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<\/a>Dearc\u00e1n (cn\u00f3 na darach) https:\/\/it.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:WikiVoc-acorn-1.svg<\/a> ; Original line art: Pearson Scott Foresman (public domain – donation to Wikimedia Foundation); t\u00e9acs Gaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn, 2019<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Can you imagine a dictionary without the word for “acorn”?\u00a0 And, in particular, can you imagine an Irish dictionary without the word “dearc\u00e1n<\/strong>” (acorn)? And now that Dublin’s Phoenix Park has the larger-than-life “Dearc\u00e1n na nDaoine<\/strong>” near “\u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in<\/strong>” (the President’s residence) it’s even harder to imagine removing the word “dearc\u00e1n<\/strong>” from an Irish dictionary.<\/p>\n The background to this question started around 10 years ago when the Oxford University Press removed “acorn,” and about 50 other nature terms (bluebell, buttercup, minnow, etc.) from the Oxford Junior Dictionary<\/em> (OJD) and replaced them with tech and social media terms like “broadband” and “chat room.”\u00a0 Admittedly, this is a children’s dictionary with a fixed vocabulary size (10,000 words), and not the ultimate repository of all English vocabulary words, but the removal attracted a huge amount of attention and controversy.<\/p>\n In a previous blog post (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>), I pondered what would happen if a similar move were made with an Irish language dictionary.\u00a0 It has always seemed to me that Irish language instructional materials have an especially strong emphasis on nature terms.\u00a0 Going back a ways, to the classic Progress in Irish<\/em> by the amazingly prolific M\u00e1ir\u00e9ad N\u00ed Ghr\u00e1da, I love that learners get two (!) words for “buttercup” (“cam an ime<\/strong>” and the creeping type, “fearb\u00e1n<\/strong>“) and they learn to answer the question “An lon dubh n\u00f3 sm\u00f3lach \u00e9 sin?<\/strong>” (Is that a blackbird or a thrush?).\u00a0 Can anyone else think of some other good examples of nature terms in their language-learning resources, perhaps above and beyond the real basics, like wind, rain, and sky?<\/p>\n Anyway, back to the acorn, as depicted in the graphic above.\u00a0 The basic word is “dearc\u00e1n<\/strong>” and here are its basic forms:<\/p>\n an dearc\u00e1n<\/strong>, the acorn<\/p>\n dath an dearc\u00e1in<\/strong>, the color of the acorn<\/p>\n na dearc\u00e1in<\/strong>, the acorns (if fallen to the ground, for pigs, etc. to eat, they are “dairmheas<\/strong>” or “meas darach<\/strong>,” oak-mast, but a full account of “mast” as an aspect of pannage will have to wait for another blogpost. \u00a0Pannage? – f\u00e9ach an n\u00f3ta th\u00edos<\/strong>.\u00a0 And two other quick points here: this is “dair<\/strong>” (oak), not “d\u00e1ir<\/strong>” (which you can check out for yourself) and there is another plural for “acorns,” the collective noun “measra<\/strong>,” interesting in that this term has no “oak” element in it at all.<\/p>\n na ndearc\u00e1n<\/strong>, of the acorns<\/p>\n Some sample phrases:<\/p>\n a)) Dearc\u00e1n na nDaoine<\/strong>, the People’s Acorn, the name of the bronze sculpture and time capsule now in Phoenix Park. It is part of the “Cl\u00e1r Com\u00f3rtha C\u00e9ad Bliain-\u00c9ire 1916<\/strong>” and was unveiled by Michael D. Higgins, the President of Ireland, in 2017. \u00a0It’s 2.8 meters long and 1.7 meters high, so way larger than life, and it no doubt gives other larger-than-life sculptures a run for their money. \u00a0For large nut sculptures (ermm!), we have another “dearc\u00e1n<\/strong>” (10′ \/ 3.05m H) in Raleigh (“City of Oaks”), North Carolina, and an “ollchn\u00f3 piost\u00e1ise<\/strong>” in Alamogordo, New Mexico (30′ \/ 9.14 m H).\u00a0 And for the ultimate giant roadside sculptures experience, check out Casey, Illinois, which has an oll-oll-ollchathaoir luasc\u00e1in<\/strong> (56.5′ \u00a0\/ 17.22 m H)”\u00a0 And of course, back in Ireland, there’s always C<\/strong>loch\u00e1n an Aifir<\/strong>\u00a0(Cloch\u00e1n na bhFomh\u00f3rach<\/strong>, aka The Giant’s Causeway, which is, admittedly, a natural phenomenon, but which suggests giants using mammoth-sized bricks to build a road to Scotland, and there’s the “Giant’s Boot” there, to boot.<\/p>\n b)) “As dearc\u00e1in bheaga a fh\u00e1sann na crainn is airde<\/strong>,” as President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins tweeted on 5 February, 2018.\u00a0 It’s the Irish equivalent of the English proverb, “Mighty oaks from little acorns grow” (interesting word order, for English). Literally, the Irish means, “From little acorns grow the trees that are tallest).<\/p>\n When it comes to acorns, perhaps more than any other type of nut, I have fond memories of using the “cup\u00fail<\/strong>” (cupule, or in more everyday terms, the cap) for miniature woodland picnics, usually with whatever little dolls I had usually nestled among tree roots, which seemed to create a natural sense of doll-sized spaces.\u00a0 I don’t think I even knew the word “pericarp” (peireacarp<\/strong>) at the time, but I also found a use for that part of the acorn, plus whatever seeds (s\u00edolta<\/strong>), pods (faighneoga<\/strong>), wildflowers (bl\u00e1thanna fi\u00e1ine<\/strong>), or interesting-shaped little twigs (craobh\u00f3ig\u00edn\u00ed a raibh cruthanna suimi\u00fala orthu<\/strong>) I could find.\u00a0 And I see that some online toy designers are using acorn caps for dolls these days, as well (c\u00fapla nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>)<\/p>\n Here are the three main parts of the acorn that are visible from the outside:<\/p>\n an chup\u00fail<\/strong>, the cupule.\u00a0 Foirmeacha eile: na cup\u00faile, na cup\u00fail\u00ed, na gcup\u00fail\u00ed<\/strong>,\u00a0 This word can also show up as an cup\u00fal, an chup\u00fail, na cup\u00fail, na gcup\u00fal<\/strong>.<\/p>\n an peireacarp<\/strong>, the pericarp.\u00a0 Foirmeacha eile: an pheireachairp, na peireacairp, na bpeireacarp<\/strong><\/p>\n an st\u00edl<\/strong>, the style (in the botanical sense, not the fashion sense); foirmeacha eile: na st\u00edle, na st\u00edleanna, na st\u00edleanna<\/strong>.\u00a0 I’m sure that as a child, playing with acorn caps I had no idea that there was a specific word for that part of the acorn that connects the stigma to the ovary, since I probably didn’t know those words existed either.<\/p>\n So that’s just the tip of the iceberg of the nature terms stricken from the Oxford Junior Dictionary<\/em> but, hopefully, still going strong in Irish.\u00a0 A previous blogpost here discussed “cloig\u00edn gorm<\/strong>,” which, as you may recall, was removed to make room for words like “chat room” (seomra comhr\u00e1<\/strong>) or “bandwidth” (leathanbhanda <\/strong>OR banda leathan<\/strong>), not that the OJD included the Irish, of course. I plan to continue the series till we finish with all those nature terms, in Irish and in English.<\/p>\n Hmm, “tip of the iceberg,” was it?\u00a0 The icebergs are melting, anyway, so maybe we should replace that expression with “tip of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch”.\u00a0 Which at least gives us more food for Irish grammatical thought.\u00a0 How to say “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in Irish? I can’t find it anywhere online so here goes my attempt: oll<\/strong>– (giant, great) + paiste<\/strong> (patch) + bruscair<\/strong> (of rubbish) + Ci\u00fain-Aig\u00e9anach<\/strong> (Pacific, as adjective), giving us “Ollphaiste Bruscair Ci\u00fain-Aig\u00e9anach<\/strong>” which could be known as OBCA, if my acronym catches on!<\/p>\n Or we could use “dramha\u00edola<\/strong>” for “of garbage,” from “dramha\u00edl<\/strong>” (garbage). And\/or “an Aig\u00e9in Chi\u00fain<\/strong>” for “of the Pacific,” but our phrase is already pretty long. \u00a0It would become “Ollphaiste Dramha\u00edola an Aig\u00e9in Chi\u00fain<\/strong>” (ODAC ??). Anyway, I’ll keep checking for pre-existing usages..<\/p>\n So that’s it for today.\u00a0 Hope you enjoyed the blog and that you will check out some of the links below.\u00a0 And if you still haven’t had your fill of talking about acorns, you might want to check out some blogposts I posted a few years ago, about squirrels hiding and finding their stash of “cn\u00f3nna<\/strong>” (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>). – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n N\u00f3ta<\/strong>: “Pannage” i nGaeilge?\u00a0 I just did a quick search of 10 dictionaries, including Manx and Scottish Gaelic, and couldn’t find it listed as such.\u00a0 I did find “mesobr<\/em>” in Welsh, so I renewed my search without using the French-derived term “pannage.”\u00a0 Lo and behold, there it is: measr\u00fa<\/strong>, “to feed with mast”. For more on the topic: https:\/\/www.wildlifeonline.me.uk\/blog\/post\/pigging-out-in-the-forest-the-common-of-mast-in-britain<\/a><\/p>\n Naisc<\/strong>:\u00a0 iarbhlag ar an \u00e1bhar seo:\u00a0 \u2018Bluebell\u2019 or \u2018Broadbrand\u2019: Which Word Should Be in a Children\u2019s Dictionary? \u2014 A British Example and Irish Question<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Aug 20, 2019 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n maidir leis an dealbh<\/strong>, “Dearc\u00e1n na nDaoine”: https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/culture\/books\/an-irish-cultural-time-capsule-for-%C3%A1ras-an-uachtar%C3%A1in-1.3324257<\/a><\/p>\n iarbhlaganna faoi iora\u00ed glasa agus a ndearc\u00e1in agus a mbabaithe<\/strong>: Comhr\u00e1: Diarmaid agus Dearbh\u00e1il agus Na Dearc\u00e1in<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Oct 10, 2015 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a> and Irish language glossary for \u2018Comhr\u00e1 idir an d\u00e1 iora ghlasa\u2019 (Diarmaid agus Dearbh\u00e1il)<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Oct 15, 2015 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n maidir le cup\u00fail\u00ed mar bhr\u00e9ag\u00e1in<\/strong>:\u00a0 https:\/\/achildsdream.com\/real-acorn-caps\/<\/a> and https:\/\/rhythmsofplay.com\/diy-acorn-peg-dolls\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Can you imagine a dictionary without the word for “acorn”?\u00a0 And, in particular, can you imagine an Irish dictionary without the word “dearc\u00e1n” (acorn)? And now that Dublin’s Phoenix Park has the larger-than-life “Dearc\u00e1n na nDaoine” near “\u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in” (the President’s residence) it’s even harder to imagine removing the word “dearc\u00e1n” from…<\/p>\n