(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 to the Irish palate.

So Googling around, I suppose I discovered the answer, but, as usual, fáilte roimh thuilleadh eolais ó shaineolaithe ar bith sa réimse seo (saineolaí earraí gloine?).  Now I’m wondering why I didn’t put two and two together immediately, but, hey, it gave me another good excuse for a romp through na foclóirí and a chance to rack my brain for any stray references I might remember to the best size container for drinking shots “neat.”

Before we get into the actual shot glass scenario, though, let’s just look at the word for “glass” itself.  As with English, “glass” can either be the material or a small container made of the material, for drinking.  The basic word is “gloine” [GLIN-yuh], with the following forms:

an ghloine (with lenition, since the word is normally considered feminine).  Some dialects and speakers, though, treat this word as masculine, and would say “an gloine;” this dual-gender situation that pertains to a small number of other nouns (mar shampla “taobh”).

na gloine (losing the lenition), of the glass: dath na gloine (the color of the glass), except in the “gloine-masculine” dialects, which would say “dath an ghloine.”

na gloiní, the glasses.  I’d say this would almost always pertain to drinking glasses, but I suppose it could pertain to cineálacha gloine (types of glass), in specialized usage.  That would parallel a word like “bread,” normally non-countable.  Usually I’d say “loaves of bread” but I could see a situation, if I were working in a bakery or grocery store, where I might say “Are all the breads shelved?”  But like I said, I’d normally use “na gloiní” in the context of drinking and a word like “cineálacha” or “saghasanna” if I were differentiating types of glass.  For eyeglasses, the usual word is “spéaclaí,” but “gloiní súl” (lit. glasses of eyes) may also be used.

na ngloiní, of the glasses: cruthanna na ngloiní (the shapes of the glasses)

Here are a few types of specialized glasses (and believe me, I can’t find all the ones I’m looking for, like highball, lowball, and flute).  But here are a few I’ve seen used:

fíonghloine, a wine glass

gloine choise, a goblet, lit. a foot(-ed) glass

gloine mhanglaim [GLIN-yuh WAHNG-lim], a cocktail glass, with “manglam” (a cocktail) lenited and in the genitive, since it’s attributive (describing the glass).

uisceghloine, a water glass

One example without the actual “glass” element is “timbléar” (a tumbler).  And another interesting “non-glass” word for a glass, specifically a tall one, is a “schooner” (caveat: this can also be “a jug/pitcher,” at least in Australia).  The Irish for this (size unclear to me) is simply “scúnar,” the same as the ship (scúnar).  For the full skinny on the schooner, I’d suggest http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2011/01/schooner-wars/ because the wealth of variation, down to the milliliters and geographic regions in Australia, is way too much for one blog, Most of the mionrudaí wouldn’t pertain specifically to the Irish language, anyway, although it’s always interesting to discuss beer-drinking in Irish.  Noteworthy, though, that “scúnar” can be used in this way.  But I can’t say I’ve heard this much, in Irish or in English!

Anyway, getting back to shot glasses, I think the reason I kept coming up dry looking for this word or trying to recall it in Irish has to do with its relatively recent origins, probably American, which I’ll summarize here as briefly as possible.  These interpretations are straight from Wikipedia, so there may be conflicting opinions.  It’s a bit like searching for the origin of the word “OK.”  Here goes:

1) the saloons of the Old West, cowboys trading a cartridge for a shot of alcohol

2) the small glass used at the dinner table to hold leftover lead shot found in game

3) the lead shot used in glass quill holders; the loose shot kept the quill upright (11/27/17: oh, looking back on that, perhaps I should specify, glass holders for quills, as in early penmanship, not holders for glass quills, which, to the best of my knowledge don’t exist, except perhaps, on glass figurines of porcupines or hedge-hogs.  If writing-quills are supposed to come from geese, that is géanna, I’d simply add that on a glass goose figurine, I think the quills would be “do-fheicthe,” that is, “invisible.”  As for the word for “quills,” since you may be wondering: cleití, if they’re goose-quills, yes, same as the word for “feathers,” and dealga, if they’re on torcáin chraobhacha or gráinneoga).

4) small glasses known as “cannons” or “firing glasses,” used in some fraternal organizations, which have thick bases since they are slammed down on the table

5) the glassworks factory of Friedrich Otto Schott in the 19^th century

Do roghasa! (your choice!)

But where does this leave us?  If the word “shot glass” isn’t so traditional in Ireland, what is used for small servings?  I went straight to the horse’s mouth and checked out some recipes for drinks on the www.jamesonwhiskey.com website and found that “shot-sized” drinks are served in “rocks glasses.”  Bhuel, I can’t find specific Irish for a “rocks glass” either, so will probably have to settle for “timbléar fuisce” (a whiskey tumbler) and let the topic rest.  Or else find an Irish-speaking mixologist.  Maybe the moral of the story is that there isn’t much doubt as to how one serves uisce beatha (aka fuisce) in Irish.  I suppose “gloine bheag” will do.  And the bartender probably knows it’s “beag” as well, so there probably isn’t much that needs to be said, other than “gloine uisce beatha, le do thoil.”  Or better yet, an t-ainm branda is fearr leat.  And no, in this case, that’s not from “branda” (brandy) but from “branda” (a brand).  Slán agus sláinte — Róislín