In addition to being the month for honoring daideanna, June is also a big month for honoring céimithe (grads), so the next two blogs will discuss some terms related to graduation ceremonies and activities. 

1) Cén sórt hata a chaitheann céimí ag an searmanas?

clárchaipín agus scothóg air [KLAWR-KHAP-een … SKO-hohg], a mortarboard with (and) a tassel on it

2) Cén dath a bhíonns ar an scothóg?

scothóg dhubh, the most general, a black tassel for all fields of study

Sometimes the color of the tassel depends on the field of study, at least in the U.S.  Can you match these tassel colors with their field of study? (freagraí thíos)

a) scothóg chorchardhearg [KHOR-khar-YAR-ug, four syllables with the guttural “ch” as in German “Buch”]                       

b) scothóg bhánghorm [WAWN-γOR-um]               

c) scothóg bhándearg [WAWN-DJAR-ug]               

d) scothóg liathghlas [LEE-uh-γLAHSS]

e) scothóg scarlóideach [SKAR-LOH-djukh]                       

f) scothóg liath [LEE-uh]

Nóta: a regular mortar board, for construction, is “clár moirtéil,” based on “moirtéal” (mortar). 

3) Cad a thugann tú do chéimí mar bhronntanas?

balún?  Má thugann tú balún, cén sórt balúin?

gnáthbhalún? [GNAW-WAL-oon], an ordinary balloon, i.e. balún laitéise 

balún scragaill? a foil balloon (níos maisiúla ach níos daoire!)

balún cainte, a speech balloon (ag magadh atá mé! – just joking!)

balún d’aer te? (ná baol air, síob sa bhalún sin mar bhronntanas, b’fhéidir, ach an balún é féin?)

airgead?  cárta bronntanais?

leabhar?  ríomhaire glúine nua?

teidí ag caitheamh t-léine a bhfuil ainm na scoile air?

carr? 

Nótaí agus Freagraí  

Mí an Mheithimh [mee un VEH-hiv], the month of June

Mí na gCéimnithe [mee nuh G^yAYM-nih-heh], the month of graduations, from “céimniú,” to graduate.  A graduate (the person) is a “céimí,” with “fochéimí” [FUH-H^yAYM-ee] used for undergraduates.  The “fo-“ part is from the preposition “faoi” (under). 

2) Freagraí: a) corcardhearg, crimson, iriseoireacht (journalism), b) bánghorm, light blue, oideachas (education), c) bándearg, pink, ceol (music), d) liathghlas, sage-green (lit. gray-green), corpoideachas (physical education), e) scarlóideach, scarlet, diagacht (divinity, theology), f) liath, gray, tréidliacht (veterinary science)

You may have noticed that the words for the colors are lenited after the word “scothóg” (chorcar– and bhán-, not corcar– and bán-).  Why?  Because “scothóg” is feminine, and lenition of adjectives following feminine nouns is one of the ways that adjectives grammatically agree with their nouns in Irish.  English has lost this type of gender agreement, with just a relic of it in such differentiations as “blonde” vs. “blond.”  But the other European languages I’ve studied all have some aspect of it – it’s just that it’s marked at the END of the word, or perhaps with a vowel change in the middle, not at the beginning of the word.  Examples include gwyn and gwen (Welsh), beau and belle (French), and bello and bella (Spanish, Italian). 

3) gluais: bronntanas, gift (mar bhronntanas, as a gift); ná baol air, not likely; ríomhaire glúine, laptop; síob, a ride, a lift