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Tag Archives: Valentine

Love (Grá) and the Art of Applying Initial Consonant Mutations in Irish Posted by on Feb 14, 2015

(le Róislín) In recent blogs and a few others from previous years, we’ve looked at ways to say “I love you,” in Irish.  Often these phrases include initial consonant mutation, so what better way to practice the mutations than with variations on a theme of “grá“? In this blog, I’ll use some of the phrases…

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Abair ‘I Love You’ i nDeich dTeanga (and Irish as the 11th) Posted by on Feb 11, 2015

(le Róislín) ‘Tis the season to speak of “amour,” and the more ways, plus on rit, n’est-ce pas?   So let’s briefly review the most traditional Irish phrase for “I love you,” and then we’ll look at the same phrase in 10 other languages.  So how much more Irish will you learn from that?  Well, the matching…

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You’ve Gotta Have ‘Croí’ (Heart): Irish Terms and Expressions from ‘heart-ache’ to ‘heart-whole’ Posted by on Feb 5, 2015

(le Róislín) Feabhra … mí leannán … mí Lá Vailintín … agus a lán mothúchán eile bunaithe ar ár gcroí.  So let’s take a closer look at this word “heart,” in its basic Irish form and in some loving or love-lorn expressions. First the basics: an croí [un krrree, with a nice flapped Irish “r,”…

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An bhfuil do ghlas crochta crochta agat fós? Posted by on Feb 14, 2014

 (le Róislín) No, that’s not an overlooked duplication of words.  “Glas crochta” is a padlock (hmm, guess why that topic came up in today’s blog!) and “crochta” means “hung” or “hanging,” from the verb “croch” (hang). First let’s discuss the word “glas,” since it’s a triple homonym in Irish.  One “glas” means “green.”   A second…

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Let Me Call You … Stóirín (Storeen) (Irish Terms of Endearment) Posted by on Feb 7, 2014

(le Róislín) Irish has many many terms of endearment.  It actually also has many pejorative terms for people, ach sin ábhar blag eile.  In this blog, given the season, we’ll look at various ways to say “darling,” “sweetheart,” and “love” in Irish.   Some of these have been covered in previous blogs around this time of…

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Irish Pronunciation: Compound Words Like “Croíbhriste” and “Croíbhrúite” Posted by on Feb 8, 2012

(le Róislín) In addition to some of its inherently long words, like “(go) bhfaighidh” and “(na) haghaidheanna” (fuaimniú thíos), Irish has its share of longish words, which are actually compounds, with one or more prefixes, a root (or two), and/or one or more suffixes.  Fortunately, most of these words break down quite nicely, once you…

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Tuilleadh Téarmaí faoin gCroí (More “Heart” Terms) Posted by on Feb 5, 2012

(le Róislín) As you might imagine, there are lots more terms and phrases involving the heart besides the terms of endearment such as “A ghrá mo chroí!” “A chuisle mo chroí!” or “Mo chroí thú!”  What better month to look into them than Feabhra, mí an chroí (i Meiriceá agus sa Bhreatain).  Since there are…

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