Archive by Author
More Lughnasa Customs (and a Quiz!) Posted by róislín on Aug 7, 2010
Lughnasa customs could be observed over a two-week period, depending on the local community. Some sources and written memoirs refer to the second Sunday as August as the date, other communities held their observances on the last Sunday of July. Whichever date was traditional for a given area, one of the customs that figured significantly…
Will The Real Lúnasa / Lughnasa / Lughnasadh Please Stand Up? Posted by róislín on Aug 1, 2010
(le Róislín) We’ll take a break here from pronunciation notes, to address the holiday at hand, currently called “Lá Lúnasa” (August 1). The entire month of August also derives its name from this holiday, mí Lúnasa, or simply, Lúnasa. And while there’s a book’s worth of information on how this festival was traditionally celebrated, we’ll…
Treoir don Treoir: A Guide to the Guide (for Pronunciation), Cuid a 3 Posted by róislín on Jul 29, 2010
(le Róislín) The past few blogs discussed the use of the superscript letters “zh” and “y” and the use of the gamma symbol (γ) to represent broad “dh” and “gh.” This blog will deal with the use of “kh” to represent the “guttural ch” pronunciation in Irish in words like “ach” and “loch.” The linguistic term…
Treoir don Treoir: A Guide to the Guide (for Pronunciation), Cuid a 2 Posted by róislín on Jul 27, 2010
(le Róislín) Treoir don treoir, an ea? Well, here’s more! The most accurate way to transcribe the sound of the broad Irish “gh,” as in “gharbh,” is by using the Greek gamma symbol, γ. It looks a little like a “v” with an extra loop at the bottom. It represents the voiced velar fricative, a sound…
Treoir don Treoir: A Guide to the Guide (for Pronunciation) Posted by róislín on Jul 25, 2010
I get a lot of requests for assistance with Irish pronunciation, so I thought I’d do a few more blogs dealing with vocabulary from previous entries and explaining how to read my pronunciation guide. In other words, treoir don treoir (a guide to the guide). I’ve done this from time to time anyway, here and…
Nótaí ar Fhuaimniú na bhFocal sa Bhlag Is Déanaí [Pronunciation] Posted by róislín on Jul 23, 2010
Here are some pronunciation notes for the last blog. Again, the purpose of the occasional blogs that are devoted primarily to pronunciation here is to provide a rough guide, especially aimed at addressing the issue of silent letters. For more practice with pronunciation, I always recommend Transparent’s Word of the Day, which comes with sound…
Laethe Náisiúnta nó Idirnáisiúnta Eile i Mí Iúil (Chess, Mosquitoes, and Junk Food, Oh My!) Posted by róislín on Jul 22, 2010
And what do those topics have in common? Well, they all have a lá náisiúnta or idirnáisiúnta in July. And they’re all interesting words vocabulary-wise. But then, I find almost all words interesting vocabulary-wise. My latest cool word in English? “Limicoline,” which would describe various lapairí, such as feadóga, gobadáin, agus falaróip. “Limicoline” isn’t actually…