Views of a Foetus in the Womb, detail from a drawing by\u00a0Leonardo da Vinci, between circa 1510 and circa 1512; T\u00e9acs Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2018<\/em><\/p><\/div>\nAbout 20 years ago, before the ease of using online dictionaries, I remember hunting high and low for the Irish for \u201cbreech birth.\u201d\u00a0 I recently noticed the phrase included in focloir.ie and thought it might be of interest for this blog.<\/p>\n
There are at least three ways to express the concept.\u00a0 One is literally a phrase for \u201cbreech birth\u201d (or \u201cbreech delivery\u201d) and the others are more like saying \u201cfeet first\u201d or \u201ctowards the backside.\u201d<\/p>\n
The more technical phrase is \u201cbreith t\u00f3na<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Quite\u00a0 straightforward, \u201cbreith<\/strong>\u201d meaning \u201cbirth,\u201d and \u201ct\u00f3na<\/strong>\u201d meaning, well, \u201cof backside,\u201d from \u201ct\u00f3in<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cT\u00f3in<\/strong>\u201d is probably more well known from the phrase \u201cp\u00f3g mo th\u00f3in<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 The phrase \u201cbreith t\u00f3na<\/strong>\u201d is also interesting in that it\u2019s much less euphemistic than then English.\u00a0 In English, \u201cbreech\u201d is a fairly old-fashioned word for \u201cbackside,\u201d \u201cposterior,\u201d or \u201cbottom,\u201d or whatever you want to call it.\u00a0 In everyday modern English, it\u2019s mostly limited to specialized phrases such as \u201cbreech-clout\u201d or \u201cbreech-cloth,\u201d or to phrases with extended meanings, like \u201criding breeches\u201d or \u201cto be too big for your breeches\u201d (britches). \u00a0\u00a0How did types of trousers end up being called \u201cbreeches\u201d?\u00a0 Apparently because they cover one\u2019s bottom.\u00a0 \u201cBreech\u201d singular is \u201cbackside,\u201d or I guess if one were talking about a number of people in this slightly archaic style of English, one could use \u201cbreeches\u201d in the plural for \u201cbacksides,\u201d but normally the plural (breeches) is the garment or covering.<\/p>\nA second way to say that someone was born in a breech delivery is \u201cin aghaidh na gcos<\/strong>,\u201d lit. in the face of the feet,\u201d that is \u201cfeet first.\u201d<\/p>\nA third way to say that someone was born in a breech delivery is \u201crugadh i leith a th\u00f3na \u00e9<\/strong>\u201d for a male child or \u201crugadh i leith a t\u00f3na \u00ed<\/strong>\u201d for a female child. \u00a0I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s even physically possible to have two or more babies born breech, but if it is, the phrase would be \u201crugadh i leith a dt\u00f3ineanna iad<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 In my limited understanding of how this works, I think it\u2019s common for one twin to be headfirst and the other starts out foot first, but after the headfirst is born, the second twin might turn to also be headfirst.\u00a0 Of course, many breech births these days are actually delivered by \u201cgearradh Caesarach<\/strong>,\u201d lit.\u00a0 “Caesarean cutting,\u201d so I think it\u2019s very unlikely that there would or could be two breech births in one presentation.\u00a0 Eolas ag aon obstatra\u00ed (cn\u00e1imhseoir) ar an liosta seo?<\/strong><\/p>\nBTW, the question might arise, is there an abbreviation for \u201cgearradh Caesarach<\/strong>\u201d the way \u201cc-section\u201d works for \u201cCaesarean section\u201d?\u00a0 Not that I can find.\u00a0 So far, I haven\u2019t seen any usage of \u201cc-\u201c<\/strong> as a prefix, leniting \u201cgearradh<\/strong>\u201d to \u201cghearradh<\/strong>,\u201d although there are precedents for such structures in Irish, like \u201cc-bhanda<\/strong>\u201d in astronomy or \u201cc-sheast\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d in film-making.\u00a0 Putting a \u201c-c\u201d after \u201cgearradh<\/strong>\u201d would seem even more unusual to me (remember, we say \u201ct-l\u00e9ine<\/strong>\u201d in Irish, not \u201cl\u00e9ine-t<\/strong>,\u201d fad m\u2019eolais<\/strong>, though I have seen \u201cleine-t<\/em>\u201d for Scottish Gaelic).\u00a0 However I have found one very technical example of a final \u201c-c\u201d in the phrase \u201cocsa\u00edod\u00e1is chiteacr\u00f3m-c<\/strong>\u201d (cytochrome-c oxidase).\u00a0 Not that I’m likely to use that i ngn\u00e1thchaint<\/strong>.\u00a0 At any rate, I don\u2019t see any examples of an abbreviated form of \u201cgearradh Caesarach<\/strong>\u201d in Irish.<\/p>\nThere may be more ways to say \u201cbreech birth,\u201d in Irish , but these are what I have found so far.<\/p>\n
Although I haven\u2019t found the exact combination online, \u201csu\u00edomh t\u00f3na<\/strong>\u201d would seem to work for \u201cbreech presentation,\u201d since \u201csu\u00edomh<\/strong>\u201d can refer to a baby\u2019s position in the womb before birth.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s in addition to its various other meanings like \u201csetting,\u201d \u201clocation,\u201d \u201csite,\u201d \u201cposition,\u201d or \u201csituation,\u201d all based on \u201csu\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (sitting, to sit).<\/p>\nA final point about all of this is that there are at least three types of breech birth, and so far, I haven\u2019t found formal distinctions for these in Irish.\u00a0 There is \u201cfrank\u201d or \u201cextended\u201d breech, with the legs straight up by the ears.\u00a0 Possibly this could be called \u201cs\u00ednte<\/strong>\u201d but that\u2019s just my guess.\u00a0 \u00a0There\u2019s also \u201ccomplete\u201d or \u201cflexed\u201d breech (ioml\u00e1n or fillte?)<\/strong>, with the leg crossed \u2013 sounds the most difficult to me.\u00a0 And then, a term I love, \u201cfootling\u201d when the baby literally comes \u201cfoot first,\u201d mostly limited to premature babies.\u00a0 Maybe the Irish terms are making a distinction, since one says \u201ctowards the backside\u201d and the other says \u201cin the face of the legs\u201d but the definitions are all\u00a0 just generically \u201cbreech birth.\u201d<\/p>\nWell, I hope you found this of interest. Even if you don\u2019t have much reason to discuss breech births, it\u2019s at least one more example of using the word \u201ct\u00f3in<\/strong>\u201d in the genitive case, singular, (t\u00f3na<\/strong>) and the plural (t\u00f3ineanna<\/strong>).\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2018\/07\/views-of-a-foetus-in-the-womb-by-leonardo-da-vinci-ca-1510-1512-350x270.jpg\")
(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) About 20 years ago, before the ease of using online dictionaries, I remember hunting high and low for the Irish for \u201cbreech birth.\u201d\u00a0 I recently noticed the phrase included in focloir.ie and thought it might be of interest for this blog. There are at least three ways to express the concept.\u00a0 One is…<\/p>\n
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