(le Róislín)

There seems to be an unstated rule in language learning that the longer a new word is, the more we hesitate before pronouncing it.   This can apply in many languages … antidisestablishmentarianism … anticonstitutionellment … Siebentausendzweihundertvierundfünfzig … leas-phríomhfheidhmeannaigh … or pinagpinamamagaspasan, to name just a few.

And I don’t even want to start with place names around the world, because then we could fill up a blog with about five of the major contenders internationally and their component parts, without much room for any real discussion of them.  But maybe we’ll do a future blog on that one.  And we could still keep up the Irish content by, for example, translating “Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg” or “Taumatawhakatangi­hangakoauauotamatea­turipukakapikimaunga­horonukupokaiwhen­uakitanatahu” into Irish.

But … today we’ll focus on a word that is only moderately long in comparison, “shiamsaíochta,” which came up in the most recent blog, written as a tribute to the late Prince (nasc thíos).  At thirteen letters long, this word is really quite manageable.  Especially when we consider that it’s simply “siamsaíocht” with an extra “h” inserted at the beginning and an extra “a” at the end, all for quite basic reasons in the language.

It’s even more manageable when we look at the core word, “siamsa.”  Six letters, three syllables, short and simple.  “Siamsa” [SHEE-um-suh] means “musical entertainment” or “amusement,” and sometimes it’s a variant of the near-lookalike “siansa” [SHEE-uh-suh], which means “strain or melody of music.”  Mostly though, “siamsa” is used for the sensation created by the music (entertainment) and “siansa” for the music itself.

Once we have “siamsa,” then we can have “siamsaíocht,” adding a widely-used suffix, “-(a)íocht” in Irish (cf. eacnamaíocht, camógaíocht, iománaíocht, foghraíocht, fóillíocht, eagnaíocht,  amhránaíocht, amharclannaíocht, and acrai-chleasghleacaíocht, to randomly name a few).

Just don’t mistake the suffix “-(a)íocht” for the actual noun “aíocht,” unrelated, whose basic meaning is “hospitality.”

The word “siamsaíocht,” clocking in at a mere eleven letters, picks up two more letters when used in the phrase “sár-réalta shiamsaíochta” (entertainment superstar, or in the actual word order, “superstar of entertainment”).

So how do we pronounce this?

siamsaíocht [SHEE-um-see-ukht]

shiamsaíochta [HEE-um-see-ukh-tuh]

You may also encounter:

an tsiamsaíocht [un T^chEE-um-see-ukht], the entertainment

shiamsaíocht [HEE-um-see-ukht], entertainment, typically used after some prepositions,  in phrases like:

Ach tá iliomad bealaí ann chun go gcaithfeadh an Rialtas airgead ar shiamsaíocht agus ar chaitheamh aimsire (com/ie/i/igaeilge.ie/2013-03-21_1687777_12/June_Irish_language_news_2010_Irish_language_news_iGaeilge/)

gluais don athfhriotal: iliomad, multiplicity; bealach, way, path; go gcaithfeadh an Rialtas, that the Government would spend; caitheamh aimsire, pastime, lit. consuming of time in enjoyable activities

A few more phrases that have some form of this word are:

1. a) aonach siamsaíochta, funfair
2. b) páirc siamsaíochta or páirc shiamsaíochta, amusement park (I’ve seen both spellings)
3. c) páirc siamsaíochta théama, theme park, lit. park of amusement of theme. A shorter phrase, “páirc théama,” is also used.

Those three add the “-a” ending, to show that we really mean “of entertainment” or “of fun,” but they don’t have the initial lenition, where the initial “s” is changed to ‘sh.”  Some examples of that would be:

1. a) oíche shiamsaíochta, a night of entertainment, with lenition following the feminine noun “oíche.”
2. b) cláir shiamsaíochta, light entertainment, lit. programs of entertainment, with lenition following the plural form “cláir.” Here’s an interesting example of this combination:

Is grúpa é an lucht féachana atá ina saoránaigh a dtagann eolas ó chláir fhaisnéise chucu agus, lena chois sin, is tomhaltóirí iad a bhaineann siamsa as cláir shiamsaíochta. (Na Meáin, le hIarfhlaith Watson, http://researchrepository.ucd.ie/bitstream/handle/10197/5680/Watson_2012_Na_Meáin._An_tSochtheangeolaíocht.docx?sequence=1)

gluais don athfhriotal sin (since it is a bit complicated): lucht féachana, audience; clár faisnéise, documentary (lit. program of knowledge); lena chois sin, as well as that; tomhaltóir, consumer

Note what happens when we don’t use the word “cláir” (programs) in the phrase, first substituting “clár,” meaning “a program” and secondly substituting “cláracha for “cláir“:

1. a) clár siamsaíochta, a program of (light) entertainment, as in this notice by Victoria B. Hamilton to Club Chonradh na Gaeilge about a new family entertainment program, posted in Facebook, which starts:

“A chairde,
Tá clár siamsaíochta teaghlaigh á léiriú ag Tyrone Productions faoi láthair. Rud cosúil le School Around the Corner atá i gceist.  … ( https://www.facebook.com/anclub/posts/10206928676529677, based on this announcement: http://filmireland.net/2016/01/04/call-for-audience-members-for-tg4-show/)

gluais don athfhriotal sin: teaghlaigh, of family; á léiriú, being produced; faoi láthair, currently; i gceist, involved, meant, lit. “in question” but to indicate the topic, not to suggest doubt

1. b) cláracha siamsaíochta, (programs of) light entertainment, using the alternate plural form “cláracha,” as in:

Seirbhísí cuimsitheacha raidió agus teilifíse atá saor le cláracha siamsaíochta, oideachasúla agus eolais a chraoladh a fheileann do chuile dhuine is brí le craolachán na seirbhíse poiblí in Éirinn (http://www.citizensinformation.ie/ga/consumer_affairs/media/tv_licences.html)

gluais: cuimsitheach, comprehensive; oideachasúil, educational; a chraoladh, to broadcast; a fheileann do, which are suitable for; brí, meaning; poiblí, public

So now we’ve seen various forms of the word “siamsaíocht,” with some pronunciation tips.

One last point, before we wrap up for this blogpost, why do we have both the word “siamsa” and the word “siamsaíocht” in Irish?  “Siamsaíocht” can readily mean entertainment or amusement in general but, these days at least, “siamsa” more specifically tends to mean “musical entertainment.”  Older definitions of “siamsa” include “sport” or “friendly gathering” or “amusement” without the musical implication.  Curiously, “siamsaíocht” doesn’t appear in Ó Domhnaill’s hugely comprehensive dictionary, Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, published in 1977, or in the shorter but fairly authoritative Foclóir Póca (as of 1990)  and I don’t see it in any of the pre-1977 dictionaries I’ve been able to check.   The word “siamsaíocht” seems to have evolved fairly recently (1990s?) and now there are two related words, “siamsa” and “siamsaíocht.”

But then before Legoland and Tayto Park and TV, what other kind of amusement was there, besides music?  Scéalaíocht agus cluichí agus cleasanna, is dócha.  But nothing like the numerous activities (gníomhaíochtaí) now available for our leisure time (am fóillíochta).  And, of course, a huge enterprise of  marketing them has also arisen.

Bhuel, sin é don bhlagmhír seo, plé na bhfocal “siamsa” agus “siamsaíocht,” mar chuimhne ar an sár-réalta shiamsaíochta Prince.  Tá súil agam go raibh sé seo níos mó ná siamsúil (amusing, entertaining, diverting) ach úsáideach (useful) chomh maith.  Cén pháirc shiamsaíochta a mbeidh tusa ag tabhairt cuairt uirthi  i mbliana?  Nó an dtabharfaidh tú cuairt ar Shiamsa Tíre (http://www.siamsatire.com/), an “national folk theatre” i dTrá Lí, Contae Chiarraí, i mbliana?  Cén siamsa nó cén tsiamsaíocht a bheith agat?  SGF — Róislín (agus mé ag smaoineamh, “Am fóillíochta?  Cá bhfuil an t-am fóillíochta sin?”)

Nasc: In ómós don sár-réalta shiamsaíochta Prince — Réaltnéal Corcra (a memorial note with some Irish phrases) Posted on 25. Apr, 2016 by róislín in Irish Language (https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/in-omos-don-sar-realta-shiamsaiochta-prince-realtneal-corcra-a-memorial-note-with-some-irish-phrases/)

Freagraí ón bpictiúr:  Cad iad na marcaíochtaí siamsaíochta a fheiceann tú sa pháirc shiamsaíochta seo? rollchóstóir (choóóstllrir), roth mór (thor róm), áilleagán intreach (galnáileá rinteach).  Dhá ainm eile ar “áilleagán intreach”: timpeallán spraoi, roithleagán ró