{"id":10204,"date":"2018-02-21T14:17:47","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T14:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=10204"},"modified":"2018-05-16T23:00:32","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T23:00:32","slug":"how-to-say-north-korea-and-south-korea-in-irish-and-some-other-north-south-combinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/how-to-say-north-korea-and-south-korea-in-irish-and-some-other-north-south-combinations\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Say ‘North Korea’ and ‘South Korea’ in Irish, and Some Other ‘North\/South’ Combinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

grafaic: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/North_Korea#\/media\/File:Korean_Peninsula_at_night_from_space.jpg<\/a>, Satellite image of the\u00a0Korean Peninsula\u00a0at night, showing North Korea in almost complete darkness, with one small bright spot, the capital\u00a0Pyongyang, By NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data from Miguel Rom\u00e1n, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (Derived from image from NASA (direct link)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons; t\u00e9acs Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2018<\/em><\/p><\/div>The Irish for “Korea” is “C\u00f3ir\u00e9<\/strong>,” one of relatively few words in Irish that end in with a long “\u00e9.”\u00a0 Of the few others, there are “finn\u00e9<\/strong>” and “inn\u00e9<\/strong>” but most of the rest are direct adaptations from either English (e.g. gi\u00fair\u00e9, libhr\u00e9<\/strong>) or Greek (e.g. \u00a0Antaigin\u00e9, Circ\u00e9<\/strong>) or other languages (e.g. bail\u00e9, se\u00e1r-p\u00e9<\/strong>)\u00a0\u00a0 or they are place names (An Chrim\u00e9, Poimp\u00e9<\/strong>).\u00a0 Of course, those samples don’t include some traditional monosyllabic Irish words (e.g. \u00e9, s\u00e9, D\u00e9, g\u00e9, r\u00e9<\/strong>) or compound words based on them (e.g. cruachr\u00e9, seanr\u00e9, tearc-chr\u00e9<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The language is “C\u00f3ir\u00e9is<\/strong>” and a Korean person is a “C\u00f3ir\u00e9ach<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Korean peninsula is “Leithinis na C\u00f3ir\u00e9.<\/strong>”\u00a0 The word “leithinis<\/strong>,” like its English counterpart, literally means “half-island.”<\/p>\n

For the South and North distinction, we use\u00a0“Theas<\/strong>” (South) and “Thuaidh<\/strong>” (North).\u00a0 Note that these two words are “permanently lenited,” meaning they always start with “th,” which is very rare in Irish.\u00a0 Anyway, we have “An Ch\u00f3ir\u00e9 Theas<\/strong>” and “An Ch\u00f3ir\u00e9 Thuaidh<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Of course, both An Ch\u00f3ir\u00e9 Theas<\/strong> and An Ch\u00f3ir\u00e9 Thuaidh<\/strong> have full official names: Poblacht na C\u00f3ir\u00e9<\/strong> (Republic of Korea) for the South and Daon-Phoblacht Dhaonlathach na C\u00f3ir\u00e9<\/strong> (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) for the North.\u00a0 Note that we drop the s\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong> (the “h” of the “Ch” cluster) here, as we do with “muintir na C\u00f3ir\u00e9 Theas<\/strong>,” “rialtas na C\u00f3ir\u00e9 Thuaidh<\/strong>,” and “sainbhia na C\u00f3ir\u00e9, <\/strong>‘kimchi’, mar shampla<\/strong>.”\u00a0 \u00a0The reason is we’re saying “of<\/em> Korea” and this h-dropping rule kicks in, as it would if we were saying “of the hen” (na circe<\/strong>, from “an chearc<\/strong>“) or “of the cell\/churchyard” (na cille<\/strong>, from “an chill<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n

Additional examples of “C\u00f3ir\u00e9<\/strong>” (with no “h”) are:<\/p>\n

S\u00fal, pr\u00edomhchathair na C\u00f3ir\u00e9 Theas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pyongyang, pr\u00edomhchathair na C\u00f3ir\u00e9 Thuaidh<\/strong> (not to be mistaken with “PyeongChang,” the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics — if the connection took you “aniar aduaidh<\/strong>,” you might want to check out the links below — n\u00edl t\u00fa i d’aonar!<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Here are a few other South\/North combinations:<\/p>\n

Baile \u00c1tha Cliath Thuaidh \/ Baile \u00c1tha Cliath Theas<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Bhreatain Bheag Thuaidh \/ An Bhreatain Bheag Theas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meirice\u00e1 Thuaidh \/ Meirice\u00e1 Theas<\/strong><\/p>\n

Officially, it seems, the pairs of US states like North\/South Dakota and North\/South Carolina, are supposed to stay completely in English.\u00a0 But most Irish speakers I know in the US apply “Thuaidh<\/strong>” and “Theas<\/strong>” anyway, giving us, for example: Dakota Thuaidh<\/strong> (and “i nDakota Thuaidh<\/strong>“) and Carolina Theas<\/strong> (and “i gCarolina Theas<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of “Souths” without official “Norths”:\u00a0an tS\u00fad\u00e1in Theas (Poblacht na S\u00fad\u00e1ine Theas)<\/strong> and “An Afraic Theas “(Poblacht na Afraice Theas).\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Regarding Sudan,\u00a0the northern country is generally called just “an tS\u00fadain<\/strong>” although it may be referred to as “North Sudan” in English.\u00a0 But I find no references online for “An tS\u00fad\u00e1in<\/strong>” plus “Thuaidh<\/strong>,” so if “North Sudan” isn’t the official name in English, an Irish version seems to be virtually non-existent\u00a0 Of course, it could be in print somewhere and just not show up online, but I think the Google search is a good general linguistic barometer of usage.<\/p>\n

Regarding “An Afraic Theas,”\u00a0<\/strong>no “North Africa” exists as a sovereign nation; there is of course “North Africa,” An Afraic Thuaidh<\/strong>,” as a term for the geographic region.<\/p>\n

And here are a couple of “Norths” without “Souths”: An R\u00e9alta Thuaidh<\/strong> (unless “Cros an Deiscirt<\/strong>” counts as a counterpart, but it’s not really the same linguistic structure at all).\u00a0 And possibly we could consider “An Mhuir Thuaidh<\/strong>,” at least if comparing with English, because we usually say “South Seas” (not an exact counterpart), although, it’s true we have “Baothchuideachta na Farraige Theas<\/strong>” and “Oile\u00e1in na Mara Theas<\/strong>” (note the two different keywords: farraige, mara\/muir<\/strong>) where “South Sea” is used as a modifier.\u00a0 Fad m’eolais, n\u00edl aon <\/strong>“South Sea as such” ann<\/strong><\/p>\n

For what it’s worth, though, I don’t recall anyone ever saying in Irish that they live in “Or\u00e1iste Theas<\/strong>,” or for that matter “Or\u00e1iste Thiar<\/strong>” or “Or\u00e1iste Thoir<\/strong>.”\u00a0 There’s no “North Orange,” so there wouldn’t be an “Or\u00e1iste Thuaidh<\/strong>,” anyway.\u00a0 That ones for all you New Jerseyans that might be reading this (muintir Nua-Gheirs\u00ed?\u00a0 lucht Nua-Gheirs\u00ed, Geirs\u00edgh<\/strong>?)\u00a0 By, the way, formalities aside, every reasonably fluent Irish speaker from New Jersey that I’ve heard uses either “Nua-Gheirs\u00ed<\/strong>” (or somewhat less typically “Geansa\u00ed Nua<\/strong>” or “Geirs\u00ed Nua<\/strong>“), even if the official version is English (New Jersey).\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta<\/strong>: \u00a0Regarding the other words with a final “-\u00e9” ending, here’s a representative sample of a few more.<\/p>\n

From English: faraid\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

From Greek: Antaigin\u00e9, Odais\u00e9, P\u00e9inealaip\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

From other languages: atais\u00e9, cear\u00e1it\u00e9, mait\u00e9, p\u00e9\u00f3it\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Place names: An Eiritr\u00e9, Teasaloinic\u00e9<\/strong><\/p>\n

Naisc faoi na cathracha Pyongyang agus PyeongChang (agus litri\u00fa PyeongChang vs. Pyongchang)<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2018\/02\/is-the-olympics-host-city-pyongchang-pyeongchang-or-pyeongchang.html<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.nbcwashington.com\/news\/local\/PyeongChang-Pyongyang-Olympics-Fans-Still-Learning-Where-Host-City-Is-421936333.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) The Irish for “Korea” is “C\u00f3ir\u00e9,” one of relatively few words in Irish that end in with a long “\u00e9.”\u00a0 Of the few others, there are “finn\u00e9” and “inn\u00e9” but most of the rest are direct adaptations from either English (e.g. gi\u00fair\u00e9, libhr\u00e9) or Greek (e.g. \u00a0Antaigin\u00e9, Circ\u00e9) or other languages (e.g. bail\u00e9…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":10206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[376692,4095,54455,508796,508794,508795,298415,2360,508797,54442,508791,304806,55430,332004,508790,7119,508793],"class_list":["post-10204","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-afraic","tag-an-bhreatain-bheag","tag-korea","tag-leithinis","tag-mhuir","tag-muir","tag-north","tag-olympics","tag-peninsula","tag-pyeongchang","tag-pyongyang","tag-south","tag-sudan","tag-theas","tag-thoir","tag-thuaidh","tag-tsudain"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10204"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10466,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10204\/revisions\/10466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}