![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2019\/03\/0949-snowflakes-warren-1863-diagonal.jpg\")
<\/a>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Snow#\/media\/File:Snowflakeschapte00warriala-p11-p21-p29-p39.jpg, public domain; the original work: Warren, Israel Perkins, 1814-92; this image: ComputerHotline-Snowflakes: a chapter from the book of nature ([c1863)]; t\u00e9acs Gaeilge agus dearadh le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2019<\/em><\/p><\/div>(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n Irish may not have as many different words for “snow” as the Inuit (estimated at between four and a hundred, depending on how we define “different”), but it does have a healthy range of words for “snowflake.”<\/p>\n The Irish word for ‘snow,’ as many of you may already know, is “sneachta<\/strong>,” a nice, if slightly-disguised, cognate of English “snow,” which is also related to other European words for “snow” (e.g. Schnee, sneeuw, <\/em>sn\u011b\u017een\u00ed, <\/em>sne, neige, neve, nieve, <\/em>and the ancient Latin “nix” <\/em>and Greek “nipha”<\/em>. Initial s’s may come and go in linguistic variations so the differences in the beginnings of the words are reasonably predictable to linguists).<\/p>\n As far as I know, Irish has one basic word for “snow” and various ways to describe it.\u00a0 If anyone knows of any other core terms, I’d be glad to know.\u00a0 Snow can be described in many ways, familiar enough to English speakers, such as “sneachta trom<\/strong>” (heavy), “sneachta \u00e9adrom<\/strong>” (gentle, light), “p\u00fadar sneachta<\/strong>” (powder, i.e. fine, snow) and “sneachta p\u00fadrach<\/strong>” (powdery), “sneachta briosc<\/strong>” (crunchy, crusty), “sneachta s\u00edobtha \/ s\u00e9idte<\/strong>” (driven, blown).\u00a0 A few additional useful words for this discussion would be “greallach<\/strong>” (mush, slush, also mire, quagmire, and thick soup) and “bogoighear<\/strong>” (slush, lit. soft ice).\u00a0 But more on slush and mush in perhaps a future blogpost.\u00a0 There’s plenty to cover just on snowflakes.<\/p>\n So, on to the flakes themselves.\u00a0 As with English, “flakes” can refer to many different substances, and not all the Irish words for “flake” seem to be used with snow (e.g. sleanntach, scealp\u00f3g, scilte\u00e1n, clad\u00e1n, cn\u00e1d\u00e1n<\/strong>, among others), but we do have the following, as shown in the graphic above:<\/p>\n 1)) cal\u00f3g shneachta<\/strong>, by far the most widely used, in my experience.\u00a0 The plural is “cal\u00f3ga sneachta<\/strong>” — note that the “shn-” spelling for the singular reverts to the basic “sn-” spelling in the plural.\u00a0 Variant spelling: caileog<\/strong>.\u00a0 “Cal\u00f3ga<\/strong>” can be used for other types of flakes, e.g. “cal\u00f3ga arbhair<\/strong>” (cornflakes).<\/p>\n Here are some additional words for “snowflake” that I have found but I haven’t heard any of them used very often, compared to “cal\u00f3g shneachta<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The core words (brat\u00f3g, c\u00e1ithn\u00edn, srl.<\/strong>) all have additional meanings, which in my experience are more widely used.<\/p>\n 2)) brat\u00f3g shneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake.\u00a0 “Brat\u00f3g<\/strong>” by itself can mean “a rag.”\u00a0 Plural: brat\u00f3ga sneachta<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 3)) c\u00e1ithn\u00edn sneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake.\u00a0 “C\u00e1ithn\u00edn<\/strong>” by itself can mean a small particle of anything; two other words with basically the same meaning, but different spellings, are “c\u00e1in\u00edn<\/strong>” and “c\u00e1inth\u00edn<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Plural: c\u00e1ithn\u00edn\u00ed sneachta<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 4)) f\u00edneog shneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake. Curiously, “f\u00edneog<\/strong>” by itself usually means “a mite,” as in “f\u00edneog ch\u00e1ise<\/strong>” (cheese-mite).\u00a0 I assume these are the mites found in cheeses like the German Milbenk\u00e4se<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and French\u00a0Mimolette<\/em><\/a>, the latter of which, as far as I know, was recently banned in the US.\u00a0 Plural: f\u00edneoga sneachta.<\/strong><\/p>\n 5)) l\u00f3ip\u00edn sneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake.\u00a0 I haven’t found much for “l\u00f3ip\u00edn<\/strong>” itself, except “rag” or “flake” in general.\u00a0 But there is a homonym, “l\u00f3ip\u00edn<\/strong>,” meaning a white “stocking” on the leg of animal.\u00a0 The word “l\u00f3pa<\/strong>” can\u00a0 mean a vampless stocking (with no “foot” and worn outside the shoe).\u00a0 Connected?\u00a0 Plural: l\u00f3ip\u00edn\u00ed sneachta<\/strong>.\u00a0 Variations on this phrase include “sneachta na l\u00f3ip\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>” and “sneachta l\u00f3ip\u00edneach<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n 6)) lubh\u00f3g shneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake.\u00a0 “Lubh\u00f3g<\/strong>” by itself means a “flake” or “a drop” and “sneachta\u00a0lubh\u00f3gach<\/strong>” is snow that is falling in large flakes.\u00a0 Plural: lubh\u00f3ga sneachta<\/strong>.\u00a0 A variant, pretty obscure in my experience, is “l\u00f3<\/strong>,” which can also mean a tuft of wool; “l\u00f3gach<\/strong>” is a variant of the adjective form.<\/p>\n 7)) sl\u00e1m sneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake.\u00a0 “Sl\u00e1m<\/strong>” by itself, like the obscure “l\u00f3<\/strong>,” can mean a tuft (of wool, tow, etc.) or a handful in general.\u00a0 Plural: sl\u00e1manna sneachta<\/strong>.\u00a0 However, one has to be careful when using or interpreting this word, since “sl\u00e1m<\/strong>” can also be used for a fairly large amount of something, especially if paired up with “m\u00f3r<\/strong>,” as in “sl\u00e1m m\u00f3r airgid<\/strong>” (a big amount of money).<\/p>\n 8 & 9)) sl\u00e1m\u00e1n sneachta<\/strong>, a snowflake or “a small tuft of something,” almost the same as above, but of a smaller size.\u00a0 Hmm, how does one measure the size of a “tuft” … or of a snowflake?\u00a0 N\u00edl a fhios agam<\/strong>, but \u00a0somehow a “sl\u00e1m\u00e1n olla<\/strong>” (a little tuft of wool), is supposed to be smaller than a “sl\u00e1m olla<\/strong>” (a tuft of wool).\u00a0 As for snowflakes, please let me know when you measure some, so we can decide which should be called “sl\u00e1manna<\/strong>” and which should be called “sl\u00e1m\u00e1in<\/strong>“!\u00a0 A “sl\u00e1m\u00f3g shneachta<\/strong>” is also “a small flake of snow,” presumably about the same size as a “sl\u00e1m\u00e1n sneachta<\/strong>.”\u00a0 By itself, “sl\u00e1m\u00f3g<\/strong>” can also mean an “untidy woman” — although the connection seems a little vague!<\/p>\n 10)) spitheog shneachta<\/strong>, a small snowflake.\u00a0 By itself, “spitheog<\/strong>” can mean “a small stone” or “a small particle of anything.”\u00a0 Plural: spitheoga sneachta<\/strong>.\u00a0 Variant spellings: spioth\u00f3g, sp\u00edoth\u00f3g<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Those are the main examples, I’d say, but there are still a few more words and expressions of interest regarding snowflakes.<\/p>\n a)) “Caoba den tsneachta<\/strong>” can mean “snowflakes,” but I’ve never seen it in the singular.\u00a0 “Caob<\/strong>” can mean “a lump,” “a shovelful of clay,” or “an untidy person” — what is it about snowflakes and untidiness?\u00a0 N\u00edl a fhios agam ach t\u00e1 s\u00e9 f\u00edorshuimi\u00fail<\/strong> (intriguing)!<\/p>\n b)) Another obscur-ish phrase is “copa\u00ed sneachta<\/strong>” for “large snowflakes.”\u00a0 I can’t find it in the singular, unless “copa\u00ed<\/strong>” is a variation of “coipe<\/strong>” which itself is a variation of “coipeadh<\/strong>” (a lather, froth, or foam – something of a stretch to describe snowflakes, since it sounds more like a group noun, but still possible!)<\/p>\n c)) “Cuilith\u00edn<\/strong>\u00ed” would typically mean “choppy waves,” “small vortices\/small vortexes,” or “small ripples,” but it can also mean “whirling flakes,” such as snowflakes, especially if the word “sneachta<\/strong>” follows.\u00a0 One recent example is “cuilith\u00edn\u00ed boga sneachta<\/strong>” in a Christmas story by R\u00e9 \u00d3 Laighl\u00e9is (“Sme\u00e1mh na Nollag,” published in Feasta<\/em>, 2001, nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>; a “sme\u00e1mh<\/strong>” is “a breath” or “a puff”).<\/p>\n d)) “L\u00f3in sneachta<\/strong>” (snowflake) is listed in Ciar\u00e1n \u00d3 Duibh\u00edn’s Consolidated Glossary of East Ulster Gaelic<\/em> and in Ciar\u00e1n Mac Murchaidh’s Focail na nUltach <\/em>(naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>), but I haven’t found any examples of this phrase in a natural context.\u00a0 The plural might be “l\u00f3nta<\/strong>” but if it’s related to “leoithne<\/strong>,” the plural could be “*l\u00f3int\u00ed<\/strong>” or something like that.\u00a0 “Leoithne<\/strong>” was sometimes spelled “l\u00f3ithne<\/strong>,” and may be related to “l\u00f3in<\/strong>,” which can mean either “a small quantity of anything” or “a light blast or puff of wind.”\u00a0 As “a small quantity of something” it could be related to the more familiar word, “l\u00f3n<\/strong>” (lunch, provisions), but I’m not really sure.<\/p>\n e)) And one more word that I have found can be translated as “snowflake” but it strikes me as somewhat unusual: “aibhleog<\/strong>,” which many of you may recognize as normally meaning “a burning cinder” or “a burning piece of turf.”\u00a0 And for the record, I’ll say I’ve never heard “aibhleog<\/strong>” used for “snowflake” that I can remember.\u00a0 But there’s always a first time and perhaps this will show up soon in some Gaeltacht story.<\/p>\n f)) Finally, there are a couple of phrases that can be translated as “snowflakes” but which literally are just based on the word “snow,” not “flakes” as such.\u00a0 One is “ag biath\u00fa sneachta<\/strong>” (showering snow), with “biath\u00fa<\/strong>” also being used with “b\u00e1isteach<\/strong>” in the phrase “ag biath\u00fa b\u00e1ist\u00ed<\/strong>.” “Biath\u00fa<\/strong>” typically means “feeding” (related to “bia<\/strong>,” food) but when it is used to describe the weather, it indicates something about the consistency of the precipitation.\u00a0 For rain, we could translate this as “drizzling”: Bh\u00ed s\u00e9 ag biath\u00fa b\u00e1ist\u00ed<\/strong>, Raindrops were falling\/It was drizzling.\u00a0 \u00a0For snow, we could probably say “flurrying” as well: Bh\u00ed s\u00e9 ag biath\u00fa b\u00e1ist\u00ed<\/strong>, lit. It was showering snow, i.e. Snowflakes were falling, or It was flurrying, to establish a difference from “ag cur sneachta<\/strong>” (snowing in general).<\/p>\n g)) Another phrase that can be translated as “snowflakes” but which doesn’t refer to the “flakes” as such is “c\u00e1itheadh sneachta<\/strong>” (whirling snowflakes, lit. a beating of snow).\u00a0 “C\u00e1itheadh<\/strong>” can also be used with rain, to indicate heavy rain, as in “T\u00e1 s\u00e9 ag c\u00e1itheadh b\u00e1ist\u00ed<\/strong>” (It’s pouring rain), so I assume “ag c\u00e1itheadh sneachta<\/strong>” would mean “snowing heavily” although I haven’t seen it translated specifically as that.<\/p>\n Well, as so typically happens, examining one word in Irish turns out to involve about a dozen more, but as the proverb says, “D\u00e9anann mathshlua meidhr\u00e9is<\/strong>.”\u00a0 I’d still say that “cal\u00f3ga sneachta<\/strong>” is probably the most widely used of all of the phrases for “snowflakes,” but it’s interesting to know that there are so many possibilities.\u00a0 Hope you found this “suimi\u00fail<\/strong>.”\u00a0 — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n Naisc:<\/strong><\/p>\n Focail na nUltach, le Ciar\u00e1n Mac Murchaidh (Droichead na Banna, Co. an D\u00fain), retrievable at https:\/\/studylib.net\/doc\/7556796\/abbreviations-and-references—giorr%C3%BAch%C3%A1in-and-leabhair, although the link seems to direct you to the abbreviations page, not the title page.<\/p>\n \u00d3 Duibh\u00edn, Ciar\u00e1n.\u00a0 Consolidated Glossary of East Ulster Gaelic, www.smo.uhi.ac.uk\/~oduibhin\/focailnanultach.doc<\/a><\/p>\n \u00d3 Laighl\u00e9is, R\u00e9, “Sme\u00e1mh na Nollag,” Feasta<\/em> 54 (12), 2001, http:\/\/www.feasta.ie\/2001\/nollaig\/alt4.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Irish may not have as many different words for “snow” as the Inuit (estimated at between four and a hundred, depending on how we define “different”), but it does have a healthy range of words for “snowflake.” The Irish word for ‘snow,’ as many of you may already know, is “sneachta,” a nice…<\/p>\n