Posts tagged with "festival"

The Many Meanings of “Oireachtas”

Posted by róislín 4 Comments
Apr 18 2009

  For the week of April 5 to 12, 2009, many Philadelphians probably saw more samples of the Irish language in the media than ever before in the city’s history.  Why?  This year, Philadelphia hosted the first Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (World Irish Dance Championship) to be held outside Ireland or the U.K.  Over 6000 dancers attended, most accompanied by family members, bringing about 20,000 visitors to the city.

 

  In addition to highlighting the name of the event in Irish, the organizing body, An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha (www.clrg.ie) uses numerous Irish terms, even when its members are speaking English.  Key among these are “feiseanna,” (basically “festival” but CLRG uses it for regional competitions), ADCRG (Ard Diploma Choimisiúin le Rincí Gaelacha, with “ard” meaning “high”) and TCRG (Teagascóir Choimisiúin le Rincí Gaelacha, a Coimisiún-certified teacher).    

 

  The original meaning of “oireachtas” isn’t exactly “championship,” though; that would generally be “craobh” (literally, a branch).  An “oireachtas” is a gathering (business or cultural), or a deliberative assembly.  A related word is ”oireacht,” which historically meant an assembly of freemen or members of a tribe, gathered for deliberation; it could also mean a gathering or assembly in the general sense. 

 

  “Oireachtas” isn’t generally used now for everyday meetings.  Those could be “cruinniú,” (meeting, gathering) or a “tionól” (gathering, assembly, typically a large group of people, not just the handful that could constitute a “cruinniú”).

 

  “Oireachtas” is also the name of the legislature or national parliament of Poblacht na hÉireann (the Republic of Ireland) which has two houses, Dáil,  and Seanad.  There was also a predecessor, the Oireachtas in Saorstát Éireann (the Irish Free State, 1922-37.). 

 

  Yet another use of the word is “Oireachtas na Gaeilge,” a literary and cultural festival celebrating the Irish language and held in Ireland since the 1890s.  It is similar to two other Celtic events: in Wales, the Eisteddfod, which in revival dates to 1792, and in Scotland, Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail, run by An Comunn Gàidhealach, which dates to 1891.

 

  Finally, if you know anyone with the surname Geraghty, Gerrity, Gearty, or Gerty, they probably had a distant ancestor who was an “oireachtach” (advisor, assembly-man).  From “oireachtach” to “Gerty,” you might well ask!  Consider the possessive form, Mag Oireachtaigh (sometimes Mac Oireachtaigh), meaning “son of the advisor or assembly-man.”  The final “ch” has been softened to a vowel sound (-aigh, like “ee”) since we’re saying “of the advisor,” not just “advisor.”  The “ch” in the middle of the word may get softened or silenced when anglicized.  And often the full “mac” or “mag” sound (for “son”) gets shortened to just a “c” or “g” before vowels (as in “Keown” from “Mag Eoin”).  This results in names like Geraghty (with a silent “gh”) or Gerty.

 

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