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Where the ‘fianna’ and the ‘antalóip’ play? Irish words for some quadrupeds! Posted by on Jan 31, 2019

(le Róislín) Remember the Irish for “unicorn” and “rhinoceros” from the last blog?  If not, freagraí thíos.  Last time we also included the Irish word “biorbheannach,” which refers to another horned quadruped (ceathairchosach).  Remember what that one was?  If not, freagra also thíos and a picture of it is thuas. Having looked at those animals…

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Saying ‘East’ and ‘West’ in Irish, or, de réir an tseanfhocail, ‘Soir gach siar, faoi dheireadh thiar’ Posted by on Apr 30, 2018

(le Róislín)   North and South pair up nicely in many parts of the world, as we’ve seen in some recent blogposts here (naisc thíos).  Examples included Baile Átha Cliath Thuaidh / Theas, Meiriceá Thuaidh / Theas, and very timely for current events, An Chóiré Thuaidh and An Chóiré Theas.  One pair we didn’t get…

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Saying ‘North’ and ‘South’ in Irish (A Follow-up to the Blogpost on North and South Korea) Posted by on Apr 28, 2018

(le Róislín) How quickly time passes!  It seems like yesterday (inné) that we were all caught up in distinguishing Pyongyang (príomhchathair na Cóiré Thuaidh) from PyeongChang (láthair na gCluichí Oilimpeacha Geimhridh, 2018).  Now the news from that part of the world (Leithinis na Cóiré) is getting even more interesting (níos suimiúla fós).  So this seems…

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How to Say ‘North Korea’ and ‘South Korea’ in Irish, and Some Other ‘North/South’ Combinations Posted by on Feb 21, 2018

 (le Róislín) The Irish for “Korea” is “Cóiré,” one of relatively few words in Irish that end in with a long “é.”  Of the few others, there are “finné” and “inné” but most of the rest are direct adaptations from either English (e.g. giúiré, libhré) or Greek (e.g.  Antaiginé, Circé) or other languages (e.g. bailé…

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Sula bhfágann muid na Fritíortha (Before we leave the Antipodes) Posted by on Jun 9, 2014

(le Róislín) In this blog we’ll take a last look at some geographical terms pertaining to New Zealand, including the interpretation of “Aotearoa,” as mentioned in the last blog.  All of the words in today’s basic vocabulary also have wide applications for conversation in general.  We’ll be looking at the following words: tír, land, country…

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The Curious Case of Dúitseach-Ollannach-Ísiltíreach (An Afterthought re: Logainmneacha) Posted by on Aug 2, 2011

(le Róislín) After all this talk in recent blogs about singulars and plurals, and “sa’s” and “san’s” and “sna’s,” one might wonder, what’s the deal with “the Netherlands” – in Irish, of course. Perhaps all the more so since there are some ancient Celtic connections to the area now known as the Netherlands, like the…

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An Iarmhír “-ach” sa Chúigiú Díochlaonadh: Beoir (Beer) vs. Beorach (of Beer), srl. Posted by on Jun 3, 2011

(le Róislín) We’ve recently seen one pattern for the 5th category of Irish nouns (an cúigiú díochlaonadh), which involved dropping the “i” of words like máthair, athair, deartháir, and bráthair. As you may recall, that change results in phrases like the following (aistriúcháin thíos): a) gach mac máthar b) in ainm an Athar c) carr…

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