Lá (an) Altaithe: Cén Téarma i nGaeilge? Posted by róislín on Nov 23, 2010
(le Róislín) Last year, as some of you may recall, I compared the usage of four different terms for saying “Thanksgiving Day” in Irish. The total number of hits, based on Google searching, was about 100, which is, of course, quite small compared to the word “Thanksgiving” in English. Admittedly, the difference in the number…
Wrapping Up “Before” (roimh, sula, etc.) and “After” (i ndiaidh, tar éis, etc.) Posted by róislín on Nov 21, 2010
(le Róislín) Before we really start talking turcaí, in honor of Lá an Altaithe (the American holiday coming up), let’s briefly review the “before” and “after” spectrum. Then, after our turkey interlude, we can resume with the points of the compass, as hinted at earlier. For the word “before,” there were two main expressions, one…
Into the (Concept of) “West”: Siar, Thiar, agus Aniar Posted by róislín on Nov 18, 2010
(le Róislín) Let’s temporarily move away from the “after” and “ex-“ meanings of “iar” and look at the basic adverbs pertaining to the direction “west.” Eventually we can expand this to the other three points of the compass and the directions up and down, since they all work in basically the same way. The differences…
“Iar-“ (after-, western, etc.) agus “Siar” (westwards. back in time, etc.) Posted by róislín on Nov 13, 2010
(le Róislín) Last blog we looked at some uses of the prefix “iar-“ in compound words like “iarsholas,” “iarscoláire,” “iarbháis,” “iarmhír,” and “iarleann.” The prefix “iar-“ is related to the Irish adverb “siar,” for which some basic meanings are “west(wards),” “back,” and “back in time.” So “iar-“ can pertain to geography (“west” or “western”) as…
Iar-, Iar, Iar dTír, Iarbhír, Iarmhír, and Other Afterthoughts on “After” Posted by róislín on Nov 8, 2010
Now that Samhain is over, and we’ve taken a brief but timely detour to cover words like “shellacking,” “drubbing,” and “leathering” (greadadh, broicneáil, leadradh, srl.), due to torthaí an toghcháin sna Stáit Aontaithe, we’re back on track with our “before” and “after” series. We’re probably in for the long haul here, since there are so…
Cén Ghaeilge Atá ar “To Take a Shellacking”? Posted by róislín on Nov 4, 2010
It’s fascinating to me when 1930s slang shows up in today’s political headlines, as happened recently with President Obama’s now famous use of the phrase “to take a shellacking.” Even more fascinating to me, as you may have guessed, is to ponder how this might be expressed in Irish. It’s a two-part investigation. First, we’ll…
Cultacha Samhna Móréilimh [best-selling] na Bliana 2010 Posted by róislín on Oct 31, 2010
(le Róislín) Here’s some vocabulary you might enjoy for putting together the names of some of this year’s most popular Halloween costumes. Some of these are specific trademarked figures, so please note I’m not actually recommending renaming the characters into Irish – just breaking the vocabulary down into its component parts. Each name I’ve picked…