Contemporary reviews of William Carleton's fiction ** UPDATED ** w/ a cite to my stab at translating an Irish word

David James O'Donoghue. The life of William Carleton: being his autobiography and letters; and an account of his life and writings, from the point at which the autobiography breaks off. London: Downey & Co., 1896.

Quarterly Review -- Wikipedia "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarterly_Review:

Typical of early nineteenth-century journals, reviewing in the Quarterly was highly politicized and on occasion excessively dismissive. Writers and publishers known for their Unitarian or radical views were among the early journal's main targets. Prominent victims of scathing reviews included the Irish novelist Lady Morgan (Sydney Owenson), the English poet and essayist Walter Savage Landor, the English novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her husband the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. In an 1817 article, John Wilson Croker attacked John Keats in a review of Endymion for his association with Leigh Hunt and the so-called Cockney School of poetry. Shelley blamed Croker's article for bringing about the death of the seriously ill poet, 'snuffed out', in Byron's ironic phrase, 'by an article'

Dublin Review -- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin_Review_(Catholic_periodical) says:

The Dublin Review was an influential Catholic periodical founded in 1836 by Michael Joseph Quin, Cardinal Wiseman and Daniel O'Connell. Quin had the original idea for the new journal, soon persuading Wiseman to lend his support, and next enlisting O'Connell whose Catholic Emancipation campaign he admired. Quin edited the first two issues before leaving to take up a post in the Spanish colonial service. This fell through, but O'Connell would not re-instate him as editor, nor allow him to continue as co-proprietor.

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "The review was intended to provide a record of current thought for educated Catholics and at the same time to be an exponent of Catholic views to non-Catholic inquirers." Its editors and contributors included many well-known writers discussing current affairs alongside religious, literary and historical topics.

The name was chosen because Dublin was a centre of Catholic culture, and it echoed the title of the flourishing Edinburgh Review, but the journal was actually published in London: quarterly at first, then monthly. Contributors to the magazine included Don Luigi Sturzo, E. I. Watkin.[1] and Barbara Ward.[2] In 1961 the name was changed to the Wiseman Review, to avoid confusion, but the publication reverted to the original name in 1965. It ceased publication in 1969, and was incorporated into The Month.

LATER (Sept. 26): Wordnik at https://www.wordnik.com/words/ahagur links to a sketch titled "The Poor Scholar" in Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry

Google Books cite: Geography of an Irish oath. The Lianhan Shee. Going to Maynooth. Phelim O'Toole's courtship. The poor scholar. Wildgoose Lodge. Tubber Derg; or, The red well. Neal Malone Volume 2 of Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, William Carleton Author William Carleton Publisher Wilson & Hawkins, 1862. https://books.google.com/books?id=THlKAQAAMAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Excerpt from email to Wms C.: It was kind of fun trying to figure it out. The only times "ahagur" appears on the Internet is in old editions of Carleton's books, and it only appears then in dialog. The context is always a conversation between two people who know each other, and it's used as a kind of direct address -- e.g. in the linked passage, a couple address each other as "avourneen" and "ahagur," and that's typical of the others.

In this bit of dialog, Carleton translates it as "jewel." I can't find the exact word, but I'm guessing it's Co. Tyrone dialect -- or something he heard from his mother -- on the order of "dearie" or "honeybunch" or "good morning, sunshine."That's still guesswork, but I'm comfortable enough to say "ahagur [a term of endearment]" with my guess in brackets after the word when I get the article ready to send off a magazine.

BTW, the excerpt I'm sending you from Carleton's _Traits and Sketches of the Irish Peasantry_ is his take on a country priest who: (a) is preaching about Purgatory; and (b) sounds a lot like the jake-leg country preachers who were still plying their trade down home when I was a kid, and no doubt still are.

Again, thanks for your help. Sometimes looking for something, coming up with nothing and identifying it as a blind alley is an important part of the process, at least in my experience!