{"id":16,"date":"2009-04-27T01:54:22","date_gmt":"2009-04-27T05:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=16"},"modified":"2014-04-16T11:37:00","modified_gmt":"2014-04-16T11:37:00","slug":"karros-carrus-and-today%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9ccarr%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/karros-carrus-and-today%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9ccarr%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Karros, Carrus, and Today\u2019s \u201cCarr\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 You might have noticed \u201ccarr<\/strong>\u201d as a recent Word of the Day at blogs.transparent.com.\u00a0 <\/span>It could be easy to assume that this is a recent borrowing from English, dating to the era of, well, motor-cars.\u00a0 <\/span>Ach a mhalairt, a chara!<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>(but the opposite, my friend).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 The word \u201c<\/span>carr<\/strong>\u201d was in use in Irish long before motor-cars hit the scene. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>It originally meant what we would call a \u201ccart\u201d today, and could also mean a \u201cdray\u201d (now specifically a \u201c<\/span>drae<\/strong>\u201d in Irish, not that they’re used any more) or a \u201cwagon\u201d (which is now usually \u201c<\/span>fe\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d or \u201c<\/span>vaig\u00edn<\/strong>, the latter being \u201cwagon,\u201d Gaelicized.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>OK, UK \u2013 \u201cwaggon\u201d in your spelling!).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u201c<\/span>Carr<\/strong>\u201d is rarely used in Irish any more for an actual cart; that is usually \u201c<\/span>cairr\u00edn<\/strong>\u201d (as in <\/span>cairr\u00edn gailf<\/strong>) or \u201c<\/span>cairt<\/strong>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It is sometimes used for a cart, though, in archeological references.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Carr<\/strong>\u201d also remains in some terminology for various non-motor vehicles, such as the \u201c<\/span>carr sleamhn\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d (a slide-car traditionally used in agriculture, which actually had no wheels, and more recently, a sledge or sled) and the \u201c<\/span>carr cliath\u00e1nach<\/strong>\u201d (jaunting- or side-car), famous around Killarney and in the film <\/span>The Quiet Man<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 A \u201cshopping-cart\u201d in Irish, however, doesn\u2019t use the word \u201ccart,\u201d but rather \u201ctrolley,\u201d as in \u201c<\/span>trala\u00ed siopad\u00f3ireachta<\/strong>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cTrolley\u201d is typically used for hand-pushed carts in both Irish and UK English.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>What Americans typically call a \u201ctrolley\u201d (\u201cClang! Clang! Clang! Went the Trolley,\u201d etc.) would likely be a \u201ctrolley bus\u201d (<\/span>bus trala\u00ed) <\/strong>or a<\/span> <\/strong>\u201ctram,\u201d the latter being exactly the same (<\/span>tram) <\/strong>in Irish. \u201cClang! Clang! Clang! Went the Tram\u201d somehow just doesn\u2019t cut it though \u2013 good thing that story was set in St. Louis!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 All of these \u201c<\/span>carr<\/strong>\u201d-related words are connected to Gaulish \u201c<\/span>karros<\/em>,\u201d which the Romans \u201cborrowed\u201d as \u201c<\/span>carrus<\/em>,\u201d and so have a venerable history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 There are a couple of terms for \u201ccar\u201d in Irish that do not stem from the \u201c<\/span>karros<\/em>\u201d root:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Gluaiste\u00e1n: <\/span><\/strong>car, very literally, a moving-thing, from \u201cgluais<\/strong>\u201d (movement).\u00a0 Although I used to hear and see this word more when I first got involved in Irish, its use seems to be on the decline.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 M\u00f3tar<\/span><\/strong>: as a word for \u201ccar,\u201d also declining in use; it remains strong as the basic word for a “motor.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 As for vintage slang terms for \u201ccar\u201d in Irish, there doesn\u2019t seem to be an abundance, probably due to their relative scarcity in early 20<\/span>th<\/sup>-century Ireland compared to America.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>For any fans out there of Nancy Drew and her 1930s \u201croadster,\u201d don\u2019t be misled by the fact that the word \u201croadster\u201d does show up in English-Irish dictionaries.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The definitions offered for \u201croadster\u201d don\u2019t mean any type of car at all.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Some Irish equivalents for \u201croadster\u201d are \u201c<\/span>long ar r\u00f3d<\/strong>\u201d (a ship in, lit. “on,” a roadstead, a “roadstead” being a body of water near shore!) and \u201c<\/span>b\u00e1d r\u00f3id<\/strong>\u201d (a roadstead boat).<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>The other is \u201c<\/span>r\u00f3da\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d a person who roves the roads.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>\u201c<\/span>R\u00f3da\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d has recently been adapted to mean a traveling broadcasting vehicle, so is a sort of \u201croadster,\u201d but not in the original sense.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 And for even earlier American slang, \u201cflivver\u201d or \u201cjalopy,\u201d sorry, folks, you\u2019re on your own for that one!\u00a0 Slang rarely correlates from language to language.\u00a0 — Bhur mblag\u00e1la\u00ed – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) \u00a0 You might have noticed \u201ccarr\u201d as a recent Word of the Day at blogs.transparent.com.\u00a0 It could be easy to assume that this is a recent borrowing from English, dating to the era of, well, motor-cars.\u00a0 Ach a mhalairt, a chara!\u00a0 (but the opposite, my friend).\u00a0 \u00a0 The word \u201ccarr\u201d was in use in…<\/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":[4253,4524,207424,10381,4567,4568,4569,207415,207416,207410,316106,4818,4988,207419,5212,5302,5312,5339,207412,5395,5397,207425,5667,5760,207420,207413,99,5928,316105,6143,207409,6215,6568,6611,6612,6618,12258,316103,6810,207423,316104,7095,7169,1369,207417,207422,207421],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-bad-roid","tag-cairrin","tag-cairt-gailf","tag-car","tag-carr","tag-carr-cliathanach","tag-carr-sleamhnain","tag-carrus","tag-cart","tag-celtic-origin","tag-clang-clang-clang","tag-craolachan","tag-drae","tag-dray","tag-flivver","tag-gaelic","tag-galf","tag-gaul","tag-gaulish","tag-gluais","tag-gluaistean","tag-golf-cart","tag-irish","tag-jalopy","tag-jaunting-car","tag-karros","tag-latin","tag-long-ar-rod","tag-meet-me-in-st-louis","tag-motar","tag-motor-car","tag-nancy-drew","tag-raidio","tag-roadstead","tag-roadster","tag-rodai","tag-roman","tag-rover","tag-side-car","tag-slide-car","tag-st-louis","tag-the-quiet-man","tag-tralai-siopadoireachta","tag-tram","tag-trolley","tag-waggon","tag-wagon"],"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