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Tag Archives: Challah

Some Irish Words Starting with the Letter ‘X’ (Part 1 of 2) Posted by on Sep 14, 2015

(le Róislín) As you might suspect, there are relatively few words in Irish that start with the letter ‘x,’ since it wasn’t part of the traditional original Irish alphabet (which was a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, and u). We’ve seen something similar for…

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How to Say ‘2014’ in Irish Posted by on Dec 31, 2013

(le Róislín) Dhá mhíle is a ceathair déag.  Piece o’ cake, right?  Well, maybe, but for anyone new to the language, here is a rough pronunciation guide: [γaw VEEL-yuh iss uh KYA-hirzh djayg].  [Pointe léirithe, 4 Eanáir 2014: ní an litir “y” atá i gceist i “γaw” ach an tsiombail teangeolaíochta “γ” .i. an tsiombail…

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Cait: Cúpla Téarma Eile (Mothchat, Baldúin, Crúbálaí) Posted by on Dec 9, 2013

(le Róislín) A few more cat terms have recently come to my attention.  Let’s start with the rather eye-catching: mothchat [muh-khaht] tomcat Ar dtús báire, ní peata “Leamhanfhir” é.  Nó “peata Fhear an Leamhain,” más fearr leat mar sin é.  So, no, the Mothman of West Virginia (and of “Prophecies” fame) didn’t suddenly become a…

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Saying “I love you” in Irish and Minding Your Velar Fricatives Posted by on Oct 9, 2011

(le Róislín) We’ve recently been looking at different ways to say “I love you” in Irish.  Some of you might have been wondering how to pronounce them, especially the phrases where the straightforward “grá” [graw] changes to “ghrá” [γraw, to be explained below, note the IPA gamma symbol for the “gh”] and the straightforward “croí” changes…

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