Tag Archives: grian
Another Irish Word Beginning with the Letter ‘Y’ (‘Yólais’ as well as ‘yó-yó,’ etc.) Posted by róislín on Aug 4, 2018
(le Róislín) A few years ago I ran a mionsraith of blagmhíreanna about Irish words that started with some of the litreacha neamhthraidisiúnta in the Irish alphabet, like v, w, x, and y (naisc thíos). Among the few examples that we have for “y” are “yó-yó” (not surprisingly, just add the síneadh fada) and yaincín…
Lánurú na Gréine: Some Irish Words for Discussing Eclipses Posted by róislín on Jul 31, 2017
(le Róislín) Finally, a good chance to use the word “urú” (eclipse, eclipsis) aside from the context of Irish spelling! August 21, 2017 is the date of the first total solar eclipse to stretch from coast to coast in the United States since 1918. And a sort of eclipse-mania has set in. But we’ll just…
Who Says Irish Doesn’t Have Many Cognates with English? (Cuid a Trí/Pt. 3: Grian, Gealach, Sol, Luan) Posted by róislín on Apr 30, 2013
(le Róislín) Continuing the quest for cognates (naisc thíos), let’s look at another pair of words, sun and moon, each of which typically has many similar-looking cousins throughout the Indo-European language family. Given that the Irish word for sun is “grian” and the Irish for “moon” is “gealach,” it looks like we have a bit…
Stella, Étoile, Estrella, Stea … Réalta! Posted by róislín 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…
Deireadh Hanukkah, an Grianstad ag Tarraingt orainn, agus an Nollaig faoinár Súile Posted by róislín on Dec 18, 2009
Tá Hanukkah ag tarraingt chun deiridh ach tá grianstad an gheimhridh ag tarraingt orainn, ar an Luan, an 21ú lá (say: an t-aonú lá is fiche) de mhí na Nollag. Agus tá an Nollaig í féin sa mhullach orainn. The word “grianstad” breaks apart quite straightforwardly into “grian” (sun) and “stad” (stop), just…
An Bliosán Gréine (Jerusalem Artichoke): Ainm Contráilte i mBéarla ach “Neamhchontráilte” i nGaeilge (An English Misnomer but Irish “Non-Misnomer”) Posted by róislín on May 25, 2009
Tamaillín ó shin (a little while ago, May 6 to be specific), I hinted at a discussion of the term “Jerusalem artichoke” in Irish. And why not? It’s suimiúil (interesting) on several counts: “luibheolaíocht” (botany), “logainmníocht” (toponymy), “sanasaíocht” and “bréagshanasaíocht” (etymology and pseudo-etymology), “cócaireacht” (cooking), and “eolas contráilte”(misinformation), to name just a few. You…