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Ó “Ó Cuileannáin” go “Bling” agus Smaointe Fánacha (Ramblings) Eile Posted by 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…

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Cé Mhéad Lá? Cé Mhéad Paorach? Posted by 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…

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Agus An tAthbharr? (An Mhaidin Tar Éis Lá Fhéile Pádraig) Posted by on Mar 20, 2011

(le Róislín) So, whether it was pionta Guinness or a glincín or an iar-dheoch, there might be some torthaí or iarmhairtí, especially if you had deoch amháin de bharraíocht.  So you might want to know the Irish for “hangover” – it’s “póit.” If you’re lucky, it might simply be a mild tinneas cinn. On the…

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Pronunciation tips for Mamó, Móraí, and Daideo (Grandma/Granny and Grandpa) Posted by on Jun 5, 2009

 (le Róislín) There have been numerous inquiries on how to pronounce these words, since the previous blogpost on this topic came out (nasc thíos), so here are some tips: To pronounce Mamó: the final vowel is long, so it gets extra emphasis: mam-OH To pronounce Móraí: the emphasis is on the first syllable, which sounds like…

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Saying Where You’re From “i nGaeilge” Posted by on Jun 2, 2009

The terms “Gael-Mheiriceánaigh,” “Gael-Cheanadaigh,” and “Gael-Astrálach,” discussed on May 28 and earlier, account for a large percentage of the Irish diaspora, outside the U.S.  Now to get more specific.   Two North American groups who could have many members wishing to identify themselves in Irish are the Nova Scotians and the Newfoundlanders. In each case…

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Logainmneacha Ceilteacha agus Náisiúntachtaí a Trí: Celtic Place Names and Nationalities – Wales and the Welsh Posted by on May 3, 2009

We’ve recently discussed the place names Albain (Scotland) and Éire (Ireland).  Now we’ll turn to ”An Bhreatain Bheag” (Wales).  Since “Breatain” is a feminine noun, the adjective that modifies it, “beag” (little) becomes “bheag.”  And since this country name includes the definite article “an” (the), it also causes “Breatain” to change to “Bhreatain,” pronounced with…

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The Many Meanings of “Oireachtas” Posted by on Apr 18, 2009

 (le Róislín) For the week of April 5 to 12, 2009, many Philadelphians probably saw more samples of the Irish language in the media than ever before in the city’s history.  Why?  This year, Philadelphia hosted the first Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne (World Irish Dance Championship) to be held outside Ireland or the U.K.  Over 6000…

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