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Ó Abair An Léir Dhuit: Oh Say Can You See (Amhrán Náisiúnta na Stát Aontaithe) Posted by róislín on Jun 18, 2012
(le Róislín) As those of us sna Stáit Aontaithe transition from Lá na Brataí (14 Meitheamh) go Lá na Saoirse (i Meiriceá; 4 Iúil), this might be an apt time to try the American National Anthem in Irish. It was translated long before the ongoing row as to whether “The Star-Spangled Banner” should be sung…
Más É “Coffey” Do Shloinne … Posted by róislín on Jun 15, 2012
(le Róislín) Our most recent blog looked in some depth at the surname Ó Cuil(l)ean(n)áin, including its meaning, its various spellings, and its role in creating place names or landmark buildings. While there are thousands of such sloinnte suimiúla in Irish, which could create blogs topics from now till Lá Thaidhg na dTadhgann (Cén lá? …
“An Fada Leat Uait Í, Uait Í?” Iníon Uí Chuileannáin agus a Cohórt Posted by róislín on Jun 11, 2012
(le Róislín) Before wrapping up our discussion of the Cullinans of diamond fame, it might be interesting to look at the name itself. Not only does it have several spellings in Irish, but it also has several anglicizations. And some noteworthy bearers of the name, in real life and in song. The main variations in…
Ó “Ó Cuileannáin” go “Bling” agus Smaointe Fánacha (Ramblings) Eile Posted by róislín on Jun 8, 2012
(le Róislín) As I was mulling over the recent entries on “diamaint,” I decided to look a little further into diamond lore. I always wondered what exactly Koh-I-Noor meant (turns out to be “mountain of light” in Persian) and had a general curiosity about the largest known diamond ever. Hope? Taylor-Burton? Uncle Sam? Excelsior? So…
Diamant = ∞ (or should that be “= diamant ∞”?) Posted by róislín on Jun 5, 2012
(le Róislín) In the last blog, we talked about diamonds, and the various forms of the word in Irish (diamant, diamaint, na ndiamant, srl.). Meanwhile, I’ve been racking my brain to come with a catchy translation of the now-classic phrase “A diamond is forever.” Here I was thinking it probably…
Diamaint (Sa Spéir? Ar Bhonn do Bhróige?) Posted by róislín on Jun 2, 2012
Seems like this would be an interesting time to discuss geamchlocha, given the Iubhaile and all that. So let’s start with the diamond, which is “an diamant” in Irish, a fairly clear-cut cognate to the English, and for that matter, to the Latin “adamas,” which can also mean “adamant,” originally a noun meaning an impenetrably…
The Nuts and Bolts of, well, Boltaí agus Cnónna (agus Scriúnna agus Tairní, for good measure!) Posted by róislín on May 30, 2012
(le Róislín) In the last blog, about “cluasa” (ears) I happened to mention the phrase “cluaisín scriú” (the wing of a screw), since it’s based on the word for ear. “Cluaisín” [KLOO-ish-een] literally means “little ear.” That got me thinking about how such items are made and categorized. This blog will just be skimming the…