{"id":118,"date":"2009-12-30T13:40:35","date_gmt":"2009-12-30T17:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=114"},"modified":"2016-12-27T18:15:31","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T18:15:31","slug":"tearmai-nollag-gan-an-focal-%e2%80%9cnollaig%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-cana-candai-bleathach-uibhe-agus-fioracha-sinseir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tearmai-nollag-gan-an-focal-%e2%80%9cnollaig%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-cana-candai-bleathach-uibhe-agus-fioracha-sinseir\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u00e9arma\u00ed Nollag gan an Focal \u201cNollaig\u201d \u2013 C\u00e1na Canda\u00ed, Bleathach Uibhe, agus F\u00edoracha Sins\u00e9ir"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Seo roinnt t\u00e9arma\u00ed faoin Nollaig nach bhfuil an focal \u201cNollaig\u201d f\u00e9in iontu <\/span><\/strong>(some Christmasy terms that don\u2019t have the word \u201cChristmas\u201d itself in them):\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

an c\u00e1na canda\u00ed, <\/span><\/strong>the candy cane<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

an bhleathach uibhe, <\/span><\/strong>the eggnog or the egg-flip. \u201dBleathach<\/strong>\u201d normally means \u201cgrist\u201d or \u201coat-meal cake.\u201d\u00a0 Add \u201cuibhe<\/strong>,\u201d the possessive form of \u201cubh<\/strong>\u201d (egg), and somehow, you get a beverage, lit. \u201cegg-grist\u201d (Say \u201cC\u00e9ard!<\/strong>\u201d).\u00a0 The word “an bhleathach<\/strong>” looks\u00a0curiously similar to, but isn’t the same as, \u201can bhl\u00e1thach<\/strong>\u201d (the buttermilk).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

an t-ar\u00e1n sins\u00e9ir, <\/span><\/strong>the gingerbread<\/span><\/p>\n

an fh\u00edor sins\u00e9ir<\/span><\/strong>, the gingerbread man, lit. the ginger[bread] figure, from \u201cf\u00edor<\/strong>\u201d (figure).\u00a0 Interesting, i mo bhar\u00fail ar a laghad, go bhfuil an t\u00e9arma ar son<\/strong> \u201cgingerbread man\u201d baininscneach<\/strong> (feminine, grammatically) mar t\u00e1 an focal \u201cf\u00edor\u201d baininscneach<\/strong>.\u00a0 A nicely politically correct and non-gender-biased term.\u00a0 How the gingerbread man himself feels about his grammatical gender being feminine is something I can\u2019t determine and it might be, as they say, more than anyone wants to know.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

an fh\u00edor sins\u00e9ir<\/span><\/strong>, the gingerbread woman, exactly the same as the phrase above.\u00a0 Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser.\u00a0 I suppose if one really needed to be specific you could say \u201can fh\u00edor sins\u00e9ir fhireann<\/strong>\u201d (the male gingerbread figure) and \u201can fh\u00edor sins\u00e9ir bhaineann<\/strong>\u201d (the female gingerbread figure).\u00a0 For example, you could say:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBain \u00fas\u00e1id as r\u00eds\u00edn\u00ed mar chnaip\u00ed don fh\u00edor sins\u00e9ir fhireann ach d\u00e9an sciorta reo\u00e1in don fh\u00edor sins\u00e9ir bhaineann<\/strong>.\u201d (Use raisins as buttons for the gingerbread man but make a skirt of\u00a0icing for the gingerbread woman).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not that most gingerbread figures are i gcruth ceart de r\u00e9ir anatama\u00edochta<\/strong> (as close as I can get to saying \u201canatomically-correct\u201d in Irish), anyway.\u00a0 This is the point where I\u2019ll stop the discussion of the inscne<\/strong> (gender) of gingerbread figures, since this is a blag a thaca\u00edonn le teaghlaigh<\/strong> (family-friendly blog).<\/p>\n

But just one last thought.\u00a0 One could always defy established lexicography and\u00a0just say \u201can fear sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>\u201d (lit. \u201cthe ginger man,\u201d the man of ginger[bread]) and \u201can bhean sins\u00e9ir<\/strong> (lit. \u201cthe ginger woman,\u201d the woman of ginger[bread]).\u00a0 Irish often has more than one way to say the same thing, some in the dictionary and some simply in popular usage.\u00a0 There are also some references online to \u201cfear an ar\u00e1in sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>\u201d (the man of the bread of ginger), which is quite clear but longer, as well as to \u201cbuachaill\u00edn sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>\u201d (little ginger[bread] boy).\u00a0 I add \u201cbread\u201d in square brackets to the English to clarify that I\u2019m not trying to say the boy is \u201cginger\u201d (red-haired).\u00a0 Not that I\u2019ve ever seen a \u201cbuachaill\u00edn sins\u00e9ir rua<\/strong>\u201d (a red-haired gingerbread boy), come to think of it.<\/p>\n

So, on that side-note, I\u2019ll wrap this one up for now, and add a few more terms before New Year\u2019s, and then we\u2019ll get to the second half of the Twelve Days of Christmas!\u00a0 Then, hmmm, M\u00ed Ean\u00e1ir<\/strong> (January)?\u00a0 I might even have something to say about hagaois<\/strong> (haggis) before the month is out.\u00a0 Fainic<\/strong>!\u00a0 (Look out!). \u00a0Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill<\/strong> —\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some pronunciation tips:<\/p>\n

bleathach<\/strong> [BLA-hukh] (silent “t”)<\/p>\n

bl\u00e1thach<\/strong> [BLAW-hukh]<\/p>\n

an bhleathach uibhe<\/strong> [un VLA-hukh IV-uh]<\/p>\n

an bhl\u00e1thach<\/strong> [un VLAW-hukh]<\/p>\n

cruth<\/strong> [kruh, silent “t”]<\/p>\n

fh\u00edor <\/span><\/strong>[<\/span>eer, slightly like “ee-ur” but not a real distinct second syllable; the “fh” is silent<\/span>]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

teaghlaigh<\/strong> [TCHA-lee, both “g’s” silent]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Seo roinnt t\u00e9arma\u00ed faoin Nollaig nach bhfuil an focal \u201cNollaig\u201d f\u00e9in iontu (some Christmasy terms that don\u2019t have the word \u201cChristmas\u201d itself in them):\u00a0\u00a0 an c\u00e1na canda\u00ed, the candy cane an bhleathach uibhe, the eggnog or the egg-flip. \u201dBleathach\u201d normally means \u201cgrist\u201d or \u201coat-meal cake.\u201d\u00a0 Add \u201cuibhe,\u201d the possessive form of \u201cubh\u201d (egg)…<\/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":[4162,4163,111707,4401,365093,4539,365094,43,5055,5056,5190,5191,74,5370,5371,5372,6273,6274,111711,7226],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-anatamaiocht","tag-anatomically-correct","tag-bleathach","tag-bleathach-uibhe","tag-cana","tag-cana-candai","tag-candai","tag-christmas","tag-egg-flip","tag-eggnog","tag-fior","tag-fioracha-sinseir","tag-gender","tag-gingerbread","tag-gingerbread-man","tag-gingerbread-woman","tag-nollag","tag-nollaig","tag-sinseir","tag-uibhe"],"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