Tag Archives: Eric Hill
A Vocabulary Comparison: ‘Spot the Puppy’ (English) and ‘Bran an Coileán’ (Irish) Posted by róislín on Apr 12, 2017
(le Róislín) Translations are hardly ever word for word or exactly literal. Languages are too idiomatic for most literal translations to flow well. We might expect this especially in songs, poetry and the Classics. But I thought it would interesting to look at a fairly simple text, and one that’s a lot of fun for…
If the other grandmother is “Grandma,” what Irish term can you use? Posted by róislín on Oct 24, 2016
(le Róislín) Inspired by a recent comment from reader Rita C., who noted that Irish has “so many choices for Irish grandmother names,” I thought this would be a good time to review some of the terms. This blogpost will deal with grandmothers, and we’ll probably have a companion piece for the grandfathers. Go raibh…
How many ways can we say ‘bliain’ (year) in Irish, including ‘athbhliain’? Posted by róislín on Jan 11, 2016
(le Róislín) As we settle into the new year (an bhliain nua, an bhliain úr, an athbhliain, srl.), let’s think of how many ways we can say and use the word ‘year’ in Irish. Most recently, you’ve probably seen the phrase “Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise” (A happy and prosperous New Year). But let’s look…