{"id":110,"date":"2009-12-01T00:57:17","date_gmt":"2009-12-01T04:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=106"},"modified":"2014-12-03T00:33:30","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T00:33:30","slug":"aoine-dhubh-aoine-an-bhreacain-agus-cibearluan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/aoine-dhubh-aoine-an-bhreacain-agus-cibearluan\/","title":{"rendered":"Aoine Dhubh, Aoine an Bhreac\u00e1in, agus Cibearluan! (ar lean\u00faint \/ continued)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This is the continuation of the post-Thanksgiving shopping terms begun earlier today.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

An fhorbairt is nua\u00ed<\/span><\/strong> (the latest development), new this year, I believe, is Plaid Friday, an alternative marketing approach, which has its own website (www.PlaidFriday.com).\u00a0 The term and the concept were devised in the East Bay area of San Francisco\/Oakland, and its purpose is to encourage people to shop at independent retailers, n\u00ed sna \u201cbosca\u00ed m\u00f3ra\u201d <\/strong>(not in the \u201cbig boxes)..\u00a0 Aside from intrinsic interest, it also piqued my curiosity, instantly, as to how one would say this in Irish, especially given that \u201cplaid\u201d itself is a Celtic term.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So the rotha\u00ed fiaclacha <\/strong>(cog wheels) of vocabulary started turning, and I\u2019ve considered two possibilities, Aoine an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong> and Aoine na Pluide<\/strong>. \u00a0N\u00ed g\u00e1 a r\u00e1 nach bhfuil fr\u00e1sa \u00a0r\u00e9amhbheitheach ar bith ann, fad m\u2019eolais<\/strong> (Needless to say, there\u2019s no pre-existing phrase, as far as I can tell).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Aoine na Pluide<\/span><\/strong> would be the closest connection linguistically, but might more likely be translated as \u201cthe Friday of the Blanket\u201d or \u201cBlanket Friday.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cPluid<\/strong>\u201d is the origin of the English word \u201cplaid,\u201d but is more commonly used in Irish today to mean \u201cblanket.\u201d\u00a0 That is, when it isn\u2019t being upstaged by a more recent word, \u201cblainc\u00e9ad<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

A \u201cplaid,\u201d at one time, could refer to the long rectangular piece of fabric that was worn loosely pleated around the waist, with the remaining part over the shoulder.\u00a0 Presumably, many of these had a plaid pattern but the original idea seems to be more of a practical use of fabric that could be wrapped around one as a blanket, if caught out in the hills or moors at night.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The second, and I think, more favorable choice, would be \u201cAoine an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBreac\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d is a noun meaning \u201ctartan\u201d or \u201cplaid.\u201d\u00a0 You might recognize it from the numerous compound words or phrases using \u201cbreac<\/strong>,\u201d such as \u201cBreac-Ghaeltacht<\/strong>\u201d (partial Gaeltacht), bair\u00edn breac<\/strong> (barmbrack, lit. speckled loaf), and \u201cbreac-luirgneach<\/strong>\u201d (having shins speckled from sitting close to a fire).\u00a0 The word seems to cover a range of variegated patterns, including speckled and tartan.\u00a0 Although the English word \u201cplaid\u201d can be a noun or an adjective, in Irish, the related adjective would be \u201cbreac\u00e1nach<\/strong>\u201d (dressed in plaid), which would be too specific for our new shopping catchphrase. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fol\u00e1ireamh comhainmneacha!<\/span><\/strong> (Homonym alert!).\u00a0 There are two other words in Irish spelled the same as \u201cbreac\u00e1n<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 One is the brambling, a bird (<\/span>Fringilla montifringilla<\/span><\/em>), similar to the \u201cbric\u00edn beatha<\/strong>\u201d (chaffinch), whose name also contains our root word \u201cbreac<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 How?\u00a0 Adding the diminutive ending, \u201c-\u00edn<\/strong>\u201d to \u201cbreac<\/strong>\u201d requires the \u201cea<\/strong>\u201d vowel to change to \u201ci<\/em>,\u201d giving us \u201cbric\u00edn<\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0Why?\u00a0 For vowel harmony, an important principle in Irish spelling. <\/span>The other \u201cbreac\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d is a griddle cake made with curds, presumably with a somewhat speckled appearance.\u00a0 It is unlikely that either of these would be confused with \u201cplaid\u201d or the idea of Plaid Friday.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Aoine an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/span><\/strong> or \u201cL\u00e1 an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d?\u00a0 Not exactly a comhainm<\/strong> (homonym), but a sort of \u201cfol\u00e1ireamh coincheapa<\/strong>\u201d (concept alert)!\u00a0 The phrase \u201cAoine an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d isn\u2019t related to another relatively new development, \u201cLatha a\u2019 Bhreacain<\/strong>,\u201d whose Irish equivalent would be \u201cL\u00e1 an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d (Tartan Day).\u00a0 Further discussion of that can wait till next April 6, but for now, suffice it to say \u201cAoine an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d is a 2009 phenomenon, strictly American, and likely to remain that way, since it promotes shopping on the day after an American holiday.\u00a0 Tartan Day, in general, is international.\u00a0 As for fine-tuning the difference between \u201ctartan\u201d and \u201cplaid\u201d (as a pattern) I think I\u2019ll leave that to na hAlbanaigh<\/strong> (the Scots).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Implicit in the two terms \u201cAoine Dhubh<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cAoine an Bhreac\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d is the word \u201cAoine<\/strong>\u201d itself.\u00a0 A full discussion of the days of the week will have to wait for another blog, but for now, suffice it to say that \u201cAoine<\/strong>\u201d is \u201cFriday.\u201d\u00a0 The original meaning of the word is \u201cfasting,\u201d particularly in the sense of abstaining from meat.\u00a0 Since \u201cAoine<\/strong>\u201d is a feminine noun, the adjective describing it, \u201cdubh<\/strong>,\u201d becomes \u201cdhubh<\/strong>,\u201d with the voiced velar fricative pronunciation of the initial \u201cdh<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 That sound doesn\u2019t exist in English, or indeed in most European languages, at least as taught in America, but if you\u2019ve ever learned a guttural (throaty) pronunciation of Spanish agua<\/em> or German sagen<\/em>, you\u2019ve got the sound.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our final term of this S\u00e9as\u00far L\u00e1 an Altaithe<\/strong> is *Cibearluan<\/strong>, or at least, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll propose for it, since I\u2019ve yet to see an Irish precedent for it, n\u00ed nach ionadh<\/strong>.\u00a0 Reading up on it tells me that the term was actually first used in 2005 but I have to confess that this was the first year I really noticed it.\u00a0 Yet another cleasa\u00edocht marga\u00edochta<\/strong> (marketing ploy), its aidhm<\/strong> (purpose) is to encourage people to shop ar l\u00edne, <\/strong>to \u201cwrap up\u201d** the post-Thanksgiving shopping season.\u00a0 At any rate, this now joins the continually growing list of words that can use \u201ccyber\u201d as a prefix, including cibearsp\u00e1s <\/strong>and cibearchoireacht<\/strong> (cyber crime).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

**osna ar\u00eds, n\u00ed raibh s\u00e9 ar intinn (<\/span><\/strong>intended) agam an t-imeartas focal sin <\/strong>(that pun) a dh\u00e9anamh ach t\u00e1 s\u00e9 beagnach dosheachanta <\/strong>(inevitable) ag an am seo den bhliain<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) This is the continuation of the post-Thanksgiving shopping terms begun earlier today.\u00a0 \u00a0 An fhorbairt is nua\u00ed (the latest development), new this year, I believe, is Plaid Friday, an alternative marketing approach, which has its own website (www.PlaidFriday.com).\u00a0 The term and the concept were devised in the East Bay area of San Francisco\/Oakland…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","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=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5976,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions\/5976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}