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Is (X) mé — An (X) thusa?  — Saying ‘I am a (X)’ — ‘Are you a (X)?’ in Irish  Posted by on Oct 27, 2017

(le Róislín) OK, so we’ll start out on the more fanciful side, a conversation (comhrá) between a pumpkin and a turnip.  What the hay — if horses, dogs, clocks, cars, and flowers can all talk in various realms of fiction and folklore, why not pumpkins and turnips?  Oh, by the way, those words i nGaeilge…

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Glasra Oíche Shamhna (a Halloween vegetable), but what’s it called in Irish? Posted by on Oct 24, 2017

(le Róislín)  Cén glasra é sin sa phictiúr?  What vegetable is that in the picture?  To answer the questions in the graphic above: An cairéad é?   Ní hea, ní __________ é. An práta é?   Ní hea, ní __________ é. An biatas é?  Ní hea, ní __________ é. An svaeid é?  Ní hea, ní __________…

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Everyone knows it’s … gaofar … gaothach… feothanach … fleách … seadánach, srl. (windy, breezy, etc. in Irish, with a nod to the Ruthann Friedman song) Posted by on Oct 20, 2017

(le Róislín) In the last blogpost (nasc thíos), we looked at some (some 60+ that is!) possibilities for words or phrases involving the following: breezes, winds, gusts, squalls, and gales.  That was all a follow-up to the earlier post on hairicíní (nasc eile thíos).  Today, before moving on to topaicí Oíche Shamhna (since it is…

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Some (60+) Irish Words and Phrases for Breeze, Wind, Gust, Squall, and Gale.  Oh, and Zephyr! Posted by on Oct 16, 2017

(le Róislín) Since we recently discussed wind, in general, and hurricanes, I thought it might be interesting to look at more words for wind.  The meteorological sort, that is.  So here’s a fairly comprehensive list, but eventually there will be more.  It’s a really rich vocabulary in Irish Unlike my usual approach, of including plurals…

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Hurricane-related words in the Irish language: Hairicíní, Spéirlingí, Súile, Béil et al. Posted by on Oct 12, 2017

(le Róislín) This has been one of the worst hurricane seasons I can remember.  Although I, as an individual, can do nothing to stop the destructive path of the hurricanes (bealaí scriosacha na hairicíní), I can at least provide a little vocabulary for discussing them in Irish. First we’ll look at the two words for…

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How to say ‘rat’ in Irish and a continuation of the glossary for ‘An Píobaire Breac’ (an t-aistriúchán le Seán Ó Dúrois (Cuid 4/4) Posted by on Oct 7, 2017

(le Róislín) Seo an chuid dheireanach den ghluais don dán “An Píobaire Breac” (The Pied Piper) a tosaíodh cúpla seachtain ó shin (naisc thíos).  Tá súil agam go raibh seans agaibh an t-aistriúchán le Seán Ó Dúrois a fháil (eolas foilseacháin thíos) agus é a léamh.  Nó b’fhéidir é a úsáid i rang.  Dála an…

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How to say ‘rat’ in Irish and a continuation of the glossary for ‘An Píobaire Breac’ (an t-aistriúchán le Seán Ó Dúrois) (Cuid 3) Posted by on Sep 30, 2017

(le Róislín) Bhuel, the Christmas carol, “Dhá Lá Dhéag na Nollag” may refer to “aon phíobaire dhéag,” but I could only come up with five pipers (cúigear píobairí) so far for the graphic for this blogpost.  Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see the different styles of illustration and different approaches to his “pied-ness” — is it…

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