Tag Archives: pronunciation
Cluiche Meaitseála faoi na Cluichí Oilimpeacha (An Olympics Matching Game) Posted by róislín on Jul 27, 2012
(le Róislín) Bhuel, the season is upon us, Cluichí Oilimpeacha 2012. So this is a good time to practice various words related to “Olympic” itself. First, let’s consider what the word “Olympic” itself means, going back the original Gréigis. Yes, we have “Sliabh Oilimpeas” and “Oilimpia,” an mhachaire sa Ghréig where the games used to…
Ó Abair An Léir Dhuit, Véarsa 4: Oh, Say Can You See, 4th (and final) verse (Amhrán Náisiúnta na Stát Aontaithe) Posted by róislín on Jun 27, 2012
(le Róislín) The Irish expression for “to leave no stone unturned” is reasonably apropos here. In Irish, it’s not actually expressed as a negative injunction (“don’t leave it unturned”) but rather as a positive instruction (“turn” it, or more literally “search it”) The phrase is “dóigh agus andóigh a chuardach,” literally “to search every…
Ó Abair An Léir Dhuit: Oh Say Can You See (Amhrán Náisiúnta na Stát Aontaithe) Posted by róislín on Jun 18, 2012
(le Róislín) As those of us sna Stáit Aontaithe transition from Lá na Brataí (14 Meitheamh) go Lá na Saoirse (i Meiriceá; 4 Iúil), this might be an apt time to try the American National Anthem in Irish. It was translated long before the ongoing row as to whether “The Star-Spangled Banner” should be sung…
Ó “Ó Cuileannáin” go “Bling” agus Smaointe Fánacha (Ramblings) Eile Posted by róislín on Jun 8, 2012
(le Róislín) As I was mulling over the recent entries on “diamaint,” I decided to look a little further into diamond lore. I always wondered what exactly Koh-I-Noor meant (turns out to be “mountain of light” in Persian) and had a general curiosity about the largest known diamond ever. Hope? Taylor-Burton? Uncle Sam? Excelsior? So…
Nótaí Fuaimnithe don Dá Bhlag faoi Liúdair Posted by róislín on May 21, 2012
(le Róislín) This blog will simply be a pronunciation guide to the last two blogs and some general pronunciation notes. Pronunciation seems to be the eternal issue in Irish language learning, so, ó am go ham, I think it deserves a blog of its own. So here’s a round-up for some of the longer and…
Cé Mhéad Lá? Cé Mhéad Paorach? Posted by róislín on May 11, 2012
(le Róislín) A recent blog in this series on figurative speech in Irish mentioned “na laethanta go léir a bhí ag na Paoraigh.” Some of you probably recognized this as a reference to the well-known seanfhocal (proverb): Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach (Mr. Power will have another day). So how does this seanfhocal break…
Fools on Hills, and Otherwise, with Irish Pronunciation Tips Posted by róislín on Apr 1, 2012
(le Róislín) On the topic of fools (amadáin), Irish seems to have an endless supply of words. Probably other languages do as well (Welsh offering up ffŵl, ffwlcyn, hurtyn, lolyn, penbwl, twpsyn, and ynfytyn, just for starters), but our focus here, ar ndóigh, will be on Irish terms. We’ve recently discussed quite a few (gamal…