Tag Archives: neamh
A Glossary for the Irish in ‘Neacha Neamhshaolta’ (Tríshúileach / Three-eyed, or Otherwise), Cuid / Part 1 Posted by róislín on Feb 24, 2017
(le Róislín) The last few blogs may have introduced some new vocabulary, so let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases, starting with: A.. “neach” (creature, being, person, spirit). Note that all these definitions match up with other Irish words as well, often more primary: 1.. creature: créatúr (implying “poor creature”…
Naoimh, Neimhe, Néimhe, and Nimhe — and what does any of this have to do with Saint Patrick? (Cuid 2 as 2) Posted by róislín on Mar 27, 2016
(le Róislín) We interrupted our “Naoimh, Neimhe, Néimhe, Nimhe” sequence (nasc thíos) for an Easter preview, but now let’s go back to wrap up this thrilling excursion through the genitive case, stopping at the second declension. The second who? It’s a category of nouns in Irish with similar endings to show possession and plural and…
Naoimh, Neimhe, Néimhe, and Nimhe — and what does any of this have to do with Saint Patrick? (Cuid 1 as 2) Posted by róislín on Mar 20, 2016
(le Róislín) Well, to answer the title question, the St. Patrick connection will primarily be in the first of the four words in the title, “naoimh.” You might remember that in the most recent blog (nasc thíos), we looked at these five words: naomh, neamh, neamh- (the prefix), Niamh, and nimh, meaning, in order: saint…
Naomh, Neamh, Neamh-, Niamh, Nimh — Which One Pertains to St. Patrick and How Do You Pronounce Them? Posted by róislín on Mar 17, 2016
(le Róislín) Oh, the beauty of péirí íosdifríochta! In the title we see five words that have similar spellings and somewhat similar sounds. So let’s dig right in and see what the differences are. We’ll start with “naomh” for two reasons. First, it comes first alphabetically, never a bad reason for sequencing. Second, this is…
Ababú! — Cá as a dtáinig an litir “b” as áit sa bhlag deireanach? Posted by róislín on Dec 21, 2014
(le Róislín) Bhuel, some of you may have noticed the mysterious “b” in the emailed version of the last blog. In one case, it replaced the word “oíche” and in another case, it showed up at the end of what should have been “Nollag.” After staring at those words for a while, when I got…
Spleáchas vs. Neamhspleáchas Hotting Up in Scotland Posted by róislín on Sep 18, 2014
(le Róislín) A timely time to look at the Irish word for ‘independence’ as the “vótáil” for the Scottish Referendum comes down the home stretch. Much like the English word “independence,” the Irish equivalent, “neamhspleáchas,” is also a compound word. Knowing that probably makes it a lot easier to pronounce, and, as it were, digest…
Ó ‘Ghnafu” go “Scúba,” Or Should That Be ’Ó Scúba go Gnafu”? Posted by róislín on Jul 25, 2013
(le Róislín) Among the popular gníomhaíochtaí samhraidh [GNEEV-ee-ukh-tee SOW-ree, remember “sow” sound as in “cow” or “how”] we discussed last time was tumadóireacht scúba (aka scúbthumadh), which you probably picked out as “scuba diving.” So naturally the question arises–what happens if we take the English word “scuba” back to its source? Let’s approach this in…