{"id":153,"date":"2010-03-22T11:12:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T11:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=153"},"modified":"2015-03-02T13:13:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T13:13:37","slug":"seachtain-fheile-padraig-a-ceathair-an-tseamrog-the-shamrock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/seachtain-fheile-padraig-a-ceathair-an-tseamrog-the-shamrock\/","title":{"rendered":"Seachtain Fh\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig a Ceathair: An tSeamr\u00f3g (The Shamrock)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Maybe this series should really be \u201cCoic\u00eds Fh\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig\u201d <\/strong>(St. Patrick\u2019s Fortnight).\u00a0 Actually, this will probably be the last blag<\/strong> on \u201cNaomh P\u00e1draig<\/strong>\u201d for this year, though there\u2019s enough information on him to have the series last go ceann bliana <\/strong>(for a year).<\/p>\n

I thought we\u2019d wrap up with \u201can tseamr\u00f3g<\/strong>,\u201d before we drown it, that is.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, actually, you\u2019ve probably all drowned your seamr\u00f3ga<\/strong> already since L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig<\/strong> is thart<\/strong>.\u00a0 Or, if your seamr\u00f3g <\/strong>took the form of an outline drawn in the foam of your Guinness by a talented \u201cbe\u00e1r<\/strong>ista,\u201d (cgl, b\u00ed ag ochadh<\/strong>) I guess you could say you had \u201cdowned\u201d it.\u00a0 Either way, let\u2019s look at the word itself.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cseamr\u00f3g<\/strong>\u201d is not an official botanical name for a specific species of plant.\u00a0 It\u2019s based on the Irish word \u201cseamair<\/strong>,\u201d which means \u201cclover.\u201d There are about 300 species of clover, most of which grow sa Leathsf\u00e9ar Thuaidh<\/strong>, but some of which do grow san Afraic agus i Meirice\u00e1 Theas<\/strong>.\u00a0 The \u201c\u2013\u00f3g<\/strong>\u2019 ending is simply the suffix found in hundreds of other feminine nouns, like \u201csp\u00fan\u00f3g<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cfead\u00f3g<\/strong>,\u201d and \u201crann\u00f3g<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the most well known species are \u201cwhite (or Dutch) clover\u201d (Trifolium repens<\/em>) and \u201cred clover\u201d (T. pratense<\/em>), referring to the color of the bl\u00e1th<\/strong> (flower), of course, not to the duilleog<\/strong> (leaf), which, as far I know, remains \u201cglas<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 One clover species often associated with the \u201cshamrock\u201d is T. minus<\/em>, smaller than some of the others, whose bl\u00e1thanna<\/strong> are bu\u00ed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Some people say the seamr\u00f3g<\/strong> is not even from the family to which Trifolium<\/em> belongs (Fabaceae<\/em>) but rather to the Oxalis<\/em> family, which also has tr\u00ed dhuilleog<\/strong> (see http:\/\/www.enjoygardening.com\/?m=200503<\/a>, for starters, for a brief low-down).\u00a0 As far as the exact t\u00e9arma\u00ed luibheola\u00edocha<\/strong> go, though, n\u00edl mise ag dul \u201cann<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It becomes far too confusing for someone who isn\u2019t a luibheola\u00ed gairmi\u00fail<\/strong>.\u00a0 And it seems like the entire system of tacsanama\u00edocht<\/strong> that we\u2019ve accepted for several centuries has come faoi mhionscr\u00fad\u00fa<\/strong>.\u00a0 But my interest in terminology puts me more in the category of what Samuel Johnson called, albeit in English, \u201cdaorscl\u00e1bha\u00ed neamhurch\u00f3ideach<\/strong>,\u201d rather than that of an \u00edolbhristeoir<\/strong>.\u00a0 So I\u2019ll leave the d\u00edosp\u00f3ireacht<\/strong> about Oxalis vs. Fabaceae<\/em> to those a mbaineann an sc\u00e9al d\u00f3ibh<\/strong>. \u00a0Holy mackerel!\u00a0 An eclipsed prepositionally-based indirect relative clause crept in there, even in though the sentence was simply an Irish-English hybrid. \u00a0Dea-thuar?\u00a0 Filleadh don ghramadach sa ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Needless to say, the engineering and transportation term, crosbhealach seamrach<\/strong> (cloverleaf interchange), is based on the rare, and allegedly lucky, four-leafed clover.\u00a0 The possibility of a tripartite cloverleaf interchange is a bit mind-boggling, though it would be cool if they were in Ireland and you could see them from an airplane!\u00a0 Or Google satellite maps, for that matter.\u00a0 But more mind-boggling is the thought of a cloverleaf interchange based on the highest recorded number of leaves on a clover, which is twenty-one! \u00a0On that thought, you can put that in your \u201cdudeen\u201d [say: DOODJ-een], and do whatever you do with the contents of said dudeen.\u00a0 Until an ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile<\/strong>, that is! \u00a0SGF<\/strong> –\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta\u00ed: crosbhealach<\/strong> [KROS-VYAL-ukh, from cro<\/strong>s + bealach<\/strong>, way, path], daorscl\u00e1bha\u00ed<\/strong> [DAYR-SKLAWV-ee] drudge; \u00edolbhristeoir<\/strong> [EEL-VRISH-tchoh-irzh<\/sup>] iconoclast; neamhurch\u00f3ideach<\/strong>, harmless; ochadh<\/strong>, groaning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Maybe this series should really be \u201cCoic\u00eds Fh\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig\u201d (St. Patrick\u2019s Fortnight).\u00a0 Actually, this will probably be the last blag on \u201cNaomh P\u00e1draig\u201d for this year, though there\u2019s enough information on him to have the series last go ceann bliana (for a year). I thought we\u2019d wrap up with \u201can tseamr\u00f3g,\u201d before we…<\/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":[1],"tags":[7989,7983,7985,7984,7993,7991,376471,7986,7994,7988,5808,8246,7990,7987,207328,7982,6935,7992,315847],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cgl","tag-clover","tag-cloverleaf-interchange","tag-cloverleaf-intersection","tag-duilleog","tag-fabaceae","tag-feile-padraig","tag-harmless-drudge","tag-holy-mackerel","tag-iconoclast-taxonomy","tag-la-fheile-padraig","tag-naomh-padraig","tag-oxalis","tag-samuel-johnson","tag-seamrog","tag-shamrock","tag-st-patrick","tag-trifolium","tag-tseamrog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","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=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6411,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/6411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}