{"id":1199,"date":"2011-09-03T02:41:04","date_gmt":"2011-09-03T02:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1199"},"modified":"2012-11-15T19:24:08","modified_gmt":"2012-11-15T19:24:08","slug":"911-11-mean-fomhair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/911-11-mean-fomhair\/","title":{"rendered":"9\/11: 11 Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

September will always be remembered, at least for lucht labhartha na Gaeilge i Meirice\u00e1<\/strong>, as the \u201c9\/11\u201d month.\u00a0 While there could be a solid month of blogs on the topic of \u201cionsaithe 11 Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong>,\u201d this blog will look just at the terms for the day itself.\u00a0 Perhaps some upcoming blogs can address other aspects of the tragedy.<\/p>\n

For American English-speakers, it\u2019s quite natural to refer to the event as \u201c9\/11\u201d (\u201cnine-eleven\u201d).\u00a0 One reason is that the American system for writing dates as numerals is \u201cmonth-day-year,\u201d so 9\/11 is September 11th<\/sup>.\u00a0 In Britain and Ireland, and probably other countries (do th\u00edrse<\/strong>?), the system is \u201cday-month-year.\u201d\u00a0 So saying \u201c9\/11\u201d as \u201cnine-eleven\u201d to mean \u201cSeptember 11th<\/sup>\u201d isn\u2019t really logical from the international viewpoint; \u201c9\/11\u201d would be \u201cNovember 9th<\/sup>.\u201d\u00a0 A second reason is simply that American English is especially likely to seek out the shortest way to say anything, as seen in the infamous and humorous\u00a0 \u201cY’up yet?\u201d dialogue (the answer is \u201cM\u2019up\u201d and so it continues) or the penchant for company slogans like \u201cGotta hava Wawa\u201d or company names like \u201cShop n Bag\u201d (no apostrophes even, and that\u2019s official \u2013 I just checked their website).<\/p>\n

So the most frequently encountered ways to say \u201c9\/11\u201d in Irish are not like the typical English, which is simply with the digits, but with the full name of the month, which is \u201cMe\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 This also has a more traditional ring in Irish, which, as a language, I don\u2019t find to be as abbreviation- and acronym-laden as English is \u2013 n\u00ed f\u00f3s, ar a laghad<\/strong>.\u00a0 What one typically sees in Irish is either:<\/p>\n

11 Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong> (11 September), or<\/p>\n

an 11\u00fa Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong> (the 11th<\/sup> of September, with \u201c\u00fa<\/strong>\u201d standing for the word \u201caon\u00fa<\/strong>\u201d as used in phrases like \u201can t-aon\u00fa l\u00e1 d\u00e9ag<\/strong>\u201d or \u201can t-aon\u00fa capall d\u00e9ag<\/strong>\u201d, meaning \u201cthe 11th<\/sup> day\u201d or the \u201c11th<\/sup> horse,\u201d respectively).\u00a0 The \u201c-\u00fa<\/strong>\u201d is basically like the English \u201cth\u201d (the ordinal number suffix) \u00a0.<\/p>\n

Is there any other day of the year that is commemorated so specifically in a numeric fashion?\u00a0 July 4th<\/sup> is firmly entrenched as an American holiday, but it\u2019s not generally called 7\/4, at least afaik.\u00a0 I also don\u2019t recall the date of John F. Kennedy\u2019s assassination being referred to as 11\/22. \u00a0\u201cWhere were you on 11\/22?\u201d doesn\u2019t sound familiar although I see a limited application of it online, usually including \u201c\/63\u201d at the end, for the year.\u00a0 Likewise for 12\/7 (Pearl Harbor).\u00a0 Or, trasna an loch\u00e1in<\/strong>, could one say \u201car 17\/3<\/strong>\u201d (which for Americans would be \u201car 3\/17<\/strong>\u201d) in discussing L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

I think the prevalence of \u201c9\/11\u201d over \u201cSeptember 11th<\/sup>\u201d in English has to do with the 24\/7- OMG-L8R culture in which we\u2019re living today.\u00a0 Sometimes it seems we go for giorr\u00fach\u00e1in<\/strong> and acrainmneacha<\/strong> for their own sake rather than for any major savings of linguistic effort (\u201coh-em-gee\u201d has just as many syllables as \u201cOh My God,\u201d though admittedly it\u2019s more logo-like, when used for a TV show).<\/p>\n

At any rate, whatever the exact reasons, Americans tends to refer to the event most commonly as \u201c9\/11.\u201d\u00a0 The numbers have become a noun in their own right.\u00a0 So we can say sentences like \u201c9\/11 was \u2026\u201d or \u201con 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly there are times when one might say, \u201cSeptember 11th<\/sup>\u201d or \u201con the 11th<\/sup> day of September\u201d in English, but they tend to be in a more formal register.\u00a0 Or, they could be less specific, refering to any \u201cSeptember 11th<\/sup>.\u201d\u00a0 \u201c9\/11\u201d as a fr\u00e1sa<\/strong> is inextricably linked to 2001.\u00a0 \u201c9\/11\u201d is also very eye-catching as a graphic for headlines, TV program titles, and so on, and so seems to dominate the media, at least the print side of it.<\/p>\n

In Irish, on the other hand, most references I see do specify the month (Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong>), perhaps to avoid any seeming ambiguity with \u201c9\/11\u201d being interpreted as \u201cNovember 9th<\/sup>\u201d (the 9th<\/sup> day of the 11th<\/sup> month, i.e. 9 M\u00ed na Samhna<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

When one says in English \u201cnine eleven,\u201d it\u2019s simply eerie how the date echoes the phone number Americans are trained to call in emergencies, 911 (\u201cnine one one\u201d).\u00a0 Perhaps not a comhtharl\u00fa<\/strong> at all.\u00a0 At any rate, in my recollection the two number patterns (9\/11, 9-1-1) sorted themselves quite quickly.\u00a0 I recall once, a little under ten years ago, referring to the NY event as \u201cnine-one-one\u201d (i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong>) and quickly realizing that it just didn\u2019t sit right on the tongue that way.<\/p>\n

Of course, if one literally wants to say \u201cnine-eleven\u201d in Irish, one can.\u00a0 It\u2019s \u201ca naoi a haon d\u00e9ag<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 But when I Googled that, the only result I got was the score for a sports game.\u00a0 Separating the phrase to \u201ca naoi<\/strong>\u201d and \u201ca haon d\u00e9ag<\/strong>\u201d brings up a hopelessly large number of websites about uimhreacha<\/strong> in Irish in general, and so was completely inconclusive.<\/p>\n

And conversely, I\u2019m sure the phrase \u201c9\/11\u201d could be heard among Irish speakers as \u201ca naoi a haon d\u00e9ag,<\/strong>\u201d especially those i Meirice\u00e1,<\/strong> since \u201cnine-eleven\u201d is what\u2019s heard on the media so often.\u00a0 And it wouldn\u2019t surprise me to hear a nearly full-fledged Irish sentence with the English pronunciation of \u201c9\/11\u201d embedded in it, since Ireland, like most bilingual cultures, is full of code-switching (like \u201cC\u00e1 raibh t\u00fa ar nine-eleven<\/strong>?\u201d).\u00a0 Given that I\u2019ve heard English words or phrases like \u201chit\u201d (\u201can ch\u00e9ad hit a bh\u00ed acu,<\/strong>\u201d describing a band) and \u201cguilt complex\u201d peppering the Irish of some of the cainteoir\u00ed Gaeilge is l\u00edofa<\/strong>, nothing really surprises me as far as blending languages.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s much more that could be said about 9\/11 (aka 11 Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong> aka an 11\u00fa Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong>), this is at least the tip of the iceberg.\u00a0 More thoughts to follow.\u00a0 SGF, \u00f3 R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais: do th\u00edrse,<\/strong> your country; ionsa\u00ed,<\/strong> attack (pl: ionsaithe<\/strong>, attacks); l\u00edofa<\/strong>, fluent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) September will always be remembered, at least for lucht labhartha na Gaeilge i Meirice\u00e1, as the \u201c9\/11\u201d month.\u00a0 While there could be a solid month of blogs on the topic of \u201cionsaithe 11 Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair,\u201d this blog will look just at the terms for the day itself.\u00a0 Perhaps some upcoming blogs can address…<\/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":[96672,95045,96674,3947,96673,96675,5285,96676,96671,255490,255491,6304,27740],"class_list":["post-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-11-mean-fomhair","tag-95045","tag-a-haon-deag","tag-a-naoi","tag-an-11u-mean-fomhair","tag-aonu","tag-gaeilge","tag-ionsaithe","tag-mean-fomhair","tag-nine-eleven","tag-nine-one-one","tag-november","tag-september"],"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