{"id":1269,"date":"2011-10-03T20:06:05","date_gmt":"2011-10-03T20:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2016-09-21T18:28:34","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T18:28:34","slug":"falling-leaves-falling-in-love-the-verb-%e2%80%9cto-fall%e2%80%9d-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/falling-leaves-falling-in-love-the-verb-%e2%80%9cto-fall%e2%80%9d-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling Leaves, Falling in Love: The Verb \u201cto fall\u201d in Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Thit a l\u00e1n duilleoga sa ghaird\u00edn (sa chl\u00f3s) agus anois t\u00e1 orm iad a r\u00e1c\u00e1il.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thit Se\u00e1n i ngr\u00e1 le Sin\u00e9ad.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notice anything interesting about those sentences?\u00a0 For an English-speaker, I think it seems fairly normal to expect that in Irish one could say \u201cmany leaves fell\u201d or \u201cSe\u00e1n fell in love\u201d using the same verb, \u201cto fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meandering around some Romance language dictionaries, I see the opposite.\u00a0 There tends to be words or phrases like \u201cenamorarse<\/em>\u201d (Sp\u00e1innis<\/strong>), \u201cinnamorarsi\u201d<\/em> (Iod\u00e1ilis<\/strong>), and \u201cadam<\/em>\u0101re<\/em>\u201d (Laidin<\/strong>) for \u201cto fall in love.\u201d\u00a0 As far as I can tell, these all are basically intensifiers of the verb \u201cto love,\u201d with an indication of movement \u201cin\u201d or \u201ctowards.\u00a0 None of them are connected to the most basic words for \u201cto fall\u201d in Spanish, Italian, and Latin respectively (caerse\/caer, cadere, <\/em>and cadere<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Maidir leis an bhFraincis<\/strong>, I see some interesting commentary about \u201cfalling amorously, i.e. falling lovingly or in love\u201d (tomber amoureux<\/em>), as opposed to the translation trap into which many English speakers might \u201cfall,\u201d trying using the verb \u201ctomber<\/em>\u201d (to fall) with the phrase \u201cen amour.<\/em>\u201d The latter apparently would suggest that love was some sort of three-dimensional phenomenon into which one could fall, like a box or a hole \u2026 or maybe a vortex, which would be more like the real experience..\u00a0 Curious, though, from both the Irish and English perspectives, that the verb \u201cto fall\u201d (tomber<\/em>) is at least part of the phrase.<\/p>\n

Did the idea of \u201cfalling in love\u201d (as opposed to marrying whomever your parents picked for you) travel from French to English in the Anglo-Norman period, and then perhaps to Ireland?\u00a0\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s more like a Ph.D. thesis than a single Irish-language blog, but it would be interesting for someone to pursue.\u00a0 First stop, I\u2019d think would be De Amore<\/em>, by Andr\u00e9 le Chapelain (Andreas Capellanus).\u00a0 Well, actually, maybe the first stop would be Ovid\u2019s own Ars Amatoria, <\/em>about 1200 years earlier, but again, not quite exactly my next project.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know whether the phrase \u201cto fall in love with someone\u201d in Irish came about through direct borrowing, or if it originated as an old Irish concept.\u00a0 But it\u2019s been in the language for at least about 100 years, so if it is a borrowing, it\u2019s one with a nice \u201cpaitean<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Come to think of it, love in Old Irish literature often seemed to be fore-ordained, or unavoidable, not a Beatles-ey \u201cfalling, yes I am falling\u201d process.\u00a0 I don\u2019t suppose Gr\u00e1inne \u201cfell\u201d in love with Diarmaid in our modern sense of word, because Diarmaid, after all, had his \u201cball seirce,\u201d <\/strong>whose attraction was unavoidable.\u00a0 Last I checked, experts in the field (what field, anyway, \u201camorology\u201d?) had never completely determined what the \u201cball seirce<\/strong>\u201d actually was, but it is usually translated as \u201clove spot.\u201d\u00a0 So Diarmaid had this \u201cball seirce<\/strong>\u201d and Gr\u00e1inne saw it, and, hey presto, she was in love with him.\u00a0 Infatuated, in fact.\u00a0 Enough to break off her engagement to Fionn.\u00a0 Ach,<\/strong> guess what, sin sc\u00e9al eile<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Oh, and what about other types of falling?\u00a0\u00a0 Like straightforward, down-to-the-ground movement.\u00a0 Here are some more examples:<\/p>\n

Thit na duilleoga.\u00a0 <\/strong>The leaves fell, and of course, it\u2019s the falling of the leaves that causes US English to say \u201cthe Fall\u201d for the season, whereas UK English speakers will more likely say \u201cthe Autumn.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes Americans wax a bit poetic or literary and use \u201cautumn\u201d too, but not as typically.\u00a0 Irish, remember, uses \u201cF\u00f3mhar<\/strong>,\u201d which also means \u201charvest\u201d or \u201charvest-time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thit s\u00e9 anuas de dhr\u00e9imire.\u00a0 <\/strong>He fell off a ladder.<\/p>\n

Lig s\u00e9 don v\u00e1sa Ming titim.\u00a0 <\/strong>He let the Ming vase (to) fall, here using the ainmfhocal briathartha <\/strong>(verbal noun form) instead of an actual conjugated form of the verb.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the verb \u201cto fall\u201d isn\u2019t part of an Irish expression, even where it is present in the English:<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 a cuid gruaige anuas thar a guaill\u00ed.\u00a0 <\/strong>Her hair falls (lit. is<\/em> down\/downwards) over her shoulders.<\/p>\n

Th\u00e1inig dreach d\u00edomach uirthi.\u00a0 <\/strong>Her face fell (from disappointment, lit. a look of disappointment came on her).<\/p>\n

As for other \u201cfells,\u201d as in \u201cmountains\u201d or \u201cswoops,\u201d definitely \u00e1bhar blag eile, <\/strong>since they\u2019re not even related to the verb \u201cto fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now, next time, what shall it be, a translation of Snow Falling on Cedars<\/em>, \u201cI\u2019ve Just Seen a Face\u201d (falling, yes, I am falling \u2026), or perhaps, what to say once you have fallen in love with someone.\u00a0 Something tells me that how to say \u201cI love you\u201d in Irish will win out.\u00a0 Actually we covered it somewhat, last February, in fact about four blogs\u2019 worth, but there\u2019s always room for expansion, especially with this topic. \u00a0SGF –\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais: paitean, <\/strong>patina (a near lookalike to \u201cpaitinn<\/strong>,\u201d a feminine noun meaning \u201cpatent\u201d); searc<\/strong>, love (as in \u201cball seirce<\/strong>,\u201d which may have been a type of mole or birthmark.\u00a0 Quite a mole, m\u00e1s mar sin at\u00e1 s\u00e9<\/strong>! \u00a0“Seirce<\/strong>” literally means “of love,” so the phrase means “spot of love”).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Thit a l\u00e1n duilleoga sa ghaird\u00edn (sa chl\u00f3s) agus anois t\u00e1 orm iad a r\u00e1c\u00e1il. Thit Se\u00e1n i ngr\u00e1 le Sin\u00e9ad. Notice anything interesting about those sentences?\u00a0 For an English-speaker, I think it seems fairly normal to expect that in Irish one could say \u201cmany leaves fell\u201d or \u201cSe\u00e1n fell in love\u201d using…<\/p>\n

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