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Tag Archives: ear

Cluasa Creimirí, Coiníní, agus Bilbithe: A Little Break from our Irish Words for Pets Series Posted by on Jul 29, 2017

(le Róislín) Let’s take a little break from peataí as such (our recent theme) and look more closely at, yes, cluasa (ears).  Why?  Well, did you notice those amazing jerboa ears in the last blogpost?  If not, please check it out (nasc thíos).  Or try to find them in the graphic above.  Nach iontach iad?…

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Years, Ears, and Donkeys in Irish (Bhuel, Not Really Donkeys!) Posted by on Jan 25, 2014

(le Róislín) This time in January, in between the western New Year (1 Eanáir) and Chinese New Year (31 Eanáir i 2014) seems like a good time to look again at the word “bliain” (year) in Irish (nasc thíos do bhlag eile faoi seo).  In this blog, we’ll look at the basic forms of the…

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Arbhar (Indiach): Toradh, Glasra, nó Grán — or all three? Posted by on Oct 31, 2013

(le Róislín) We’ve just been discussing whether pumpkins and other edible plants are fruits or vegetables.  Another seasonal item is “arbhar Indiach,” as it is referred to in Irish, or simply “corn” in American English. Let’s look first at the term “arbhar Indiach,” which literally means “Indian corn.”  But “Indian corn” means different things in…

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Aimsir na Cásca, Redux (Eastertide, Revisited) Posted by on Mar 25, 2013

(le Róislín) Since An Cháisc is so early (chomh luath) this year (i mbliana), we’re interrupting the green beer-green bagel-green river thread to offer an Easter topic.  We’ll resume the St. Patrick’s Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig) follow-up shortly.  For this blog, we’ll deal with the terminology of  “Aimsir na Cásca” (the Easter season OR Eastertide).  Here…

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Cuir Cluas Ort! Listen Up! (but where’s the “up”?) Posted by on May 27, 2012

(le Róislín) Before we completely leave the topic of ears, eaves, and eavesdropping, let’s look a little closer at the word for “ear” itself — cluas [KLOO-uss]. First a pronunciation note, “ua” in Irish is pronounced as two syllables [oo-uh].  You may well have heard the sound in other words, such as “rua” [ROO-uh], “nua”…

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The Curious Case of Dúitseach-Ollannach-Ísiltíreach (An Afterthought re: Logainmneacha) Posted by on Aug 2, 2011

(le Róislín) After all this talk in recent blogs about singulars and plurals, and “sa’s” and “san’s” and “sna’s,” one might wonder, what’s the deal with “the Netherlands” – in Irish, of course. Perhaps all the more so since there are some ancient Celtic connections to the area now known as the Netherlands, like the…

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That’s The Way The Easter Bunny Goes – Cluas i ndiaidh Cluaise (using the Irish verb “to eat”)! Posted by on Apr 9, 2010

(le Róislín) Some of you might still have your chocolate Easter bunnies, or part of them left.  To celebrate the gradual eating of such chocolate bunnies, which usually starts with the cluas (ear), let’s continue our relative clause series with the irregular verb “ith” (eat).  As you’ll see, some forms of “ith” look regular, such…

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