Irish Language Blog

(le Róislín)

On the topic of fools (amadáin), Irish seems to have an endless supply of words.  Probably other languages do as well (Welsh offering up ffŵl, ffwlcyn, hurtyn, lolyn, penbwl, twpsyn, and ynfytyn, just for starters), but our focus here, ar ndóigh, will be on Irish terms.  We’ve recently discussed quite a few (gamal, pleidhce, pleota, and specifically female, óinseach).  Let’s review some of those from previous blogs, plus a few more, this time with a rough guide to pronunciation, both in the basic form and in the vocative (for direct address, direct address at your own risk, that is):

amadán [AH-muh-dawn], fool, fairly straightforward in pronunciation.  In direct address: “A amadáin!” “Fool!”  This is pronounced almost the same, but the “n” at the end is now slender, marking the vocative, so is tenser, almost like an “aw-in” sound, but more flowing.  Rhymes with “Táin,” the famous Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Now if this fool really were on a hill, as suggested by Lennon/McCartney, we’d probably say “An tAmadán ar an gCnoc” for the title of the song (or “ar an Chnoc” for Northern Irish).  I don’t recall that the song actually had any direct address, but if we did want to greet the fool on the hill, we could say “a amadáin ar an gcnoc,” or I’d be tempted to add poetic license to song and say “A amadáin an chnoic!” (O fool of the hill!).  As for the “foolish grin” in the song, that’ll have to wait for blag eile, since there are quite a few ways to say “grin” in Irish, as one might expect (“cár” agus “drannadh” ina measc).

dundarlán [DUN-dur-lawn], dunce, dunderhead, which Severus Snape implies is the intelligence level of his incoming Rang Posóidí (“mura bhfuil sibh in bhur ndundarlán chomh mór is a bhíonn os mo chomhair de ghnáth”).  In the vocative singular, this will be “A dhundarláin!” “Dunderhead!”  Same comments for the pronunciation of “-áin” as above.  There’s also a change from the normal initial “d” to an initial “dh,” bringing us to the voiced velar fricative as discussed in various previous blogs (among them, “Saying ‘I love you’ in Irish and Minding Your Velar Fricatives,” http://blogs.transparent.com/irish/saying-i-love-you-in-irish/ ).  The rough guide to that “dh-“ is a throaty (guttural) gargling sound, best learned by hearing native speakers.

gamal [GAH-mul], fool.  In direct address, “A ghamail!” [uh γAH-mil].  That symbol that looks sort of like a “y” is the phonetic symbol (“gamma”) for the sound I just described, which has no equivalent in the English language.  It comes from the “gamma” letter of the Greek alphabet.

gamalóg, [GAH-mul-ohg], female version of the above.  In direct address: “A ghamalóg!”  Same initial “gh-“ sound as for “gamal,” otherwise, no change.

óinseach [OHN-shukh], female fool.  In direct address: “A óinseach!” [uh OHN-shukh, no change to the main word]

óinsín [OHN-sheen], young or small female fool.  No change in direct address.

pleidhce [PLAI-kyuh, “ai” rhyming with “I,” “aye,” “eye,” and “my”], fool.  In direct address: “A phleidhce!” [uh FLAI-kyuh, with “flai” rhyming with “fly”].

pleota [PL^yOH-tuh], fool.  In direct address: “A phleota!” [uh FL^yOH-tuh]

And then, of course, words can be paired up to intensify the effect:

pleidhce amadáin, a silly fool.  In direct address: “A phleidhce amadáin!”

stumpa amadáin, an out-an-out fool, as Hagrid calls Mr. Dursley in the Irish version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Guess you can tell what I’ve been reading lately.  Actually re-reading, on the lookout for the stórfhocal is suimiúla.  ‘Sea, sin é, Harry Potter agus an Órchloch, which so far is the only volume from the series to have been translated into Irish : (

Bhuel, tá súil agam nach am amú é seo uaim atá amanna i m’óinseach, is dócha.  SGF, Róislín

P.S.  In case anyone was wondering about “gnáthfhadhbanna,” cited in the last blog,  it breaks down fairly neatly to “gnáth-“ [gnaw] + fhadhb [aib, rhyming with scribe, tribe, etc.] + -anna [uh-nuh, a plural ending].  For that one, I think we can skip the direct address form!  As you may recall, the word is from the line, “Agus tá na gnáthfhadhbanna fós á ciapadh: an Pleota sa bhaile agus Bean Uí Bhatamór ar scoil” (from a “blurba” for the children’s book “Cailitín” by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú, http://www.siopaancarn.com/irishchildrensbooksnsrang67?pm2_a=show&pm2_id=389).  Got the rest of the sentence?  It’s “And the ordinary problems are still pestering her: the fool [her silly brother] at home and Bean Uí Bhatamór [lit. Mrs. “Big-stick”] at school.”

(le Róislín)

We may be well accustomed to calling April 1^st “Lá na nAmadán” in Irish, but couldn’t there be some other possibilities as well?  Irish has many words for “a fool,” so what would happen if we tried some of the others?  And, grammatically speaking, how do we work backwards from “fools” in the genitive plural to the nominative singular form, in other words, to the form you would use to say, “He is a fool” or “She is fool.”  Just before you duck, that is!

Let’s start with “amadán,” since it’s probably the most familiar.  First declension, masculine, eclipsis (urú) for the genitive plural (na n-amadán).  So reverse engineering it and including the definite article for good measure, we have: na n-amadán, na hamadáin, an amadáin (cóta an amadáin), and an t-amadán.  Is amadán é.  Is é an t-amadán ar an gcnoc é (gotta find a definite article example somewhere to work that “t” prefix in, brón orm, a Bheatles!)

Although “gamail” (fools) are not honored in the name of the holiday, what would happen if they were (na ngamal, of the fools)?  First declension, masculine, eclipsis in the genitive plural: na ngamal, na gamail, an ghamail (hata an ghamail), an gamal.  The nominative singular (aka common) form is “gamal.”  Is gamal é.  Cá as an gamal a bhí ar an gcnoc?

I’ll jump now to “pleidhce” and “pleota,” saving “óinseach” for last, because of the extra discussion involved in discussing male and female fools.

Na bPleidhcí. Got the routine?  Fourth declension, masculine, eclipsis and “-í” ending for genitive plural: na bpleidhcí, na pleidhcí, an phleidhce (caipín an phleidhce), an pleidhce.  So “pleidhce” is the basic form.  An pleidhce a bhí ar an gcnoc nó amadán (Is it a “pleidhce” or an “amadán” that was on the hill?). Nó pleidhce amadáin (or a “silly fool”)?  And, for an example with the definite article: “Féach an pleidhce amach romhainn,” translated by Learaí na Láibe (hey, there’s mud, láib/láibe, again – shoulda known, it’s the Mudcat site!) as “Look at the messer in front of us) from the “Langer” song (http://www.mudcat.org/detail.cfm?messages__Message_ID=1218633).

Na bPleotaí.  Fourth declension, masculine.  Undo the eclipsis,  Nominative plural is “na pleotaí.”  Genitive singular has lenition, as in  “Beany Copter an phleota.”  Nominative singular: an pleota.  Is pleota é.  And with “an” (the), here’s a sample: “Agus tá na gnáthfhadhbanna fós á ciapadh: an Pleota sa bhaile agus Bean Uí Bhatamór ar scoil” (from a “blurba” for the children’s book “Cailitín” by Caitríona Ní Mhurchú, http://www.siopaancarn.com/irishchildrensbooksnsrang67?pm2_a=show&pm2_id=389).  Further description tells us that “an Pleota” is the main character’s “silly brother.”  Ní nach ionadh!

And finally we have “na n-óinseach” (of the female fools).  Second declension, feminine, eclipsis (of the vowel) in the genitive plural.  Working backwards, we get: na n-óinseach, na hóinseacha, na hóinsí (fear na hóinsí), an óinseach.  Is óinseach í.  An raibh an óinseach ó Charraig na nÓinseach ag caint leis an amadán a bhí ar an gcnoc (Was the female fool from “the Rock of the Female Fools” talking with the male fool that was on the hill)?  You might be wondering, where’s that “t-“ for “amadán”?  Gone, because now “amadán” is in a prepositional phrase and the rules change.  Where’s Carraig na nÓinseach, for that matter?  Tá sí i gContae Phort Láirge, where it is also known as “Carrignanonshagh.”

By the way, I checked “Lá na nÓinseach” online to see if it has been proposed, to give us “equal opportunity” fooldom, and found cúpla sampla, which was about what I anticipated.  Most were mixed with “na nAmadán” as the “she/he” approach sometimes recommended for English usage:

Johnny (on www.politics.ie): “Nárbh fhearr dúinn “Lá na n-Amadán is na n-Óinseach” a thabhairt ar an lá áirithe seo sa lá atá inniu ann- ceartas polaitiúil, ionadaíocht 50/50, 7rl, 7rl, 7rl….. ”

Agus freagra do Johnny ó “Mhíshásta”:

Míshásta: “Níl aon ghá le ‘La na nÓinseach’ mar léiríonn na hÓinsigh [sic] a nÓinseachas tríd an mbliain go léir.  Anois, ní dóigh liom go bhfuil an ráiteas san an-PC ach an oiread. ”

And “Gael” also answered Johnny, perhaps a little more diplomatically or, at least, self-deprecatingly:

Gael: “B’fhéidir gur cheart, ach tá mise ró-leisciúil chun é sin go léir a scríobh. ”

All of the above from: http://www.politics.ie/forum/gaeilge/6158-mcdowell-chun-eiri.html (3-6 Aibreán, 2006)

And also equal opportunity:

Austin Stacks GAA Hurling & Football Club, Ladies Club News, 26ú Márta ‘012 (as they write it themselves):

“Our next game is away to Na Gaeil on April 1st…Lá na nAmadán is na nÓinseach” (http://www.austinstacks.ie)

So bottom line, the holiday uses “na n-amadán,” but there are many other ways to say “fool” in Irish.  Putting them in the genitive plural (to say “of the fools”) requires various amounts of mutation and changes to the ending.  The process is actually fairly predictable, once you get the declensions straight.  Which suggests that soon might be a good time to review the declension series introduced some time ago, starting with http://blogs.transparent.com/irish/an-chead-diochlaonadh-newts-frogs-and-for-easter-baskets/ (April 8, 2011).  So after a little more pleidhcíocht, pleotaíocht, and maybe even mental piollardaíocht, we’ll get back to the nitty-gritty and decline some nouns.  Go dtí sin, SGF, Róislín

P.S. And btw, a final word of warning re: Google translate (for all its sometime merits):

All Fools’ Day came out as “go léir [+] a amadáin [+] lá”.

April Fools’ Day (plural) came out as “fools [+] Aibreán [+] lá” (that’s right, it didn’t translate “fools” – and there are so many choices!)

April Fool’s Day (singular) came out as “Aibreán [+] amadán [+]  lá”

April Fools Day with no apostrophe at all (grrr!) came out as “Aibreán [+] amadáin [+]  lá”

And a deliberately mistyped phrase, “April Fool’s’ Day” came out as “Aibreán [+] amadán [+] ar [+] “ ‘lá ” (yes, it put an apostrophe before the word “lá” – hunh??).

As you may have guessed, I added the plus signs, to break up the flow, so the non-grammatical Irish doesn’t get read as a legitimate phrase.