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Tag Archives: Irish-English

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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Smaoinigh air sin! Smaoinigh air seo! Or, A Penny for your “Smaointe” Posted by on May 13, 2009

Transparent Language’s Word of the Day recently featured “smaoineamh,” a word whose pronunciation has intrigued many of my students over the years.  Fortunately, now all you have to do is click on the WOTD link to hear it (https://blogs.transparent.com/wotd/today/irish.htm).  Some speakers don’t pronounce the final –mh at all (SMWEEN-yuh); others pronounce it as a “v”…

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