Some Irish Words Starting with the Letter ‘X’ (Part 2 of 2): xileafón agus xifisteirneam Posted by róislín on Sep 18, 2015
(le Róislín) As you might recall, the most recent blagmhír here was “Some Irish Words Starting with the Letter ‘X’ (Part 1 of 2)” (nasc thíos). Today we’ll look at Part 2, Irish words beginning with “x” where the single letter “x” isn’t a prefix. In other words, this is not the post dealing with words…
Some Irish Words Starting with the Letter ‘X’ (Part 1 of 2) Posted by róislín on Sep 14, 2015
(le Róislín) As you might suspect, there are relatively few words in Irish that start with the letter ‘x,’ since it wasn’t part of the traditional original Irish alphabet (which was a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, and u). We’ve seen something similar for…
Irish Words Starting with ‘w’ (dornán beag ach dornán acu ann!) Posted by róislín on Sep 9, 2015
(le Róislín) Bhuel, let’s start by saying there aren’t many words in Irish that start with “w”, since like “v,” this letter was not traditional in the Irish alphabet. But times change, languages change, and there are now at least a few words to note. I’ll also mention in passing that a fair number of…
From ‘vacsaín’ to ‘vuinsciú’ and some other Irish words that start with ‘v’ Posted by róislín on Sep 5, 2015
(le Róislín) From the English perspective, there’s nothing particularly unusual about words starting with the letter ‘v.’ After all, we can go from “vacancy” (casual, or otherwise, noted with homage to JKR) to “vyingly,” without batting a “fabhra” (eyelash). But the traditional Irish alphabet did not include the letter “v,” so most words you’ll find…
How to Pronounce ‘Leathbheart,’ ‘i mbeart,” and Other Consonant Clusters in Irish Posted by róislín on Aug 31, 2015
(le Róislín) In today’s blog we’ll look at how to pronounce words and phrases like “leathbheart” and “i mbeart.” “Leathbheart” is a classic example of “lenition,” or the “softening” (séimhiú) of the sounds of certain Irish consonants. And the phrase “i mbeart” is a classic example of “eclipsis” (urú), which is covering over the sound…
Irish Bits, Bytes and Lenition (Giotáin, Bearta, agus Séimhiú) Posted by róislín on Aug 28, 2015
(le Róislín) In several recent blogs, we’ve looked at the word “beart” in its many meanings. Remember the four different basic meanings (freagraí thíos) as they apply to phrases such as: a) Oifig na mBeart b) bléinbheart c) i mbearta crua d) beart curtha in áirithe And for a total semantic workout, try: e) i mbeart. This phrase could…
Speaking of ‘Na Cóid Phoist,’ How about ‘Letters’ and ‘Parcels’ in Irish Posted by róislín on Aug 25, 2015
(le Róislín) This summer saw the launch of the new Irish postal code system, kerfluffle and all, which we discussed in a previous blog. So let’s get postal now with some other mail-related vocabulary. a) litir–this word is quite clearly related to “letter,” which is exactly what it means. It can be “letter” as in…