{"id":1450,"date":"2011-11-30T18:18:14","date_gmt":"2011-11-30T18:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2011-12-09T18:45:43","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T18:45:43","slug":"%e2%80%9cholly%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9cjolly%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9cmerry%e2%80%9d-agus-%e2%80%9cberry%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-an-ndeanann-siad-rim-le-cheile-i-ngaeilge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/%e2%80%9cholly%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9cjolly%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9cmerry%e2%80%9d-agus-%e2%80%9cberry%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-an-ndeanann-siad-rim-le-cheile-i-ngaeilge\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHolly,\u201d \u201cJolly,\u201d \u201cMerry,\u201d agus \u201cBerry\u201d \u2013 An nD\u00e9anann Siad R\u00edm le Ch\u00e9ile i nGaeilge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Well, the answer is no, n\u00ed dh\u00e9anann siad r\u00edm le ch\u00e9ile i nGaeilge<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u201cAthdh\u00fabaltaigh r\u00edme<\/strong>\u201d [pronunciation below] normally don\u2019t when you translate their component parts from language to language.\u00a0 For example, to attempt to translate a popular English rhyming reduplicative, \u201ceasy breezy,\u201d in Irish you could choose from the following:<\/p>\n

easy: \u00e9asca, furasta, saor\u00e1ideach, gan str\u00f3<\/strong><\/p>\n

breezy: gaofar<\/strong> (windy), feothanach<\/strong> (gusty), scailleag\u00e1nta<\/strong> (lively, of personality), storr\u00fail<\/strong> (of a welcome); I can\u2019t say that I recall any expression to say \u201cIt\u2019s a breeze\u201d (i.e. it\u2019s easy), as such, in Irish, for that matter, so \u201cbreezy,\u201d at best, wouldn\u2019t echo the idea of \u201ceasy.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of these particular combinations really lend themselves to rhyme and catchiness, so even if you used them together, they wouldn\u2019t be considered reduplication.\u00a0 So, as you can see, we can\u2019t really take any pair of these words and come up with a rhyming combination.\u00a0 Coincidentally, in this case, Irish actually has a native reduplicative to express \u201creally easy.\u201d It\u2019s \u201c\u00e9asca p\u00e9asca.<\/strong>\u201d An-tarraingteach, nach ea (<\/strong>very catchy, isn\u2019t it)? The word \u201cp\u00e9asca<\/strong>\u201d doesn\u2019t have a specific meaning but the phrase is equivalent to \u201ceasy peasy,\u201d where \u201cpeasy\u201d isn\u2019t really used on its own either.<\/p>\n

So where does this leave us in terms of \u201cHolly Jolly\u201d and \u201cMerry Berry\u201d (or \u201cBerry Merry\u201d), all of which are very catchy in English?\u00a0 All I can do here is offer up the individual words in Irish.\u00a0 I\u2019ve toyed with some words in Irish that rhyme with \u201csona<\/strong>,\u201d the word used in the phrase \u201cNollaig Shona<\/strong>\u201d (Happy\/Merry Christmas).\u00a0 There aren\u2019t actually very many choices to work with, and unfortunately, the most prevalent of all such rhymes is the word \u201cdona<\/strong>,\u201d which means \u201cbad.\u201d\u00a0 Not exactly the desired sentiment!\u00a0 But here\u2019s the inventory, anyway \u2013 all nice words to know for the season!<\/p>\n

holly: cuileann<\/strong> (since it\u2019s quite a specific word there don\u2019t seem to be any synonyms for this, drastically reducing the possibility of finding a catchy reduplicative!)<\/p>\n

jolly: meidhreach<\/strong> (merry), gealgh\u00e1ireach<\/strong> ([GYAL-\u03b3AWR-ukh]; radiant, cheerful, jolly, lit. bright-smiling), aerach<\/strong> (airy, gay), s\u00fagach<\/strong> (tipsy);<\/p>\n

berry: caor, sm\u00e9ar<\/strong> [smayr], s\u00fa<\/strong> (as we\u2019ve recently been discussing in recent blogs!)<\/p>\n

merry: meidhreach<\/strong> (jolly), cro\u00ed\u00fail <\/strong>([KREE-oo-il]; cheerful, hearty, cordial), s\u00fagach<\/strong> (tipsy)<\/p>\n

Bottom line — Johnny Marks, the composer of \u201cHave A Holly, Jolly Christmas,\u201d would have had his work cut out for him if he had been writing in Irish.\u00a0 Good news?\u00a0 \u201cNollaig Shona<\/strong>\u201d works just fine to say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d!\u00a0 We don\u2019t really need<\/em> reduplicatives in Irish or in English \u2013 they just liven up the language and add to its expressiveness.<\/p>\n

So, there\u2019s a great choice of words that mean \u201cholly,\u201d \u201cjolly,\u201d \u201cberry,\u201d and \u201cmerry,\u201d but as hinted above, they\u2019re not really conducive to extreme catchiness of phrase when combined together.\u00a0 C\u2019est la vie!\u00a0 Some other day we can look at some of the numerous fun reduplicatives that do exist in Irish (r\u00edr\u00e1, ruaille buaille<\/strong>, and the like), but \u201cholly jolly\u201d will have to remain a specifically English phrase, more or less untranslatable.\u00a0 Anyone have any other ideas for fr\u00e1sa\u00ed somheabhraithe<\/strong> (catchy) don Nollaig<\/strong>?\u00a0 Rotha\u00ed fiaclacha ar casadh<\/strong> (cog-wheels spinning)?\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c9asca P\u00e9asca<\/em><\/strong>, btw, is also the name of a 2007 children\u2019s book by \u00c1ine N\u00ed Ghlinn, (http:\/\/www.obrien.ie\/book722.cfm<\/a>) and sample chapter (http:\/\/obrien.ie\/files\/extracts\/EascaPeascaSample.pdf<\/a>)<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta faoi fhuaimni\u00fa an fhr\u00e1sa<\/strong> \u201cathdh\u00fabaltaigh<\/strong> r\u00edme\u201d: [AH-\u03b3OO-bul-tee REE-muh].\u00a0 That \u201c\u03b3\u201d sign, indicating the pronunciation of the \u201cdh,\u201d is the symbol for a guttural throaty sound, similar to the broad \u201cch\u201d sound (as in Irish \u201cloch\u201d <\/strong>and German \u201cBuch<\/em>\u201d), but softer and lower down in the throat.\u00a0 This sound is also in the word \u201cgealgh\u00e1ireach<\/strong>\u201d above. \u00a0<\/strong>Since there\u2019s no symbol for this sound in the Roman alphabet, we use the Greek \u201cgamma\u201d symbol (\u03b3 ) instead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Well, the answer is no, n\u00ed dh\u00e9anann siad r\u00edm le ch\u00e9ile i nGaeilge.\u00a0 \u201cAthdh\u00fabaltaigh r\u00edme\u201d [pronunciation below] normally don\u2019t when you translate their component parts from language to language.\u00a0 For example, to attempt to translate a popular English rhyming reduplicative, \u201ceasy breezy,\u201d in Irish you could choose from the following: easy: \u00e9asca, furasta…<\/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":[111599,111613,111600,111571,111569,111592,111579,111555,111584,111598,111607,111605,111595,111574,111587,111578,111573,111588,111581,111575,5285,111577,111580,111601,111596,111593,111606,111567,111590,5667,111608,111568,13053,13059,111591,1152,13052,111589,111597,111586,131,111572,12852,111609,111612,111610,111576,111582,111554,111611,13056,111583,111604,111602,111603],"class_list":["post-1450","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-aerach","tag-aine-ni-ghlinn","tag-airy","tag-athdhubaltaigh-rime","tag-berry","tag-berry-merry","tag-breezy","tag-caor","tag-catchiness","tag-cheerful","tag-cordial","tag-croiuil","tag-cuileann","tag-easca","tag-easca-peasca","tag-easy","tag-easy-breezy","tag-easy-peasy","tag-feothanach","tag-furasta","tag-gaeilge","tag-gan-stro","tag-gaofar","tag-gay","tag-gealghaireach","tag-happy-christmas","tag-hearty","tag-holly","tag-holly-jolly","tag-irish","tag-johnny-marks","tag-jolly","tag-meidhreach","tag-merry","tag-merry-berry","tag-merry-christmas","tag-nollaig-shona","tag-peasy","tag-radiant","tag-really-easy","tag-reduplication","tag-rhyming-reduplicative","tag-rim","tag-rira","tag-rothai-fiaclacha","tag-ruaille-buaille","tag-saoraideach","tag-scailleaganta","tag-smear","tag-somheabhraithe","tag-sona","tag-storruil","tag-su","tag-sugach","tag-tipsy"],"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