(le Róislín)

In the last blog, about the word “aontaithe,” (nasc thíos), we referred briefly to the various ways to say “the United States of America” in Irish.  There are some subtle differences, depending on how the phrase is used.  And of course, there are different phrases for specifically saying “the United States of America,” “the United States,” and, simply, “America.”

Here are the basics:

Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá (abbreviated conveniently as “S.A.M.”)

Na Stáit Aontaithe

Meiriceá

Two grammatical points to notice here are:

1) “Meiriceá” [MER^zh-ik-yaw] gets lenited after “Stáit Aontaithe,” to become “Mheiriceá” [VER^zh-ik-yaw]

2) the word “the” (na) is included if we are just saying “the United States” but it’s dropped if we’re saying the full phrase “the United States of America.”

Regarding point 1, the “Meiriceá” to “Mheiriceá” switch is the same process by which we show possession in general, for example:

cóta Cháit [KOH-tuh khawtch], the coat of Cáit, Cáit’s coat

leabhar Shéamais [l^yowr HAY-mish], the book of Séamas, Séamas’s book

The process happens even when we’re not speaking of literal possession:

athair Phádraig [AH-hir^zh FAWD-rig], the father of Pádraig

muintir Mheiriceá [M^WINTCH-ir^zh VER^zh-ik-yaw], the people/inhabitants of America (i.e. the American people, but note that it’s literally “of America,” not “American” as an adjective)

muintir Bhaile Átha Cliath [M^WINTCH-ir^zh  WAHL-yuh AW-huh KLEE-uh], the people/inhabitants of Dublin (remember: the Irish word for the city of Dublin looks nothing like “dubh” or “linn;” it’s “Baile Átha Cliath,” lit. “the town of the ford of the hurdle”)

Regarding point 2, the definite article (the word “the”) is routinely dropped in Irish when we go from saying “the coat” (an cóta) to “the coat of Cáit” (cóta Cháit)

So if we’re just saying “the United States,” we include the word “the,” which here is plural (na):

na Stáit Aontaithe

But if we’re including “America,” the “the” gets dropped, as we saw earlier: Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá, the United States of America

“Meiriceá,” clearly enough, is “America.” It’s sometimes spelled “Meireacá,” as in the Cois Fhairrge dialect described by Mícheál Ó Siadhail.  Kudos to anyone who can tell us who the country is named after? Leid: is ainm taiscéalaí é. Leid eile: Iodálach.  Freagra sa chéad bhlag eile nó b’fhéidir i mionbhlag idir an dá linn nó b’fhéidir sna nótaí tráchta má fhreagraíonn duine éigin an cheist.  (13 Bealtaine 2015: freagra curtha leis an mblag seo anois mar ní bhfuair muid ó dhuine ar bith é; tá an freagra thíos).

Here are a few more phrases using the various forms of “America” and “the United States”:

Uachtarán Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá

Uachtarán na Stát Aontaithe (notice “stát” for the plural possessive form, not “stáit”)

daonra na Stát Aontaithe

príomhchathair na Stát Aontaithe

i Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá

sna Stáit Aontaithe

sna Stáit (often understood as “the United States”)

How about the word for “state” itself, “stát” (lower-case for general references). Here are some of its forms:

an stát, the state

an stáit, of the state (príomhchathair an stáit)

na stáit, the states (na stáit ghorma, na stáit dhearga, na stáit chorcra, mar a deirtear faoi stáit na Stát Aontaithe nuair a bhíonn toghchán ann)

na stát, of the states (príomhchathracha na stát)

As you can see, “stát” is a typical example of a first-declension noun, masculine, as are all nouns in that category.

And, as mentioned in the last blog, “state” is used for some other countries as well:

Stáit Aontaithe Mheicsiceo

príomhchathair Stáit Aontaithe Mheicsiceo (príomhchathair Mheicsiceo)

i Stáit Aontaithe Mheicsiceo, though most people probably just say, “i Meicsiceo”

And what’s the state of your “coirtéis cheirbreach” after all that?

SGF — Róislín

Gluais: ceirbreach, cerebral; coirtéis, cortex; daonra, population; príomhchathair [PREEV-KHAH-hir^zh], capital (capital city)

Nasc don bhlag faoin bhfocal ‘aontaithe’: https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/looking-at-the-aon-in-aontaithe-united/

Freagra (an t-eapainm a bhfaigheann muid an t-ainm “Meiriceá” uaidh): Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), Americus Vespucius i Laidin.  Seo alt beag suimiúil faoin bhfear agus faoin ainm: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/951/why-was-america-named-after-amerigo-vespucci.  Deirtear gurb é Amerigo Vespucci mar bhuachaill atá ina sheasamh in aice leis an Maighdean Mhuire sa phictiúr ‘Madonna della misericordia’ le Dominico Ghirlandaio.