Craic
history
Craic or crack is a term for fun, entertainment, and enjoyable conversation, particularly prominent in Ireland. It is often used with the definite article – the craic. Some linguistic historians assert that craic was borrowed into Irish from the English language expression crack in the mid-20th century, and the Irish spelling was then reborrowed into English.
Like many other words over the centuries, 'crack' was borrowed into the Irish language with the Gaelicized spelling craic. It was in use as early as the 1960s,See, for example, this newspaper advertisement: and was popularized in the catchphrase 'Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn' ('We'll have music, chat and craic'), used by Seán Bán Breathnach for his Irish-language chatshow SBB ina ShuÃ, broadcast on RTÉ from 1976 to 1982.
The Irish spelling was soon reborrowed into English, and is attested in publications from the 1970s and '80s. Craic has also been used in Scottish Gaelic since at least the 1990s, though it is unknown if it was borrowed directly from Irish or from English.
At first the craic form was uncommon outside of Irish, even in an Irish context. Barney Rush's 1960s song "The Crack Was Ninety in the Isle of Man" does not use the Irish-language spelling, neither is it used in Christy Moore's 1978 version. However, The Dubliners' 2006 version adopts the Irish spelling. Now, 'craic' is interpreted as a specifically and quintessentially Irish form of fun. The adoption of the Gaelic spelling has reinforced the sense that this is an independent word (homophone) rather than a separate sense of the original word (polysemy). Frank McNally of The Irish Times has said of the word, "[m]ost Irish people now have no idea it's foreign."
Origins
The lexicographer Dineen in his iconic "Focloir Gaedhilge agus Bearla" (Irish - English dictionary, published 1927) includes the term "cracaire" = a boaster,a jester, a talker. It maybe that this was an example of what Gaelic purists call "Bearlachas", namely Irish language corruptions of purely English language terms absorbed into Gaeilge,the Gaelic equivalent of "Franglais". However, Newnes' "New Comprehensive Dictionary of the English language", published shortly after the First World War, draws a clear distinction between "Crack,krak, (Scots), a moment,an instant"(as in "the crack of dawn",or the homely expression often used in the north of Ireland and Scotland: "(he)didn't last a crack!"), and the more common usages including the following, "Crack,krak.to utter a sharp sudden sound:to split to boast:to chat", also (n.)"friendly chat". Newnes gives several possible sources for the word,namely "A.S.(Ango-Saxon)cracian, to crack;cf Dutch Kraken, Gael,crac".It seems clear then that "crac" was in use in Gaelic nearly a hundred years ago and probably a lot longer; the gratuitous addition of "i" to form the neoligism "craic", posssibly for pseudo-aesthetic reasons, is of more recent origin.While proponents of "Ulster Scots" (northern Hiberno-English) and fervent gaelgoiri (Irish language speakers) continue to lay respective and conflicting claim to the term the only certainty may be that the word is of Indo-European origin.
History
An older, related, more widespread, sense of crack is "joke", as in crack a joke or wise-crack.Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.b Another sense of crack, found in the north of England, is "news, gossip",Oxford English Dictionary "crack (noun)" sense I.5.a which influences the common Irish expression "What's the crack?" or "How's the crack?", meaning "how are you?", "how have you been?", or "have you any news?" The context involving 'news' and 'gossip' originated in Northern English»"Crack, Craic" from Hiberno-English dictionary and the Scots language.[http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/getent4.php?plen=5602&startset=10071840&query=Crak&fhit=crak&dregion=form&dtext=dost#fhit "Crak" from the Dictionary of the Scots Language] This sense entered into Hiberno-English from the Ulster Scots dialect in Northern Ireland, some time in the mid-20th century. Early Irish citations from the Irish Independent relate to rural Ulster: from 1950, There was much good "crack"... in the edition of "Country Magazine" which covered Northern Ireland; or from 1955, the Duke pulled the bolt on the door of the piggery, and let Coogan's old sow out...The Duke had been sitting on top of Kelly's gate watching the crack. It can frequently be found in the work of twentieth century Ulster writers such as Brian Friel (1980): You never saw such crack in your life, boysBrian Friel: Translations and Jennifer Johnston (1977): I'm sorry if I muscled in on Saturday. Did I spoil your crack? Jennifer Johnston: Shadows on Our Skin.
Criticism of the spelling "craic"
The spelling craic has attracted some criticism. English language specialist Diarmaid Ó Muirithe wrote in his Irish Times column "The Words We Use" that "the constant Gaelicisation of the good old English-Scottish dialect word crack as craic sets my teeth on edge."; reprinted in In his Companion to Irish Traditional Music, Fintan Vallely suggests that use of craic in English is largely an exercise on the part of Irish-themed pubs to make money through the commercialisation of traditional Irish music. Other critics have accused the Irish tourism industry and the promoters of Irish theme pubs of marketing 'commodified craic' as a kind of stereotypical Irishness.