Slieveen
A sly, untrustworthy person who operates by smoothness rather than force - all warm handshakes and quiet betrayals. The slieveen is not a thug; he's the one who would tell on you with a smile.
Etymology
Borrowed directly from Irish 'slíbhín'. The most widely accepted reading takes 'sliabh' (mountain) plus the diminutive '-ín', via an older root 'sleamhuinn' (slippery, smooth) and Proto-Indo-European '*sleubh-' (to slide, slip). P.W. Joyce in 1910 offered an alternative reading from 'slígh' (a way) plus 'bin' (sweet, melodious) - 'a sweet-mannered fellow' - though this etymology is now less favoured.
In a sentence
smooth-tongued, sly, and guileful - P.W. Joyce, English As We Speak It In Ireland, 1910
a little mountainy fellow, as treacherous as he was unpredictable - Hugh Leonard, Out After Dark
Sleeveen language. Deliberately deceptive, while taking pains not to formally lie. - Gene Kerrigan, Irish Independent, 2014
Historical notes
P.W. Joyce in 1910 described the word as 'universal all over the South and Middle' of Ireland; the geographic centre has shifted little since. The 2010s saw a small political revival when commentators began using 'sleeveen language' to describe the kind of public statement that conveys an obvious untruth without ever quite committing one. Hugh Leonard's gloss in 'Out After Dark' is the cleanest one-line definition: 'a little mountainy fellow, as treacherous as he was unpredictable.'
Alternate spellings
sleeveen · sleveen · shleeveen
Sources
- Ó Dónaill, Niall. Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, entry slíbhín. · dictionary
- Joyce, P.W. English As We Speak It In Ireland (1910). · academic
- Leonard, Hugh. Out After Dark. · academic