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Tag Archives: kinship

How To Say “Uncail” (Uncailín, Amhnair, etc.) i nGaeilge Posted by on May 20, 2013

(le Róislín) First, let me clarify that in this blog we’ll just be saying “uncle” in a very straightforward way, no implication of “crying uncle” (yielding, giving in).  Even though the Irish language is incredibly rich in idioms and figurative expressions, I haven’t really found much use of the word “uncail” in such expressions.  Perhaps…

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Ainteanna nó Aintíní? (Aunts or Aunties?) Posted by on May 14, 2013

 (le Róislín) We’ve recently mentioned Mother’s Day (Lá na Máithreacha) and Father’s Day (Lá na nAithreacha), and we’ve looked at various mother/father expressions (e.g. máthair na mballach, lus gan athair gan mháthair).  For the next couple of blogs, we’ll check out na hainteanna (or should we say “na haintíní“?) and na huncailí (or the occasionally…

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Terms for Grandchildren “as Gaeilge” (in Irish): Garmhac, Gariníon and Other Compounds with “Gar” Posted by on Apr 21, 2009

(le Róislín)   Unlike English, where the prefix “grand-“ is used with “mother,” “father,” “parent,” “son,” “daughter,” and “child,” in Irish, there is a major shift in the qualifier used for “grandchildren.”  As you may recall from the previous blog on grandparents, there are three widely used options: seanathair / seanmháthair, athair mór / máthair…

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