Posts tagged with "inimirce"

The Ins and Outs of Immigration and Emigration Terminology – Inimirce agus Eisimirce i nGaeilge

Posted by róislín No Comments
Jul 5 2009

We recently had a ceist (question) about some terms having to do with inimirce (immigration).  Seo samplóir téarmaí: 

 

port eisimirce, emigration port, mar shampla, An Cóbh, Contae Chorcaí.

 

port inimirce, immigration port, mar shampla, Filideilfia, Pennsylvania

 

A similar term is “longphort iontrála,” lit. ship-port of entry

 

That last term introduces “long,” the word for “ship.”  A few samples with “long” or its possessive form “loinge”:

 

lastliosta loinge, ship’s manifest (lit. “cargo-list of ship”)

 

Can you figure out what types of ships these are?  See clues below.

 

long chogaidh, long fhada, long Lochlannach, long sholais, cathlong, and lastlong

 

Getting back to the word “port,” it’s quite well established in Irish.  It shows up clearly in a variety of place names, such as Port an Dúnáin (Portadown), Port Láirge (Waterford), and Port Stíobhaird (Portstewart), to name just a few. 

 

Slightly disguised, it also appears in words and phrases like:

calafort, harbor, based on “caladh” (landing place, port) and “phort” (lenited form of “port”). Yes, the phrase is almost an athluaiteachas rófhoclach (redundant tautology) but no more so than “salsa sauce” (“salsa” meaning sauce) or “chicken pollo” (“pollo” meaning chicken).

Tollán Chalafort Bhaile Átha Cliath, Dublin Port Tunnel,

aerfort, airport, based on “aer” (air) and “phort” (lenited form of “port”),

Aerfort na Sionainne, Shannon Airport, and,

Aerfort Iarthar Éireann, Cnoc Mhuire, Ireland West Airport Knock, in County Mayo. 

 

And, by the way, if you’re talking about birds, that’s “imirce” (migration).  A migratory laborer, in the Irish context, is a spailpín, as immortalized in the folksong, “An Spailpín Fánach.”  That song, in turn, has lent its name to a gift shop specializing in Irish-language t-shirts, toys, and gifts, www.spailpin.com, located in the heart of the Conamara Gaeltacht, an Spidéal.  More formally, a migratory laborer would be called an “oibrí imirceach.” 

 

Leideanna (clues):

cogadh, war; fada, long; Lochlannach, Viking; solas, light; cath, battle; lasta, cargo

 

Leideanna fuaimnithe:

ceist [kesht], Cnoc Mhuire [knuk WIR-eh], eisimirce [ESH-IM-irk-yeh], long chogaidh [lung KHUG-ee], long sholais [lung HOL-ish], mar shampla [mahr HAHMP-luh].  A final note, to pronounce the word for ship, “long,” it may look just like the English word “long” (in length), but isn’t pronounced quite the same.  It’s closer to English “lung,” and probably best described as halfway between English “lung” and “long.” 

Being a Gael-Mheiriceánach, Gael-Cheanadach, or Gael-Astrálach, or Any Other Nationality “as Gaeilge”

Posted by róislín 2 Comments
May 31 2009

We recently discussed the various ways to use the word “Gael-Mheiriceánach” to say something is “Irish-American” or “I am an Irish-American.” Let’s go global and discuss some more possibilities.

 

If you’re one of about 4.5 million Canadians with Irish ancestry, you could say, “Is Gael-Cheanadach mé.”  If you’re one of almost 2 million Irish-Australians, you could say, “Is Gael-Astrálach mé.”

 

Please keep in mind as you read this, that the main goal in today’s blog is to show how to say that one is an Irish-American, an Irish-Canadian, etc. It would take a book, or more, to thoroughly discuss Irish identity, including such terms as Gael-Mheiriceánach (Irish-American), Gael Meiriceánach or Éireannach Meiriceánach (American-Irish), náisiúnaigh Éireannacha (Irish nationals), Éireannaigh eitneacha (ethnic Irish), easaoránaigh (ex-pats), and what, if any, difference it makes if one is from an chéad ghlúin (first generation) or an tríú glúin (third generation). In fact, even the term “first generation,” regarding inimirce (immigration), is in dispute, since it can refer to either the immigrants themselves, or, more commonly in my experience, to the first generation born in the new homeland.  So the goal here is not to tell people how to self-identify themselves, but to give them the Irish vocabulary to say what they want to say about themselves. Requests welcome! Admittedly, some will give me pause to reflect, especially if I haven’t seen them used before.  Gael-Nua-Eabhracach for an Irish-New Yorker, srl.?

 

And here are a few more straightforward examples, i.e. unhyphenated, using some of terms from the previous places on Celtic place names and nationalities:

 

Is Éireannach mé. I’m an Irishman.

 

Is Breatnach mná í Catherine Zeta-Jones, agus ban-aisteoir iontach. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a Welshwoman and a wonderful actress.

 

Is Briotánach é Alan Stivell, agus cláirseoir den scoth. Alan Stivell is a Breton, and a top-notch harpist.

 

Ba Chornach é William Golding (1911-1993).  William Golding was a Cornishman.

 

Is Albanach é Seán Connery, agus sáraisteoir.  Seán Connery is a Scot and a great actor.

 

Is Manannach é an príomhcharachtar in The Manxman, scannán de chuid Alfred Hitchcock, ní nach ionadh. The main character in The Manxman, an Alfred Hitchcock movie, is a Manxman, not surprisingly. 

 

And for good measure:

Is Ceanadaigh iad Gordon Lightfoot agus Loreena McKennitt, agus sáramhránaithe. Gordon Lightfoot and Loreena McKennitt are Canadians, and great singers.

 

Is Astrálach í Nicole Kidman, agus ban-aisteoir iontach. Nicole Kidman is an Australian and a wonderful actress. I know, she has saoránacht dhúbáilte (dual-citizenship) and dúchas (heritage) Astrálach-Haváíoch-Mheiriceánach but that’ll be Á.B.E.

 

Pronunciation tips:

as Gaeilge: “in Irish.” Remember the preposition “as” has a “hard” s-sound, like “floss,” or “DOS” in computer lingo. Or like “Bossy the Cow” but not “a bossy boss,” at least in my English pronunciation. The vowel sound is “aaahh.” Although this word looks like the English “as,” it isn’t!

 

Chornach: when the sentence is in the past tense, the verb “is” changes to “ba” and the word Cornach changes to Chornach, meaning you have a double dose of pronouncing the Buch-Achtung-Chutzpah “ch” sound. 

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