What Does ‘Oglach’ As In ‘Oglach Martin McGuinness’ Mean?

Martin McGuinness’ comrades unveil (if that is the right word) his headstone in the City cemetery, Derry at the weekend

The reference to ‘Oglach Martin McGuinness’ has got Unionists up in arms as it flies in the face of his own claim to have left the IRA – ‘Oglaigh na hEireann’ – in 1974. But it can hardly have been a surprise to them!

So what does ‘Oglach’ mean? In my experience IRA members use it, when they use Irish, to mean ‘Volunteer’, i.e. a rank and file member of the IRA.

But there are other meanings, as Focloir Gaelige-Bearia (O Donaill 1971) makes clear. Nonetheless the military essence dominates:

óglach, m. (gs. & npl. -aigh, gpl. ~). 1. Lit: (a) Young man. (b) (Young) warrior. 2. Lit: Attendant, servant; vassal. 3. Mil: Volunteer. Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Irish Volunteers. (Var: óglách, óglaoch)

The English-Irish dictionary (de Bhaidraithe) defines ‘Volunteer’ thus:

New English–Irish Dictionary has an entry for volunteer »

EXACT MATCHES IN ENGLISH—IRISH DICTIONARY

volunteer1, s. a Mil: Óglach m (deonach). b Deonach m.

volunteer2 . 1 v.tr. Tairgim (seirbhís) de mo dheoin féin. Abs. Glacaim gnó, dualgas, orm féin. He volunteered information, thug sé eolas uaidh dá chonlán féin. 2 v.i. Mil: Liostálaim de mo dheoin féin.

And can we in the same spirit now all agree that if Martin McGuinness was being mendacious about his non-membership of the IRA, so also are all the others who do the same or worse, like those who insist they were never, ever in it?