Posts tagged with "grandpop"

Lá na Máithreacha vs. Lá na Máthar (“Day of the Mothers” or “of the Mother”)?

Posted by róislín No Comments
May 10 2009

I’ve been following this debate in Irish circles for a good 10 or so years now, probably since the first time I wrote on the topic for my children’s Irish language column in the Philadelphia-based Irish Edition newspaper (www.irishedition.com).   Are we celebrating one mother or all mothers? 

I should probably qualify that to say “i gciorcail Ghael-Mheiriceánacha agus Ghael-Cheanadacha” (in Irish-American and Irish-Canadian circles), since Mother’s Day as such wasn’t traditionally celebrated in Ireland, or Britain for that matter.  Instead, “Mothering Sunday” was, and is, observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent (aka Laetare Sunday).  Mothering Sunday was originally a very religious holiday, for the purpose of visiting one’s mother church (“going a-mothering”) and typically being reunited with one’s mother for the day.  Recently, however, it has become increasingly secularized and more like North American Mother’s Day.  The Irish term for “Mothering Sunday” is surprising elusive, but “Domhnach an Mháithreachais” should do. 

 

The consensus seems to be that the Mother’s Day concept is plural, despite the English grammatical structure, which makes it singular.  These days many people leave out the apostrophe altogether, adding to the confusion, since the phrase “Mothers Day” without the apostrophe isn’t  specifically singular or plural or even possessive. In English, of course, the apostrophe is currently dying a slow death, despite the valiant attempts of organizations like the Apostrophe Protection Society (www.apostrophe.org.uk) and websites like www.apostrophecatastrophes.com, as well as attention from such prominent commentators as Arianna Huffington who wrote “The Apostrophe Crisis: When Perfectly Good Punctuation Goes Bad” (www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/the-apostrophe-crisis-wh_b_12628.html).  So, at some point in the future, we’ll just have a blur of events like “Mothers Day,” “Fathers Day,” and “St. Patricks Day.”  The latter will be particularly problematic if it presumes the existence of more than one St. Patrick!  Mother – Mothers, Father — Fathers — OK.  But is there another St. Patrick? 

 

Fortunately, the Irish language will never fall quite into that grammatical trap.  It doesn’t  use the apostrophe to show possession.  So you see, those of you from Ireland, all those years of studying the tuiseal ginideach (genitive case) are of some benefit!  It’s true that Irish has some complicated use of apostrophes, including indicating the real colloquial pronunciation of phrases like “fear an phoist” (the postman, pronounced fear a’ phoist).  Bhuel, more on na hapastrófa and an tuiseal ginideach later but that Á.B.E. (ábhar blag eile) will have to wait.  

 

Back to Mother’s Day itself.  “Lá na Máithreacha” seems to be favored somewhat over “Lá na Máthar,” to judge by some recent online searching.  As I mentioned, there’s not much precedent for either of these phrases in older Irish sources, since the day was not traditionally observed in Ireland under the name “Mother’s Day.”  

 

Conveniently, this topic has also introduced some of the irregularities of the word “máthair.”  It’s an irregular noun, with the following forms:

 

máthar: of a mother (note the “i” has been dropped at the end – that shows that this form is possessive).  Example: gach mac máthar, every mother’s son 

 

na máthar: of the mother.  Ex.: Sláinte na máthar, the health of the mother. 

 

máithreacha: mothers,  Ex. ár máithreacha romhainn, our mothers before us

 

Based on this, can you guess the forms for “athair” (father)?  It’s irregular in a similar way to “máthair.”  How would you suppose we’d say “Father’s Day”?   Or “Grandpar­ents Day,” which, by the way, is officially gan apastróf (apostrophe-less) according to its creator’s website (www.grandparents-day.com).

 

However you celebrate the day, bain sult as (enjoy it) – bhur mblagálaí — Róislín

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Terms for Grandchildren “as Gaeilge” (in Irish): Garmhac, Gariníon and Other Compounds with “Gar”

Posted by róislín No Comments
Apr 21 2009

  Unlike English, where the prefix “grand-“ is used with “mother,” “father,” “parent,” “son,” “daughter,” and “child,” in Irish, there is a major shift in the qualifier used for “grandchildren.”  As you may recall from the previous blog on grandparents, there are three widely used options: seanathair / seanmháthair, athair mór / máthair mhór, and athair críonna / máthair chríonna.  These are based on the words for “old,” “big, great,” and “wise,” respectively. 

 

  That doesn’t mean that a speaker is literally thinking “old mother” or “wise father” when they use these words.  These are compound words and the combined meaning overrides the meanings of the individual parts.  Comparably, in English, we have words and phrases like “Goodbye,” which really means “God be with you,” and “on tenterhooks,” which really means “to be stretched on a tenter.”  As we use these phrases in daily life, we don’t dwell on their component parts.  In fact, do we really analyze why, in English, our parents’ parents are “grand” but our parents’ aunts and uncles, to us, are generally “great” (great-aunt, great-uncle), with some regional variation in English, of course, allowing for “grand-aunt” and “grand-uncle”?

 

  In my experience, “seanathair” and “seanmháthair” seem to be the most widely used of the Irish possibilities.  If we took the prefix “sean-,” which gives the “grand-“ element, and applied it to “páiste” (child), we would have a nearly meaningless term, “old child.”  

  

  Likewise, if you say “páiste mór,” it would be understood to mean a “big or large child,” and if you said “páiste críonna,” it would mean a “wise, prudent, or sagacious child,” perhaps an “ocsamórón,” but that’s a subject for blag eile.

 

  So clearly, none of the terms commonly used for “grandfather / grandmother,” are likely candidates to create the words “grandson” and “granddaughter” in Irish.  Instead, Irish most typically uses “gar” (near, approximate), giving us the compounds “garmhac” and “gariníon.”  Be advised, though, that in literary usage, mostly archaic now, these same terms can mean “adopted son / daughter” or “nephew / niece” (!). 

 

  Group terms like “grandchildren” and “grandparents” are more multifaceted in Irish than one might expect (as an English speaker), so will be reserved for, you guessed it, blag éigin eile. 

 

  The prefix “gar-“ is used for various other compounds as well, such as gar-amharc (close-up), garbhuaic (an approach shot i ngalf, in golf), and gariascaireacht (inshore fishing). 

 

  Back to kinship, “gar-“ is also added to “nia” (nephew) and “neacht” (niece) to give us “garnia” (grandnephew) and “garneacht” (grandniece).  In fact, it can be added to “athair” and “máthair,” but the meaning is less clear-cut.  I’ve seen “garathair” translated as “grandsire,” “grandfather,” AND “great-grandfather.”  In theory, “garmháthair” should be parallel, but in practice, I’ve seen it far less than “garathair,” which, itself, isn’t that prevalent in everyday use. 

 

  Bhuel, I guess I’ve done enough rambling i ngar agus i gcéin (near and far) sa bhlag seo, so, “Happy Grandparenting,” ó bhur mblagálaí, Róislín

Mór? Críonna? or Sean? — Grandparents By Any Other Name!

Posted by róislín 8 Comments
Apr 9 2009

  I frequently get asked about the Irish word for “grandmother” or “grandma,” so children in Irish-American families can start using it as a pet name.  Sometimes the basic term “Grandma” has already been taken by one side of the family, so the other side may look for a different name, like “Nana” in English.  Most of the people who ask for this are the actual grandmothers, not the grandfathers, but in this blog, I’ll be an equal opportunity terminologist and assume that the male and female terms are of equal interest.  A Sheanaithreacha (grandfathers!) please take note!

   Let’s start with the formalities, “grandmother” and “grandfather.”  Most children don’t actually use these in talking with the actual grandparent but they’re useful in narrative and in general discussion.  There are three pairs of terms, each building on the words “máthair” (mother) and “athair” (father).  :

   seanmháthair, seanathair: based on the prefix “sean-“ (old)

   máthair chríonna, athair críonna: based on the adjective “críonna” (wise, prudent, aged).  Please note: despite the endearing bit of misinformation currently circulating on the Internet (sites will remain nameless), these terms do NOT mean “mother of my heart” and “father of my heart.”  Those phrases would be based on “croí” (heart), not “críonna” (wise).   

   máthair mhór, athair mór: based on the adjective “mór” (big, great).  I’ve mostly heard this term in Donegal. 

   For the more familiar terms, there are “Mamó” and “Móraí” for “grandma,” and “Daideo” for “grandpa.” 

   Using these words is one way that Irish words can be come part of a child’s life, and perhaps stimulate further study of the language later.   Needless to say, the terms can now grace mugaí (mugs), t-léinte (t-shirts), or léinte aclaíochta (sweatshirts, lit. “exercise shirts”). Or, for that matter, any other merchandise that allows you to send in customized text for printing. 

   One curious feature of all of these terms is that none of them are used to create the words “grandchild,” “grandson,” or “grand-daughter.”  So how do you do it?  Bhuel, ag bogarnach ar an aill sin (Well, hanging on that cliff), slán go dtí an chéad bhlag eile (goodbye until the next blog).   

 Bhur mblagálaí – Róislín

 
 

 

 

 

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