Irish Language Blog

(le Róislín) “Scailtín fíona” (mulled wine) is a phrase we introduced in the most recent blog post (nasc thíos).  So what exactly are the typical ingredients for “mulled” wine, and why is it called “mulled” anyway? Here are six of the gnáthphríomhchomhábhair (ordinary primary ingredients — sorry for the sesquipedalianism of the word, well, not…

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(le Róislín) ‘Tis the season to be festive (féiltiúil) and one of the special treats that may be served at this time of year is mulled wine (scailtín fíona).  An maith leat é?  Agus an ndearna tú riamh é?  Let’s take a closer look at the name of the drink.  We’ll start with “fíon” (wine),…

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(le Róislín) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain#/media/File:Snap-Apple_Night_globalphilosophy.PNG, Snap-Apple Night (1833), On the Festival of Hallow Eve, public domain, by Daniel Maclise, RA (25 Jan 1806, Cork–25 Apr 1870, Chelsea), inspired by a party he attended in Blarney, in 1832. Includes divination games with melted lead and roasted nuts. Lipéad Gaeilge le Róislín, 2018. Our Halloween topics in this blog series have…

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(le Róislín) Having found the adorable picture of a pygmy hedgehog (thuas sa ghrafaic), I figured I’d write this blog about hedgehogs, pygmy and otherwise. Let’s start with the basics – “gráinneog” is the Irish for “hedgehog.” Here are some of the basic forms of the word: an ghráinneog, the hedgehog na gráinneoige, of the…

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(le Róislín) A charming retelling of a classic tale, with an animated video, to boot. While I have enjoyed many Irish videos, animations, and cartoons, going back at least as far as “Bouli” (early 1990s),  many of them have very rapid-paced dialogue and sometimes I’m a bit reluctant to recommend them to elementary learners because…

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