{"id":10334,"date":"2018-03-22T20:37:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T20:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=10334"},"modified":"2018-04-09T16:55:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-09T16:55:54","slug":"ag-seinm-ceol-gaelach-irish-words-for-musical-instruments-and-how-to-use-them-in-phrases-pt-cuid-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/ag-seinm-ceol-gaelach-irish-words-for-musical-instruments-and-how-to-use-them-in-phrases-pt-cuid-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Ag Seinm Ceol Gaelach?\u00a0 Irish Words for Musical Instruments and How to Use Them in Phrases (Pt.\/Cuid 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flute#\/media\/File:Western_concert_flute.jpg<\/a>, An illustration of a\u00a0Western concert flute; Public Domain , Uploaded: 1 December 2005; T\u00e9acs Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2018<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s always fun to talk about music (ceol<\/strong>) and I’m sure many readers on this list are musicians (ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed<\/strong>, singular: ceolt\u00f3ir<\/strong>).\u00a0 Some of the names of Irish instruments are quite recognizable from an English-language perspective, and, to some extent, other languages as well.\u00a0 One good example is “fli\u00fait<\/strong>” as seen in the graphic above (flute; Fraincis<\/strong>: fl\u00fbte<\/em>, Gearm\u00e1inis<\/strong>: Fl\u00f6te<\/em>, Breatnais<\/strong>: ffliwt<\/em>; Ollainnis<\/strong>: Fluit<\/em>, Cri\u00f3l H\u00e1\u00edt\u00edoch<\/strong>: flit<\/em>, Asarbaise\u00e1inis<\/strong>: fleyta<\/em>, Esperanto<\/strong>: fluto<\/em>, and in some languages farther afield, like Winaray<\/strong>: plaut\u00e1<\/em>, although I’m sure cainteoir\u00ed Winaray<\/strong> must have their own indigenous word for a traditional instrument in their society, perhaps made of bamboo (bamb\u00fa<\/strong>), of wood (adhmaid<\/strong>), or some other natural material … <pause for Googling> and indeed, there are locally-made bamboo flutes called tumpong<\/em> and palendag<\/em>, although I’m not sure if those are specifically Winaray words or if they are from one of the approximately 170 other languages spoken in na hOile\u00e1in Fhilip\u00edneacha<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How does that relate?\u00a0 Well, we can try saying “bamboo flute” in Irish, since it’s good practice for matching adjectives to nouns.\u00a0 Since “fli\u00fait<\/strong>” is “flute” and “bamb\u00fa<\/strong>” is the Irish for “bamboo” (n\u00ed nach ionadh<\/strong>!), what would the singular and plural forms be: singular: _____\u00a0 _____ (bamboo flute) ; plural: _____\u00a0 _____ (bamboo flutes)\u00a0 (Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos-A<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Up till now, I’ve never had any reason to discuss fli\u00fait_ _ _ _ _ bamb\u00fa<\/strong> (that’s a clue for the number of letters, if you didn’t already fill in the blanks) in Irish, but I did find one hit for the singular form of “bamboo flute” in an Irish Times article (i.e. in a real Irish-language context, which is what I always hope to find — not just dictionary listing or a machine translation).\u00a0 The nasc<\/strong> for that is th\u00edos<\/strong>.\u00a0 And the article is well worth a look, since it must be by Gabriel Rosenstock, one of the leading Irish writers and translators of our time.\u00a0 I say “must be” because I didn’t actually see his name attached to it.\u00a0 Why would the Irish Times<\/em> not include his name, I wonder? \u00a0Did it get lost in the digital shuffle from print to online?\u00a0 Did I simply not see it? \u00a0Enh, I doubt it — I scoured the page. \u00a0An bhfuil m\u00e9 dall<\/strong>?\u00a0 And how do<\/em> I know it must be Rosenstock?\u00a0 It’s a bit complicated, so it’s in the n\u00f3ta (1) th\u00edos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Back to flutes … as for the plural form, bamboo flutes, I found one hit in Irish, but it sounds to me like a machine-translated measc\u00e1n meara\u00ed<\/strong>, starting out, “Chun negate na h\u00e9ifeachta\u00ed<\/strong>, … ” — enough to send me scurrying. \u00a0Three bells ringing wrong, wrong, wrong!\u00a0 The details for that should probably go in a footnote, so n\u00f3ta a d\u00f3, th\u00edos<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The article could have been interesting, though, since it appeared to be an article in Irish about hanging bamboo flutes to improve feng shui.<\/p>\n

And now, back to instruments popular for Irish music.\u00a0 We’ll give the basic form, the form with “the”, and the plural, and then the phrases for saying, playing the (fiddle), playing the fiddles (ag seinm<\/strong> + (noun).\u00a0 And yes, it could be “ag seinnt<\/strong>,” but I lean toward the most commonly taught forms of words for use in most of these blogposts.\u00a0 Oh, and when I say “we,” I mean “we” — there’s lots of blanks to fill in, either single letters or word endings or initial mutations.\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

An seinneann tusa aon uirlis cheoil?\u00a0 M\u00e1 sheinneann, inis d\u00fainn c\u00e9n uirlis, m\u00e1s mian leat.\u00a0 M\u00e1 scr\u00edobhann go leor daoine isteach, is f\u00e9idir linn n\u00edos m\u00f3 blaganna faoi cheol a dh\u00e9anamh.\u00a0 Idir an d\u00e1 linn, t\u00e1 cuid mhaith acu ann cheana f\u00e9in<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Since we started this post talking about flutes, let’s start the practice with “fli\u00fait<\/strong>.”\u00a0 And let’s go ahead and assume that the flute will be made of wood (“adhmaid<\/strong>,” of wood).\u00a0 It’s the most widely used type in Irish music.\u00a0\u00a0 But let’s leave that extra word out for now, for simplicity’s sake.\u00a0 “Simplicity?!” you say.\u00a0 “Well, sort of simplicity,” I say, “at least it’s one less word to deal with, while going through the nominative and genitive forms, the singular and plural forms, and the two initial consonant mutations (lenition and eclipsis).”\u00a0 \u00a0Actually, “of wood” does stay the same throughout (adhmaid … adhmaid … adhmaid … adhmaid<\/strong>) but still, it might obscure the basic structures we’re trying to emphasize here.<\/p>\n

This was originally going to be 10 entries, but don’t worry, if you don’t see “an uirlis cheoil a sheinneann tusa<\/strong>.”\u00a0 This will be at least a two-part, maybe three- or four-part post.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. flute: fli\u00fait, an f_li\u00fait, na fli\u00fait_ _ _ _ _, ag seinm na fli\u00fait_, ag seinm na _ _fli\u00fait_ _ _ _ _<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  2. fiddle: fidil, an f_idil, na fidl_ _ _ _ _, ag seinm na fidl_, ag seinm na _ _fidl_ _ _ _ _<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. tin whistle: fead\u00f3g st\u00e1in, an f_ead\u00f3g st\u00e1in, na fead\u00f3g_ st\u00e1in, ag seinm na fead\u00f3_g_ st\u00e1in, ag seinm na _ _fead\u00f3g st\u00e1in<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. bodhr\u00e1n: bodhr\u00e1n, an bodhr\u00e1n, na bodhr\u00e1_n, ag seinm an b_odhr\u00e1_n, ag seinm na _bodhr\u00e1n<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. harp: cl\u00e1irseach, an c\u00ad_l\u00e1irseach, na cl\u00e1irseach_, ag seinm na cl\u00e1irs_, ag seinm na _cl\u00e1irseach<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Mar a d\u00fairt m\u00e9 thuas, beidh tuilleadh faoi seo sa ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile agus b’fh\u00e9idir n\u00edos m\u00f3 tar \u00e9is sin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    And before we close, \u00a0I realize that some of these phrases for “play” can be expressed with “ar<\/strong>” (on), which would eliminate the need for the genitive case, although it might introduce even more lenition (mar a deir an seanfhocal, “Dearth\u00e1ir don sac an m\u00e1la”<\/strong>).\u00a0 For example, we could have “ag seinm ar fhead\u00f3g<\/strong>,” based on Tom\u00e1s de Bhaldraithe’s example in his authoritative, if somewhat dated, English-Irish Dictionary<\/em> (“seinnim ar fhead\u00f3g<\/strong>“).\u00a0 However, he describes this as “poetic” usage and also defines it as “I pipe” (not “I play the whistle”), for what that’s worth.<\/p>\n

    And one further final note: Many of these phrases could also use other verbs for “play” in a musical sense such as “casadh<\/strong>” or “bualadh<\/strong>,” but I thought it would be simpler to stick to “seinm<\/strong>,” since its core meaning is “to play,” specifically referring to musical instruments.\u00a0 \u00a0The word “seinn<\/strong>” is probably a distant cousin of the Latin “sonare<\/em>” (to sound), which gives us English words like resonant, dissonant, sonorous, sonata, and unison, not to mention “sound” itself.\u00a0 The root “son-” also does double duty in “sonar” (SOund Navigation and Ranging), being one of the components of the acronym and<\/em> the actual first syllable. \u00a0Most acronyms just use the very first letter of each element, but there are exceptions, sometimes to make the new word more memorable or easier to pronounce. \u00a0Here, the “o” was probably included because “*SNAR” as an acronym might not have seemed so effective or easy to remember.\u00a0 Since we’re talking about sonar, what’s the Irish for it, and for radar (for good measure)?\u00a0 “Sonar” is “son\u00f3ir<\/strong>” as in a dolphin’s “c\u00f3ras son\u00f3ra<\/strong>” and “radar” is basically “radar<\/strong>” but it can become “radair<\/strong>” to mean “of radar” as in “r\u00e9alteola\u00edocht radair<\/strong>.”\u00a0 And what exactly do those mean?\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos (B)<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

    Getting back to “casadh<\/strong>” and “bualadh<\/strong>” vs. “seinm<\/strong>” — they both have many other meanings not related to music, so again, that’s why I just stuck to “seinm<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The additional meanings include the following:<\/p>\n

    casadh<\/strong> (twist, turn , wind, and more abstractly, return, meet, accuse, happen, etc. )<\/p>\n

    bualadh<\/strong> (hit, strike, beat, bang, batter, bop, knock, also, in specific contexts: thresh, clap, meet, crash, surpass, fight, etc.)<\/p>\n

    Finally, some of you might remember that previously in this blog we looked at a great array of musical instruments from Alpchorn<\/strong> to xileaf\u00f3n<\/strong> (it’s very hard to find z-initial words within specific themes in Irish), but please remember that that was a very motley assortment of instruments, from all around the world.\u00a0 That series (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>) was dedicated to finding as complete an alphabetical run as possible, and practicing the words both as subject and in saying “She is playing the ….”\u00a0 This series will focus on instruments traditionally used for playing Irish music.\u00a0 And of course, suggestions are welcome, so if you use didiridi\u00fanna<\/strong> or hanghang<\/strong> in your Irish band, please let me know and I’ll include them.\u00a0 There’s actually no Irish (yet?\/ fad m’eolais<\/strong>) for a “hang” (pl: hanghang), but if I hear of one, I’ll let you know.\u00a0 I doubt it’s really necessary.\u00a0\u00a0 It would be useful to have a gender designation for it, though — French, Portuguese, and Spanish chose masculine (le hang, o hang, el hang<\/em>), and probably Irish would do the same.\u00a0 In fact, there seems to be a trend for words borrowed into another language that has grammatical gender to be borrowed as masculine, especially when there’s no change at all to the spelling.\u00a0 But that’s just a trend I’ve observed, not anything definitive.\u00a0 Sampla\u00ed?\u00a0 Eisceachta\u00ed?<\/strong>\u00a0 So that’s it for now, agus fan i dti\u00fain (semi-drochimeartas focal!) don ch\u00e9ad phost eile sa tsraith seo.\u00a0 Sl\u00e1n go fa la la … \u00fa\u00faps … f\u00f3ill – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Freagra\u00ed d’uimhreacha 1-5:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. flute: fli\u00fait, an fhli\u00fait, na fli\u00faiteanna, ag seinm na fli\u00faite, ag seinm na bhfli\u00faiteanna<\/strong>. It’s interesting that for that last entry, we add more letters (7) than the original word had (6). Iarmh\u00edreanna fada agus uruithe dh\u00e1 litir (mar “bh” roimh “f”) ab\u00fa!<\/strong><\/li>\n
    2. fiddle: fidil, an fhidil, na fidleacha, ag seinm na fidle, ag seinm na bhfidleacha<\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. tin whistle: fead\u00f3g st\u00e1in, an fhead\u00f3g st\u00e1in, na fead\u00f3ga st\u00e1in, ag seinm na fead\u00f3ige st\u00e1in, ag seinm na bhfead\u00f3g st\u00e1in<\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. bodhr\u00e1n: bodhr\u00e1n, an bodhr\u00e1n, na bodhr\u00e1in, ag seinm an bhodhr\u00e1in, ag seinm na mbodhr\u00e1n<\/strong><\/li>\n
    5. harp: cl\u00e1irseach, an chl\u00e1irseach, na cl\u00e1irseacha, ag seinm na cl\u00e1irs\u00ed, ag seinm na gcl\u00e1irseach<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Freagra\u00ed do cheisteanna sa t\u00e9acs:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. A) singular: fli\u00fait bhamb\u00fa<\/strong>, with “bamb\u00fa<\/strong>” changing to “bhamb\u00fa<\/strong>” because “fli\u00fait<\/strong>” is grammatically feminine; plural: fli\u00faiteanna bamb\u00fa<\/strong>, with “bamb\u00fa<\/strong>” reverting to its original form because the phrase is plural. Remember, the “bh” of “bhamb\u00fa<\/strong>” is a “w” sound (or “v” in some dialects of Irish).<\/li>\n
      2. B) sonar system, radar astronomy<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        N\u00f3ta a hAon (1) agus nasc: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/2.663\/bain-na-slabhrai-seo-de-mo-chroi-1.1134936<\/a> , “Bain na slabhra\u00ed seo de mo chro\u00ed…<\/strong>“, 10 M\u00e1rta<\/strong>, 2004.\u00a0 I couldn’t find any author attribution online for this article (hmm?) but looking at the text, I assume it must be the renowned Gabriel Rosenstock, since there’s a reference to “mac liom, Tristan<\/strong>” as being “ball den ghr\u00fapa traidisi\u00fanta T\u00e9ada<\/strong>.” P\u00e9 sc\u00e9al \u00e9, is alt an-suimi\u00fail \u00e9 (mar at\u00e1 gach rud a scr\u00edobhann Rosenstock!)<\/strong>.\u00a0 For any newcomers to Irish, I’ll translate those three bits of Irish:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. title: Take these chains from my heart (but note the verb “bain<\/strong>” which is rather forceful; without “de<\/strong>” following it, it can mean “strike,” “reap,” “harvest,” or “extract,” depending on context. There are at least two other basic words for “take” in Irish. An cuimhin leat iad<\/strong>?\u00a0 (freagra\u00ed th\u00edos-C<\/strong>).<\/li>\n
        2. mac liom<\/strong>, a son of mine, as opposed to “my son” which would be __________ (freagra th\u00edos-D<\/strong>)<\/li>\n
        3. ball den ghr\u00fapa traidisi\u00fanta T\u00e9ada<\/strong>: well, two of those words are pretty recognizable (gr\u00fapa<\/strong>, group; traidisi\u00fant<\/strong>a, traditional) and if you follow Irish music, “T\u00e9ada” (lit. “strings”) should be well known. So that just leaves us “ball<\/strong>” (a member) and “den<\/strong>” (of the), and you can probably take it from there.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          The website for “T\u00e9ada,” btw, is http:\/\/www.t\u00e9ada.com<\/a> and a website for Gabriel Rosenstock is http:\/\/roghaghabriel.blogspot.com\/p\/about-gabriel-rosenstock.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

          Freagra–C<\/strong>: t\u00f3g<\/strong>: take, lift, build, and glac<\/strong>: take, accept<\/p>\n

          Freagra–D<\/strong>: my son, mo mhac<\/strong> (while “mac liom<\/strong>” is “a son of mine”)<\/p>\n

          N\u00f3ta a D\u00f3 (2):<\/strong> Why three warning bells for “chun negate na h\u00e9ifeachta\u00ed…<\/strong>” ?\u00a0 First, unnecessary use of English in an Irish text.\u00a0 It’s not that I have any issue with English words dropped into Irish, everyone I know does, and so do I, but there should be a reason, and when writing, one can always use a dictionary, while in actual conversation, looking up words is \u00a0doable, with apps, but not as convenient.\u00a0 For this context, there are at least three ways to say “negate” in Irish (cealaigh, cuir ar ceal, cuir ar neamhn\u00ed<\/strong>).\u00a0 Second, word order.\u00a0 Third, if we were putting “negate” before the noun, the noun would go into the genitive case (ag ceal\u00fa na n-\u00e9ifeachta\u00ed<\/strong>), which really means “negating the effects.”\u00a0 Anyway …<\/p>\n

          Naisc: Iarmh\u00edreanna faoi uirlis\u00ed ceoil (\u00f3 alpchorn go xileaf\u00f3n):\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Ag seinm uirlis\u00ed ceoil, \u00f3 alpchorn go xileaf\u00f3n (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish, pt. 1)<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 19, 2015 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

          Ag seinm uirlis\u00ed ceoil, \u00f3 alpchorn go xileaf\u00f3n (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish, Pt.2): ideaf\u00f3n go \u00a0h\u00f3cair\u00edn<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 21, 2015 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

          Ag seinm uirlis\u00ed ceoil, \u00f3 alpchorn go xileaf\u00f3n (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish): Pt. 3: Pian\u00f3 go siotar AGUS siot\u00e1r<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 25, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

          Ag seinm uirlis\u00ed ceoil, \u00f3 alpchorn go xileaf\u00f3n (Alpenhorn to Xylophone in Irish): Pt. 4: Triant\u00e1n go xileaf\u00f3n<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 29, 2015 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

          (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) It’s always fun to talk about music (ceol) and I’m sure many readers on this list are musicians (ceolt\u00f3ir\u00ed, singular: ceolt\u00f3ir).\u00a0 Some of the names of Irish instruments are quite recognizable from an English-language perspective, and, to some extent, other languages as well.\u00a0 One good example is “fli\u00fait” as seen in the graphic…<\/p>\n

          Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":10338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[376554,512797,6741,255470,376571,508871,508872,376556],"class_list":["post-10334","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-ceol","tag-dearthair-don-sac-an-mala","tag-seanfhocal","tag-seinm","tag-seinneann","tag-seinnt","tag-sheinneann","tag-uirlis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10334","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=10334"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10366,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10334\/revisions\/10366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}