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REAL MEANING OF SHAUN SPADAH LONDON England April 5 One or two writers have put their readers astray when rendering into English the Gaelic words Shaun Spadali Early ex ¬ planations were badly at fault They declared that Shaun Spadah when Anglicized meant James Good Elsewhere Sliann Spaduh was guessed to mean Jack of the Spade or Jack of Spades That was incorrect too Shaun which is the phonetic spelling of the Gaelic Sean means John and Spndaii pronounced Spoddagh is the rough unused portion of peat or turf Hence Shann Spadali means John the Bogman or John the Bogtrotter The Gaelic for James is Shenmus pronounced Sheeomn Mr McKenna the breeder of Shaun Spadah called the horse by that name for the reason that he was a great pet without a trace of temper so much so that the children about the place made a friend of him pulling his tail and crawling under his legs without any protest coming from John He was so submissive and fo to say long suffering that he did not appear to have go about him AAIien lie was taken up and trained for steepjechasing after having run once in his twoyearold days he was a different sort of proposition He really learned his business in the limiting field for R G Cleary the Streamstowii trainer who bought him from Mr McKenna hunted him as a threeyearold with the result that lie became acquainted witli almost any and every kind of obstacle
