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Tag Archives: sister

Irish Words for Brothers, Sisters, Stepbrothers, Stepsisters, and Blended Families Posted by on Oct 31, 2016

(le Róislín) Continuing our theme of gaolta teaghlaigh (family relationships), let’s look at brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters, and the overall concept of “blended families.” The basic siblíní are probably quite well known: deirfiúr, sister, pl. deirfiúracha deartháir, brother, pl. deartháireacha To say “stepbrother” or “stepsister,” we add the same prefix as for step-parents (leas-).   This…

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Who Says Irish Doesn’t Have Many Cognates with English? (Cuid a Dó/Pt. 2: Téarmaí Gaoil, Focail Ghaolmhara) Posted by on Apr 27, 2013

(le Róislín) Ascaill, axilla … in the last blog* we talked about how Irish may, in fact, have many focail ghaolmhara with other languages.  The words are just not always cognates with English, at least not basic everyday  English.  Most of us are more likely to say that “ascaill” means “armpit” than to say that…

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