Irish Language Blog

(le Róislín)

A recent blog in this series on figurative speech in Irish mentioned  “na laethanta go léir a bhí ag na Paoraigh.”  Some of you probably recognized this as a reference to the well-known seanfhocal (proverb):  Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach (Mr. Power will have another day).

So how does this seanfhocal break down as far as vocabulary and grammar go?  And if you’re new to Irish, you might be wondering where the verb “to have” is.

Let’s start with the “to have” question.  The short answer is that there isn’t really a verb “to have” as such in Irish, but instead things are generally “at you,” using the preposition “ag” (at).  Naturally this can be extended to all three “persons” (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd), so the paradigm starts out like this: Tá carr agam (There is a car at me), Tá carr agat, Tá carr aige, Tá carr aici, Tá carr ag Seán, Tá carr ag an Domhnallach, etc.   Literally, the proverb would be translated as “There will be another day at Mr. Power.”   There are some other ways to express possession, such as “Is liomsa é” (It is with me) but that, of course, will have to be ábhar blag eile.

beidh [bay]: will be

lá eile: another day, with the adjective (eile) in second place, the usual word order in Irish

ag an bPaorach: at Mr. Power (or the Power fellow, or as an another form of the surname “Power,” Mr. de Paor)

Paorach vs. bPaorach, and occasionally Phaorach:  Paorach is the basic form of the name [PWEER-ukh or PWAYR-ukh].  In the prepositional phrase “ag an bPaorach,” the letter “b” is used to show eclipsis and the word is pronounced [BWEER-ukh or BWAYR-ukh].   This form is used in standard Irish and in some dialects.  Curiously, even though in Donegal the form would normally be “ag an Phaorach,” there’s very little evidence of this usage online.  That, of course, doesn’t mean some Donegal speakers wouldn’t make the conversion, but in this case, it seems tradition may sometimes trump dialect and “ag an bPaorach” may show up sometimes, even in Irish in the North, where lenition would normally occur.  The few examples I did find online of “ag an Phaorach” were mostly from Donegal, as one would expect.

How about the “-ach” ending?  It’s a way of saying the “Power” man, i.e. the man with the surname “Power.”  Similarly, “an Domhnallach” is “the O’Donnell man” (or in Scotland, the MacDonald man) and “an Flaitheartach” is “the O’Flaherty man.”  The proverb is usually translated as “Mr. Power,” but technically, of course, “Mr.” would be “an tUasal” (an tUasal de Paor).  Wouldn’t have quite the same ring, though.

The proverb is believed to date to 1798, when Edmund Power was about to be hanged for his role in the Rebellion at Waterford (Dungarvan).  That would give us over 200 years of the name “Paorach” being invoked to encourage people to struggle on for future success.  So while we can’t actually answer the questions in the title of this blog, “Cé Mhéad Lá?  Cé Mhéad Paorach?,” we can at least translate them: How many days?  How many Messrs. Power? (How many Power men?).  The nouns “lá” and “Paorach” stay singular in Irish, even in the question “Cé mhéad?” (How many?, lit. What amount?) which implies a plural answer.

Bhuel, sin é don lá inniu, cé nach lá an Phaoraigh é.  So that’d be the genitive case of “Paorach” but that’s ábhar blag eile.  SGF, Róislín

Nóta: the original blog in this series on figurative speech is: http://blogs.transparent.com/irish/between-a-rock-and-a-may-day-fire-or-life-on-the-horns-of-a-dilemma-as-gaeilge/

Transparent Language’s Word of the Day recently featured “smaoineamh,” a word whose pronunciation has intrigued many of my students over the years.  Fortunately, now all you have to do is click on the WOTD link to hear it (http://blogs.transparent.com/wotd/today/irish.htm).  Some speakers don’t pronounce the final –mh at all (SMWEEN-yuh); others pronounce it as a “v” or “oo” (SMWEEN-yuv, SMWEEN-yoo).  Here are a few more forms of the word:

Smaoineamh: an idea, a thought.  This is the verbal noun and can serve either as an actual noun or, with “ag,” to indicate that the action is ongoing. 

Smaointe: You may remember that Enya’s early album Shepherd’s Moon included the song, “Smaointe” (thoughts, reflections).  This is the plural of the verbal noun “smaoineamh.”  Yes, Irish verbal nouns usually have plurals AND grammatical gender AND genitive cases, but more on those for blag lá fearthainne (a rainy day blog).

Ag smaoineamh: thinking, the act of thinking, as in “Tá mé ag smaoineamh ar uimhir idir a haon agus a deich,” (I’m thinking of a number between one and ten).  This form is used after the verb “to be” to indicate that the action is in progress.  

Smaoinigh: think, or reflect, in the “command form,” used to tell someone to think about or reflect upon something.  Examples: “Smaoinigh air sin!” or “Smaoinigh air seo!”  It is followed by a form of the preposition “ar” (literally “on” but here with the sense of “about”), giving us “air sin” (on that) or “air seo” (on this).  Another example I noticed recently was “Smaoinigh ar na buntáistí ar fad a bheadh ag do pháistí dá mbeidís dátheangach,” as stated on the website for www.teangafein.ie, an organization promoting Irish-English bilingualism for children [the phrase means “think on/about all the advantages that your children would have if they were bilingual”].

Smaoinigh: The past tense form of the same verb, as in “Smaoinigh sé air sin” (he thought about that).  For this particular verb, the past tense looks exactly the same as the command form. 

Smaointeoir: “The Thinker,” probably the best name for Rodin’s famous statue if we had reason to discuss it in Irish. 

And finally, the rhyming connection between “smaoinigh” [SMWEEN-yee] and the surname “Sweeney” has not gone unnoticed, as I recently saw in a young Dubliner’s bebo.com profile page, “Smaoinigh An Sweeney.”  Here the verb is in the past tense, so the phrase means “Sweeney thought.”  The word “an” (the) here is a carryover from an Irish naming tradition, giving us forms like “An Conallach,” (Mr. O’Connell / the O’Connell man), “An Flaitheartach “ (Mr. O’Flaherty), and “An Paorach,” as in the proverb, “Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach” (Mr. Power will have another day, i.e. chance).  Of course, if “Sweeney” were in its original form, we’d have “Smaoinigh an Suibhneach” [SMWEEN-yee un SWIV-nyukh] so we wouldn’t have the rhyme (An Suibhneach, Mr. Sweeney or “The Sweeney man”).

Like most figurative idioms, the English phrase “a penny for your thoughts” doesn’t really translate into traditional Irish, but the equivalent idea is “Cad é a bhfuil tú ag smaoineamh air?” (What are you thinking of?). 

Ach ná bí ag smaoineamh gurb é seo deireadh an scéil, áfach.  Tá ceithre fhocal eile i nGaeilge ar a laghad a chiallaíonn “to think.”  But don’t think that this is the end of the story, however.  There are at least four other words in Irish that mean “to think.”  Intrigued?  Check back i mblag eile.

Bhur mblagálaí – Róislín