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Ag seinm uirlisí ceoil, ó alpchorn go xileafón (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish, Pt.2): ideafón go hócairín Posted by róislín on Mar 21, 2015
(le Róislín) In the last blog we looked at musical instruments from “a” (alpenhorn) to “h” (heckelphone) as part of a series on naming instruments AND saying someone is playing them. And yes, we did a couple more widely played instruments, like “an consairtín” and “na drumaí,” not just some of the less usual ones…
Ag seinm uirlisí ceoil, ó alpchorn go xileafón (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish, pt. 1) Posted by róislín on Mar 19, 2015
(le Róislín) Uirlisí ceoil ón alpchorn go dtí an xileafón. And, just for good, ermm, measure (“líne“) here, we’ll nudge them into the “tuiseal ginideach,” so we can say “playing the alpenhorn” or “playing the xylophone.” And why do we need “an tuiseal ginideach“? And what is it, anyway? We saw a bit of it…
Seamróga ag Seinm — Google’s Musical Shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day Posted by róislín on Mar 17, 2015
(le Róislín) Often when I see Google’s imaginative “Doodles,” I want to drop everything and write a blog about them in Irish. But somehow I never quite got around to it before. But the seamróga in today’s Doodle seem to be a natural for some Irish vocab practice. And just to make it a little…
Cleachtadh leis na focail ‘orlach,’ ‘troigh’ agus ‘cos’ (Inches and Feet in Irish) Posted by róislín on Mar 9, 2015
(le Róislín) While we’re still on the theme (téama) of inches (orlaí) and both kinds of feet (troithe agus cosa), perhaps you’d like to try these titles (teidil) and names (ainmneacha) from the fields of cinema and music. The exact number of blanks to be filled in are given, based on the words “orlach,” “cos,”…
Two Irish Words for ‘Foot’: ‘cos’ vs. ‘troigh’ Posted by róislín on Mar 4, 2015
(le Róislín) In the last blog, we looked at the words for “inch” and “foot” (in measurements) in Irish (orlach and troigh). Among other reasons for discussing these measurement terms, a lot of people have been talking about the depth of snow in Boston lately (thart fá chéad orlach ó thús an gheimhridh). Even that…
Orlaí agus Troithe (Measurements in Irish in the ‘inches/feet’ system) Posted by róislín on Feb 28, 2015
(le Róislín) Even though the world has become increasingly méadrach over the last half-century, there are still many reasons to use the words “inch” and “feet” in measuring, or at least to recognize them in older texts. One main reason is that a few countries still use inches (orlaí), feet (troithe), and yards (slata), as…
Irish Pronunciation Round-up for “Ó ‘Uncail Oscar’ go garmhac Fhionn Mhic Cumhaill: The Irish Roots of the Name ‘Oscar’ Posted by róislín on Feb 27, 2015
(le Róislín) How do you pronounce “garmhac,” “gheimhriúil,” “othar,” “Cumhall” and “Cumhaill“? Does “uncail” in Irish sound any different from “uncle” in English? And can we depend on “Oscar” in Irish sounding like “Oscar” in English? What about when it’s “Oscair“? This blog will look at a few pronunciation issues for some of the Irish…