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Tag Archives: Irish

How to say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” in Irish AND Five Examples of Lenition (Séimhiú), to boot Posted by on Dec 24, 2018

(le Róislín) Around this time of year, we often see the phrases “Nollaig Shona” and “Athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise duit.”  Today’s blogpost will look at how to pronounce these phrases and at the reasons why words like “sona” and “bliain” change to “shona” and “bhliain.”  This change of the first letter is called…

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Irish Words ending with ‘-íceach’ and sometimes ‘-ícigh’ or ‘-ící’ – dosaen fada díobh Posted by on Aug 29, 2018

(le Róislín) From “-icí” [IK-ee] to “-ící” [EEK-ee]!  In the last blogpost (nasc thíos) we looked at some Irish words ending in “-icí,” either in their basic structure, like “dicí” or “soinicí”  or in an inflected form, like “picnicí,” “gúsnaicí,” or “ceimicí.”  Today we’ll look at a few Irish words ending in “-íceach,” which in…

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Counting People in Irish — Cén daoine? Na daoine ag an bpic-nic! Posted by on Aug 25, 2018

(le Róislín) Counting people in Irish is fairly straightforward, but there are two important things to remember: The question “How many people …?” keeps the word for “people” in the singular in Irish, so we use “duine” (person), not “daoine” (people). The question is “Cé mhéad duine …?” There is a special system of numbers…

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Uirlisí Ceoil: Musical Instruments (18 Irish Words or Phrases) Posted by on Apr 7, 2018

(le Róislín) Recently we’ve been looking at the Irish words for various musical instruments, particularly those used for playing ceol traidisiúnta (naisc thíos). Today we’ll review the ten terms previously introduced and add eight more.  Additional suggestions are welcome, especially if anyone can think of some non-traditional instruments (uirlisí neamhthraidisiúnta) for playing ceol traidisiúnta. Today, we’ll…

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A Short Glossary for the Irish Rap Song “C.E.A.R.T.A” by Kneecap (Rapcheol Gaeilge) [Cuid/Pt.1] Posted by on Jan 7, 2018

(le Róislín) Published on YouTube on December 15, 2017, the rap song “C.E.A.R.T.A”  (nasc thíos) has been sweeping through the “cibearGhaeltacht“.  Most of the comments I’ve seen are wildly favorable, with a few spoilsports badmouthing the song entirely. I followed one link for the lyrics, but it was a dead link.  So I was getting…

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A Partial Glossary for “Silent Night” in Irish (Oíche Chiúin) and in Welsh (Tawel/Dawel Nos), plus a nod toward the German (Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht) Posted by on Dec 17, 2017

(le Róislín) As you might guess from looking at the graphic above, today’s blogpost will deal with some vocabulary for the Christmas carol, “Silent Night.”  We’ll mostly focus on the Irish text, of course, but I thought I’d include a few notes on the Welsh, particularly because almost every version of it that I’ve seen…

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Titles, Quotes, and Sayings in Irish to Practice Terms for ‘Daoine Muinteartha’ (Family Members), Cuid/Part 1 Posted by on Nov 28, 2016

(le Róislín) Aithreacha, máithreacha, deirfiúracha agus deartháireacha agus a thuilleadh.  Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, and more.  Today’s blogpost consists of a few traditional proverbs in Irish and a variety of quotes, paraphrases, and classic book, movie, or TV program titles that I have translated into Irish or written in Irish.  In each case, a key…

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