Irish Language Blog

(le Róislín) ‘Sea, an t-am sin den bhliain arís, aimsir na ndea-rún don bhliain nua.  In the word cloud (néal focal) above we see some common topics for “dea-rúin na hAthbhliana,” many of which have to do with health (sláinte).  How many of them do you recognize? Here they are again, with a few pronunciation…

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(le Róislín) Around this time of year, we often see the phrases “Nollaig Shona” and “Athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise duit.”  Today’s blogpost will look at how to pronounce these phrases and at the reasons why words like “sona” and “bliain” change to “shona” and “bhliain.”  This change of the first letter is called…

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(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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