Archive for 'Irish Language'
Stella, Étoile, Estrella, Stea … Réalta! Posted by róislín on Jun 20, 2011
(le Róislín) Sandwiched between Lá na Brataí (an American holiday celebrated on June 14th) and Lá na Saoirse (4 Iúil) might be a good time to talk about “réaltaí agus riabha” (stars and stripes). So we’ll take a sos (break) from the díochlaontaí for a while, and address, first, the “réalta” component. The “riabha” will…
Díth Ingne (An Cúigiú Díochlaonadh, ar l. arís) Posted by róislín on Jun 17, 2011
(le Róislín) So, what do you see in the title of this blog that exemplifies the pattern for a 5th-declension noun? That’s right, nothing really. Remember the various patterns we’ve seen so far (athair, athar, aithreacha; cathair, cathrach, cathracha; cathaoir, cathaoireach, cathaoireacha)? And more recently, the pattern where you add “-an,” as in: pearsa, pearsan…
Lámha Leitean (An Cúigiú Díochlaonadh, ar l.) Posted by róislín on Jun 14, 2011
(le Róislín) “Catch!” “Dropped it? Lámha leitean!” Where English invokes the slipperiness of butter to describe someone who can’t catch a ball, Irish invokes, yes, you guessed it, porridge! “Lámha leitean” is a useful phrase for the clós súgartha (playground), and it’s also useful for demonstrating yet another 5th-declension noun in Irish. The “leitean” part…
“Comharsa,” “Monarcha,” “Pearsa”: An Cúigiú Díochlaonadh Arís Posted by róislín on Jun 10, 2011
(le Róislín) We’ve recently seen several patterns for 5th-declension nouns in Irish. One small group, which contains some very important kinship terms, looks like this: athair (father), athar, aithreacha máthair (mother), máthar, máithreacha Another group sometimes also has the “-air” ending but works slightly differently when you create the possessive form (adding “-ach”) and includes…
An Iarmhír “-ach” sa Chúigiú Díochlaonadh: Beoir (Beer) vs. Beorach (of Beer), srl. Posted by róislín on Jun 3, 2011
(le Róislín) We’ve recently seen one pattern for the 5th category of Irish nouns (an cúigiú díochlaonadh), which involved dropping the “i” of words like máthair, athair, deartháir, and bráthair. As you may recall, that change results in phrases like the following (aistriúcháin thíos): a) gach mac máthar b) in ainm an Athar c) carr…
Gaolta and the Fifth Posted by róislín on May 27, 2011
(le Róislín) Fifth declension, that is. So, no, the fifth here is not a cúigiú as in 4/5 of a galún, traditionally filled with uisce beatha, vodca, rum, or other hard liquor, ar ndóigh. And it’s not the “Fifth” that Americans, at least, might take, demand, or plead, to protect against féin-ionchoiriú, etc. That’s “an…
Piontaí agus an Ceathrú Díochlaonadh Posted by róislín on May 18, 2011
(le Róislín) As long as we’re on the topic of “turas an Uachtaráin go hÉirinn,” how about “piontaí Guinness”? And since “pionta” happens to be a 4th-declension noun, all the more reason to keep sraith na ndíochlaontaí going. Credit: PDPhoto.org / Public Domain Image So, if we’re going to describe this pint, what are the…