{"id":10671,"date":"2018-07-18T01:11:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T01:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=10671"},"modified":"2018-07-22T10:46:22","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T10:46:22","slug":"irish-words-for-stalagmites-and-stalactites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/irish-words-for-stalagmites-and-stalactites\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Words for Stalagmites and Stalactites"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:WonderCaves_Stalagmites.JPG<\/a>; By Bothar at English Wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons; Stalagmites and Stalactites in the\u00a0Wonder Cave\u00a0of\u00a0Kromdraai, South Africa. Taken by Rudolph Botha on 2005\/05\/22 at the Wonder Caves.\u00a0Bothar11:49, 18 January 2007 (UTC); T\u00e9acs Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2018<\/em><\/p><\/div>Since we recently looked at Irish words for caves (uaimheanna<\/strong>) and caving (uaimhead\u00f3ireacht<\/strong>), in honor of the rescue of the Thai soccer team (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>), I thought this might be a good time to introduce the Irish words for “stalagmite” and “stalactite.”<\/p>\n

They\u2019re really more straightforward and less technical-seeming than the English terms \u201cstalagmite\u201d and \u201cstalactite,\u201d since the Irish terms are based on relatively ordinary words (aol, coinneal, cuisne<\/strong>).\u00a0 Of those three, probably \u201ccuisne<\/strong>\u201d is somewhat less basic.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see its core meaning below.\u00a0 But certainly the English words \u201cstalagmite\u201d and \u201cstalactite\u201d aren\u2019t really connected to any everyday English words; the only related terms are the adjectives \u201cstalagmitic\u201d and \u201cstalactitic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with \u201cstalagmite\u201d:<\/p>\n

Aolchoinneal<\/strong>, stalagmite, lit. \u201clime-candle,\u201d referring to lime, the mineral substance, not \u201clime\u201d (the fruit), which is \u201cl\u00edoma<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plural is \u201caolchoinnle<\/strong>,\u201d a logical extension of the plural of \u201ccoinneal<\/strong>\u201d (candle), which is \u201ccoinnle<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s always good to learn plurals of nouns but in this case especially so, since I think stalagmites always come in groups.\u00a0 Anyone ever see a cave with just one stalagmite?<\/p>\n

And the idea of the candle makes it so much easier to remember which formation rises from the floor of the cave (stalagmite) and which one hangs from the roof (stalactite).\u00a0 The English words give one no clue.\u00a0 The only way I finally memorized which was which as a child was from the \u201cmites go up\u201d mnemonic.\u00a0 Anyone else finally learn the difference that way?<\/p>\n

Actually I just checked online and there\u2019s another mnemonic as well: stalagmites push up with all their might and stalactites hang on tight to the roof.<\/p>\n

But the Irish words don\u2019t really need a mnemonic since candles usually stand upright on a surface.<\/p>\n

The Irish for \u201cstalactite\u201d is \u201caolchuisne<\/strong>,\u201d which is, admittedly a little more bizarre in translation.\u00a0 The first element (aol<\/strong>) is the same as in \u201caolchoinneal<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cCuisne<\/strong>\u201d has several meanings, none of which really remind me of stalactites.\u00a0 It can mean \u201choar-frost,\u201d \u201cfrosty vapor,\u201d \u201crime,\u201d or a \u201ccold haze.\u201d\u00a0 OK, whatever. \u00a0The more basic word for \u201cfrost\u201d is \u201csioc<\/strong>\u201d (ag cur seaca<\/strong>, etc.), which is probably a lot more familiar.\u00a0 Of course, even in English, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve had much reason to use the word \u201choar-frost,\u201d since perhaps reading \u201cThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner\u201d or maybe it was Jules Verne\u2019s An Antarctic Mystery<\/em>, set on the remote Kerguelen Islands.\u00a0 Note the Breton name there, you Pan-Celticists out there.<\/p>\n

The plural of \u201caolchuisne<\/strong>\u201d is straightforward enough: aolchuisn\u00ed<\/strong> (stalactites).\u00a0 But it\u2019s interesting that \u201ccuisne<\/strong>\u201d itself is what we\u2019d call an \u201cuncountable\u201d noun in English.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have a plural and you can\u2019t count individual \u201ccuisne<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 But once we apply the word to a tangible physical object, this aspect changes, and we can simply use a typical Irish plural ending, \u201c-\u00ed\u201d.<\/p>\n

What happens when we add the word \u201cthe\u201d (\u201can\u201d<\/strong> in Irish) in front of the noun?\u00a0 Well, \u201caolchoinneal\u201d is grammatically feminine, so we say \u201can aolchoinneal<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 No changes.\u00a0 But \u201caolchuisne<\/strong>\u201d is masculine, so, do you remember the rule for masculine singular nouns after \u201can<\/strong>\u201d (the)?\u00a0 We add the \u201ct-\u201c as in \u201can t-\u00fall<\/strong>\u201d or \u201can t-uisce<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 So we have \u201can t-aolchuisne<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 In the plural, grammatical gender doesn\u2019t matter, but we do have the \u201ch-\u201c prefixing: na haolchoinnle<\/strong> and na haolchuisn\u00ed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if aolchoinnle<\/strong> and aolchuisn\u00ed<\/strong> were part of the attraction that drew the Thai boys to the cave they explored, but at any rate, they are a constantly fascinating feature of many caves and caverns, often imaginatively named.\u00a0 An raibh tusa riamh in uaimh a raibh aolchoinnle agus aolchuisn\u00ed ann<\/strong>?\u00a0 If so, it would be great if you could write in and tell us about it.\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc:\u00a0Uaimheanna agus Uaimhead\u00f3ireacht: Words for Caves and Caving in Irish<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Jul 15, 2018 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Since we recently looked at Irish words for caves (uaimheanna) and caving (uaimhead\u00f3ireacht), in honor of the rescue of the Thai soccer team (nasc th\u00edos), I thought this might be a good time to introduce the Irish words for “stalagmite” and “stalactite.” They\u2019re really more straightforward and less technical-seeming than the English terms \u201cstalagmite\u201d…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":10674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[513303,513304,513306,513305,513298,513300],"class_list":["post-10671","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-aolchoinneal","tag-aolchuisne","tag-stalactite","tag-stalagmite","tag-uaimh","tag-uaimheanna"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671","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=10671"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10682,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions\/10682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}