Erin go Bragh sometimes Erin go Braugh is the anglicisation of an Irish language phrase, Éirinn go Brách, and is used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever." Erin go Bragh is an English corruption of the phrase Éirinn go Brách in the Irish language. The standardized spelling in Irish is Éire go Brách, which is pronounced [ˈeːrʲə ɡə brɑːx]. However, Éirinn (which survives as the dative form in the modern standard) is a historic form used instead of Éire in two dialects; this is the source of the anglicised Erin.
In all other dialects the distinction between the nominative-accusative Éire and the dative Éirinn is kept distinct. This linguistic shift (dative forms replacing nominative) is common among Irish nouns of the second and fifth declensions. The term brách is equivalent to "eternity" or "end of time", meaning the phrase may be translated literally as "Ireland until eternity" or "Ireland until the end (of time)". Éire go Bráth (or Éirinn go Bráth) is also used in Irish and means the same thing. Go is a preposition, translatable as to, till/until, up to.
The national flag of Ireland (Irish: bratach na hÉireann) – frequently referred to as the Irish tricolour (trídhathach na hÉireann) – is a vertical tricolour of green (at the hoist), white, and orange. The proportions of the flag are 1:2 (that is to say that, as flown horizontally, the flag is half as high as it is wide). The Irish government has described the symbolism behind each colour as being that of green representing the Gaelic tradition of Ireland, orange representing the followers of William of Orange in Ireland, and white representing the aspiration for peace between them. Presented as a gift in 1848 to Thomas Francis Meagher from a small group of French women sympathetic to the Irish cause, it was not until the Easter Rising of 1916, when it was raised above the General Post Office in Dublin, that the tricolour came to be regarded as the national flag.
Meagher was the son of Newfoundland-born mayor of Waterford, Thomas Meagher Jr. However, there are two theories on his inspiration for the flag: the similarly-coloured Newfoundland Tricolour credited in legend as having been created in 1843, though this seems unlikely given the actual known history surrounding the Newfoundland Tricolour; and the French Tricolour. The flag was adopted in 1916 by the Easter Rising rebels and subsequently by the Irish Republic during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921). Its use was continued by the Irish Free State (1922–1937) and it was later given constitutional status under the 1937 Constitution of Ireland. The tricolour is used by nationalists on both sides of the border as the national flag of the whole island of Ireland since 1916. Thus it is flown by many nationalists in Northern Ireland as well as by the Gaelic Athletic Association.
