Irish Vocabulary Round-up for ‘Comhrá idir Hamstar agus Seirbil’ Posted by róislín on Feb 6, 2016 in Irish Language
(le Róislín)
Bhuel, ‘sea, tá mé i mo chónaí i gcás ach níl sé chomh dona sin. Is hamstar mé agus mar sin is cás hamstair é an cás a bhfuil mé i mo chónaí ann. Tá a lán gnéithe maisiúla ann. Bíonn an-spórt agam ar an trealamh aclaíochta i gcomhair hamstar atá istigh ann. Fan go gcloisfidh tú céard atá agam sa chás … dréimire … tolláin … caochóg … agus a lán rudaí eile … (grafaic: http://www.clker.com/clipart-93844.html )
Our most recent post introduced some vocabulary specific to hamster and gerbil cages, as Hamaltún an Hamstar and Searbhán an tSeirbil compared their accommodations (nasc thíos). Let’s take a closer look and check out some more general vocabulary as well.
A. Céard Atá sna Cásanna?
ámóg [AWM-ohg], hammock
ardán codlata [AWRD-awn KUL-uh-tuh, silent d in “codlata“], sleeping platform
bia [BEE-uh], food
buidéal uisce, a bottle of water
caochóg bheag [KEEKH-ohg veg], small cubby-hole
crandaí bogadaí, seesaw
cúpla tollán, a couple of tunnels
dréimire dreapadóireachta, climbing ladder
giomnáisiam beag déanta as adhmad [GIM-naw-shee-um beg …], a small gymnasium made of wood. Pronounced with a “hard g” as in “gimlet,” “gimmick,” or as in “gimp” in some contexts. How many contexts are there for “gimp” and why does it matter? Féach an nóta thíos.
roth hamstair [ruh HAM-stirzh], hamster wheel
tigín [TIGG-een], little house
B. Focail Eile sa Bhlagmhir
an-spórt, great fun
antrapamorfachas [ahn-truh-puh-MORF-ukh-uss], anthropomorphism
bualadh leat [BOO-ul-uh lyat], to meet you, meeting you
buartha[BOO-ur-huh, silent t], worried
fréamh [frzhayv], root
Gaillimh [GAHL-yiv], Galway (example of a “broad” g sound)
galún, a gallon (example of a “broad” g sound)
geal, bright (example of a “slender” g sound)
gealach, moon (example of a “slender” g sound)
geall [gyawl], promise, pledge, bet, wager (example of a “slender” g sound)
geoidil, a yodel (example of a “slender” g sound)
gnúis [gnoosh], face, countenance, sometimes, but not always, specifically negative, as in “Chuir sé gnúis air” (He pulled a wry face). Not the most basic word for “face,” which I’d say is “aghaidh.” “Aghaidh,” by the way, is an interesting word unto itself, one which newcomers to the language are often surprised to find rhymes with “eye” and “I” and “aye” (in IPA transcript /ai/, which is not the sound of “train” or “rain,” despite the spelling). In other words, the “gh” and “dh” are silent.
gotha [GUH-huh, the “t” is silent], appearance, pose, gesture, expression, as in “gothaí gnúise gleoite na hamstar” (the cute facial expressions of the hamsters)
Hamaltún, Hamilton; “A Hamaltúin!” [uh HAHM-ul-too-in], “Hamilton!” in direct address
i gcomhair hamstar, for hamsters
iora [UH-ruh], usually in either the phrase “iora rua” (red squirrel) or “iora glas” (gray squirrel, not a “green” squirrel–for animals with gray fur, we may use “glas,” which normally means green. But for an animal’s fur, it’s understood to mean “gray,” which is normally “liath”
ó am go ham [oh ahm go hahm], from time to time
réitithe, sorted, organized
an rud is tábhachtai, the thing that is most important (from “tábhachtach,” important)
ruga, rug
sanasaíocht, etymology
Searbhán [SH·AR-u-vawn], Sherwin; “a Shearbháin” [uh HAR-u-vaw-in], “Sherwin!” (in direct address)
úinéir [OON-yayrzh], owner; úinéara [OON-yayr-uh], of an owner; an úinéara, of the owner
thar a bheith [har uh veh], “very” (in this context)
Bhuel, sin roinnt focal a bhi sa chomhrá. Tá súil agam go raibh siad suimiúil. SGF — Róislín
Nóta (maidir leis an bhfocal “gimp” i mBéarla): The word “gimp” has at least four unrelated meanings in English. Three of the four are a) a type of thread or cord, b) gumption, and c) a limp. These are pronounced with the “hard g” like “giomnáisiam.” The fourth “gimp,” meaning “slim” or “neat,” is sometimes spelled “jimp” and has the “soft g” sound (like English “j”). The story of these words must be a saga unto themselves. Why not just use English “gecko” or “get” as an example of the “hard g” pronunciation for this blog? Well, I could have but I wanted to get as close as possible to the actual “giom-” sound of the Irish word. The closer the syllables are, the better I think they work as pronunciation aids. Very few English words actually start with “gim-” and of the handful of others, “gimcrack” has the “j” sound for the “g,” and “gimbals” (used in a ship’s navigation) can be pronounced with either a “g” sound or a “j” sound, so those examples don’t help. Anyway, there’s some interesting food for thought for a future blog post–an Ghaeilge ar “gimcrack” agus an Ghaeilge ar “gimbals.” Lá éigin!
Nasc: Comhrá: Searbhán an tSeirbil agus Hamultún an Hamstar ag caint faoina gcásanna Posted on 31 Jan, 2016 by róislín in Irish Language (https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/comhra-searbhan-an-tseirbil-agus-hamaltun-an-hamstar-ag-caint-faoina-gcasanna/ )
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Comments:
John:
I never understood how ‘Iora Glas’ could mean ‘grey squirrel’ until I moved to Scotland and learned that over here ‘Glas’ does mean ‘Grey’. Liath, while used to mean grey for ‘hair colour’ and sometimes in relation to mountain descriptions, is used more often to mean a sort of ‘light blue’. ‘Uanine’ is used for green over here.
I like to imagine some kid growing up with Scots Gaelic wondering why ‘Glasraí’ is their word for vegetables, while to an Irish speaker this makes perfect sense. I for one, would be much more like to eat my ‘green’s rather than my ‘greys’!
róislín:
@John Pointe suimiúil, John. It’s also interesting that while Welsh also has the word ‘glas,’ it generally means ‘blue.” For ‘green,’ the usual word is “gwyrdd” and grey/gray is ‘llwyd.” And I agree, food that would literally be “liath” would look fairly ‘neamhbhlasta.’ Go raibh maith agat as scríobh isteach.