Tag Archives: fearán
Ar an 2ú agus an 3ú lá den Nollaig – dhá fhearán, trí chearc fhrancacha (2 turtledoves, 3 French hens, for the 2nd and 3rd days of Christmas) Posted by róislín on Dec 24, 2016
(le Róislín) One partridge and one pear tree down (in the previous blogpost) and the following left to go: fearáin, cearca francacha, lonta dubha, fáinní óir, géanna, ealaí, cailíní bleánaí, mná ag damhsa, tiarnaí, píobairí agus drumadóirí. Although the meaning of the fourth verse is often disputed, I’m going with “lonta dubha,” since early versions…
Cé Mhéad Patraisc? Cé Mhéad Drumadóir? (or ’12 Lá na Nollag’ Redux and an Irish Counting Lesson to boot) Posted by róislín on Dec 18, 2013
(le Róislín) In the last blog, we discussed “fearáin” (aka “fearáin bhreaca“) amongst other members of the order Columbiformes (coilm agus colúir, doves and pigeons, etc.). And we briefly alluded to the fact that the Irish for “turtledove” doesn’t have the element “turtle” (turtar) or “dove” (colm, or sometimes “colúir” — for more on the…
Speaking of Pigeons (Colúir) Posted by róislín on Dec 14, 2013
(le Róislín) I’ll leave journalists Sean Dunne (IrishCentral) and Liz Alderman (New York Times) to “squabble” over the accuracy of the recent reference in the New York Times to “pigeon-eating” in Ireland. But it does seem to me like a good opportunity to explore the related Irish vocabulary (naisc do na hailt thíos). So we’ll…
Dhá Lá Dhéag na Nollag (The Twelve Days of Christmas) Posted by róislín on Dec 25, 2010
(le Róislín) For the next few (six really) blogs, I thought I’d check out the gifts mentioned sa charúl Nollag, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” There are so many gifts, we’ll do two per blog and see if that ends up on the actual 12th day of Christmas. Be warned, there are at least four…