nan called my dad this. He was her youngest son. Thank you

nuac

Loveen?

Not peculiar to Galway inmho

Heard it in Mayo, Clare and Dublin

dooroy

Could it be those you heard using it were originally from Galway ?
I'm from North Galway , on the border with Mayo, and adding "een" to names etc was quite common . Can't say I've heard this in other areas.

SarahFV

dooroy wrote: »

Could it be those you heard using it were originally from Galway ?
I'm from North Galway , on the border with Mayo, and adding "een" to names etc was quite common . Can't say I've heard this in other areas.

Definitely - aside from one grandparent, the rest of my family are all from Galway & Tuam.

biko

Yeah, it's not uncommon around Galway/Mayo/Roscommon border.

todders

You should get "chice ring" inked on your finger

Lucena

If you get Loveen inked on your finger, you'll spend the rest of your days explaining to people what it means.

Redhairedguy

Lucena wrote: »

If you get Loveen inked on your finger, you'll spend the rest of your days explaining to people what it means.

Like most visible tattoos then... :P

Lucena

馄饨.

It means 'harmony'.

Redhairedguy

Lucena wrote: »

馄饨.

It means 'harmony'.

For some reason I'm suddenly feeling hungry for pasta...

dooroy

Never heard that meaning for it . What language is that from ?
I always thought it was 'love' with the "een" added as for many other words
e.g "mind your fingers loveen" when a small child was 'playing' with the sliding door etc.
You learn something new every day.

SameHorse

it's slang, based on gaelic... the 'een' sound is actually ' ín ' ... which is typically added at the end of a word, in gaelic, to denote its diminutive size or the fact the thing it is describing is a 'lesser' or child version of something.

SameHorse

so ya... i'd spell it Lovín ... if you want to spell it 'correctly', though it would be an amalgam of english and gaelic. or simply 'Loveen' if you want to keep it phonetic.

I'd go for Lovín.

bagels

SarahFV wrote: »

Afternoon!
Long story short, due to an accident I can't wear my wedding ring so I want to get this inked on my ring finger instead,

Why not get the claddagh ring tattooed instead?
As well as being beautiful and having lovely history behind it, its also local.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claddagh_ring

dooroy

Don't think lovín would work being neither Eng nor Irish - and as said earlier loveen usually refers to child/young person .
But that's just my opinion .
How about ' Pósta ' (married ) - conveys the same information .

Greaney

It's totally a Galway (west) thing. The Galway students in Athlone IT were called the loveen's in the early 90's, what with them constantly using it. Yup, it's just Love with the irish diminutive 'een' added.