Ceiliúrtar Lá Cuimhneacháin i Meiriceá ar an Luan deireanach i mí na Bealtaine.  Cheiliúrtaí ar an 30ú lá de mhí na Bealtaine é ach i 1971 athraíodh é go mbeadh an tsaoire i gcónaí ar Luan sa dóigh go mbeadh deireadh seachtaine fada (trí lá) ann. 

Memorial Day is celebrated in America on the last Monday of May.  It used to be celebrated on May 30^th but in 1971 it was changed so that the holiday would always be on a Monday so that there would be a long (three-day) weekend.

Cuimhneachán, and related words like “cuimhin,” “cuimhne,” and cuimhním,” have interesting connections to Latin and even Welsh.   The modern Irish words derive from Old Irish “co-men” (lit. “with mind”).  The “men” part of this compound is related to Latin mens and Italian and Spanish mente as well as English “mental.”  It is also connected to the modern Irish word “meanma“ (mind, state of mind, spirit, disposition), which also gives us the surname Mac Meanman (McMenamin).   “Co-” is basically the same as the modern Irish prefix “có-“ (comh-).

“Cuimhneachán” is used in many phrases and proper names, typically in the genitive case (cuimhneacháin) to modify the noun that comes before it.  Can you translate these? (freagraí thíos)

1. Ospidéal Cuimhneacháin Shéamais Uí Chonghaile

2. searmanas cuimhneacháin

3. Dámhachtain Chuimhneacháin Mhíchíl Uí Ifearnáin, where it is lenited since it modifies the feminine noun “dámhachtain.”

4. plaic chuimhneacháin

5. lá cuimhneacháin (as a generic noun)

6. Droichead Cuimhneacháin Talbóid (Droichead Cuimhneacháin an Talbóidigh)

7. Lá Náisiúnta Cuimhneacháin an Ghorta Mhóir 2010 (Muraisc, Co. Mhaigh Eo)

8. Lá Cuimhneacháin Náisiúnta (in Éirinn)

9. Lá Cuimhneacháin an Uileloiscthe

10. clár cuimhneacháin

An cuimhin le duine ar bith an t-ainm a bhíodh ar Lá Cuimhneacháin (i mBéarla) sular tugadh “Memorial Day” air?  Leid: Chum Charles Ives dán siansach leis an iarainm mar theideal.  Sa dán siansach seo, cloistear fuaim banna máirseála agus seinntear “Taps,” an glaoch buabhaill, ar thrumpa.  Freagra thíos, uimh. 11.

Gluais: a bhíodh, that used to be; buabhall [BOO-uh-wul] bugle, also, curiously, buffalo and drinking-horn, buabhaill, of a bugle, etc.; chum [khum], composed; glaoch [glaykh] call; iarainm [EER-AN-yim] former name; siansach [SHEE-un-sukh] symphonic; sular, before (used with verbs in the past tense, as in “sular tháinig sé,” which means “before he came,” not before nouns, for which you used “roimh”), trumpa, trumpet (also a jaw harp, presumably differentiated by context); tugadh [TUG-uh, not quite like English “tug,” more like the vowel sound in “put,” not “putt”], was given (named);

Freagraí: 1) James Connolly Memorial Hospital; 2) memorial service; 3) Michael Heffernan Memorial Award (honoring Michael Heffernan, of Ballina, who died in 1997 while attempting to rescue a family trapped in a sea-cave at Horse Island); 4) commemorative plaque; 5) day of remembrance 6) Talbot Memorial Bridge (Dublin); 7) 2010 National Famine Memorial Day (Murrisk, Co. Mayo); 8] National Commemoration Day (in Ireland); 9) Holocaust Remebrance Day; 10) souvenir program; 11) Decoration Day, for which there are at least two possibilities in Irish: Lá Maisiúcháin, if the decoration of soldiers’ graves is meant, or Lá Suaitheantais, if the decoration of the actual soldier is meant.