Archive for January, 2015
St. Bridget and St. Valentine in Irish (1 Feabhra agus 14 Feabhra) Posted by róislín on Jan 31, 2015
(le Róislín) While, yes, there is at least one saint for every day of the year, February is remarkable in celebrating two saints quite prominently. This is especially true in Ireland. February 1st is celebrated as “Lá Fhéile Bríde” in Ireland, and to some extent, in other Celtic areas or diasporas. Anciently, it was…
Cé Hé Uimhir a Sé? — Practicing Some Numbers in Irish Posted by róislín on Jan 28, 2015
(le Róislín) ‘Cé hé Uimhir a Sé?’ That might seem like an odd question at first, but, remember the number that was in the graphic for the last blog (nasc thíos)? There was a reason for picking that number to illustrate the theme from The Prisoner. In this blog, we’ll look a little closer at uimhreacha and…
‘I am not an ‘uimhir’ ‘ and Other Indefinite Predicate Nominatives — Let’s Say Them in Irish Posted by róislín on Jan 23, 2015
(le Róislín) Whenever I see or hear the phrase “Doctor Who,” I always end up thinking of the typical Irish question, “An dochtúir thú?” (Are you a doctor?). Remember, the “t” of “thú” is silent, so “thú” sounds like “who.” I’ve actually tried putting together questions in Irish that would have the phrase “Doctor Who…
Chocolate Redux (well, not really re: ducks, but re: eggs and such): Chocolate Terms in Irish Posted by róislín on Jan 18, 2015
(le Róislín) I see that the chocolate blog in this series just popped up again on our Facebook site (https://www.facebook.com/learn.irish; bun-nasc thíos). So I thought it would fun to try some more phrases involving many people’s favorite “bia compoird” — seacláid…
‘Owl’ About It? Cineálacha Ulchabhán i nGaeilge (Types of Owls in Irish) Posted by róislín on Jan 14, 2015
(le Róislín) Since I just happened to mention the term “ulchabhán sneachtúil” in the most recent blog, I thought it would be fun to look into some other types of owls and what they’re called in Irish. …
Lig dó a bheith ag cur sneachta (wintry weather words in Irish) Posted by róislín on Jan 10, 2015
(le Róislín) So how’s winter treating you? A lán sneachta? Beagáinín sneachta? Síobthaí sneachta? Ceathanna sneachta? The key word for today’s blog, as you might have observed, is “sneachta” [SHNAKH-tuh], snow. So we’ll look at the basic forms of the word and then some related terms. sneachta, snow an sneachta, the snow dlús an tsneachta…
Cén t-ainm atá agat ar an 6ú lá d mhí Eanáir? 6 ways to say it in Irish Posted by róislín on Jan 6, 2015
(le Róislín) How many ways are there to refer to the “last” day of Christmas (January 6th) in Irish? A solid leathdhosaen, at any rate, maybe a few more in folk tradition. Can you fill in the blanks to complete the phrases? The number of blanks corresponds to the number of letters to be filled…