{"id":117,"date":"2009-12-29T09:47:54","date_gmt":"2009-12-29T13:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=113"},"modified":"2016-12-27T18:41:02","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T18:41:02","slug":"an-tochtu-la-is-fiche-28u-de-mhi-na-nollag-i-seasur-na-nollag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-tochtu-la-is-fiche-28u-de-mhi-na-nollag-i-seasur-na-nollag\/","title":{"rendered":"An tOcht\u00fa L\u00e1 is Fiche (28\u00fa) de Mh\u00ed na Nollag i S\u00e9as\u00far na Nollag"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

There are two names for this day, December 28th, in Irish, one the \u201ct\u00e9arma oifigi\u00fail\u201d <\/strong>and the other less formal.\u00a0 L\u00e1 na Leana\u00ed Neamhchiontacha <\/strong>(or sometimes \u201cL\u00e1 na Leanbh\u201d<\/strong>) is Holy Innocents\u2019 Day, a reference to Matha<\/strong> 2:16-18.\u00a0 The less formal term is \u201cL\u00e1 Crosta na Bliana<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201dLeanbh\u201d <\/span><\/strong>is \u201cchild,\u201d with the plural \u201cleana\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d or in possessive plural, sometimes \u201cna leanbh<\/strong>\u201d (of the children).\u00a0 The latter form isn\u2019t really the standard possessive plural, but at least it can be distinguished from the singular possessive, which is \u201clinbh<\/strong>,\u201d as in \u201cbr\u00e9ag\u00e1in an linbh<\/strong>\u201d (the toys of the child, the child\u2019s toys). So, we have \u201cbr\u00e9ag\u00e1in na leana\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (the toys of the children) as opposed to \u201cbr\u00e9ag\u00e1in an linbh<\/strong>\u201d (the toys of the child).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u201cLeanbh<\/strong>\u201d implies a somewhat younger child than \u201cp\u00e1iste<\/strong>,\u201d the other main word in Irish for \u201cchild.\u201d\u00a0 It can also mean a baby or the youngest child in a family.\u00a0 And, as I think I\u2019ve mentioned before, it gives us the increasingly popular girls\u2019 name, \u201cAlanna,\u201d which comes from the direct address form of the name.\u00a0 If you were talking directly to a child, you\u2019d start with the vocative particle (how\u2019s that for an endearment?), which is simply \u201ca<\/strong>,\u201d pronounced like the \u201cu\u201d in \u201cfun\u201d or the \u201ca\u201d in \u201cabout.\u201d \u00a0You\u2019ve probably seen or heard it plenty, with names (\u201ca Mh\u00e1ire<\/strong>,\u201d \u201ca Sh\u00e9amais<\/strong>\u201d), in starting emails or letters (\u201ca chara<\/strong>,\u201d \u201ca chairde<\/strong>\u201d), at the beginning of Riverdance or many other Irish events (\u201ca dhaoine uaisle<\/strong>\u201d), or in hurling derogatory epithets at someone, as in \u201cA chluas\u00e1na\u00ed!<\/strong>\u201d (You \u00a0blockhead!).\u00a0 So the initial \u201ca\u201d of \u201cAlanna\u201d is the direct address particle, and the final \u201c-bh<\/strong>\u201d drops off from pronunciation, being unstressed in sound.\u00a0 Anois, ar ais go dt\u00ed an fr\u00e1sa \u201cleana\u00ed neamhchiontacha.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

The concept of innocence in Irish terminology is interesting in and of itself.\u00a0 There are two main terms for it in Irish: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

neamhchiontacht<\/span><\/strong>: literally<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>\u201cnon-guilt\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

soineantacht:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>referring more to personality (not deed) or to guilelessness<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

The adjective forms (\u201cinnocent\u201d) are \u201cneamhchiontach<\/strong>\u201d and \u201csoineanta<\/strong>,\u201d and for our phrase above, we make the adjective plural, adding a final \u201c-a<\/strong>,\u201d to give us \u201cneamhchiontacha<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 If the term for the Innocents had somehow been \u201csoineanta<\/strong>,\u201d instead, there would be no specifically plural form, since you can\u2019t add an \u201c-a<\/strong>\u201d ending to a word that already ends in \u201c-a<\/strong>\u201d in Irish. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Note that in Irish, the \u201cinnocent\u201d aspect of the phrase is an adjective, and the word \u201choly\u201d is omitted altogether.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

As for an dara t\u00e9arma<\/strong>, \u201cL\u00e1 Crosta na Bliana<\/strong>,\u201d it literally means \u201cthe cross (or adverse) day of the year,\u201d that is, a day when it was unlucky to start new projects.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

December 28th is also known in English as Childermas, or sometimes \u201cChildermass,\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

which might jog the memories of any John Bellairs fans out there, since one of the main characters in his Johnny Dixon series is Professor Roderick Random Childermass.\u00a0 And\/or fans of Susanna Clarke (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell<\/em>), since she has a character named John Childermass.\u00a0 While I\u2019d love to pursue the siombalachas<\/strong> of these names, I\u2019d say that\u2019s \u00c1.B.E. (\u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>), in the full sense of the phrase, i.e. \u00e1bhar blag duine \u00e9igin eile<\/strong> (someone else\u2019s blog), since there\u2019s no real comhth\u00e9acs \u00c9ireannach<\/strong> going on.\u00a0 Except perhaps to note that both authors delve extensively into a wide range of folklore and legends, including, sometimes, Celtic.\u00a0 And that the surname must be loaded with symbolism for the authors, since it\u2019s not widely used as a surname in real life (if at all). \u00a0One Clarke fan (\u201cLillie\u201d) researched Ancestry.com and census reports and concluded that \u201c[i]t\u2019s not a name,\u201d making it all the more interesting in literary usage.\u00a0 More on her comments on The Friends of English Magic site at <\/span>http:\/\/forums.foem.org.uk\/archive\/index.php\/t-82.html<\/span><\/a>, m\u00e1 t\u00e1 suim agat<\/strong> (if you\u2019re interested.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Fuaimni\u00fa: leanbh<\/span><\/strong> [LY<\/sup>AN-uv, two syllables], leana\u00ed<\/strong> [LY<\/sup>AN-ee], linbh<\/strong> [LIN-iv], p\u00e1iste<\/strong> [PAWSH-tcheh].\u00a0 As for \u201cneamhchiontacha<\/strong>,\u201d why not start with the root form?\u00a0 The adjective for \u201cguilty\u201d is \u201cciontach<\/strong>\u201d [KY<\/sup>UN-tukh].\u00a0 Then negate it with the prefix \u201cneamh<\/strong>-\u201c [ny<\/sup>ow, with the \u201cow\u201d like American \u201ccow\u201d or \u201cnow\u201d].\u00a0 That causes lenition (softening), to give us \u201cneamhchiontach<\/strong>\u201d [NY<\/sup>OW-HY<\/sup>UN-tukh, note the \u201ck\u201d sound of \u201cciontach<\/strong>\u201d is dropped].\u00a0 Finally, pluralize it with that little unstressed vowel, \u201c-a<\/strong>,\u201d and you\u2019ve got it [NY<\/sup>OW-HY<\/sup>UN-tukh-uh].\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

Pronunciation, con\u2019d: To call someone a blockhead convincingly, you\u2019ll need to master the voiceless velar fricative, if you haven\u2019t already.\u00a0 That\u2019s the guttural \u201c-ch\u201d sound in Irish words like \u201cach<\/strong>,\u201d \u201coch\u00f3n<\/strong>,\u201d and \u201cbuachaill<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s also in German (Achtung<\/em> and Buch<\/em>, to trot out the typical examples), in Welsh (bach<\/em>, fach<\/em>, ci a chath<\/em>, cath a chi<\/em>), and in some pronunciations of Yiddish\/Hebrew \u201cchutzpah<\/em>\u201d and \u201cchallah<\/em>,\u201d to name just a few other languages that have this sound.\u00a0 The basic word for \u201cblockhead\u201d is \u201ccluas\u00e1nach<\/strong>,\u201d with a regular \u201ck\u201d sound at the beginning [KLOO-uss-awn-ukh] but in direct address it becomes \u201cchluas\u00e1na\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d [KHLOO-uss-awn-ee], losing the \u201c-ch<\/strong>\u201d at the end but gaining it at the beginning of the word.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

As you may have noticed, direct address usually causes lenition in Irish, but that, again is, \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 Remind me, if you want, since we still have the remainder of the Christmas season to cover, up through Nollaig na mBan<\/strong> (January 6th<\/sup>).\u00a0 And my poor patient donkey sanctuary article, that I\u2019ve been promising for months.\u00a0 Now if only someone would establish National Support Your Donkey Sanctuary Day, I\u2019d get right on it, promise, since that long-awaited article would (finally) be tr\u00e1th\u00fail<\/strong> (timely)!\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) There are two names for this day, December 28th, in Irish, one the \u201ct\u00e9arma oifigi\u00fail\u201d and the other less formal.\u00a0 L\u00e1 na Leana\u00ed Neamhchiontacha (or sometimes \u201cL\u00e1 na Leanbh\u201d) is Holy Innocents\u2019 Day, a reference to Matha 2:16-18.\u00a0 The less formal term is \u201cL\u00e1 Crosta na Bliana.\u201d\u00a0 \u201dLeanbh\u201d is \u201cchild,\u201d with the plural…<\/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":[111716,111720,111721,111715,111728,111722,111726,111723,111727,111714,111712,111713,111718,6276,3351,111724,111719,111717,111725],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-a-chluasanai","tag-childermas","tag-childermass","tag-crosta","tag-january-6","tag-john-bellairs","tag-john-childermass","tag-johnny-dixon","tag-jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell","tag-la-crosta-na-bliana-linbh","tag-la-na-leanai-neamhchiontacha","tag-la-na-leanbh","tag-neamhchiontacht","tag-nollaig-na-mban","tag-possessive","tag-professor-roderick-random-childermass","tag-soineanta","tag-soineantacht","tag-susanna-clarke"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","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=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8716,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/8716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}