Archive for January, 2012
Téarmaí Geimhridh (Winter Terms) Posted by róislín on Jan 30, 2012
(le Róislín) This winter is proving to be unusually cold (fuar) in some parts of the world (an Eoraip) and unseasonably mild (bog) in others (Meiriceá, b’fhéidir Ceanada). Before we proceed, let’s look briefly at the pronunciation of the adjectives “fuar” and “bog.” For “fuar,” I’ll simply note that each vowel is pronounced, so it’s…
TSAGGSSL (An Gaeilge É Sin? Is That Irish?) Posted by róislín on Jan 26, 2012
(le Róislín) Bhuel, to answer the title question, braitheann sé. It depends. You might remember “TSAGGSSL” from the last blog. No, it’s not some permutation of “Yggdrasil” or a new companion to the smallish list of words with 8 letters but only one vowel. Yes, there are some examples of those 8-letter wonders in languages…
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…
Cé Mhéad Lá sa Mhí? (How Many Days in the Month?) Posted by róislín on Jan 20, 2012
(le Róislín) A reader recently posted a question about how to say how many days a month has. Bhuel, ar mhaith leatsa na bearnaí sa chairt seo a lionadh isteach ? Oh, and dála an scéil, the months in this chart are not in chronological order. Don’t want it to be too much of a giveaway!…
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…
Cúig Fhrása (Béarla) Gan Mhaith (De Réir Fhionntán Uí Thuathail aka Fintan O’Toole) (Cuid 4/4) Posted by róislín on Jan 14, 2012
(le Róislín) Faoi dheireadh, an starr dheireanach! Finally, the home stretch! Cuid a ceathair as ceithre chuid (Part 4 of 4 parts). Today’s blog will deal with the fifth of the cúig iontráil in Fintan O’Toole’s “Wasting Good Words on a Terrible Situation” (www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0103/1224309734610_pf.html). I’ll repeat the SPOILER ALERT though. You might want to wait…
Cúig Fhrása (Béarla) Gan Mhaith (De Réir Fhionntán Uí Thuathail aka Fintan O’Toole) (Cuid 3/4) Posted by róislín on Jan 11, 2012
(le Róislín) So, we’ve now covered the first three words i liosta Fhionntán Uí Thuathail a d’fhoilsigh sé ina alt “Wasting Good Words on a Terrible Situation” ag http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0103/1224309734610_pf.html In case you’re just joining this dúshlán focal midstream, that means we’ve matched “austerity” with “déine” and “gátar,” “bailout” with “tarrtháil,” and “difficult” with “deacair.” Admittedly…