More Irish than the Irish themselves

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"More Irish than the Irish themselves" (Latin: Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis) was a phrase used in the Middle Ages to describe the phenomenon whereby foreigners who came to Ireland attached to invasion forces tended to be subsumed into Irish social and cultural society, adopted the Irish language, Irish culture, style of dress and a wholesale identification with all things Irish.<ref name=MacLysaght >MacLysaght, Edward. More Irish Families. Irish Academic Press. Retrieved on 2006-11-20. “Some became completely integrated, giving rise to the well known phrase 'Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis' (more Irish than the Irish themselves). These formed septs on the Gaelic-Irish pattern, headed by a chief.”</ref>

These forces were generally associated with Richard "Strongbow" de Clare, Hugh de Lacy, and Gilbert de Angulo. The first family to be thus recognised was the de Angulo, known as Mac Coisdeala (i.e. Gilbert, son of Jocelyn) the name which was given to his descendants in Connacht. It was rendered into English as MacCostello, which in time became Costello.<ref>Originally Mag Oisdealbhaigh as in classical Irish the initial vowel changed the c into a g, for example: Mag Aonghusa is now Mac Aonghusa, Mag Uidhir is now Mac Uidhir.</ref>

While this phenomenon was associated with earlier invaders, and particularly with the post-12th century English and Norman settlers who became known as the Old English, it is not as often associated with later arrivals from the seventeenth century onwards.

The phrase is still commonly used however, both colloquially and in the media, in reference to immigration and assimilation in Ireland, and to some degree about some of the Irish diaspora (for example in The Irish Times,<ref name=IrishTimes>LookWest. More Irish Than the Irish Themselves?. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref> Sen. Jim Walsh,<ref name=ParliamentofIreland>Dáil Éireann. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref> Dr. Liam Twomey TD,<ref name=ParliamentofIreland2>Dáil Éireann. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref> or Irish Emigrant<ref name=IrishEmigrant>MacConnell, Cormac. The Pull of the City of the Tribes. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref>) or in conversation discussing the relationship between the cultural heritage of the Irish diaspora and the Irish in Ireland.<ref name=Boards> have you heard of this. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.</ref> While still echoing its original meaning, contemporary usage of the phrase usually takes a more open interpretation of assimilation or, in the case of the diaspora, the maintenance of Irish heritage. Debates of the Oireachtas demonstrate the age and range of contemporary applications of the phrase. Either when discussing the diaspora:

I do not think this country will afford sufficient allurements to the citizens of other States ... The children of Irish parents born abroad are sometimes more Irish than the Irish themselves, and they would come with added experience and knowledge to our country...

- Sen. Patrick Kenny, 1924 <ref name=FisheryBill> Seanad Éireann - Volume 2 - 15 January, 1924. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.</ref>

Or, more light-heartedly, on assimilation:

... [As] in olden times the attractiveness of Irish life made the Norman invaders ... "Hiberniores Hibernicis ipsis," "more Irish than the Irish themselves," so the charms of Galway, experienced through 25 happy years, have made a woman, born in one of the severed counties, feel entitled to describe herself as "Galviensior Galviensibus ipsis"-"more Galwegian than the Galwegians themselves."