(le Róislín)

While still on the subject of the French, let’s practice a few more phrases.  And we’ll end with this blog with a “French” topic that could be (and has been) translated in multiple ways, with or without any reference to France, be it noun, adjective, or otherwise.  Curiosity piqued?  Lean ort (continue, i.e. read on)!

But first, the more straightforward stuff, and basically a run-through of the various forms of the noun for France (an Fhrainc) and the adjective (Francach, francach).  The possible topics are given in 1-6 and the matching words answers are given in line below, a-f.  For good measure, one of the phrases below is called “French” in English, but doesn’t use any word related to the French in Irish.  You’ll find na haistriúcháin and na freagraí in the usual place, thíos.

 1.. trilseán ___, 2. an Cogadh ___ , 3. Craobh Oscailte Leadóige na ___, 4. pónairí ___, 5. Criól ___. 6. draein ___           

 a., Franc-Indiach, b. Fraincise, c. francach, d. spallaí, e. francacha, f. Fraince

The six phrases above are all set phrases with specific Irish equivalents.  However, since starting this series, I’ve been pondering the best translation into Irish of the movie title (or the actual incidents), The French Connection (1971), since it’s one of the first “connections” that leaps to mind (my mind, anyway), when thinking of phrases that use the word “French.”  Assuming we stick with calling the connection “French,” since it was partly based in Marseille, we’d be using the adjective “Francach,” perhaps with séimhiú if it’s going to agree with a feminine noun. 

In this case, the trickier part is going to be the word “connection,” for which there are at least six translations in Irish, none of which might be best for this purpose.

ceangal (physical connection of things)

baint (regarding events)

caidreamh (with a person)

leanúnas (of thought)

alt, also means “joint” or “knuckle” (physical connection, as between pipes)

cónasc, lit. a co-link (regarding electricity)

Some of the above we can easily discard, but that still leaves us several to mull over.  If you have some thoughts on the best translation, or know of an existing one, please feel free to write in. 

Looking at some of the other adaptations of the film title, I see the following words used, all of which, even in my limited abilities with these languages, can mean something besides the basic idea of “connection.”

 contacto (Spáinnis)

Brennpunkt (Gearmáinis, Ioruais)

filiera (Rómáinis)

filière (Fraincis; in fact, the movie title is simply “La Filière,” with no word for “French”)

Operação (Portaingéilis) 

So we’re not even locked into using a word that simply means “connection.”  We could go with “contact” or “focal point (person) or “network” or “operation,” as the examples above suggest.  As far as I know, the film hasn’t been translated into Irish, so I think the jury is still out on the best possible choice  Do bharúilse?

As for the “French” part of the title, of course, one could follow the lead of Norway and Germany, which translated the film title as Brennpunkt New York and Brennpunkt Brooklyn (nice bit of uaim there, too). 

And no, I’m not going to provide an answer in this blog; I’m hoping to hear your ideas first.  SGF, ó Róislín

Freagraí agus Aistriúcháin

1c. trilseán francach, a French braid

2a. an Cogadh Franc-Indiach, the French and Indian War

3f. Craobh Oscailte Leadóige na Fraince, the French Open (tennis; N.B. the use of the adjective in English but the noun in Irish, in the tuiseal ginideach)

4e. pónairí francacha, French beans

5b. Criól Fraincise, French Creole (language)

6d. draein spallaí, a French drain, lit. a drain of spalls or gallets (aka galets, sa Fhraincis), and if that’s not soiléir go leor, a drain of chips or pebbles.  Interestingly, the French word “galet” may be related to the Irish word “gallán,” although the scale is different, since a “gallán” is a large standing stone or menhir. 

Gluais: lean ort, continue (here: “read on”); uaim, alliteration