Ní bheantar a hainm don bhairíghin.

Ní bheantar a hainm don bhairíghin.

(not * is taken * its * name * from the * loaf)

One must call a loaf of bread a loaf of bread.

The meaning here is that even a poor loaf of bread is still a loaf of bread. In other words, a spade is a spade and you cannot not call a spade a spade.

Aodh Mac Cathmhaoil, also known as Aodh Mac Aingil, used this proverb in “Scáthán Shacramuinte na hAithridhe” (1618) to argue that for the purposes of confession, a priest is a priest and the nearest one to hand is as good as any other:

“Ní bheantar a hainm don bhairíghin. As lór ceann ⁊ cosa do bheith ar an sagart ⁊ lámh do chur ós ceann na muinnteire si dochum a rádha go ndérnadar a bhfaoisidin ’s go bhfuil eagla Dé ⁊ grádh a ccreidimh aca.”

A modern version of the saying in the imperative makes it an exact equivalent to “Call a spade a spade”:

Ná baintear an t-ainm den bhairín.

Topics: Proverbial Sayings