(le Róislín)

Brocaire te nó burgar?  Cé acu is fearr leat?  A hot dog or a burger?  Which do you prefer?

Recently, we posted (nasc thíos) some vocabulary for hot dogs (brocairí teo) and terriers (brocairí).  We also looked at the word “brocaire” itself, and its origin (broc, a badger).  Today we’ll sink our teeth into the subject and imagine we’re ag an mbeárbaiciú, deciding what to eat.

An veigeatóir thú?  Is féidir leat focal breise a chur ann le rá gur brocaire te veigeatórach nó burgar veigeatórach atá de dhíth ort (burgar tófú / veigeatórach / glasraí / pónairí, srl.). 

Sula dtosóidh muid leis sin, seo roinnt foirmeacha den fhocal “burgar” — note the slight change in spelling from the English to satisfy Irish vowel harmony rules.

an burgar, the hamburger (not that it’s really made of ham, ach sin ábhar eile, .i. stair chócaireachta.

an bhurgair [un WUR-gur^zh OR un VUR-gur^zh ], of the hamburger (blas an bhurgair, the taste of the burger)

na burgair, the hamburgers

na mburgar [num-UR-gur], of the hamburgers (dea-bholadh na mburgar, the aroma of the burgers)

Note that, as the pronunciation guide here show, these words don’t have the short “uh” sound that’s typical in Irish between an “r” and a “g,” as in “dearg” and “fearg,” both of which are two syllables (DJAR-ug, FAR-ug).  Probably this is because “burgar” is a relatively recent addition to the Irish language, it doesn’t keep all of the Irish idiosyncrasies of pronunciation, at least not according to the three sound files in teanglann.ie.

However, if you use an alternate spelling, “borgaire,” you’ll probably find that extra little “uh” sound, at least according to the Foclóir Póca, which transcribes the word, using IPA, as /borәgәr΄ә/.  The three schwas (ә) represent the sound “uh” (like the “a” in English “about” or “sofa”).  BTW, as I’ve mentioned previously in the blog, when I use “uh” to indicate pronunciation, it’s that schwa sound (as in “about” or “sofa”).  It’s not the German “uh” of “Huhn” or the slightly eye-boggling “Moorhuhn.”  I say “eye-boggling” because when I see that “-rh-” in the middle of the word, I keep thinking of the Welsh “rh” (rhyd, rhos, rhaeadr, rhagddywedyd, a.y.y.b.) even though I know it’s “Moor + Huhn.”  A “Moorhuhn,” btw, is a “cearc uisce” in Irish.  Somehow the eye-boggling doesn’t kick in when I see the word in English (moorhen).  At least, it didn’t until now!

To appropriate a recently revived pop-culture image of the 70s and 80s, we could talk about a ” * burgadaí,” portmanteau’d here in Irish for the first time ever, I believe.  But I don’t think we could go too far with that idea before the real Hamburglar would get involved.

And here are some pronunciation tips for some words in the last blogpost:

brocaire [BROK-ir^zh -uh], a terrier

an bhrocaire [un VROK-ir^zh -uh], of the terrier

na mbrocairí [nuh MROK-ir^zh -ee], of the terriers

an bhrocaire the [un VROK-ir^zh -uh heh, that “eh” is a short “e” sound as in English “pet” or “let”] of the hot dog

na mbrocairí teo [nuh MROK-ir^zh-ee tchoh], of the hot dogs.  The “tch” transcription shows the Irish slender “t” pronunciation, similar to the typical Irish (but not American English) pronunciation of the word “tune.”

brocach an bhroic [BROK-ukh uh vrik], the sett of the badger, the badger’s sett.  Note the “n” of “an” is not typically pronounced before a consonant in phrases like this, so “an” is transcribed here as “uh.”  Similarly, we have “bean an tí” (sometimes written as “bean a’ tí“) and “fear an tí” (sometimes written as “fear a’ tí“).

brocacha na mbroc [BROK-ukh-uh num-ROK], the setts of the badgers, the badgers’ setts

And now, before we start our actual conversation, how about na tarsainn (na blastáin) and na barráin, either to fulfill the baseball stadium image of the hot dog or to satisfy beadaíocht an bheadaí for a gourmet burger.  Here are a few:

citseap

mustard

anlann goinbhlasta picilí [… GIN-VLAS-tuh …, with the “g” hard, as in “gift” or “girl”]

oinniúin shótáilte [in-YOO-in HOH-tawl-tchuh].

gormán — this means “blue cheese,” but it can also mean “cornflower” or “a black person” (since “black” for skin tone in Irish is “gorm,” literally, “blue”)

You might also have

leitís

trátaí

oinniúin amha

And for the brocaire te, at least:

sauerkraut, the same in English and Irish and, I assume, auf Deutsch.

Your pickle on the side could be a “gircín picilte” aka “gircín i bpicil.  That’s an interesting situation where English has the “gh” and Irish just has a plain “g.”  Some similar examples of this contrast  include “gí” (ghee), “Gána” (Ghana), and “geiteo“(ghetto).  So far I can’t find “ghat” in Irish, but I wouldn’t say it comes up that often in typical Irish conversations.

Anyway, now we’ve done “burgar,” reviewed “brocaire te,” practiced a little pronunciation, and covered the condiments.  Now let’s do a little comhrá.   Bairbre agus Brian ag caint faoin mbia.  Gluaisín thíos.

Bairbre: Dia dhuit, a Bhriain, Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?

Brian: Tá mé go maith, a Bhairbre, go raibh maith agat.  Agus tú féin?

Bairbre: Tá mise go maith freisin ach tá ocras orm.

Brian: Bhuel, tá tú san áit cheart.  Á, dea-bholadh na mbrocairí teo agus na mburgar blasta!

Bairbre: Ó, tá ocras an domhain orm! 

Brian: Bhuel, sílim go bhfuil na burgair agus na brocairí teo réidh anois.   Cé acu ab fhearr leat?

Bairbre: Bhuel, is feoilséantóir mé agus b’fhearr liom burgar veigeatórach mar sin.  An féidir liom burgar tófú a fháil?

Brian: Sílim gur féidir.  Á, seo dhuit ceann.   Agus rollóg?  Tá na blastáin ansin ar an mbord eile.  Agus tá beoir agus deochanna fuara sa chiseán fuar ansin.

Bairbre: Go raibh maith agat.  Agus céard a bheidh agatsa?

Brian: Beidh burgar mairteola agam agus gormán agus oinniúin shótáilte agus trátaí mar bharráin.   Burgar beadaí a bheidh ann!  Bhuel, leag air!

Bairbre (tar éis greim amháin)  Ááá, blasta.  Bia foirfe do lá breá samhraidh!

An raibh tú ag beárbaiciú an samhradh seo?  Má bhí, scríobh isteach agus inis dúinn cén chaoi a raibh sé agus cén sórt bia a bhí ann, más mian leat.  SGF  — Róislín

Nasc:
Madraí teo nó brocairí teo i séasúr na mbeárbaiciúnna (hot dogs, and more, in Irish) Posted by róislín on Jul 6, 2016

Gluaisín: beadaí, gourmet; ceart, right, correct; ciseán fuar, cooler, lit. “cold basket”; dea-bholadh, aroma; foirfe, perfect; greim, a bite; Leag air! Tuck in(to it); mairteola, of beef; ocras an domhain, extreme hunger