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Tag Archives: athar

Cén dath atá ar ghruaig d’athar? (some Irish questions for Father’s Day) Posted by on Jun 20, 2015

(le Róislín) In the last few blogs, we’ve been looking at the color of hair (gruaig), beards (féasóga), and even sideburns (locaí).  In honor of Lá na nAithreacha, why don’t we look at saying what color hair your father has, and if he has them, what color féasóg, croiméal (mustache) and locaí he might also…

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Athair, An tAthair, Aithreacha, and more ways to say ‘father’ in Irish (just in time for Father’s Day) Posted by on Jun 14, 2014

(le Róislín) ‘Sea, is é an t-am sin den bhliain é — tá Lá na nAithreacha ag teacht. 15 Meitheamh i mbliana. So first let’s look at the various forms of the word for “father” in Irish. Then we’ll think of the Irish words for a few typical Father’s Day gifts. Perhaps you’d like to…

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When Is An ‘Athair” Not A ‘Father’ (literally, that is) Posted by on May 10, 2013

(le Róislín) In the last blog (nasc thíos), we first reviewed the basic words for “mother” (plus mom, mum, mam, mommy, mummy, mammy) in Irish (máthair, mam, mamaí, srl.).  Then we looked at phrases like “máthair shúigh” and “teanga dhúchais,” where there is not a one-to-one correlation between máthair/mother and the translation of a phrase…

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“Comharsa,” “Monarcha,” “Pearsa”: An Cúigiú Díochlaonadh Arís Posted by on Jun 10, 2011

(le Róislín) We’ve recently seen several patterns for 5th-declension nouns in Irish. One small group, which contains some very important kinship terms, looks like this: athair (father), athar, aithreacha máthair (mother), máthar, máithreacha Another group sometimes also has the “-air” ending but works slightly differently when you create the possessive form (adding “-ach”) and includes…

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Whither “Nathair”? Mar “Athair” nó Mar “Chathair”? Posted by on Jun 6, 2011

(le Róislín) So, you’re staring at the Irish word “nathair” and wondering which way to go for its tuiseal ginideach and its foirmeacha iolra.   Is it going to be like “cathair” or is it going to be like “athair”? Before we actually answer that (why cut to the chase when we can prevaricate and still…

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An Iarmhír “-ach” sa Chúigiú Díochlaonadh: Beoir (Beer) vs. Beorach (of Beer), srl. Posted by on Jun 3, 2011

(le Róislín) We’ve recently seen one pattern for the 5th category of Irish nouns (an cúigiú díochlaonadh), which involved dropping the “i” of words like máthair, athair, deartháir, and bráthair. As you may recall, that change results in phrases like the following (aistriúcháin thíos): a) gach mac máthar b) in ainm an Athar c) carr…

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Lá na nAithreacha – Father’s Day (An Tríú Domhnach i Mí an Mheithimh) Posted by on Jun 20, 2010

This blog will be a round-up of terms connected to fathers, in honor of Lá na nAithreacha (Father’s Day, lit. Day of the Fathers).  We’ll start with the basics (athair) and the less formal forms “Dad” and “Daddy,” and continue with more specialized phrases, like “godfather” and “Father Christmas.” athair [AH-hirzh], father How about the…

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