A Partial Glossary for “Silent Night” in Irish (Oíche Chiúin) and in Welsh (Tawel/Dawel Nos), plus a nod toward the German (Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht) Posted by róislín on Dec 17, 2017
(le Róislín) As you might guess from looking at the graphic above, today’s blogpost will deal with some vocabulary for the Christmas carol, “Silent Night.” We’ll mostly focus on the Irish text, of course, but I thought I’d include a few notes on the Welsh, particularly because almost every version of it that I’ve seen…
How many ‘happys’ are there in Irish for the various seasonal greetings? Posted by róislín on Dec 14, 2017
(le Róislín) How many ways are there to say ‘happy’ in Irish? Quite a few, but for right now we’ll concentrate on two seasonal variations. One will be for saying ‘Happy Christmas,’ which in US English would be ‘Merry Christmas,’ and the other will be for ‘Happy New Year.’ The bottom line is that neither…
Maróg Nollag — Na Comhábhair agus Na Lipéid sa Chartún Thíos (Christmas Pudding, ar leanúint) Posted by róislín on Dec 11, 2017
(le Róislín) Ba é “Maróga Nollag” téama na blagmhíre deireanaí (nasc thíos), le seanghraific faoi réiteach na maróige agus na tinnis bhoilg a bhí ar na daoine a d’ith barraíocht di. Tá an léaráid an ghreannmhar. Last time, I mentioned that there were several labels in the illustration that I was not able to read. …
Maróga Nollag (That’s “Christmas Puddings” in Irish): A gComhábhair Posted by róislín on Dec 6, 2017
(le Róislín) An maith leat maróg Nollag? Nó an fuath leat í? An bhfuil tú ina leith nó ina héadan? An ndéanann tú féin maróga Nollag amanna? (Do you like Christmas pudding? Or do you hate it? Are you for it (ina leith) or against it (ina héadan)? Do you make Christmas puddings sometime?) According…
An Lorg sa Sneachta (The Track in the Snow): Snow Angels and More in Irish Posted by róislín on Nov 30, 2017
(le Róislín) This may be the time of year when adults (daoine fásta) and children (páistí) alike enjoy making snow angels (aingil shneachta). I haven’t found the term “aingeal sneachta” in an Irish dictionary so far, but it seems to be quite a straightforward combination. And I did find one (just one!) hit for the…
Cén tOileán É Seo? What Island Is This? Posted by róislín on Nov 28, 2017
(le Róislín) I recently noticed an interesting article about an island (nasc thíos), not Irish, but let’s just say, near Ireland (relatively speaking). It was on the November 26th episode of 60 Minutes, on CBS. Although the article and video are in English, it’s interesting reading, and it occurred to me that some of the…
Ar ‘muin’ or ‘mhuin’ or ‘dhroim’ na muice: an Irish expression for “in luck” Posted by róislín on Nov 26, 2017
(le Róislín) This blogpost will attempt to answer a question raised by reader Fergal on November 7, 2017, in response to the blogpost of May 5th, 2012, which was “Ar Dhroim (Ar Muin) na Muice: Not Quite The Same as “High on the Hog” (nasc thíos). He asked, “If droim is lenited ‘ar dhroim….’ why…