(le Róislín)

Before we completely move on from Oíche Shamhna and cait or cait dhubha to ceiliúradh na Nollag and carúil, let’s linger over one more cat topic.

In fact, I wish I had known about it earlier. Not that I probably would have made it to Minnesota for the Internet Cat Video Festival 2014, held on August 14^th, but I might consider a future festival for a future visit to “Tír na 10,000 Loch.” Maybe combined with a long-awaited visit to the SPAM^® Museum in Austin, Minnesota, but that, of course, is ábhar blag eile.

Apparently 2014 saw the 3^rd annual Internet Cat Video Festival (nasc thíos). The first one was in 2012 (logically enough), and was attended by about 10,000 people, thousands more than the number anticipated, which was several hundred.

So, my first thought, aside from wondering if there were any físeáin Éireannacha in the Festival, was … how to say Internet Cat Video Festival in Irish. Not difficult but a little thought-provoking, with three nouns (trí ainmfhocal) being used as adjectives (mar aidiachtaí).

Here’s the basic vocab:

Idirlíon, Internet

cat, cat (ní nach ionadh, especially if you’ve been reading the last few blogs or some earlier cat blogs, naisc thíos!)

físeán, video

féile or feis, festival

Next, how to put them together (since word order is rarely the same in Irish and English)? My interpretation of this in the sequence for Irish would be “Festival of Internet Videos of Cats.” So here goes, building the phrase gradually:

1) físeáin Idirlín, Internet videos

Where’d the second “i” in “físeáin” come from? It’s to make “video” plural (iolra), like cupán (cup)/cupáin (cups) and amadán (fool)/amadáin (fools).

Where’d the “o” go? The “o” of “Idirlíon,” that is. “Internet” is being used here to describe the videos, so it’s an “attributive noun” (ainmfhocal aitreabúideach) that is, a noun functioning as an adjective, like the “shoe” of “shoe size” or the “tennis” of “tennis outfit” in English. So we use an tuiseal ginideach (the genitive case), which for “Idirlíon” means dropping that “o,” just as we would for “líon” (net), changing it to “lín” (of a net).

2) Féile Físeán Idirlín, Festival of Internet Videos:

Where’d the “i” hie? The “i” we added to “físeáin,” that is. “Videos” is now interpreted as “of videos,” which takes us to the genitive plural form in Irish. And that takes us back to the basic form (físeán). A similar process occurs with “Amhrán na gCupán” (The Song of the Cups, i.e. The Cup Song) and “Lá na nAmadán” (the Day of the Fools, i.e. April Fool’s Day aka April Fools’ Day, ach scéal na huaschamóige sin, sin ábhar blag eile)

3) Féile Físeán Idirlín Cat, Festival of Internet Videos of Cats. So if “cait” means “cats,” what happened to the “i”? Again, we’re looking at genitive plural, so we revert to the basic form (cat). The same thing happens in phrases like “hataí fear” (men’s hats, with “fear” not “fir”) and “An Bord Ceannaigh Capall” (The Horse Purchase Board, lit. The Board of Purchase of Horses, with “capall,” not “capaill”).

So that’s my take on the topic. Any other thoughts? Or should we do the whole thing over with “feis”?

An bhfuil tú ag iarraidh a dhul ann an bhliain seo chugainn (2015)?

By the way, and in contrast, a phrase like “Féile Físeán Idirlín na gCat” would suggest to me an internet video festival held by, of, and for the cats themselves. Which is definitely food for thought! Would they be watching other cats? Could that include an caitín gleoite caillte creepy/cute sa bhfíseán ‘Wrecking Ball’ le Miley Cyrus ag AMA ar scríobh mé faoi/fúithi anuraidh (nasc thíos). An “darn cat” sin? Dinah? Thomasina?  Bean de Noiréis?  Cait ghleoite chineálacha? Nó arbh fhearr leis na cait a bheith ag breathnú ar gheáitsí áiféiseacha daoine?

And on that note, go raibh mile meow agat as é seo a léamh agus slán go fóill — Róislín

Gluaisín: ainmfhocal: noun; capall: horse, of horses, capaill: horses, of a horse; bean (here), Mrs., (normally) woman, wife; de Noiréis, Norris

Nasc don bhFéile: http://www.walkerart.org/calendar/2014/internet-cat-video-festival-2014

Naisc don bhlag faoin gcat i bhfíseán Miley: ‘Caitín’ + ‘Caillte’ + ‘Caoineadh’ = Cén Rud? Posted on 27. Nov, 2013 by róislín in Irish Language, agus an blag a spreag sin: http://www.inquisitr.com/1045015/miley-cyrus-creepy-space-cat-explained/

Naisc do bhlaganna faoi chait agus faoi chait dhubha a bhí sa tsraith seo cheana:

https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/dont-be-silent-even-if-it-was-the-cat-a-pronunciation-round-up-for-the-irish-black-cat-blogs/ (Don’t Be Silent, Even If It Was The Cat: A Pronunciation Round-up for the Irish Black Cat Blogs , Posted on 05. Nov, 2014 by róislín in Irish Language

https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/cats-of-the-cats-black-cats-and-related-phrases-in-irish/ (‘Cats’, ‘of the cats,’ ‘black cats’ and related phrases in Irish, Posted on 31. Oct, 2014 by róislín in Irish Language)

https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/ag-cur-cat-ar-fhuinneoga-or-at-least-a-n-oscailt-the-windows-that-is/ (Ag Cur Cat ar Fhuinneoga (or at least ‘á n-oscailt,’ the windows, that is), Posted on 04. Mar, 2014 by róislín in Irish Language)

https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/bigi-ciuin-ba-e-an-cat-e-or-should-that-be-ba-iad-na-deich-gcat-dhubha-iad/ (Bígí Ciúin! Ba é an cat é! Or Should That Be “Ba Iad Na Deich gCat Dhubha Iad”? , Posted on 15. Oct, 2012 by róislín in Irish Language)

Nasc don Mhúsaem SPAM® (a bheidh dúnta ó 28 Meán Fómhair 2014 go 2016, dáta le fógairt. Ach ná bíodh eagla oraibh – osclóidh sé arís!): http://www.spam.com/spam-101/the-spam-museum