Na hAmadáin (ar leanúint) – The Fools (continued) Posted by róislín on Apr 3, 2009
(le Róislín) By now you might be wondering, so what is the Irish word for a female fool? You might have encountered it already, if you’ve read Charles Kickham’s 1879 novel, Knocknagow, which uses an anglicized form of the word, “oonshugh.” English-medium Irish literature of that vintage tends to be full of Irish words, but…
Lá na nAmadán – The Day of the Fools (April 1) Posted by róislín on Apr 1, 2009
(le Róislín) As promised in the blog of an t-aonú lá is fiche de mhí an Mhárta (March 21st), we will honor Lá na nAmadán with an assortment of terms for fools. Be advised – it may take more than one blog to get through this! The most widely used term is “amadán,” although in…
Sraothartach (Sneezing), Smaoisíl (Sniffling), and Srannadh (Snoring) Posted by róislín on Mar 30, 2009
(le Róislín) As promised, we’ll address sneezing and related phenomena in today’s blog. You might have already anticipated that some more beannachtaí (blessings) and wishes for good health will be involved, just as they are with English (bless you, Gesundheit). Sraoth is a sneeze. In Irish, it’s not so customary to use a verb that…
Beannachtaí i nGaeilge a Trí – Or How to Reply to a Greeting in Irish Posted by róislín on Mar 27, 2009
(le Róislín) Beannachtaí i nGaeilge (Cuid a Trí) – Or How to Reply to a Greeting in Irish After two full blogs worth of information, we can finally say, “hello” in Irish. And now, how to reply! Here we’ll be keeping track of singular and plural, as noted in the previous blogposts, but for the traditional…
Beannachtaí i nGaeilge a Dó – Or How to Greet Several People in Irish Posted by róislín on Mar 25, 2009
(le Róislín) Beannachtaí i nGaeilge (Cuid a Dó) – Or How to Greet Several People in Irish As promised in a recent blog, here we’ll look at the greetings used when you’re talking to more than one person. Remember that Irish has two different ways to say “you,” singular and plural. Therefore, phrases such as “Dia…
Beannachtaí i nGaeilge – Or How to Greet Someone in Irish Posted by róislín on Mar 23, 2009
(le Róislín) Beannachtaí i nGaeilge (Cuid a hAon) – Or How to Greet Someone in Irish For starters, let’s look at the word “beannacht,” which literally means “a blessing” but which also means “greeting.” Traditionally almost all Irish greetings were blessings. Today, the field has opened up with various versions of “hello” and “hi” now…
An Chéad Lá den Earrach (The First Day of Spring) – Not! Posted by róislín on Mar 21, 2009
(le Róislín) Shortly after St. Patrick’s Day, we welcome in an tEarrach (the Spring). Or do we? We may be accustomed to thinking of March 20th or 21st as the beginning of Spring, but there is actually a lot of controversy in English as to whether Spring starts on the first of the month or…