Tag Archives: vowel
Can A Word Look Irish But Not Be Irish? The Curious Case of … (Léigh leat le fáil amach) Posted by róislín on Apr 25, 2018
(le Róislín) As you can see in the graphic above, Irish has a number of words that end in “-inne.” And to add to the mix, the ending “-inné” does exist but is much less common. The ten words above end in either “-inne” or “-inné,” but one of them isn’t actually Irish. So, looking…
A Short Glossary for the Irish Rap Song “C.E.A.R.T.A” by Kneecap (Rapcheol Gaeilge) [Cuid/Pt. 6/6] Posted by róislín on Jan 26, 2018
(le Róislín) Faoi dheireadh, an séú (6ú) cuid den ghluais don rapamhrán “C.E.A.R.T.A.” leis an ngrúpa Kneecap (naisc thíos: lyrics, YouTube video and previous installments in this mini-series). And here I thought glossing this song would just take a couple of posts, at most. But here, finally, are a few more words from the…
How to Say ‘Happy New Year’ in Irish and How to Pronounce the Consonant Cluster “thbhl” Posted by róislín on Dec 31, 2014
(le Róislín) Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit. Happy New Year to you. Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh. Happy New Year to you (plural). So how do we pronounce that, what does it literally mean, why are the actual words “happy” and “new” not in the phrase, and where does a consonant…
You Just Call Out My Name (sa Tuiseal Gairmeach, of course, in Irish) (Pt. 1) Posted by róislín on May 31, 2013
(le Róislín) “Dia duit, a …” — hmm, what’s next, after “hello”? We could ask the same question for “Slán agat, a (ainm duine),” when saying “goodbye”! In most other languages I’ve studied, once you learn the words for “hello” and “goodbye,” putting people’s names into the phrase presents no particular challenge. That is…
Nótaí Fuaimnithe don Bhlag “Cé Mhéad Lá sa Mhí?” (Pronunciation Notes) Posted by róislín on Jan 23, 2012
(le Róislín) Pronunciation notes always seem welcome here, so here’s another batch, this time for the discussion of na míonna, from the previous blog (nasc: https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/ce-mhead-la-sa-mhi-how-many-days-in-the-month/). That blog seems to have generated a lot of lenition (séimhiú), so we’ll certainly be looking at that here. Urú (eclipsis), hmm, I only see one example. An meas…
Pronunciation Follow-up to the “Cúig Fhocal gan Mhaith” Series Posted by róislín on Jan 17, 2012
(le Róislín) The last few blogs have dealt pretty intensely with meaning and slight differences among comhainmneacha (synonyms). Here we’ll look at a much more down-to-earth aspect of some of the same words – how to say them. We’ll look at a few of the longer and more complex ones (tláithíneacht, neamhghontacht, m. sh.) but…
Logainmneacha Eile: Urú agus Ainmneacha gan “An” Posted by róislín on Jul 15, 2011
(le Róislín) Here are some more possibilities for saying where you live, according to country, to follow up on the flurry of interest after the recent “ghost-town” blog (an blag faoin scáilbhaile). This blog will just deal with ainmneacha tíortha that don’t include the definite article, like Ceanada, Meicsiceo, Sasana, Stáit Aontaithe Mheiriceá. Irish, unlike…