{"id":112,"date":"2009-12-11T00:54:52","date_gmt":"2009-12-11T04:54:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=108"},"modified":"2016-12-22T15:43:47","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T15:43:47","slug":"tearmai-an-tseasuir-nollaig-agus-hanukkah-and-some-vowel-harmony-to-boot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tearmai-an-tseasuir-nollaig-agus-hanukkah-and-some-vowel-harmony-to-boot\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u00e9arma\u00ed an tS\u00e9as\u00fair: Nollaig agus Hanukkah, and Some Vowel Harmony, to Boot!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Lu\u00ed na gr\u00e9ine, an Aoine, 11 M\u00ed na Nollag, t\u00fas Hanukkah<\/strong>.\u00a0 In recognition of the beginning of Hanukkah at sunset on Friday, this blog will discuss the Irish word for \u201cmenorah.\u201d\u00a0 That will also give us the opportunity for a recap session to discuss vowel harmony (caol le caol agus leathan le leathan<\/strong>). \u00a0A few pronunciation notes are also given below.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cMenorah\u201d is another word that I looked for for years when all we had was print resources.\u00a0 Finally, I got a confirmation for the Irish version online, which is \u201cmean\u00f3ra<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 In addition to being a t\u00e9arma \u00fas\u00e1ideach<\/strong> for this time of year, it also gives us a reminder about how vowel harmony works in Irish.\u00a0 While some words may be borrowed as is from other languages, like \u201cp\u00e2t\u00e9<\/em>\u201d or \u201ctroika<\/em>\u201d (the carriage), others are adapted to the Irish spelling conventions.\u00a0 Sometimes it\u2019s primarily a matter of making the word follow Irish vowel harmony.\u00a0 The guta\u00ed Gaeilge<\/strong> (Irish vowels) are traditionally divided into dh\u00e1 chatag\u00f3ir<\/strong>, leathan<\/strong> (broad), which are a, o, and u, and caol<\/strong> (slender), e and i.\u00a0 I\u2019ve probably said this before, but as a reminder, in this principle, the guta\u00ed (<\/strong>vowels) that flank a consan<\/strong> in the middle of an Irish word must come from just one of these categories.\u00a0 Either both \u201cbroad\u201d or both \u201cslender.\u201d\u00a0 Typical examples are \u201ctirim<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cM\u00e1ire<\/strong>\u201d (both slender vowels flanking the \u201cr\u201d) and \u201cd\u00e1na<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c\u00dana<\/strong>\u201d (both broad vowels flanking the “n”).\u00a0 Sometimes, when special endings are added, the vowels have to be adjusted for \u201charmony,\u201d as in the boy\u2019s name \u201cS\u00e9amais\u00edn<\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0The original, S\u00e9amas<\/strong>, has a broad \u201cs,\u201d next to the broad vowel \u201ca,\u201d but when we add the suffix \u201c-\u00edn<\/strong>,\u201d another \u201ci\u201d is inserted for vowel harmony.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

So, to create the Irish word for \u201cmenorah,\u201d we couldn\u2019t have the combination \u201c-eno-\u201d in the middle.\u00a0 The letter \u201ca\u201d was added in the first syllable, to create vowel harmony, and a few other adjustments were made (the \u201co fada<\/strong>\u201d and dropping the silent \u201ch\u201d).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

There are, of course, exceptions to vowel harmony, like the word \u201canseo<\/strong>\u201d but this was originally two words and you sometimes still see the split spelling today (an seo<\/strong>).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Just because the term \u201cmean\u00f3ra<\/strong>\u201d exists in Irish doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s necessarily in wide usage.\u00a0 I combed through the 112 Google hits for \u201cmean\u00f3ra<\/strong>\u201d and only three were actually the Irish.\u00a0 Apparently the spelling exists in some completely different languages and it\u2019s also a popular misspelling, especially for Menara Kuala Lumpur (Kuala Lumpur Tower).\u00a0 Two of these three Irish uses were simply additional glossary lists, and one was a Vicip\u00e9id article, which devoted one sentence to the topic.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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

There is one little corner of activity on the Idirl\u00edon for \u201cCeltic menorahs,\u201d mostly limited to the typical range of products found at www.zazzle.com<\/a>, that is f\u00e1inn\u00ed eochracha, hata\u00ed, agus l\u00e9inte acla\u00edochta cochaill <\/strong>(key rings, hats, hooded sweatshirts), etc.\u00a0 The design is a menorah made of Celtic knotwork set against a background of Celtic knotwork.\u00a0 Ironically, it doesn\u2019t seem that such a menorah is actually for sale, just the l\u00e9irithe dh\u00e1thoiseacha<\/strong> (2-dimensional representations) of it.\u00a0 Interesting idea, though.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Up next, the \u201cdr\u00e9adal<\/strong>\u201d and whatever other Hanukkah terms I can find in Irish.\u00a0 Then back to other seasonal terms, including, perhaps \u201cGrianstad Sona<\/strong>\u201d (Happy Solstice). SGF —\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

N\u00f3ta\u00ed: eochracha<\/strong> [OKH-rukh-uh] keys, pl. of eochair<\/strong>; acla\u00edochta <\/strong>[AHK-lee-ukh-tuh] of exercise; cochaill<\/strong> [KOKH-il] of a hood, hooded; dh\u00e1thoiseach<\/strong> comes from the words \u201cdh\u00e1<\/strong>\u201d (two) and \u201ctoiseach\u201d<\/strong> (dimensional, from \u201ctoise<\/strong>\u201d dimension), note that the original \u201ct\u201d becomes \u201cth\u201d when you make this compound word and the \u201cthoiseach<\/strong>\u201d part is pronounced \u201cHISH-ukh.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

L\u00e9inte acla\u00edochta cochaill: <\/strong>a rather long-winded way to say \u201choodies.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019d like to propose \u201ch\u00faid\u00edn<\/strong>\u201d (based on \u201ch\u00fada<\/strong>\u201d, hood) for \u201choodie.\u201d\u00a0 So far, I can\u2019t find any examples of \u201ch\u00faid\u00edn<\/strong>,\u201d online or otherwise, even in treatises having to do with retailing, but maybe this blog will get the ball rolling.\u00a0 \u00a0Nuashonr\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong>: as of 22 M\u00ed na Nollag 2016<\/strong>, there are now two official online entries for “hoodie” (or “hoody”): h\u00fada\u00ed\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0geansa\u00ed cochallach\u00a0<\/strong>(lit. hooded gansey \/ jersey \/ sweater, usually a “pullover” sweater). \u00a0“H\u00fada\u00ed,” an ea? \u00a0Hmm, cad a sh\u00edleann na “h\u00c9isc Bholgacha” eile faoi sin? \u00a0Na h\u00c9isc Bholgacha? \u00a0F\u00e9ach anseo le stair ainm an ghr\u00fapa ceoil\u00a0<\/strong>“Hootie and the Blowfish” a l\u00e9amh: http:\/\/www.hootie.com\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 Not that that really has anything to do with Irish, but it’s kind of fun to imagine Hootie\u00a0agus h\u00fada\u00ed air! \u00a0P\u00e9 ar bith duine a bh\u00ed sa <\/strong>“Hootie” sin — leasainm cara de chuid an ghr\u00fapa is ea \u00e9 ach n\u00ed deirtear c\u00e9 h\u00e9 go d\u00edreach \u00e9. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Lu\u00ed na gr\u00e9ine, an Aoine, 11 M\u00ed na Nollag, t\u00fas Hanukkah.\u00a0 In recognition of the beginning of Hanukkah at sunset on Friday, this blog will discuss the Irish word for \u201cmenorah.\u201d\u00a0 That will also give us the opportunity for a recap session to discuss vowel harmony (caol le caol agus leathan le leathan)…<\/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":[474692,474694,474690,4546,4650,5074,5445,5480,5481,474691,5542,474693,5547,5601,460432,6050,6063,6274,474695,13056,7280],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-bholgacha","tag-blowfish","tag-bolgach","tag-caol-le-caol","tag-chanukah","tag-eisc","tag-grianstad","tag-hanukah","tag-hanukkah","tag-heisc","tag-hoodie","tag-hootie","tag-huidin","tag-iasc","tag-leasainm","tag-meanora","tag-menara-kuala-lumpur","tag-nollaig","tag-solstice","tag-sona","tag-vowel-harmony"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","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=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8679,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions\/8679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}