{"id":1442,"date":"2011-11-27T19:47:43","date_gmt":"2011-11-27T19:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1442"},"modified":"2014-01-13T08:07:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T08:07:11","slug":"in-search-of-the-wild-domestic-whatever-blueberry-%e2%80%93-as-gaeilge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/in-search-of-the-wild-domestic-whatever-blueberry-%e2%80%93-as-gaeilge\/","title":{"rendered":"In Search of the Wild, Domestic, Whatever, Blueberry \u2013 as Gaeilge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Some of you may remember the picture of the blueberry tart from the last blog (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/toirtini-agus-diochlaontai\/<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0 While the blueberry (and its kin, the <\/strong>bilberry, blaeberry, whortleberry, winberry, whinberry, bog bilberry, myrtle blueberry, and black-heart) may not be overwhelmingly associated with this time of year (an F\u00f3mhar<\/strong>), there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t enjoy them.<\/p>\n

So how would we describe that scrumptious (and healthy-looking) arrangement of concentric circles of blueberries, crowned with a mound of raspberries?<\/p>\n

Well, the raspberries part is child\u2019s play (no more \u201cpie\u201d clich\u00e9s!).\u00a0 The Irish word for raspberry is \u201cs\u00fa craobh<\/strong> [soo kreev]\u201d with \u201cs\u00fatha craobh<\/strong> [SOO-huh kreev]\u201d as the plural.\u00a0 \u201cThe<\/em> raspberry\u201d (definite) is \u201can ts\u00fa craobh<\/strong> [un too kreev]\u201d and \u201cthe<\/em> raspberries\u201d is \u201cna s\u00fatha craobh<\/strong>.\u201d Literally “s\u00fa craobh<\/strong>” means \u201cred berry of (the) branches.\u201d\u00a0 Which may or may not parallel the basic meaning of \u201craspberry\u201d itself as an English word.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually a bit of a mystery word as far at the English etymology goes, but most sources point either to an focal SeanVall\u00fanaise<\/strong> \u201craspoie<\/em>\u201d (\u201cmuine,<\/strong>\u201d \u201ccaschoill<\/strong>,\u201d or \u201cmothar<\/strong>\u201d in Irish, \u201cthicket\u201d i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong>), which would parallel the Irish in concept, or to an focal Me\u00e1nBh\u00e9arla<\/strong> \u201craspise<\/em>\u201d (f\u00edon milis r\u00f3sdaite<\/strong>, a sweet rose-colored wine) \u00f3n Angla-Laidin<\/strong> \u201cvinum raspeys<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Based on my rusty Latin, I\u2019d say \u201craspeys<\/em>\u201d looks an-aisteach<\/strong> for a Latin word, but then this is Angla-Laidin<\/strong>, from about 1000 years after the Latin I studied.\u00a0 And the trail for \u201craspeys<\/em>\u201d seems to come to an end with Old French \u201craspe<\/em>,\u201d so I guess we\u2019ll have to leave it there.<\/p>\n

What really intrigues me about this is that Irish has a single word,\u00a0“s\u00fa<\/strong>,”\u00a0for “red berry.”\u00a0 It is used in the phrases “s\u00fa craobh”<\/strong> and\u00a0\u201cs\u00fa tal\u00fan<\/strong>\u201d (a strawberry).\u00a0 The latter literally means “red berry of (the) ground.”\u00a0 Irish also has a single word for berries that are black, \u201csm\u00e9ar<\/strong>\u201d [smayr]. \u201cSm\u00e9ar<\/strong>\u201d can be, and usually is, further modified by the adjective \u201cdubh<\/strong>\u201d (black), but even by itself, sm\u00e9ar<\/strong> means \u201ca black berry.\u201d\u00a0 Additionally, as you might remember from the last blog, there is the word \u201ccaor<\/strong>,\u201d which means \u201cberry\u201d in a somewhat more general way.\u00a0 It can be used to say, among others, \u201cjuniper-berry\u201d (caor aitil<\/strong>, which are purple-black when mature), rowan-berry (caor chaorthainn<\/strong>, red in color), and \u201celder-berry\u201d (caor throim<\/strong>, which are usually blue-black or red, but which may be yellow or white), as well as caora f\u00edni\u00fana<\/strong>, grapes.\u00a0 Given the range of berries encompassed by \u201ccaor<\/strong>,\u201d I\u2019m a bit baffled by what the phrase \u201car dhath na gcaor<\/strong>\u201d (berry-colored) is supposed to mean, but I suppose it\u2019s based on context.<\/p>\n

So that brings us up to the blueberry, such as Vaccinium caesariense\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>(New Jersey blueberry, from the heartland of domestic blueberry cultivation in the U.S) and V. cyanococcus<\/em>\u00a0(American blueberry), among other types.\u00a0 For many years I actually combed through all the Irish dictionaries I could get ahold of, and found nary an entry for \u201cblueberry.\u201d\u00a0 Plenty of backup for bilberry, blaeberry, whortleberry, winberry, whinberry, bog bilberry, myrtle blueberry, and black-heart (as mentioned above).\u00a0 They are all simply \u201cfraoch\u00e1n<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 But the American blueberry isn\u2019t quite the same, so I always hesitated to simply use \u201cfraoch\u00e1n<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 I also toyed with the idea of combining \u201ccaor<\/strong>\u201d with \u201cgorm<\/strong>\u201d (blue), or perhaps combining \u201csm\u00e9ar<\/strong>\u201d with “gorm<\/strong>.” \u00a0Finally, thanks to online sources, I found that fraoch\u00e1n gorm<\/strong> has been established as the Irish for \u201cblueberry.\u201d\u00a0 Which brings us back to our toirt\u00edn (toirt\u00edn fraoch\u00e1n gorm)<\/strong>, with \u201cfraoch\u00e1n gorm<\/strong>\u201d in the “____” case?\u00a0 (l\u00edon isteach an bhearna–f<\/strong>reagra 1 th\u00edos<\/strong>; remember, fraoch\u00e1n<\/strong> is a 1st<\/sup>-declension noun).\u00a0\u00a0 Or muffins (muif\u00edn\u00ed fraoch\u00e1n gorm)<\/strong>.\u00a0 Or pies (pi\u00f3ga fraoch\u00e1n gorm<\/strong>).\u00a0 Or pancakes (panc\u00f3ga fraoch\u00e1n gorm<\/strong>).\u00a0 Agus araile!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And for what it\u2019s worth, courtesy of Wikipedia, \u201cExcept in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, a blueberry industry is developing in all regions [in Europe] where the production is possible due to the climatic and edaphic conditions\u2026”(quote from W. D. Naumann, “Overview of the Vaccinium Industry in Western Europe,\u201d 1993<\/a>).\u00a0 So, if blueberries as known i Meirice\u00e1 Thuaidh<\/strong> aren\u2019t so widely used in Irish cooking, I guess it isn\u2019t surprising.\u00a0 But there are all kinds of references to the bil-blae-whin-etc.-berry in Irish cooking, folklore and literature, including among others, Brian Friel\u2019s use of bilberries as a game-changer in Dancing at Lughnasa<\/em>, and S\u00e9amus \u00d3 N\u00e9ill\u2019s Ag Baint Fraoch\u00e1n agus Sc\u00e9alta Eile<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>with \u201cfraoch\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d translated as \u201cblaeberries.\u201d\u00a0 And, d\u00e1la an sc\u00e9il<\/strong>, what case is \u201cfraoch\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d in \u00d3 N\u00e9ill\u2019s title? (Freagra 2, th\u00edos<\/strong>). \u00a0Anyway, to loosely paraphrase and translate Al Lewis via the singing of Fats Domino, Andy Williams, The Everly Brothers, and even Vladimir Putin (!), I imagine both situations were \u00e1bhar drithl\u00edn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Well, that more or less covers blueberries, and is also an object lesson in the creation of new vocabulary in Irish, particularly where items not native to Ireland are involved.\u00a0 Words often have subtle nuances, which means one can\u2019t always just put two word parts together and get a whole.<\/p>\n

My s\u00fa pomagr\u00e1naite le fraoch\u00e1in ghorma<\/strong> beckons.\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra 1: <\/strong>genitive case (an tuiseal ginideach); <\/strong>also, btw, plural<\/p>\n

Freagra 2: <\/strong>also genitive case and plural; if it said \u201cag baint fraoch\u00e1in<\/strong>,\u201d it would mean \u201cpicking one blaeberry,\u201d at least according to traditional Irish grammar.<\/p>\n

Gluais<\/strong>: drithl\u00edn<\/strong>, a thrill (here, as obtained\u00a0on the infamous \u201cBlueberry Hill,\u201d) a tingle, a twitch; s\u00fa<\/strong>, as a feminine noun, is used for berries, although the s\u00fa tal\u00fan<\/strong>, is not technically a berry, with its s\u00edolta<\/strong> (seeds) on the outside; s\u00fa<\/strong>, as a masculine noun, is \u201cjuice,\u201d as in \u201cs\u00fa or\u00e1iste<\/strong>,\u201d or, as used above \u201cs\u00fa pomagr\u00e1naite<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 S\u00fa<\/strong>, masculine, can also mean \u201csoup,\u201d especially in the North (s\u00fa caoireola, s\u00fa glasra\u00ed, srl.<\/strong>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Some of you may remember the picture of the blueberry tart from the last blog (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/toirtini-agus-diochlaontai\/).\u00a0\u00a0 While the blueberry (and its kin, the bilberry, blaeberry, whortleberry, winberry, whinberry, bog bilberry, myrtle blueberry, and black-heart) may not be overwhelmingly associated with this time of year (an F\u00f3mhar), there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t enjoy them…<\/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":[111564,111545,111528,111538,111546,111553,111547,111562,111551,111555,111556,111533,111529,111563,111559,111561,111558,111560,99,111536,111534,111566,111532,111552,111543,111540,6391,6466,111525,111541,111537,111531,111530,111554,111557,111526,111527,111535,111565,111503,111544,111542,111539,111550,111548,111549],"class_list":["post-1442","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-al-lewis","tag-american-blueberry","tag-an-tsu-craobh","tag-angla-laidin","tag-bilberry","tag-black-heart","tag-blaeberry","tag-blueberry-hill","tag-bog-bilberry","tag-caor","tag-caora","tag-caschoill","tag-english-etymology","tag-fats-domino","tag-fraochain","tag-fraochain-ghorma","tag-fraochan","tag-fraochan-gorm","tag-latin","tag-meanbhearla","tag-mothar","tag-muifin","tag-muine","tag-myrtle-blueberry","tag-new-jersey-blueberry","tag-old-french","tag-pancog","tag-piog","tag-raspberry","tag-raspe","tag-raspise","tag-raspoie","tag-seanvallunais","tag-smear","tag-smeara","tag-su-craobh","tag-sutha-craobh","tag-thicket","tag-thrill","tag-toirtin","tag-v-cyanococcus","tag-vaccinium-caesariense","tag-vinum-raspeys","tag-whinberry","tag-whortleberry","tag-winberry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442","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=1442"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4806,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1442\/revisions\/4806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}