Some Irish Words Beginning with the Letter ‘Z’ (zaip go zú) Posted by róislín on Aug 7, 2018
(le Róislín) Recently we looked at some Irish words starting with the letter ‘y,’ which occurs fairly rarely in Irish. And previously, we’ve looked at some words including the letters ‘v,’ ‘w,’ and ‘x,’ also “neamhchoitianta” in Irish. Also, we did look at words beginning with ‘z’ earlier. But every time I check the online…
Another Irish Word Beginning with the Letter ‘Y’ (‘Yólais’ as well as ‘yó-yó,’ etc.) Posted by róislín on Aug 4, 2018
(le Róislín) A few years ago I ran a mionsraith of blagmhíreanna about Irish words that started with some of the litreacha neamhthraidisiúnta in the Irish alphabet, like v, w, x, and y (naisc thíos). Among the few examples that we have for “y” are “yó-yó” (not surprisingly, just add the síneadh fada) and yaincín…
Three ways to spell ‘August’ in Irish: historic, dated, and modern (Lúnasa et al.) Posted by róislín on Jul 31, 2018
(le Róislín) As you can see from the graphic above, there are three different ways to spell “August” in Irish: the modern way: Lúnasa a dated way, mostly found before 1960-ish: Lughnasa a historic way, going back to the Middle Ages: Lughnasadh. Even that is somewhat of an adaptation, as it originally would have been…
Séimhiú agus Urú agus an Áit inar Rugadh Thú (Saying Where You Were Born in Irish) Posted by róislín on Jul 28, 2018
(le Róislín) Since we’ve recently been talking about how to say where you were born, I thought a little more practice might be welcome. The graphic above shows a variety of combinations of place names, Irish and non-Irish, and the changes that occur when you use the word “in” with the place names. Remember, the…
Cár rugadh thú? Rugadh i … / in … mé. (The Irish for ‘Where were you born?’ ‘I was born in …’) Posted by róislín on Jul 25, 2018
(le Róislín) Since we just looked at the topic of breech birth (breith tóna) in the most recent blog (nasc thíos), I thought it might be good to look at a more general topic concerning birth – a question we often ask and answer: Cár rugadh thú? Where were you born? Now we’ll look at…
The Irish phrase for “breech birth” (yet another use of the Irish word ‘tóin’) Posted by róislín on Jul 23, 2018
(le Róislín) About 20 years ago, before the ease of using online dictionaries, I remember hunting high and low for the Irish for “breech birth.” I recently noticed the phrase included in focloir.ie and thought it might be of interest for this blog. There are at least three ways to express the concept. One is…
Ainmneacha Uaimheanna Clúiteacha in Éirinn agus i dTíortha Eile (Irish Names for Some Famous Caves) Posted by róislín on Jul 21, 2018
(le Róislín) Continuing with our recent “caves and caving” theme, today we’ll look at the Irish names of some famous caves, in Ireland and in other countries. I’ll provide the Irish and the challenge will be to see if you recognize the name of the cave and/or what it means. Some of them actually include…