Posts from March 2009

Sraothartach (Sneezing), Smaoisíl (Sniffling), and Srannadh (Snoring)

Posted by róislín No Comments
Mar 30 2009

As promised, we’ll address sneezing and related phenomena in today’s blog. You might have already anticipated that some more beannachtaí (blessings) and wishes for good health will be involved, just as they are with English (bless you, Gesundheit).

Sraoth is a sneeze. In Irish, it’s not so customary to use a verb that actually means “to sneeze,” but rather someone “makes” or “releases” a sneeze.

If you’re fairly new to the language, remember that the “th” at the end of sraoth is basically silent, just a little puff of breath. The same thing applies to sraothartach, although the puff of breath in the middle of the word is more pronounced, like the “h” sound in “huh” – SREE-hur-tukh.

Examples could include:

Rinne sé sraoth. He sneezed.

Lig sé sraoth dhá uair. He sneezed two times.

Cad a deir tú má ligeann duine sraoth? What do you say (in Irish) when someone sneezes?

The most widely heard response for the first sneeze is “Dia linn” (God bless us, or literally, God with us). This would seem to ensure the good health of everyone in the vicinity! In Irish formulaic fashion, the response to a second sneeze, or a first sneeze if it is especially strong, is “Dia linn, is Muire” (God and Mary bless us).

A little more cryptically, one could wish the sneezer “capall bán fút” (a white horse beneath you). I’ve never found a real explanation for this unusual phrase and can’t say I’ve heard it used very often. ”Dia linn“ is far more widespread. But at least the white horse wish is intriguing (like many other traditional phrases in Irish)!

A few other choice terms pertaining to one’s srón (nose):

smaoisíl (sniffling, sniveling), as in Tá an leanbh ag smaoisíl (The child is sniffling).

srannadh (snoring), as in Tá an seanduine ag srannadh (The old man is snoring).

As far as I know, there are no traditional blessings for sniffling, sniveling, or snoring, although some srannairí (snorers) could probably use some. Or at least those in aice leo (near them) could!

Bhur mblagálaí – Róislín

Beannachtaí i nGaeilge a Trí – Or How to Reply to a Greeting in Irish

Posted by róislín No Comments
Mar 27 2009

After two full blogs worth of information, we can finally say, “hello” in Irish. And now, how to reply!

Here we’ll also be keeping track of singular and plural, but for the traditional blessings we’ll also have to start using saints’ names as well. Sound unusual? The key lies in the fact that the blessings are formulaic, so up to about three people, you add saints. If there are more than three people to be greeted, one may resort to the room-blessing form mentioned in an earlier blog (Dia isteach anseo or its variation, Dia anseo isteach).

If you’re using haló or haigh, or their variants, you don’t have to be concerned with singular and plural, since the word “you” is not actually involved. One other thing you generally don’t have to worry about in Irish is a formal/informal distinction for the word “you.” Basically, it seems that most Irish speakers were on fairly equal footing as far as hierarchy goes, at least for the past several hundred years. I have heard of plural forms being used to address priests, but this custom seems to be fading.

To go back to our original conversation, here’s the continuation.

Úna: Dia duit, a Aoife. [Hello (God bless you), Aoife]

Aoife: Dia’s Muire duit, a Úna. [Hello (God and Mary bless you), Úna]

So we’ve added two words. Well, one is just a contraction with an apostrophe, but it still counts as a word. The letter “s” with the apostrophe is short for agus (and). Muire is specifically the Virgin Mary; “Mary” as a name for girls or women is spelled Máire,

If Úna greets two people, the formula would go like this:

Úna: Dia daoibh, a Aoife agus a Shéamais. [God bless you, Aoife and James]

Aoife and/or Séamas: Dia’s Muire duit, a Úna. [God and Mary bless you, Úna]

If a third person joins the conversation, we call upon Naomh Pádraig, saying “Dia’s Muire daoibh agus Naomh Pádraig.” At least supposedly we do. I can’t say I’ve heard this all that often in real life, any more than I’ve really heard the traditional blessing for sneezes, “Capall bán fút” (a white horse under you) used in real life. Speaking of sneezes and responses for them, keep an eye out for that to be covered in another blog soon. There are, of course, more choices for “Gesundheit” than white horses, “Dia linn,” mar shampla. Meanwhile, ááátisiúú, and I’ll be waiting for your response!

Bhur mblagálaí — Róislín

Beannachtaí i nGaeilge a Dó – Or How to Greet Several People in Irish

Posted by róislín No Comments
Mar 25 2009

As promised in a recent blog, here we’ll look at the greetings used when you’re talking to more than one person. Remember that Irish has two different ways to say “you,” singular and plural. Therefore, phrases such as “Dia duit” or “Go mbeannaí Dia duit” (God bless you) have plural forms as will.

The word “duit” changes to daoibh for the plural. So you’d say “Dia daoibh” or “Go mbeannaí Dia daoibh.” In dialects where people say “dhuit” instead of “duit,” such as Conamara, they’ll use the form “dhaoibh.”

Here are some sample greetings, the first to greet one person and the second to greet several:

a) Dia duit, a Aoife. Hello, Aoife.

b) Dia daoibh, a Aoife agus a Úna. Hello, Aoife and Úna.

a) Dia dhuit, a Shéamais. Hello, James.

b) Dia dhaoibh, a Shéamais agus a Sheáin. Hello, James and John.

Greetings like haló and haigh don’t require any special forms for the plural!

What about entering a house where there’s a whole roomful of people to be greeted? In this case, it was traditional to say, “Dia isteach anseo” or “Dia anseo isteach.” Literally, this is simply “God in here” or “God here in” but the essential meaning is “God bless all here.”

Sa chéad bhlag eile (in the next blog), we’ll finally tackle how to answer the greeting. Unlike English, the second person traditionally doesn’t simply echo what the first person has said (Hi, Jim, answered by Hi, Mary).

Bhur mblagálaí – Róislín

Beannachtaí i nGaeilge – Or How to Greet Someone in Irish

Posted by róislín No Comments
Mar 23 2009

For starters, let’s look at the word “beannacht,” which literally means “a blessing” but is also means “greeting.” Traditionally almost all Irish greetings were blessings. Today, the field has opened up with various versions of “hello” and “hi” now on the scene.

The two options given in most textbooks up to the 1990s were “Go mbeannaí Dia duit” and “Dia duit.” They both basically mean “God bless you.” The first greeting literally means “May God bless (to) you” and the second one is simply “God to you.” The longer greeting isn’t as widespread today, although I do hear it among native speakers of Irish.

In both cases, the word “duit” can appear as “dhuit,” with a change in spelling and pronunciation. This version is pronounced with the initial “dh,” a sound not found in English and not too easy to describe, except by comparison with other languages. One important feature is that the “d” in the “dh” cluster is not pronounced at all. If anything, “dh” is more of an “h” sound, pronounced deep in the throat.

This “dh” sound is a guttural version of the “ch” sound found in words like Scottish “loch” and German “Buch” or “Achtung,” that is to say, the vibration of the vocal cords occurs lower down in the throat than in “loch,” “Buch,” or “Achtung.” It’s is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the gamma symbol, ɣ, and is found in languages such as Arabic, Portuguese, and Turkish. Some Spanish words (haga, agua) also have this pronunciation, depending on who is speaking.

I’ve heard the “duit” pronunciation mostly among Donegal speakers, and the “dhuit” among those from Conamara. Either way, these phrases are just a few of the many ways to greet someone in Irish. Some of the recent alternatives are haló, haileo, haigh and hoigh. There are other strategies for greeting people as well. One is to plunge right into the question “How are you?” and that will be the subject of at least one whole blog, maybe more. Another approach, which is pretty well restricted to informal usage among peers, friends, or colleagues, is simply to say “bhuel,” followed by the person’s name. You guessed it! “Bhuel” is the Irish for the interjection “well.” Since Irish has very few words spelled with a “w,” the cluster “bhu” is used instead. In pronunciation, it sounds almost exactly like the English word “well.”

Stay tuned for another blog on how to respond to a greeting in Irish and another on the plural forms used for saying hello to several people. And, as promised, blag eile (another blog) on the various ways to ask “How are you?” in Irish – at least one for each dialect!

Bhur mblagálaí – Róislín

�

An Chéad Lá den Earrach (The First Day of Spring) – Not!

Posted by róislín No Comments
Mar 21 2009

Shortly after St. Patrick’s Day, we welcome in an tEarrach (the Spring). Or do we?

 

We may be accustomed to thinking of March 20th or 21st as the beginning of Spring, but there is actually a lot of controversy in English as to whether Spring starts on the first of the month or on the eacaineacht (equinox). Then there’s the question as to which mí (month) anyway! Some say February, March, and April, and others say March, April, May!

 

Regardless of the English concept, the traditional Spring season in Ireland consists of Feabhra, Márta, and Aibreán, which resemble their English counterparts in spelling, as do most of the other months. Three prominent exceptions are the ones derived from the ancient Celtic calendar: mí na Bealtaine, mí Lúnasa and mí na Samhna. You might know these from their significance in Celtic mythology – May, August, and November. The first day of each of these months was a major holiday, Lá Bealtaine, Lá Lúnasa, and an tSamhain. Celtic New Year’s Eve was celebrated on Oíche Shamhna (the eve of November, i.e. October 31st, known now in English as Halloween).

 

You might wonder what happened to the fourth “quarter day,” February 1st. The pre-Christian festival, known as Imbolc in Old Irish, became Lá Fhéile Bríde (St. Bridget’s Day) following the Christianization of Ireland. It was linked with fertility and abundance. It marked the first day of Spring and a least a small amount of seeds were sown that day to ensure a good harvest.

 

So back to an tEarrach – it started on February 1st, Celticly speaking! As the different séasúir (seasons) come up, we’ll be discussing them sa bhlag seo (in this blog). But meanwhile, we have another significant “first day” around the corner, Lá na nAmadán (literally, the Day of the Fools). So stay tuned for the April Fool’s Day blog, when we’ll learn the terminology for male fools, female fools, soft fools, open-mouthed fools, and perhaps a few others.

 

A few grammar points for today’s terms, concerning the notorious tuiseal ginideach (genitive case). We have several examples i mblag an lae inniu (in today’s blog). The phrases mí na Bealtaine and mí na Samhna use the word “na” (of the) in the middle because both of the names of the month are feminine and in the genitive case. The genitive case typically shows possession, as in phrases like ”hata an fhir” (the hat of the man). where “an fhir” is the genitive form of “an fear” (the man). The genitive case may be used even when there’s no actual possession or ownership, as in phrases like “mí na Samhna” (the month of an tSamhain).

 

The phrase Lá na nAmadán also uses “na” (of the) in the middle, but here it’s with a masculine plural noun. It causes an “n” to be inserted before nouns beginning with vowels, and, like the “t” prefix discussed a previous blog, it stays in the lower case, even in titles or proper nouns.

 

Whether or not an tEarrach does bring us aer cumhra (balmy air) and aimsir earrachúil (springlike weather), let’s hope go mbeidh sé go deas go dtí an chéad bhlag eile (that it will be nice until the next blog).

Bhur mblagálaí, Róislín

Back to the Top