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Tag Archives: Oíche Shamhna

To Be or To Wear: Which Irish Verb for Halloween Costumes (agus éadaí go ginearálta) Posted by on Oct 22, 2016

(le Róislín) The Irish language offers two main verbs for saying you are wearing an item of clothing.  One is the verb “to be,” combined with the word “on,” essentially saying “A hat is on me,” for “I am wearing a hat.”  The second is the verb “caith,” which can literally mean “wear,” but which…

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Cultacha Banphrionsa vs. Cultacha Sárlaoich: Costume Wars — Princesses vs. Superheroes Posted by on Oct 11, 2016

(le Róislín) Every year around this time I like to check out the articles on the best-selling Halloween costumes (cultacha Oíche Shamhna sárdhíola).   Then it’s both fun and, hopefully, informative, to translate them into Irish.  Some of them, like “garda” or “comhraiceoir dóiteáin” may also prove to be useful words (focail úsáideacha) for everyday conversation…

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25 Chulaith Oíche Shamhna and how to say them in Irish Posted by on Oct 24, 2015

(le Róislín) The variety of Halloween costumes seems to grow greater and greater every year.  Here are 25 possibilities and a handful of phrases for questions like: 1) Will you be a werewolf this year?  An mbeidh tú i do chonriocht  i mbliana? 2) Were you ever a werewolf? (for Halloween, or otherwise)? An raibh…

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How to say “Internet Cat Video Festival” in Irish (i nGaeilge) Posted by on Nov 7, 2014

(le Róislín) Before we completely move on from Oíche Shamhna and cait or cait dhubha to ceiliúradh na Nollag and carúil, let’s linger over one more cat topic. In fact, I wish I had known about it earlier. Not that I probably would have made it to Minnesota for the Internet Cat Video Festival 2014…

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Cé mhéad zombaí? – A ‘quiz’ for ‘Oíche Shamhna’ (Halloween) Posted by on Oct 25, 2014

 (le Róislín) You might remember a previous blog (Ag Comhaireamh Daoine i gCultacha Oíche Shamhna (Vaimpírí, Gúil, srl.) that gave the Irish for many typical Halloween costumes. In that blog, we also used the “uimhreacha pearsanta” to count how many ghouls and zombies we were talking about. In this blog, we’ll recap those costume terms…

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The Irish word for ‘October’ and other words related to ‘fómhar’ and ‘fómhair’ Posted by on Oct 6, 2014

(le Róislín) In some previous blogs (naisc thíos), we’ve looked at the names of the months (míonna) and seasons (séasúir) in Irish, including a discussion specifically of “September” and “October.” So let’s try a little mixing and matching for review of “September,” “October,” and the Fall or Autumn season. Given the word “fómhar” and its…

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Nollaig nó Nollag (How To Say ‘Christmas’ or ‘of Christmas’ in Irish) Posted by on Dec 24, 2013

(le Róislín) As Christmas approaches, you might be wondering why there’s such a constant variation of whether to say “Nollaig” or “Nollag,” and in a similar vein, “An Nollaig” or “na Nollag.” First, the basic answer, and then some examples. And before that, a pronunciation pointer. What is the difference in sound between “Nollaig” and…

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