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Tag Archives: capall

Na Cluichí Oilimpeacha ó A go Z (An Olympics Alphabet in Irish) Posted by on Aug 16, 2016

(le Róislín) Since de réir aibítre is a fun and convenient way to look at the information about almost any topic, I figured an A to Z guide to the Olympics would be a useful and timely blogpost. Tricky thing, though, is that 8 letters of the English alphabet are not traditionally part of aibítir…

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Five More Irish Names for Girls: Nóinín, Pt. 4 of ‘Names with a Flower Theme (Bláth / Bláithín / Bláthnaid, Daifne / Dafnae, Lil / Lile, Nóinín, Róisín / Róis / Róise, and, sort of, Mairéad / Maighréad)’  Posted by on May 11, 2016

(le Róislín) Daisy?  Nóra? Onóra? Honor? Nóirín vs. Nóinín?  So what exactly is going on here with this name? Well, here’s the short answer.  “Nóinín” is generally considered to be a variation of the name Nóra (Onóra), even though “Nóra” also has another diminutive form, “Nóirín” (Noreen).  The name “Onóra” means “honor (honour),” close to…

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Mistéir an Fhrása ‘ó chorchtacht’ [sic] in ‘An Béal Bocht’ — Réitithe (An Irish typo — solved) Posted by on Apr 20, 2015

(le Róislín) When I first read the delightful Irish satirical classic, An Béal Bocht, (The Poor Mouth), one phrase that puzzled me was “… i bpriacal do mharfa ó chorchtacht na tíre” (p. 14).  Literally, it would mean, “… in danger of being killed from the “corchtacht” [sic] of the land.”  The official translation gives “from…

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Cialla an Fhocail “Log” (hollow, place, hollow place, etc.) Posted by on Aug 28, 2012

(le Róislín) In the last blog, we looked at terms for various types of horses (stail, láir, bromach, cliobóg, searrach, srl.) and at different ways to describe them, including the Irish for “sway-backed horse” (capall a bhfuil log sa droim aige / aici).  The word “log” in that phrase actually has many other interesting applications…

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When Is Something “Horse” Not Something “Horse” (Téarmaí mar “Raidis Fhiáin,” srl.) Posted by on Aug 22, 2012

(le Róislín) In the last blog, discussing the “Horse Latitudes” (Criosanna na gCalm), we also briefly addressed the “horselessness” of the Irish term “raidis fhiáin” (horse-radish) and the inclusion of the word “horse” in the term “cnónna capaill” (horse-chestnuts).  Neither the radishes nor the chestnuts  really involve actual horses, even though “cnónna capaill” refers to…

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Horse Latitudes (without the “capaill”) Posted by on Aug 19, 2012

(le Róislín) So what’s the connection between the last blog (re: Laethanta an Mhadra, aka Laethe Madrúla) and this one?  Well, admittedly it’s a bit tenuous, but I guess the semantic leap was from Laethanta an Mhadra to An Crios Calma (aka Criosanna na gCalm) via na Doldrama.  As you might have picked out, “An Crios…

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Stella, Étoile, Estrella, Stea … Réalta! Posted by on Jun 20, 2011

(le Róislín) Sandwiched between Lá na Brataí (an American holiday celebrated on June 14th) and Lá na Saoirse (4 Iúil) might be a good time to talk about “réaltaí agus riabha” (stars and stripes).  So we’ll take a sos (break) from the díochlaontaí for a while, and address, first, the “réalta” component.  The “riabha” will…

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