Tag Archives: Nollaig
Frásaí an tSéasúir (Seasonal Phrases) in Irish: ‘Sona’ or not ‘Sona’? (‘happy’ or not ‘happy’?) Posted by róislín on Nov 30, 2019
(le Róislín, taking a short break from the “Nature Words” series, in honor of the season) ‘Tis the season where we go around wishing people ‘Happy’ (‘sona‘ in Irish) _____ (fill in your holiday). Or do we? One of the most basic words for “happy” in Irish is “sona,” which sometimes appears as “shona,” as…
How to say “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” in Irish AND Five Examples of Lenition (Séimhiú), to boot Posted by róislín 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…
Irish ‘Fill in the Blanks’ for ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ (Dhá Lá Dhéag na Nollag) (cuid/part 2 of 2) Posted by róislín on Dec 31, 2017
(le Róislín) Now that we’ve practiced filling in the blanks for the first six lines of the “Dhá Lá Dhéag na Nollag” (The Twelve Days of Christmas), let’s try the last six. As before, each phrase has just the right number of blank spaces for the intended word, including a space for any punctuation marks…
Twenty Ways to Say ‘Happy’ in Irish and Which Ones to Use for ‘Christmas’ and ‘New Year’ Posted by róislín on Dec 25, 2017
(le Róislín) In various previous blogposts (naisc thíos) we’ve looked at how to say “happy” in Irish. Like many times when we go from one language to another, it seems like the more you look, the more possibilities you find. So right now, the count for “happy” is at twenty, and I’m sure a few…
Puzal Fuascailte agus Litreacha Doiléire Doléite Léite: A Puzzle Solved and Fuzzy Unreadable Letters Read, Plus Some Irish Cooking Vocabulary Posted by róislín on Dec 22, 2017
(le Róislín) First, let me say that as far as cooking vocabulary goes, this blogpost is very specific to discussing “craiceann criostalaithe,” so general cooking vocabulary (like “bruith,” meaning “cook,” “bake,” “boil,” and “grill”) will have to wait for another blogpost. If that’s a topic you’d like to see discussed further, please do write in…
How many ‘happys’ are there in Irish for the various seasonal greetings? Posted by róislín on Dec 14, 2017
(le Róislín) How many ways are there to say ‘happy’ in Irish? Quite a few, but for right now we’ll concentrate on two seasonal variations. One will be for saying ‘Happy Christmas,’ which in US English would be ‘Merry Christmas,’ and the other will be for ‘Happy New Year.’ The bottom line is that neither…
Maróg Nollag — Na Comhábhair agus Na Lipéid sa Chartún Thíos (Christmas Pudding, ar leanúint) Posted by róislín on Dec 11, 2017
(le Róislín) Ba é “Maróga Nollag” téama na blagmhíre deireanaí (nasc thíos), le seanghraific faoi réiteach na maróige agus na tinnis bhoilg a bhí ar na daoine a d’ith barraíocht di. Tá an léaráid an ghreannmhar. Last time, I mentioned that there were several labels in the illustration that I was not able to read. …