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Comóradh 100 Bliain an Titanic Posted by róislín on Apr 12, 2012
(le Róislín) Much has been written about the Titanic in advance of the centennial of its loss but, at least as far as I can tell, relatively little in Irish. Of course, it’s a somewhat difficult topic to search for online, since the keyword “Titanic” stays the same in Irish and in English. Putting “an”…
That’s The Way The Easter Bilby Goes – Cluas i ndiaidh Cluaise (using the Irish verb “to eat”)! Posted by róislín on Apr 10, 2012
(le Róislín) Some of you might remember our brief discussion of “An Bilbí Cásca” last year when we were talking about Máirt Chásca as a lá saoire bainc? Where is that extra bank holiday, which none of the rest of us get, observed? “Bilbí” is a bit of a clue — sa Tasmáin! I say…
Cáisc, Cháisc, Chásca, Cásca et al. – Which One When? Posted by róislín on Apr 8, 2012
(le Róislín) After seeing so many Easter phrases, you might start to wonder why there are so many different forms of the same word. Well, there’s the practical answer and the theoretical answer. Let’s start with the practical answer. For “Easter” in Irish we have the subject form (An Cháisc, lenited because it’s a feminine…
Laethanta na Seachtaine, Laethanta Aimsir na Cásca Posted by róislín on Apr 4, 2012
(le Róislín) Stretching from Céadaoin an Spiaire to Máirt Chásca, there are enough special days surrounding Easter to give a specific Irish name for each day of the week. Since there are already several forms for each day, aside from Easter usage, let’s look at them grouped together in a chart. That will enable us…
Fools on Hills, and Otherwise, with Irish Pronunciation Tips Posted by róislín on Apr 1, 2012
(le Róislín) On the topic of fools (amadáin), Irish seems to have an endless supply of words. Probably other languages do as well (Welsh offering up ffŵl, ffwlcyn, hurtyn, lolyn, penbwl, twpsyn, and ynfytyn, just for starters), but our focus here, ar ndóigh, will be on Irish terms. We’ve recently discussed quite a few (gamal…
Lá na nAmadán…na nGamal?…na nÓinseach?…na bPleidhcí?…na bPleotaí? Posted by róislín on Mar 30, 2012
(le Róislín) We may be well accustomed to calling April 1st “Lá na nAmadán” in Irish, but couldn’t there be some other possibilities as well? Irish has many words for “a fool,” so what would happen if we tried some of the others? And, grammatically speaking, how do we work backwards from “fools” in the…
Cineálacha Gloiní: Types of Glasses Posted by róislín on Mar 26, 2012
(le Róislín) Before taking the mud-in-your-eye detour of the last blog (https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/maidir-le-mud-muck-mire-etc/), we were talking about drinking shots and what the word for “shot glass” would be in Irish. It also got me thinking, why is “shot glass” so uncommon in Irish language resources, when the typical contents of said glasses are such a delicacy…