{"id":11015,"date":"2019-03-21T10:28:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T10:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=11015"},"modified":"2019-04-18T00:51:05","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T00:51:05","slug":"how-to-say-steep-slope-and-switchback-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/how-to-say-steep-slope-and-switchback-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"How to say “steep slope” and “switchback” in Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

grianghraf: https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/2\/26\/LombardStreet.jpg<\/a>; 27 Nov. 2005\u00a0(original upload date); Transferred from en.wikipedia\u00a0to Commons; Gaurav1146 at English Wikipedia [Public domain]; t\u00e9acs Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2019<\/p><\/div>C\u00e1 bhfuil an tsr\u00e1id seo?\u00a0<\/strong> Where is this street?\u00a0 Perhaps you recognized it, Lombard Street in San Francisco.\u00a0 Not quite the steepest residential street in the word — that honor belongs to Baldwin Street, Dunedin, NZ — but certainly one of the steepest\u00a0 (ar cheann de na sr\u00e1ideanna c\u00f3naithe is g\u00e9ire ar domhan<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

“Steep,” as you may have noticed in the graphic is “g\u00e9ar<\/strong>,” with the superlative form “is g\u00e9ire<\/strong>.”\u00a0 You might remember this word with other meanings in phrases such as “bainne g\u00e9ar<\/strong>” (sour milk) and “uillinn gh\u00e9ar<\/strong>” (acute angle); it can also mean “sharp,” “shrill,” “keen,” and “cutting.”<\/p>\n

“F\u00e1na<\/strong>” is a “slope” and also has several other meanings (declivity, hollow, droop).\u00a0 It is, of course, completely different from the “f\u00e1na<\/strong>” in the phrase “fl\u00f3ra agus f\u00e1na<\/strong>,” where it is simply a gaelicization of “fauna.”\u00a0 Comhainmneacha iad, le barr \u00e1idh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And now, to answer the second question in the graphic above, how many switchbacks are there?\u00a0 Well, let’s suggest a few answers and see if you can pick the correct one.\u00a0 There’s actually a method to my madness here, since you can see that we have three different ways to use numbers in Irish (plain, with s\u00e9imhi\u00fa<\/strong>, with ur\u00fa<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

So, the question was, “C\u00e9 mh\u00e9ad conair dhroimneach at\u00e1 ann?<\/strong>” \u00a0\u00a0How many switchbacks are there?\u00a0 Freagra th\u00edos.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) s\u00e9 chonair dhroimneach \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2) ocht gconair dhroimneach\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3) fiche conair dhroimneach<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can see, answer 1) has s\u00e9imhi<\/strong>\u00fa (c changes to ch), answer 2) has ur\u00fa<\/strong> (c changes to gc), and answer 3) has no change to the initial letter c.\u00a0 Which is correct?\u00a0 See below.<\/p>\n

conair<\/strong> (pl: conair\u00ed<\/strong>) means path, passage, or trajectory.\u00a0 Seach-chonair<\/strong> is a bypass.\u00a0\u00a0 BTW, no relation to “c\u00f3nair<\/strong>” (a variant of “c\u00f3nra<\/strong>,” a coffin) or “conairt<\/strong>” (a pack of hounds).<\/p>\n

As for the word “droimneach<\/strong>,” it’s based on “droim<\/strong>” (back, ridge) and can also mean ridged, rolling, or undulating.\u00a0 As usual, there are more Irish possibilities for these words:<\/p>\n

ridged, iomaireach<\/strong> (based on “iomaire,” a ridge).\u00a0 IMO, more typical for “ridged” than “droimneach” as such<\/p>\n

rolling, r\u00e9chnocach (<\/strong>regarding hills, not stones, or moveable items).\u00a0 IMO, more specific to hilliness than “droimneach<\/strong>.”\u00a0 For more on “rolling,” please see the n\u00f3ta<\/strong> below.<\/p>\n

undulating, tonn\u00fail<\/strong> or altach<\/strong>.\u00a0 “Tonn\u00fail<\/strong>” also means “wavy” and “altach<\/strong>” also means “jointed” or “knotty” and also “articulate,” “articulated,” and “articular.”<\/p>\n

It’s interesting that the Irish for “switchback” doesn’t have any element of the word “switch” or “back” in it.\u00a0 “Switch” (as a verb) can be expressed by “aistrigh<\/strong>,” “athraigh<\/strong>,” and “bog<\/strong>,” unless it’s in regard to whipping, in which case it would be “lasc<\/strong>” or “fuipe\u00e1il<\/strong> or “gabh d’fhuip air<\/strong>.”\u00a0 “Back” can be “droim<\/strong>” (of human or animal), c\u00fal<\/strong> (of a building or box, etc.), or “ar ais<\/strong>,” if used adverbially, in the sense of returning, as in “Tar ar ais, a Ph\u00e1draig U\u00ed Raghailligh, go Baile Sh\u00e9amais Dhuibh<\/strong>,” which would be the Irish title of “Come back, Paddy Reilly, to Ballyjamesduff,” the popular song by Percy French (for more on which, please see the links below).<\/p>\n

Hope you found this of interest.\u00a0 If any of you have ever driven on this road, it would great to hear “do bhar\u00fail<\/strong>” (your opinion) of it. \u00a0Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

gluais: ar cheann de …<\/strong>, one of the …; le barr \u00e1idh,<\/strong> by mere chance<\/p>\n

Freagra: ocht gconair dhroimneach (8)<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta> As a matter of interest, for “rolling stones,” i.e. stones that move (as opposed to “rolling” hills that don’t actually roll!), we use “reatha<\/strong>” (of running).\u00a0 That gives us the seanfhocal<\/strong> (proverb): “N\u00ed thagann caonach ar chloch reatha<\/strong>” (a rolling stone gathers no moss), lit. Moss doesn’t come on a rolling stone, even more lit. “on a stone of running.”\u00a0 “Moss” is “caonach,<\/strong>” unless you’re talking about carraig\u00edn<\/strong> (Irish moss, the seaweed product), which is processed from red seaweed and which is used as a food additive (mar bhreise\u00e1n bia<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Naisc<\/strong>: NB: this “mionsraith<\/strong>” is actually a thinly disguised exercise in using Irish verbs, imagining Paddy Reilly’s coming and going regarding “Ballyjamesduff.”\u00a0 The mini-series addresses both the verbs “come” (tar<\/strong>) and “go” (t\u00e9igh<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Ag R\u00e9imni\u00fa Linn Go Meidhreach: An Briathar \u201cT\u00e9igh\u201d (Go)<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 4, 2010<\/p>\n

LeathMhanannaigh, Leathbh\u00e1d\u00f3ir\u00ed, Leathch\u00falaithe agus T\u00e9arma\u00ed Eile le \u201cLeath-\u201c (Half-)<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 7, 2011<\/p>\n

Ag S\u00edor-R\u00e9imni\u00fa (de r\u00e9ir cos\u00falachta) ach T\u00e1 Muid Meidhreach F\u00f3s (t\u00e1 s\u00fail agam): An Briathar \u201cTar\u201d (Come)<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Mar 11, 2010<\/p>\n

S\u00fail Siar: Cl\u00e1sail Choibhneasta<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on May 20, 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) C\u00e1 bhfuil an tsr\u00e1id seo?\u00a0 Where is this street?\u00a0 Perhaps you recognized it, Lombard Street in San Francisco.\u00a0 Not quite the steepest residential street in the word — that honor belongs to Baldwin Street, Dunedin, NZ — but certainly one of the steepest\u00a0 (ar cheann de na sr\u00e1ideanna c\u00f3naithe is g\u00e9ire ar domhan)…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":11012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[513814,9797,315961,315957,513811,10075,255725,513813],"class_list":["post-11015","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-droimneach","tag-fana","tag-gear","tag-geire","tag-lombard","tag-san-francisco","tag-street","tag-switchback-conair"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t