Tag Archives: Scottish Gaelic
How to Say ‘Happy New Year’ in Irish and How to Pronounce the Consonant Cluster “thbhl” Posted by róislín on Dec 31, 2014
(le Róislín) Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit. Happy New Year to you. Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh. Happy New Year to you (plural). So how do we pronounce that, what does it literally mean, why are the actual words “happy” and “new” not in the phrase, and where does a consonant…
Sacar / Peil (Soccer / Football) : A “Matching” Game of Terminology in Irish Posted by róislín on Jul 9, 2014
(le Róislín) This blog will present 10 soccer (football) terms in English and Irish. Can you match them up? Note also that there is one extra Irish term, just for the challenge (“dúshlán” [doo-hlawn] note the silent “s”). Some of the Irish terms can also be used outside of soccer/football discussions, as can some of…
Nollaig nó Nollag (How To Say ‘Christmas’ or ‘of Christmas’ in Irish) Posted by róislín on Dec 24, 2013
(le Róislín) As Christmas approaches, you might be wondering why there’s such a constant variation of whether to say “Nollaig” or “Nollag,” and in a similar vein, “An Nollaig” or “na Nollag.” First, the basic answer, and then some examples. And before that, a pronunciation pointer. What is the difference in sound between “Nollaig” and…
Is Éan É! Is Eitleán É! Ní Hea — Dreige Atá Ann! (Sorry, Clark!) Posted by róislín on Feb 16, 2013
(le Róislín) Or should that be “dreigít“? Or “dreigeoideach“? Bhuel, all three really, I guess, depending on what stage of the event you’re talking about. I thought I had learned all that téarmaíocht réalteolaíoch, at least the buntéarmaí, years ago, but when the news reports start coming in about the Chelyabinsk event, I realized I…
Deich nDóigh (10 Ways) le ‘I Love You’ a Rá i nGaeilge Posted by róislín on Feb 8, 2013
(le Róislín) So, Irish has lots of ways to say “I love you,” but most of them don’t involve the verb “to love.” How is that supposed to work? Bhuel, with lots of téarmaí ceana (terms of endearment)! In other words, you mostly use nouns to say that someone is your sweetheart, your darling, your…
Cineálacha Rothaí – Including the “Scottie Pinwheel” Posted by róislín on Jan 26, 2013
le Róislín When I first heard about the Scottie Pinwheel (‘sea, sé bhrocaire Albanacha ag siúl timpeall ar mhol, agus cad é atá sa mhol sin ach “babhla bainne gabhair,” a bowl of goat’s milk), I thought “Now there’s a great phrase to translate.” Perhaps you’ve seen the video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDa0z0gEvI4 But, of course, there are lots of…
Na Míonna, Na Mìosan, Ny Meeghyn (in Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx), Cuid 4 as 4 Posted by róislín on Sep 27, 2012
(le Róislín) Gotta love the etymology–each one of these months could be a blog in and of itself! But for now, I’ll post this as a summary chart, with some notes for each month below. The Irish is still on the far left, the Scottish Gaelic next, the English meaning next, and finally related words…