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Pronunciation Roundup: Téarmaí Nollag Posted by róislín on Dec 19, 2010
Wondering how to pronounce any of the recent vocabulary? Here are some tips, especially for séimhiú and urú. These processes are part of the building blocks of Irish, second only, I’d say, to an aibítir í féin. First, a brief recap of what séimhiú and urú are. Séimhiú or lenition – a softening of the…
Daidí nó Athair (na Nollag) Posted by róislín on Dec 16, 2010
We recently addressed the “happy” vs. “merry” distinction for Christmas greetings, discussing the use of “sona” (or shona), faoi shéan and faoi mhaise, as well as non-Christmas terms translated as “happy,” like dea-, or which may function like “happy” lie “beannachtaí” (lit. blessing). Some day we’ll deal with a slew of other “happy” words, like…
(Baoth)g(h)eilleagar nó Eacnamaíocht? Posted by róislín on Dec 8, 2010
In the last few blogs, we’ve been leading up to talking about the economy. Not that this will be any sort of “grinnanailís.” My main goal here is terminology, so you can discuss the topic further among yourselves. If you look up the word “economy,” you’re likely to find at least three different Irish terms…
Ag Caint faoin Euro (Speaking of the Euro) (pt. 2) Posted by róislín on Dec 4, 2010
We recently went through the ways to count words like “euro,” “úll,” and “uair.” I included the last two since they illustrate additional features of Irish that don’t show up with the word “euro,” like lenition (séimhiú), eclipsis (urú), and h-prefixation. Another currency that might often be discussed (and counted) in Irish is the “punt.” …
Ag Caint faoin Euro (Speaking of the Euro) Posted by róislín on Nov 30, 2010
Last blog I suggested that we might discuss cúrsaí airgeadais for a while, given the recent developments with the euro. Nothing too “teicniúil” or “teibí,” since, maidir leis an eacnamaíocht agus leis an ngeilleagar, ní hiad m’iomaire iad. But I’ll do my best “an iomaire sin a threabhadh,” anyway. Let’s start with one of the…
Súil Siar: Séimhiú agus Ainmfhocail Bhaininscneacha (The Infamous Lenition) Posted by róislín on Nov 27, 2010
I was going to move right on to talking about “arbhar” (arbhar Indiach), the other main ingredient of the Native American dish, succotash, which was discussed in the previous blog. But it occurred to me that the list of feminine nouns, all those types of pónairí (beans), would make a good opportunity to practice “séimhiú”…
Maidir le Succotash (nó msickquatash sa teanga Narragansett) (Cuid a hAon) Posted by róislín on Nov 25, 2010
Last time, I promised you a little more on succotash, which is a timely dish for this season, at least in the northeastern United States. But it’s also a good opportunity to discuss the Irish names of various types of beans (here in part 1) and the different meanings of the word “corn” in Irish…