Archive for 'Irish Language'
Nótaí Fuaimnithe don Dá Bhlag faoi Liúdair Posted by róislín on May 21, 2012
(le Róislín) This blog will simply be a pronunciation guide to the last two blogs and some general pronunciation notes. Pronunciation seems to be the eternal issue in Irish language learning, so, ó am go ham, I think it deserves a blog of its own. So here’s a round-up for some of the longer and…
Sula bhFágfaidh Muid Na Liúdair … Posted by róislín on May 18, 2012
(le Róislín) I ndáiríre, is é ábhar an bhlag seo ná “ainmneacha teangacha,” ní na liúdair iad féin. Why’s that? I found the word for “coalfish” in quite a few languages, so I figured we could do another match game. Several of the languages have more than one word for “coalfish” so please expect to…
Liúdair go dtí a) an Caisleán Nua, b) an Aithin nó go c) Toraigh? Posted by róislín on May 15, 2012
(le Róislín) As the final entry in this mionsraith ar chaint fhíortha, we’ll talk briefly about liúdair (coalfish) and their role in a traditional Irish expression. Of course, we could talk about figurative speech till the cows come home or till we’re all blue in the face, but there are other topics looming so we’ll…
Cé Mhéad Lá? Cé Mhéad Paorach? Posted by róislín on May 11, 2012
(le Róislín) A recent blog in this series on figurative speech in Irish mentioned “na laethanta go léir a bhí ag na Paoraigh.” Some of you probably recognized this as a reference to the well-known seanfhocal (proverb): Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach (Mr. Power will have another day). So how does this seanfhocal break…
Saol an Mhadaidh Bháin — The (Good) Life of the White Dog Posted by róislín on May 8, 2012
(le Róislín) Last blog we looked at the expression “ar muin (ar dhroim) na muice” (being “on the pig’s back,” i.e. well off). The blog before that also referred to several other examples of figurative speech, including “madraí bána.” As with the ‘dromanna muc” (or “muiní muc”), that general reference to “madraí bána” was in…
Ar Dhroim (Ar Muin) na Muice: Not Quite The Same as “High on the Hog” Posted by róislín on May 5, 2012
(le Róislín) You might remember a passing reference in the last blog to “dromanna muc” (backs of pigs) in the discussion of caint mheafarach (fhíortha) in general. The only real reason I pluralized it was to emphasize the point that lots of people use lots of figurative speech in lots of situations. So over the…
Between a Rock and a … May Day Fire? (or Life on the Horns of a Dilemma — as Gaeilge) Posted by róislín on May 1, 2012
(le Róislín) Amongst the numerous phrases in English for being, essentially, stuck between two difficult choices, we have “between Scylla and Charybdis,” “between the devil and the deep blue sea,” and, perhaps most widely used of all, “between a rock and a hard place.” Irish, natch, has its equivalents. One is, fairly straightforwardly, “rogha an…