Posts from December 2009

Nótaí Fuaimnithe don Bhlag Roimhe (Pronunciation Notes for the Previous Blog)

Posted by róislín No Comments
Dec 31 2009

This blog is mostly pronunciation notes for the previous entry, since pronunciation is one of the aspects of Irish that many of my students keep asking about.  As usual, I’ll be concentrating on the words that have silent letters or that tend to raise questions.   

 

I hope this will be useful for relative beginners.  For advanced readers, please hold tight, and we’ll have the blogs on the Christmas “wrap-up” and the New Year’s theme shortly. 

 

Since many of the silent letters result from changes to the first letter of a word, let’s look at some of those first, including one example from the title of today’s entry:

 

don bhlag [dun vlahg], for the blog; while “bh” followed by a broad vowel (a, o, u) can be pronounced as either “w” or “v,” depending on dialect, it’s always pronounced “v” before the consonants “l” or “r.”  An additional example, “an bhróg” [un vrohg]

 

If you’ve been working on Irish for a while, you may have noticed a variant of this phrase, “don mblag” [dun mlahg], which is also correct.  Some dialects, and Standard Irish, use lenition after “don” (giving “bhlag”); other dialects use eclipsis (giving “mblag”).

 

bleathach [BLÆ-ukh] grist, or, the “flip/nog” part of egg-flip, eggnog; the silent “th” gives a slight breathy pause in the middle of this word, but it’s barely two syllables.  The vowel sound of the Irish “ea,” transcribed here with “Æ” is like American English “cat” or “bat.”  The vowel sound here is important, since it’s the main thing that distinguishes this word from “bláthach” [blawukh], buttermilk.  For “bláthach,” I’d treat it as one syllable; the long vowel (á) sort of swallows up that breathy pause.

 

With the definite article, those become “an bhleathach” [un VLÆ-ukh] and “an bhláthach” [un vlawch].  In both cases, “bhlea” and “bhlá,” the “bh” is pronounced like “v” although “bhlea” has a slender vowel and “bhlá” is broad. 

 

uibhe [IV-eh], of an egg; from “ubh” [uv] (egg).  Remember that the “-eh” I’m using at the end of a lot of these pronunciation guides is short and unstressed, like the “e” of “pet” or “met.”  If I just transcribe it with the single letter “e,” I find that many people read it as “ee.”  As is often the case, one could use a pronunciation guide to the pronunciation guide!  Anyway, it’s not the Canadian or Down East, “ehhh-uh”!

 

fíor [fee-ur], fíoracha [FEER-ukh-uh], figure(s); the singular form is basically like the more well known homonym “fíor,” which means “true.”  With the definite article, the singular form becomes “an fhíor” [un ee-ur], the figure. 

 

sinséir [SHIN-shayrzh], of ginger, from “sinséar,” ginger (the noun).

 

nach bhfuil [nahkh wil] that isn’t, that aren’t; probably familiar to seasoned learners, but since about a hundred people have joined this on Facebook since I last blinked (well, that’s a bit exaggerated, but in a very short time), I’m giving the pronunciation, ar eagla na heagla (just in case).  Another case of “bhf” being pronounced as “w.”   

 

féin [hayn or fayn, depending on dialect, both are fine].  The vowel sound comes close to English “rain,” or for an even more exact rhyme, English “fain,” a word that I can safely say I’ve probably never used in actual English conversation.   

 

I’m nearly running out of space again, but I’ll finish with the adjectives for “male” and “female” and their lenited (+h) forms: ” fireann [FIRzh-un], baineann [BWIN-yun], fhireann [IRzh-un], bhaineann [WIN-yun or VIN-yun, depending on dialect]. For the latter, I use the “win” version, partly because of the Gaeltachtaí I’ve stayed in and partly because I think it helps to cement the broad/slender distinction in Irish pronunciation.

 

The “zh” is used to indicate a slender “r,” which we can discuss more later (please let me know in “comments” on the Transparent page, if you want more detail).  This sound is also in Czech.  That’s the only European counterpart I know of; it’s definitely a new sound for most English speakers. 

 

Of course, all of this is just a “treoir gharbh” [TRORzh γAHR-uv] (rough guide), but I hope it helps.  The Irish “gh” is transcribed here with the gamma sign, standard linguistic practice, since there’s no way to “roughguide” it.  I know it looks like “v” but it does have that loop at the bottom, distinguishing it from a “v.”  At any rate, for many more examples of Irish pronunciation, you can always check out Transparent Language’s fine products for learning Irish, which are listed at http://www.transparent.com/languagepages/irish/irish.htm  

 

Athbhliain [AH-VLEE-in] faoi mhaise!  Happy New Year!         

Téarmaí Nollag gan an Focal “Nollaig” – Cána Candaí, Bleathach Uibhe, agus Fíoracha Sinséir

Posted by róislín No Comments
Dec 30 2009

Seo roinnt téarmaí faoin Nollaig nach bhfuil an focal “Nollaig” féin iontu (some Christmasy terms that don’t have the word “Christmas” itself in them):

 

an cána candaí, the candy cane

 

an bhleathach uibhe, the eggnog or the egg-flip. ”Bleathach” normally means “grist” or “oat-meal cake.”  Add “uibhe,” the possessive form of “ubh” (egg), and somehow, you get a beverage, lit. “egg-grist” (Say “Céard!”).  The word “an bhleathach” looks curiously similar to, but isn’t the same as, “an bhláthach” (the buttermilk). 

 

an t-arán sinséir, the gingerbread

 

an fhíor sinséir, the gingerbread man, lit. the ginger[bread] figure, from “fíor” (figure).  Interesting, i mo bharúil ar a laghad, go bhfuil an téarma ar son “gingerbread man” baininscneach (feminine, grammatically) mar tá an focal “fíor” baininscneach.  A nicely politically correct and non-gender-biased term.  How the gingerbread man himself feels about his grammatical gender being feminine is something I can’t determine and it might be, as they say, more than anyone wants to know. 

 

an fhíor sinséir, the gingerbread woman, exactly the same as the phrase above.  Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser.  I suppose if one really needed to be specific you could say “an fhíor sinséir fhireann” (the male gingerbread figure) and “an fhíor sinséir bhaineann” (the female gingerbread figure).  For example, you could say:

“Bain úsáid as rísíní mar chnaipí don fhíor sinséir fhireann ach déan sciorta reoáin don fhíor sinséir bhaineann.” (Use raisins as buttons for the gingerbread man but make a skirt of icing for the gingerbread woman). 

 

Not that most gingerbread figures are i gcruth ceart de réir anatamaíochta (as close as I can get to saying “anatomically-correct” in Irish), anyway.  This is the point where I’ll stop the discussion of the inscne (gender) of gingerbread figures, since this is a blag a thacaíonn le teaghlaigh (family-friendly blog).   

 

But just one last thought.  One could always defy established lexicography and just say “an fear sinséir” (lit. “the ginger man,” the man of ginger[bread]) and “an bhean sinséir (lit. “the ginger woman,” the woman of ginger[bread]).  Irish often has more than one way to say the same thing, some in the dictionary and some simply in popular usage.  There are also some references online to “fear an aráin sinséir” (the man of the bread of ginger), which is quite clear but longer, as well as to “buachaillín sinséir” (little ginger[bread] boy).  I add “bread” in square brackets to the English to clarify that I’m not trying to say the boy is “ginger” (red-haired).  Not that I’ve ever seen a “buachaillín sinséir rua” (a red-haired gingerbread boy), come to think of it. 

 

So, on that side-note, I’ll wrap this one up for now, and add a few more terms before New Year’s, and then we’ll get to the second half of the Twelve Days of Christmas!  Then, hmmm, Mí Eanáir (January)?  I might even have something to say about hagaois (haggis) before the month is out.  Fainic!  (Look out!). 

An tOchtú Lá is Fiche (28ú) de Mhí na Nollag i Séasúr na Nollag

Posted by róislín No Comments
Dec 29 2009

There are two names for this day, December 28th, in Irish, one the “téarma oifigiúil” and the other less formal.  Lá na Leanaí Neamhchiontacha (or sometimes “Lá na Leanbh”) is Holy Innocents’ Day, a reference to Matha 2:16-18.  The less formal term is “Lá Crosta na Bliana.” 

”Leanbh” is “child,” with the plural “leanaí,” or in possessive plural, sometimes “na leanbh” (of the children).  The latter form isn’t really the standard possessive plural, but at least it can be distinguished from the singular, which is “linbh,” as in “bréagáin an linbh” (the toys of the child, the child’s toys). So, “bréagáin na leanaí” (the toys of the children) as opposed to “bréagáin an linbh” (the toys of the child). 

 

“Leanbh” implies a somewhat younger child than “páiste,” the other main word in Irish for “child.”  It can also mean a baby or the youngest child in a family.  And, as I think I’ve mentioned before, it gives us the increasingly popular girls’ name, “Alanna,” which comes from the direct address form of the name.  If you were talking directly to a child, you’d start with the vocative particle (how’s that for an endearment?), which is simply “a,” pronounced like the “u” in “fun” or the “a” in “about.”  You’ve probably seen or heard it plenty, with names (“a Mháire,” “a Shéamais”), in starting emails or letters (“a chara,” “a chairde”), at the beginning of Riverdance or many other Irish events (“a dhaoine uaisle”), or in hurling derogatory epithets at someone, as in “A chluasánaí!” (You  blockhead!).  So the initial “a” of “Alanna” is the direct address particle, and the final “-bh” drops off from pronunciation, being unstressed in sound.  Anois, ar ais go dtí an frása “leanaí neamhchiontacha.”       

 

The concept of innocence in Irish terminology is interesting in and of itself.  There are two main terms for it in Irish:

 

neamhchiontacht (“non-guilt”)

 

soineantacht (referring more to personality, not deed, or to guilelessness)

 

The adjective forms (“innocent”) are “neamhchiontach” and “soineanta,” and for our phrase above, we make the adjective plural, adding a final “-a,” to give us “neamhchiontacha.”  If the term for the Innocents had somehow been “soineanta,” instead, there would be no specifically plural form, since you can’t add an “-a” ending to a word that already ends in “-a” in Irish.  

 

Note that in Irish, the “innocent” aspect of the phrase is an adjective, and the word “holy” is omitted altogether. 

 

As for an dara téarma, “Lá Crosta na Bliana,” it literally means “the cross (or adverse) day of the year,” that is, a day when it was unlucky to start new projects. 

 

December 28th is also known in English as Childermas, or sometimes “Childermass,”

which might jog the memories of any John Bellairs fans out there, since one of the main characters in his Johnny Dixon series is Professor Roderick Random Childermass.  And/or fans of Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell), since she has a character named John Childermass.  While I’d love to pursue the siombalachas of these names, I’d say that’s Á.B.E. (ábhar blag eile), in the full sense of the phrase, i.e. ábhar blag duine éigin eile (someone else’s blog), since there’s no real comhthéacs Éireannach going on.  Except perhaps to note that both authors delve extensively into a wide range of folklore and legends, including, sometimes, Celtic.  And that the surname must be loaded with symbolism for the authors, since it’s not widely used as a surname in real life (if at all).  One Clarke fan (“Lillie”) researched Ancestry.com and census reports and concluded that “[i]t’s not a name,” making it all the more interesting in literary usage.  More on her comments on The Friends of English Magic site at http://forums.foem.org.uk/archive/index.php/t-82.html, má tá suim agat (if you’re interested. 

 

Fuaimniú: leanbh [LYAN-uv, two syllables], leanaí [LYAN-ee], linbh [LIN-iv], páiste [PAWSH-tcheh].  As for “neamhchiontacha,” why not start with the root form?  The adjective for “guilty” is “ciontach” [KYUN-tukh].  Then negate it with the prefix “neamh-“ [nyow, with the “ow” like American “cow” or “now”].  That causes lenition (softening), to give us “neamhchiontach” [NYOW-HYUN-tukh, note the “k” sound of “ciontach” is dropped].  Finally, pluralize it with that little unstressed vowel, “-a,” and you’ve got it [NYOW-HYUN-tukh-uh]. 

 

Pronunciation, con’d: To call someone a blockhead convincingly, you’ll need to master the voiceless velar fricative, if you haven’t already.  That’s the guttural “-ch” sound in Irish words like “ach,” “ochón,” and “buachaill.”  It’s also in German (Achtung and Buch, to trot out the typical examples), in Welsh (bach, fach, ci a chath, cath a chi), and in some pronunciations of “chutzpah” and “challah,” to name just a few other languages that have this sound.  The basic word for “blockhead” is “cluasánach,” with a regular “k” sound at the beginning [KLOO-uss-awn-ukh] but in direct address it becomes “chluasánaí” [KHLOO-uss-awn-ee], losing the “-ch” at the end but gaining it at the beginning of the word. 

 

As you may have noticed, direct address usually causes lenition in Irish, but that, again is, ábhar blag eile.  Remind me, if you want, since we still have the remainder of the Christmas season to cover, up through Nollaig na mBan (January 6th).  And my poor patient donkey sanctuary article, that I’ve been promising for months.  Now if only someone would establish National Support Your Donkey Sanctuary Day, I’d get right on it, promise, since that long-awaited article would (finally) be tráthúil (timely)! 

 

Ceistiúchán faoi Rudolf an Réinfhia

Posted by róislín 3 Comments
Dec 24 2009

(This was supposed to come out a few days ago; brón orm)

We all probably know the song about Rudolph.  But can you answer these questions about him in Irish?  Answers (“A”) given below, together with a short glossary.

 

1. Cén sórt fia é Rudolf?:  a) fia fionn (fia buí)  b) fia Baictriach  c) muscfhia  d) carabú

 

2. Cén dath atá ar shrón Rudolf?: a) rua  b) flannbhuí  c) flanndearg  d) dearg

 

3. An bhfaca tú riamh réinfhia deargshrónach?  a) chonaic  b) ní fhaca     

 

4. Dá bhfeicfeá réinfhia deargshrónach, cad a dhéanfá?  a) Ghlacfainn grianghraf de  b) Dhíolfainn le sorcas é  c) Ghlaofainn ar Dhaidí na Nollag le rá go raibh a réinfhia ar strae

 

5. Cén sórt pearsantachta atá ag na réinfhianna eile?:  a) deas  b) dána  c) mínormalach

 

6. Céard a dhéanann na réinfhianna eile?      

a) Bíonn siad ag súgradh le Rudolf.  b) Bíonn siad ag magadh faoi Rudolf.  

 

7. Ar lig siad do Rudolf a bheith ag súgradh leo?  a) lig  b) níor lig

 

8. Cén oíche a bhí ann?  a) Oíche Nollag  b) Oíche Chinn Bhliana

 

9. Cé a tháinig?  a) San Proinsias Assisi  b) San Críostóir  c) San Nioclás (Daidí na Nollag)

 

10. Cad a d’iarr sé ar Rudolf?  a) a shleamhnán a tharraingt       

b) báirseoireacht a dhéanamh ar na réinfhianna eile

 

11. Cén fáth a raibh solas breise de dhíth ar Dhaidí na Nollag?  a) ceo   b) báisteach 

 

12. Maidir lena shrón, cén sórt fia atá i Rudolf?  Is fia ______é.  a) bánsrónach  b) biorshrónach c) bolgshrónach  d) caolsrónach  e) clúmhshrónach  f) cruinnsocach (-socach, snouted, cf. soc snout)  g) deargshrónach  h) iomairshrónach  i) mucshrónach  j) sceadsrónach  k) sciansocach, and, breaking the pattern, l) gob-bhuí (gob, beak), defined below.  Note: Both of the liostaí are in ord aibítre, so you’ll need to search the English list for the Irish terms.  Answers below (B).  

Nose types: 1) bottle-  2) hairy-  3) knife-  4) narrow-  5) pig-  6) red-  7) ridge-  8)) round-  9) sharp-  10) spot-  11) white-  12) yellow-

 

13. An raibh fearg ar na réinfhianna eile gur roghnaigh Daidí na Nollag Rudolf?  a) Bhí, agus bhí siad iontach mioscaiseach ina dhiaidh sin  b) Ní raibh, bhí siad go deas

 

14. An ndéanfar dearmad ar Rudolf choíche?  a) Déanfar  b) ní dhéanfar

 

Freagraí “A”: 1d, 2d, 3 & 4 do rogha féin, 5b, 6b, 7b, 8a, 9c, 10a, 11a, 12g, 13b, 14b

 

Freagraí “B” (an cineál sróine): a-11, b-9, c-1, d-4, e-2, f-8, g-6, h-7, i-5, j-10, k-3, l-12

 

Nótaí: fionn, buí, fallow; dath, color; riamh [REE-uv] ever; grianghraf [GREE-un-γraf] photograph; dhíolfainn [YEEL-hin] I’d sell; go raibh X, that X was; mínormalach, abnormal; súgradh, playing; magadh faoi, making fun of; d’iarr, asked; tarraingt, pulling; báirseoireacht, scolding; breise, extra; roghnaigh, chose; mioscaiseach, spiteful; dearmad, forgetting

Téarmaí Nollag: Nollaig Shona duit! Nollaig Shona daoibh! srl.

Posted by róislín No Comments
Dec 24 2009

Here are some of the basic terms for this holiday season:

 

Oíche Nollag, Christmas Eve, but Oíche Lá Nollag, the night of Christmas Day

 

An Nollaig, Christmas (note the use of the definite article, “the” Christmas)

 

Lá Nollag, Christmas Day

 

Nóta 1: Irish doesn’t really have a separate word for “eve” to distinguish “the night before” from “night” in general.  With holidays, “oíche” is understood to have the sense of the English “eve,” as in Oíche Nollag and Oíche Shamhna (the eve of Samhain, Halloween, Samhain itself being November 1).  If you want to specify Christmas Night (December 25), you have to add the word “lá,” as in the phrase above.   

 

Nóta 2: When do we include the word “na” (of the) in Christmas phrases?  Mostly it’s in phrases that point to Christmas as a single distinct concept, like Daidí na Nollag (there’s only one Santa Claus, supposedly) and Mí na Nollag (December, “the” month of “the” Christmas”).  The more generic ideas, like “crann Nollag,” “cárta Nollag,” and “stoca Nollag,” generally drop the “na” part. 

 

Nóta 3: An Tuiseal Ginideach sa Fhrása seo: You’ve probably already noticed that when we say “of Christmas,” we drop the letter “i,” so “Nollaig” changes to “Nollag.”  That creates the genitive case of the word (i.e. the possessive form, to say “of Christmas”).  Having noted that, a Google search today indicates about 27,900 uses of “na” followed by the root form “Nollaig,” without making the change to the genitive case. 

 

Many of these are simply incorrect, at least if they’re Irish.  There is another possible layer of confusion, though, since a lot of those 27,900 examples are actually Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic), in phrases like “Oran na Nollaig” or “Miosachan na Nollag.”  I’m still a bit puzzled, since I understand the possessive form in Scottish Gaelic to be “Nollaige,” keeping that “i” and adding a final “e,” much like many Irish nouns (feis / feise), but it seems that even within Gàidhlig there are variations to the pattern, giving “àm na Nollaige” but “Latha Nollaig” and “Oidhche Nollaig,” for example.  But the intricacies of the Irish “ginideach” and the Scottish “gineamhuinneach,” I’ll leave for lá eile (or latha eile, if you will). 

 

So, the works: Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi Mhaise duit (to one person) or “daoibh” (for more than one).  [NUL-ik HUN-uh AH-gus AH-VLEE-in fwee WUSH-uh ditch / deev].  Conamara dialect speakers will probably write and say “dhuit” [γitch] and “dhaoibh” [γeev].  If those little gamma signs in the pronunciation guide are hard to read (they’re like a “v” with a little tail underneath), just keep in mind the pronunciation is guttural, deep in the throat, and lower down than the Irish broad “ch” (which you see in “ach” or “a chroí” and which sounds like the German “Buch” or “Achtung”).  Whatever féile you celebrate, I hope you’re having a good holiday season! 

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