Tag Archives: sneachta
Men and Christmas, specifically, ‘Fir Shneachta’ and ‘Fir Shinséir’ Posted by róislín on Dec 13, 2015
(le Róislín) OK, so this isn’t really going to be a Men-Are-from-Mars-Women-Are-from-Venus-y exposé of the relationship between men and women around Christmastime. So we won’t be dealing with “man caves” (*fearuaimheanna, is dócha) or oidhreacht an uaimhigh i sochaí an lae inniu. Instead, we’ll simply look at the Irish words for “snowmen” and “gingerbread men,”…
Lig dó a bheith ag cur sneachta (wintry weather words in Irish) Posted by róislín on Jan 10, 2015
(le Róislín) So how’s winter treating you? A lán sneachta? Beagáinín sneachta? Síobthaí sneachta? Ceathanna sneachta? The key word for today’s blog, as you might have observed, is “sneachta” [SHNAKH-tuh], snow. So we’ll look at the basic forms of the word and then some related terms. sneachta, snow an sneachta, the snow dlús an tsneachta…
Seven words for ‘ball’ in Irish, including “football” (soccer ball) Posted by róislín on Jun 28, 2014
(le Róislín) Irish has one basic word for “ball” for most sports, “liathróid,” and another word, “sliotar,” which is specifically for a hurling ball. Let’s take a look at these, and then as space permits, we’ll look at other related phrases (snowball, meatball, etc.) “Liathróid” [LEE-uh-HROHDJ] is a feminine noun, with the following forms: an…
An tEarrach (The Spring): 20 Márta 2014 Posted by róislín on Mar 22, 2014
(le Róislín) By all accounts now, Spring has finally sprung, on March 20th for this year. At least astronomically. Maybe in the next blog we’ll look at two other traditional dates for “Spring”– February 1st and March 1st. All three calendar systems have their validity. Meanwhile, how do we say “Spring” in Irish? And just…
Téarmaí Geimhridh (Winter Terms) Posted by róislín on Jan 30, 2012
(le Róislín) This winter is proving to be unusually cold (fuar) in some parts of the world (an Eoraip) and unseasonably mild (bog) in others (Meiriceá, b’fhéidir Ceanada). Before we proceed, let’s look briefly at the pronunciation of the adjectives “fuar” and “bog.” For “fuar,” I’ll simply note that each vowel is pronounced, so it’s…
Cineálacha Sneachta: Kinds of Snow Posted by róislín on Feb 8, 2010
(le Róislín) As a tribute to the amount of snow that fell over the weekend ar chósta thoir na Stát Aontaithe, and, I suppose, as a belated tribute to the amount that fell in Éirinn i mí Eanáir, let’s talk about some of the ways it can fall or accumulate. The most basic statement would…