{"id":162,"date":"2010-04-02T23:59:19","date_gmt":"2010-04-02T23:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=162"},"modified":"2018-03-13T23:51:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T23:51:50","slug":"irish-terms-for-easter-tearmai-don-chaisc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/irish-terms-for-easter-tearmai-don-chaisc\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Terms for Easter: T\u00e9arma\u00ed don Ch\u00e1isc"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Yes, it\u2019s been over a year now since this blog was started.\u00a0 Luisa was kind enough to send birthday greetings to the blog a little while ago.\u00a0 T\u00e1 an blag beag\u00e1n n\u00edos m\u00f3 n\u00e1 bliain d\u2019aois anois<\/strong>.\u00a0 (The blog is a little over a year old now).\u00a0 Go raibh maith agat, a Luisa! <\/strong><\/p>\n

That means that now I can refer you back to last year\u2019s \u201cblag C\u00e1sca\u201d <\/strong>for some Easter terms (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tag\/beannachtai-na-casca-ort\/<\/a>).\u00a0 This year I\u2019ll introduce some new ones.\u00a0 The blag C\u00e1sca <\/strong>for April 12, 2009, dealt mostly with the word \u201cC\u00e1isc\u201d <\/strong>itself, and how it\u2019s related linguistically to Latin \u201cPascha<\/em>\u201d and Hebrew \u201cPesach<\/em>,\u201d and to the word for Easter in many other European languages (Y Pasg<\/em>, P\u00e2ques<\/em>, Pascua<\/em>, etc.) and to the English adjective \u201cpaschal.\u201d\u00a0 Why initial \u201cC\u201d and not \u201cP\u201d if we\u2019re saying these words are related?\u00a0 Irish, as a q-Celtic language, will tend to have a k\/c\/q sound where Welsh and Latin-derived words will have a p-sound.\u00a0 The \u201cq\u201d is, of course, historic, since very few modern Irish words begin with \u201cq\u201d (the notable exceptions being the scientific terms \u201cquin\u00edn<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cquion\u00f3l<\/strong>\u201d).<\/p>\n

Most of the phrases we use to describe things that are \u201cof Easter\u201d will use the possessive form (tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>) of \u201cC\u00e1isc<\/strong>,\u201d which is \u201cC\u00e1sca<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Domhnach C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter Sunday<\/p>\n

Luan C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter Monday<\/p>\n

Aimsir na C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Eastertide (that\u2019s \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d in its extended meaning of \u201ctime,\u201d not \u201cweather\u201d here)<\/p>\n

Seachtain na C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter Week<\/p>\n

Uan C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 paschal lamb<\/p>\n

Lus C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 pasque-flower (from \u201clus<\/strong>,\u201d plant, herb, flower, not \u201cbl\u00e1th<\/strong>,\u201d the basic word for \u201cflower\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cC\u00e1sca<\/strong>\u201d itself will be lenited (inserting the letter \u201ch\u201d) if the noun preceding it is feminine (and singular):<\/p>\n

tine Ch\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 paschal fire<\/p>\n

ubh Ch\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter egg<\/p>\n

That rule will be dropped if the subject is plural:<\/p>\n

tinte C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 paschal fires<\/p>\n

uibheacha C\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter eggs (or you could use the term for a clutch of them, \u201cc\u00fab\u00f3g<\/strong>\u201d)<\/p>\n

And the lenition will be reinstated after nouns that are masculine, plural, AND end in a slender consonant:<\/p>\n

uain Ch\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter lambs (\u201c-in\u201d <\/strong>being the slender ending here)<\/p>\n

Or, for those who believe that the Easter goodies are brought by flying bells (cloig eitilte<\/strong>), the phrase would be:<\/p>\n

cloig Ch\u00e1sca<\/strong> \u2013 Easter bells (not that you\u2019re likely to find that in any traditional account of Irish Easter customs).<\/p>\n

One flying Easter bell would not have lenition (clog C\u00e1sca<\/strong>), but it seems to be a job that requires teamwork.\u00a0 Most references I see for les cloches de P\u00e2ques<\/em> are in the plural.<\/p>\n

The good news about all these lenition rules \u2013 you can use them over and over again even if you\u2019re not talking about Easter!\u00a0 Here are some more examples:<\/p>\n

scian ph\u00f3ca<\/strong> (pocket knife): lenition following feminine singular noun<\/p>\n

sceana p\u00f3ca<\/strong> (pocket knives): lenition \u201ccancelled\u201d if feminine noun is plural<\/p>\n

fir mh\u00f3ra<\/strong> (big men): lenition if a masculine plural noun ends in a slender consonant (as opposed to the singular, which here would be \u201cfear m\u00f3r<\/strong>\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cC\u00e1isc\u201d<\/strong> is also used for \u201cPassover\u201d (remember, it\u2019s derived from the Hebrew \u201cPesach<\/em>\u201d).\u00a0 For clarification, one can say \u201cC\u00e1isc na nGi\u00fadach<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course, we can\u2019t overlook \u00c9ir\u00ed Amach na C\u00e1sca<\/strong> (the Easter Rising) of 1916.<\/p>\n

A few more terms related to Easter are:<\/p>\n

Domhnach na Pailme<\/strong> \u2013 Palm Sunday<\/p>\n

Domhnach an I\u00fair<\/strong> \u2013 Palm Sunday (an I\u00fair<\/strong> = of the yew, referring to the use of yew if palm was unavailable)<\/p>\n

Domhnach na Slat \u2013 <\/strong>Palm Sunday, lit. the Sunday of the rods \/ slender sticks; also referring to using branches of the yew tree (slat<\/strong>, rod, stick, wand)<\/p>\n

Domhnach na hImrime<\/strong> \u2013 Palm Sunday (imrim<\/strong> = riding, but today is a literary word, the ordinary word for riding being \u201cmarca\u00edocht<\/strong>\u201d)<\/p>\n

Domhnach na Toirn\u00e9ise<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Palm Sunday, lit. the Sunday of the noise \/ commotion (toirn\u00e9is<\/strong>, noise, commotion)<\/p>\n

D\u00e9ardaoin Mand\u00e1la<\/strong> \u2013 Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday<\/p>\n

Aoine an Ch\u00e9asta<\/strong> \u2013 Good Friday (lit. the Friday of the Crucifixion)<\/p>\n

Sin r\u00e1ite agam<\/strong>, I\u2019ll conclude with one way to say \u201cHappy Easter.\u201d\u00a0 Like \u201cHappy St. Patrick\u2019s Day,\u201d the traditional expression doesn\u2019t include the adjective \u201chappy\u201d but instead uses \u201cblessings of\u201d:\u00a0 Beannachta\u00ed na C\u00e1sca ort<\/strong> (to one person) or Beannachta\u00ed na C\u00e1sca oraibh<\/strong> (to more than one person). —\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Yes, it\u2019s been over a year now since this blog was started.\u00a0 Luisa was kind enough to send birthday greetings to the blog a little while ago.\u00a0 T\u00e1 an blag beag\u00e1n n\u00edos m\u00f3 n\u00e1 bliain d\u2019aois anois.\u00a0 (The blog is a little over a year old now).\u00a0 Go raibh maith agat, a Luisa!…<\/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":[4525,4571,4644,316237,3167,316236,5878,316238,3349,3404],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-caisc","tag-casca","tag-chaisc","tag-clog-casca","tag-easter","tag-flying-easter-bell","tag-lenition","tag-les-cloches-de-paques","tag-plural","tag-singular"],"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