[PW] Re: ? "fethal"

[swguardian-stumpers at yahoo.com]

Online at: http://www.chapters.eiretek.org/books/Joycenglish/joyce11.htm
   
  "English As We Speak It In Ireland." (1910)
  Patrick Weston Joyce  (1827-1914)
  Chapter XI.
The Memory of History and of Old Customs
   
  [p. 164]
  More than a thousand years ago it was usual in Ireland for ladies who went to banquets with their husbands or other near relations to wear a mask. This lady's mask was called fethal, which is the old form of the word, modern form fidil. The memory of this old custom is preserved in the name now given to a mask by both English and Irish speakers - I fiddle, eye-fiddle, hi-fiddle, or hy-fiddle (the first two
   
  [p.165]
  being the most correct). The full Irish name is aghaidh-fidil, of which the first part agaidh, pronounced i or eye, means the face - agaidh-fidil, 'face-mask.' This word was quite common in Munster 60 or 70 years ago, when we, boys, made our own i-fiddles, commonly of brown paper, daubed in colour - hideous-looking things when worn - enough to frighten a horse from his oats.
  

"Williams, Lesley A." <lawilliams at cityofevanston.org> wrote:
  I'm posting a question o behalf of a patron:

hello Dear Librarian,
I was wondering if you could help me with the term "fethal?" My understanding is that it
was a mask worn by Irish women during the Middle Ages. Supposedly, they were worn
while attending banquets. I've found only one reference for the term: Joyce, P. W.
(Patrick Weston), 1827-1914. Social history of ancient Ireland.

Unfortunately, the entry gives no details and I'm at a loss where to look next.

Any suggestions or information you might have will be greatly appreciated.


I found 2 brief references to "fethal" by using Google book search. Both _English as We Speak it In Ireland_ by P. W. Joyce, 1910 and _Beverages, Past and Present_, by Edward Emerson, 1908 mention the term, but neither gives much detail or describes what a "fethal" would look like.

I've checked our historic costume collections, books on daily life in ancient Ireland, the _Oxford English Dictionary_, the _Illustrated Dictionary of Little Known Words_ and all of our periodical indexes, but found nothing else.

Any Celtic specialists who could shed some light?

Lesley Williams 
Head, Information Services 
Evanston Public Library 
1703 Orrington Avenue 
Evanston IL 60201 

tel: 847-448-8646
fax: 847-866-0319

lawilliams at cityofevanston.org
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Sue Watkins
National Genealogical Society/
Association of Professional Genealogists