{"id":10807,"date":"2018-08-22T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T21:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=10807"},"modified":"2018-09-03T14:30:11","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T14:30:11","slug":"the-word-picnic-in-irish-and-the-mysterious-insect-creachadoir-na-bpicnici","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/the-word-picnic-in-irish-and-the-mysterious-insect-creachadoir-na-bpicnici\/","title":{"rendered":"The Word \u2018Picnic\u2019 in Irish and the Mysterious Insect \u2018Cr\u00e9achad\u00f3ir na bPicnic\u00ed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Thomas_Cole%27s_%22The_Picnic%22,_Brooklyn_Museum_IMG_3787.JPG<\/em><\/a>, A Pic-Nic Party (The Picnic), by Thomas Cole (1801-1848), public domain; lip\u00e9ad Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2018<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not hard to figure out how to say \u2018picnic\u2019 in Irish \u2013 it\u2019s \u201cpicnic<\/strong>\u201d!\u00a0 The only thing that\u2019s a bit tricky is to figure out what slight changes might occur to the word when we use it in different phrases and sentences.\u00a0 After we work through those, we\u2019ll don our entomological caps (\u00e1r gcaip\u00edn\u00ed feithideola\u00edochta<\/strong>) and check out \u201cCr\u00e9achad\u00f3ir na bPicnic\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Depending on the exact text in which the Irish word \u201cpicnic<\/strong>\u201d is used, we might add a \u2018b,\u2019 an \u2018h,\u2019 an \u2018e,\u2019 or an \u2018\u00ed\u2019 to the spelling.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the basics:<\/p>\n

picnic<\/strong>, a picnic<\/p>\n

Now the changes start:<\/p>\n

an phicnic<\/strong>, the picnic, we add the \u201ch\u201d because \u201cpicnic<\/strong>\u201d is feminine in Irish, a language in which all nouns have grammatical gender (as in Spanish, French, Latin, German, etc.). \u00a0Remember \u201cph\u201d is an \u201cf\u201d sound. The same rule of adding “h” (called “s\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong>“) applies to thousands of other Irish words like \u201cbean \/ an bhean<\/strong>\u201d (woman, the woman) or \u201ccathaoir \/ an chathaoir<\/strong>\u201d (chair, the chair).<\/p>\n

ag an bpicnic<\/strong>, at the picnic (the \u201cb\u201d is pronounced but not the \u201cp,\u201d so it sounds like \u201cbic-nic\u201d).\u00a0 We can also say \u201cag an phicnic<\/strong>\u201d in Northern Irish, with \u201cph\u201d instead of \u201cbp.\u201d<\/p>\n

bia na picnice<\/strong>, the food of the picnic (remember, Irish has no silent final \u201ce\u2019s\u201d like English does, so this is pronounced more or less like \u201cPIC-nik-yeh\u201d).<\/p>\n

Plural forms:<\/p>\n

picnic\u00ed<\/strong>, picnics<\/p>\n

na picnic\u00ed<\/strong>, the picnics (adding the \u201c-\u00ed\u201d) for the plural ending.<\/p>\n

ar phicnic\u00ed<\/strong>, on picnics; ag dul ar phicnic\u00ed,<\/strong> going on picnics<\/p>\n

And one more change, if we want to say, \u201cof the picnics,\u201d adding initial \u201cb\u201d plus the plural ending:<\/p>\n

na bpicnic\u00ed<\/strong>, of the picnics, as in \u201cs\u00e9as\u00far na bpicnic\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (the season of the picnics, the picnic season) or \u201ctar \u00e9is na bpicnic\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (after the picnics), which can also be expressed as \u201ci ndiaidh na bpicnic\u00ed<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a link to a more whimsical example of the phrase \u201cna bpicnic\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d: http:\/\/www.forasnagaeilge.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Lion-an-Dulra-Samhradh-2012.pdf<\/a>, leathanach<\/strong> 12.\u00a0 In 2007, the artist Bill Fallover created a series of humorous posters of \u201cm\u00edolta bruscair<\/strong>\u201d (litterbugs), made from discarded objects and bits of trash.\u00a0 The Summer 2012 edition of the online publication L\u00edon an D\u00falra<\/em> offers some fun Irish translations of the captions, including \u201cCr\u00e9achad\u00f3ir an bPicnic\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (The Picnic Predator, lit. The Predator of the Picnics).\u00a0 The creature even has an official-sounding Latin taxonomic name \u2013 Cibus praedator<\/em>.\u00a0 There are five more litterbugs in the Irish series, a fun translating challenge, even though the rest of them don\u2019t have to do with picnics: M\u00edol Fola na Tr\u00e1, M\u00edol na bhF\u00e1lta Sceach, M\u00edol Tionscla\u00edoch, M\u00edol Sl\u00edoctha na gCos\u00e1n, M\u00edol Greamaitheach<\/strong>.\u00a0 Can you translate them?\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hope you found some time this summer to \u201cdul ar phicnic\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (go on picnics).\u00a0 Does anyone have an especially fond memory of a \u201cpicnic iontach<\/strong>\u201d?\u00a0 If so, please write in and let us know where you were, and what made it \u201cgo hiontach<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 SGF \u2013 R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed<\/strong>: \u00a0the official version, plus a literal translation:<\/p>\n