Crom-a-boo - The Fitzgerald Legacy

	The Geraldine Crest The motto of the Fitzgerald family is "Crom-a-boo", the ancient Irish war cry of the clan Fitzgerald. Crom being the name of their castle, the cry may be translated 'Crom forever!'"
Brian Tansey writes to say: There is an Irish word, Abú, which means "forever, long life," etc. Éire abú means "Ireland Forever"!!! (A kind of victory toast if you like.) A more authoritative translation is offered by Doug McKercher, who teaches Gaelic at the University of Ottawa: The simple explanation of the phrase "Crom a boo!" is that it is the Irish (Gaelic) term a buadh, meaning "to victory!" Buadh, pronounced 'boo-a', is the Irish word for victory (it was a warcry, not a toast to the health of the clan). This crest also includes a dancing monkey at the very top, normally included on the crest of the Geraldines as the folklore ape that had stolen Thomas, son of John fitzThomas, from his nanny's carriage and hoisted him to the top of the family's castle, appearing to want to throw the baby to it's death. Instead, it returned the baby carefully to it's mother and slapped the nanny for not taking better care of little Thomas. This baby --at that time-- was the last living descendant of the Geraldines, from whom most of us are now related.

The Geraldine Crest

The motto of the Fitzgerald family is "Crom-a-boo", the ancient Irish war cry of the clan Fitzgerald. Crom being the name of their castle, the cry may be translated 'Crom forever!'"

Brian Tansey writes to say:

There is an Irish word, Abú, which means "forever, long life," etc. Éire abú means "Ireland Forever"!!! (A kind of victory toast if you like.)

A more authoritative translation is offered by Doug McKercher, who teaches Gaelic at the University of Ottawa:

The simple explanation of the phrase "Crom a boo!" is that it is the Irish (Gaelic) term a buadh, meaning "to victory!" Buadh, pronounced 'boo-a', is the Irish word for victory (it was a warcry, not a toast to the health of the clan).

This crest also includes a dancing monkey at the very top, normally included on the crest of the Geraldines as the folklore ape that had stolen Thomas, son of John fitzThomas, from his nanny's carriage and hoisted him to the top of the family's castle, appearing to want to throw the baby to it's death. Instead, it returned the baby carefully to it's mother and slapped the nanny for not taking better care of little Thomas. This baby --at that time-- was the last living descendant of the Geraldines, from whom most of us are now related.