Tag Archives: séan
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…
Another Irish Word Beginning with the Letter ‘Y’ (‘Yólais’ as well as ‘yó-yó,’ etc.) Posted by róislín on Aug 4, 2018
(le Róislín) A few years ago I ran a mionsraith of blagmhíreanna about Irish words that started with some of the litreacha neamhthraidisiúnta in the Irish alphabet, like v, w, x, and y (naisc thíos). Among the few examples that we have for “y” are “yó-yó” (not surprisingly, just add the síneadh fada) and yaincín…
How to say ‘rat’ in Irish and a continuation of the glossary for ‘An Píobaire Breac’ (an t-aistriúchán le Seán Ó Dúrois) (Cuid 3) Posted by róislín on Sep 30, 2017
(le Róislín) Bhuel, the Christmas carol, “Dhá Lá Dhéag na Nollag” may refer to “aon phíobaire dhéag,” but I could only come up with five pipers (cúigear píobairí) so far for the graphic for this blogpost. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see the different styles of illustration and different approaches to his “pied-ness” — is it…
How to say ‘rat’ in Irish and a continuation of the glossary for ‘An Píobaire Breac’ (an t-aistriúchán le Seán Ó Dúrois) (Cuid 2) Posted by róislín on Sep 25, 2017
(le Róislín) Today we’ll continue the glossary started in the previous blog (nasc thíos) to help with reading “An Píobaire Breac,” Seán Ó Dúrois’s lively translation of Robert Browning’s “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” (Eolas foilseacháin thíos). First a brief review from last time. There are two main ways to say “rat” in Irish, one…
How to say ‘rat’ in Irish and a preliminary glossary for reading ‘An Píobaire Breac’ (an t-aistriúchán le Seán Ó Dúrois) (Cuid 1 as 4) Posted by róislín on Sep 23, 2017
(le Róislín) In today’s post, we’ll look at one of my favorite translations into Irish, Seán Ó Dúrois’s version of Robert Browning’s “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” The two words that intrigue me the most are “francach” and “luch mhór,” both of which mean “rat.” But they each have at least one other potential meaning…
Five More Irish Names for Boys – Seán, Séamas, Seosamh, Liam, Mícheál, Pt. 3: Liam, Mícheál Posted by róislín on Apr 14, 2016
(le Róislín) Continuing our coverage of Irish personal names, this blogpost will look at “Liam” and “Mícheál.” Bhí na hainmneacha “Seán” agus “Séamas” agus “Seosamh” sna blagmhíreanna roimhe seo. The good news for the name “Liam” is that there are no spelling changes with this word (i.e. no inserted “h’s” or “i’s”). So the forms…
Five More Irish Names for Boys – Seán, Séamas, Seosamh, Liam, Mícheál, Pt. 1: Seán, ‘sea, ach sa tuiseal gairmeach agus sa tuiseal ginideach? Posted by róislín on Apr 5, 2016
(le Róislín) We recently looked at five Irish names for boys, including at least a couple that are off the beaten track. Here they are with a couple of letters missing. Recognize ‘em? Alabh__ __ __ s, Éad__ __ ard, F__ __rdor__ __ a, R__n__n, T__ __ rnán. (Freagraí thíos) Today we’ll look briefly at…