{"id":1768,"date":"2012-01-26T15:16:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-26T15:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1768"},"modified":"2014-03-28T21:56:39","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T21:56:39","slug":"tsaggssl-an-gaeilge-e-sin-is-that-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tsaggssl-an-gaeilge-e-sin-is-that-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"TSAGGSSL (An Gaeilge \u00c9 Sin? Is That Irish?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Bhuel,<\/strong> to answer the title question, braitheann<\/strong> s\u00e9<\/strong>.\u00a0 It depends.\u00a0 You might remember \u201cTSAGGSSL<\/strong>\u201d from the last blog.\u00a0 No, it\u2019s not some permutation of \u201cYggdrasil\u201d or a new companion to the smallish list of words with 8 letters but only one vowel.\u00a0 Yes, there are some examples of those 8-letter wonders in languages like B\u00e9arla<\/strong> and Gearm\u00e1inis <\/strong>and perhaps i dteangacha eile <\/strong>(for samples, f\u00e9ach n\u00f3ta 1 th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

So what is TSAGGSSL<\/strong>, aside from seacht gconsan agus guta amh\u00e1in<\/strong>?\u00a0 It stands for \u201cT\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go gcuid\u00edonn s\u00e9 sin leat<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 IOW, \u201cHTH.\u201d\u00a0 At least for most purposes, it would mean the same as \u201cHope this helps,\u201d but without the edge of sarcasm that \u201cHTH\u201d sometimes has.\u00a0 I say \u201cfor most purposes\u201d since HTH, like many abbreviations, has more than one meaning (hand-to-hand, etc.).<\/p>\n

And what exactly does \u201cT\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go gcuid\u00edonn s\u00e9 sin leat<\/strong>\u201d mean?\u00a0 \u201cHope is at me that that help is with you,\u201d in other words, \u201cHope this helps.\u201d\u00a0 Broken down further:<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 s\u00fail \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 agam \u00a0 \u00a0go \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 gcuid\u00edonn \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 s\u00e9 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sin \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 leat<\/strong><\/p>\n

(there) is + \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 hope + at me + that +\u00a0 helps +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it + \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 that +\u00a0\u00a0 with you.<\/p>\n

\u201cS\u00fail,\u201d<\/strong> as many of you will recognize, also has a more literal meaning, \u201ceye.\u201d\u00a0 There is another word for hope in Irish, \u201cd\u00f3chas<\/strong>,\u201d which is usually used more abstractly, and which also shows up in the place name, \u201cRinn an D\u00f3chais<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our \u201cT\u00e1 s\u00fail agam \u2026<\/strong>\u201d sentence \u00a0is in the singular, addressing one person, as marked by the word \u201cleat<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 We could also use \u201clibh<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cwith you\u201d (plural), but the acronym would still come out the same.\u00a0 For that matter, we could also substitute \u201cagainn<\/strong>\u201d (at us) for \u201cagam<\/strong>,\u201d to make the wish come from more than one person (i.e. if several people helped to solve the problem).\u00a0 But again, the acronym would still be the same!<\/p>\n

Did you notice the two words \u201cthat\u201d in the sentence?\u00a0 The first one (\u201cgo<\/strong>\u201d) introduces indirect statement, as in \u201cDeirim go bhfuil s\u00ed ann,\u201d \u201cChuala s\u00e9 go raibh s\u00ed ann,\u201d <\/strong>or \u201cThug s\u00e9 an leabhar go raibh s\u00ed ann.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 The second one, \u201csin<\/strong>\u201d [shin] is the demonstrative adjective, as in \u201can fear sin<\/strong>\u201d or \u201can bhean sin<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 In Irish, the demonstrative adjective is often combined with pronouns (like \u201cs\u00e9,<\/strong>\u201d it), to give the sense of \u201cthis (thing)\u201d (s\u00e9 seo<\/strong>) or \u201cthat (thing)\u201d (s\u00e9 sin<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

A few pronunciation tips: gcuid\u00edonn<\/strong> [GUDJ-ee-un], eclipsed after the word \u201cgo<\/strong>\u201d (that); s\u00e9<\/strong> [shay]; sin<\/strong> [shin]<\/p>\n

Of course, I guess if we\u2019re really going to acronymize \u201cI hope that this helps you,\u201d we could do what English does and shorten the entire concept.\u00a0 In English, instead of saying \u201cI hope that this helps you,\u201d we reduce it to \u201cHope this helps.\u201d\u00a0 So if we drop the ending in Irish, we could just have \u201cTSAGG<\/strong>\u201d or even just \u201cSAGG<\/strong>\u201d \u2013 but I like having the initial \u201ct\u201d \u2013 t\u00e1 cuma n\u00edos Gaela\u00ed air, s\u00edlim<\/strong>.\u00a0 Does this remind you of all those initial-ts words in Irish?\u00a0 Like \u201c(an) tsr\u00e1id,\u201d \u201c(carr an) tsagairt,\u201d <\/strong>and \u201c(airgead an) tsli\u00facaim\u00e9ara<\/strong>\u201d?\u00a0 Or a few more choice examples, like \u201c(an) tsliosfhuinneog,\u201d \u201c(an) tslime,\u201d \u201c(an) tslachtmhaireacht,\u201d<\/strong> or \u201c(ainm an) tslat\u00f3ra.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Remember, \u201cs\u201d is silent after an initial \u201ct\u201d in Irish (an tsr\u00e1id<\/strong> [un trawdj], etc.).\u00a0 So, if we pronounced the acronym TSAGG<\/strong> as per Irish rules, it would sound like \u201ctag,\u201d which sounds appropriate for the context, vaguely computery-jargony.\u00a0 BTW, English has only a handful of initial-ts words.\u00a0 An cuimhin leat iad?\u00a0 Muna cuimhin leat, f\u00e9ach sna n\u00f3ta\u00ed th\u00edos (2).<\/strong>\u00a0 Of course, in Irish, the \u201cts\u201d combination only occurs due to a trigger from a preceding word, like \u201cthe\u201d before certain nouns starting with \u201cs.\u201d\u00a0 These include feminine singular nouns (an tslat, an tsn\u00e1thaid<\/strong>) or the possessive forms of masculine singular nouns (sle\u00e1n an tsle\u00e1nad\u00f3ra<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

But to get back down to earth, and to deal with practical applications of the \u201cHTH\u201d idea, there\u2019s no reason you have<\/em> to make an acronym out of it.\u00a0 It would be perfectly fine to use the full phrase, as given above, creating variations like the following:<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam gur chuidigh s\u00e9 sin leat.<\/strong>\u00a0 I hope that helped you<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go gcuideoidh s\u00e9 sin leat<\/strong>. I hope that will help you.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go gcabhra\u00edonn s\u00e9 sin leat<\/strong>.\u00a0 I hope that helps you (using \u201ccabhraigh<\/strong>\u201d instead of \u201ccuidigh<\/strong>\u201d for \u201chelp\u201d).<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam gur chabhraigh s\u00e9 sin leat<\/strong>.\u00a0 I hope that helped you.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go gcabhr\u00f3idh s\u00e9 sin leat<\/strong>.\u00a0 I hope that will help you.<\/p>\n

And now how, I find myself wondering, has this concept been acronymized in other languages as well?\u00a0 How \u2018bout TMADGBESACL? GMH? <\/em>Or JEQCTA <\/em>or EEQCTA<\/em> (although I\u2019m getting a little out of my Celtic comfort zone with the last two!).\u00a0 <\/em>Cad iad si\u00fad, in ainm D\u00e9?\u00a0 F\u00e9ach n\u00f3ta 3 th\u00edos.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

As for whether the acronym form of \u201cHTH\u201d is widely used in Irish, or even in the other languages directly above, I\u2019d say probably not.\u00a0 I have a hunch that English is one of the most acronym-prone languages out there, to the extent that there are lots of protests against acronymization (e.g. Jeff Atwood\u2019s http:\/\/www.codinghorror.com\/blog\/2006\/02\/dont-acronymize-your-users.html<\/a>).\u00a0 Hmmm, \u201canti-acronymizationism (?)\u201d!\u00a0 But meanwhile, it sure gives us an opportunity to explore st\u00f3rfhocal<\/strong> [STOR-OK-ul] na Gaeilge.\u00a0 T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go raibh s\u00e9 seo cabhrach.\u00a0 <\/strong>Or \u201cHTH\u2019d.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>Hope this helped (at least to explain the acronym sa bhlag roimhe seo).\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. Hmm, can I \u201cpast-tense-ize\u201d HTH as \u201cHTH\u2019d\u201d?<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 1: Focail fhada nach bhfuil ach guta amh\u00e1in acu:<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. B\u00e9arla:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strength: it\u2019s unusual in English that both the 3-letter cluster \u201cstr-\u201c joins up with the 4-letter ending \u201c-ngth,\u201d but here it is \u2013 ocht litir, guta amh\u00e1in.<\/strong>\u00a0 The ending \u201c-ngth\u201d is pretty rare in and of itself, but it\u2019s only with the initial \u201cstr-\u201c that it real chalks up points for near-vowellessness.\u00a0 The other two examples of final \u201c-ngth,\u201d \u201clength\u201d and the quite obsolete \u201cyoungth,\u201d simply have fewer consonants in proportion to the vowels.<\/p>\n

Schnapps, tagann an focal seo \u00f3n nGearm\u00e1inis<\/strong>, \u201cschnaps<\/em>\u201d (gan ach \u201cp\u201d amh\u00e1in). \u00a0\u201cSchnapps\u201d i nGaeilge<\/strong>?\u00a0 Focal at\u00e1 i bhfad n\u00edos giorra <\/strong>[shorter] \u2013 \u201csneap\u201d<\/strong> [shnap].<\/p>\n

B. Gearm\u00e1inis<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Naoi litir agus guta amh\u00e1in, mh\u2019anam!:<\/strong> \u201cschrumpfst<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocht litir agus guta amh\u00e1in,<\/strong> reasonably \u201cmh\u2019anam<\/strong>-ish\u201d freisin<\/strong>: \u201cschwimmt<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, what can I say, but nach iontach na cairn chonsan iad<\/strong>?\u00a0 (carn<\/strong>, here, \u201ccluster,\u201d often \u201cheap, mound\u201d).\u00a0 So, of these two German words, which means \u201che\/she\/it swims\u201d and which means \u201cyou shrink\u201d?\u00a0 More or less a \u201ctabhartas in aisce,\u201d d\u00e9arfainn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

C. Gaeilge: i nGaeilge, bhuel, n\u00ed fhaighim ach focail le seacht litir agus guta amh\u00e1in ina measc: \u201c(i) bhfadhb,\u201d \u201c(i) ndr\u00facht,\u201d agus \u201c(i) bhflosc,\u201d mar shampla\u00ed.\u00a0 N\u00edl m\u00e9 \u00e1balta smaoineamh ar aon fhocal a bhfuil ocht litir aige nach bhfuil ach guta amh\u00e1in ann. \u00a0An f\u00e9idir libhse?\u00a0 N.B. Ceist eile ar fad \u00ed ceist na bhfocal fada nach bhfuil ach an guta c\u00e9anna iontu, mar shampla, \u201cadhantach.\u201d \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

D. Teangacha eile: Polainnis?\u00a0 Sanscrait?\u00a0 Molta\u00ed ar bith agaibhse?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

If any readers can think of some other one-vowel goodies i dteangacha eile<\/strong>, it would be fun to see them.\u00a0 Please do write in.\u00a0 Irish has lots that are seven letters with one vowel, as we just saw, especially when we apply ur\u00fa<\/strong> (eclipsis).\u00a0 It has some really long words with proportionately few vowels, ach sin \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s always \u201cna hadhbha<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cna hadhbhtha<\/strong>\u201d but, guess what, sin \u00e1bhar blag eile freisin! <\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 2: Focail A Thosa\u00edonn le \u201cts\u201d i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong>:\u00a0 These are all I could find, and they\u2019re all focail iasachta<\/strong> (loan words).\u00a0 In Irish, these words just start with a regular single \u201cs.\u201d \u00a0An f\u00e9idir le duine ar bith agaibh smaoineamh ar cheann ar bith eile?<\/strong>\u00a0 Additional suggestions welcome!<\/p>\n

\u00d3n R\u00faisis:<\/strong> tsar (czar), tsarina (czarina).\u00a0 I nGaeilge?\u00a0 S\u00e1r, Bans\u00e1r<\/strong>, No initial \u201ct\u201d of \u201cs\u00e1r<\/strong>\u201d unless possessive (mac an ts\u00e1ir<\/strong>, the son of the tsar).\u00a0 \u201cBans\u00e1r\u201d<\/strong> has the \u201cban<\/strong>-\u201c prefix and so would never get an initial \u201ct.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00d3n tSeap\u00e1inis: <\/strong>tsunami, s\u00fan\u00e1ma\u00ed; <\/strong>tsuzumi, sus\u00faimi<\/strong> (a type of Japanese drum).<\/p>\n

\u00d3n tSu\u00e1inis<\/strong>: tsetse fly, seitse<\/strong> [SHETCH-uh].\u00a0 Note that \u201ccuileog<\/strong>,\u201d the actual word for a \u201cfly\u201d in Irish, \u00a0isn\u2019t part of the term; it\u2019s just \u201cseitse<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 3 (An tAcrainm i dTeangacha Eile?)<\/strong><\/p>\n

TM ADGBESACL? <\/em>Tha mi an d\u00f2chas gum bi e seo a\u2019 cuideachadh leat<\/em> (or \u201c\u2026 gu bheil e seo <\/em>\u2026\u201d) (or \u201cleibh<\/em>,\u201d etc.) (Gaeilge na hAlban)<\/strong><\/p>\n

GMH? G<\/em>obeithio mae\u2019n help (<\/em>or \u201c\u2026 helpu\u201d) <\/em>(Breatnais)<\/strong><\/p>\n

JEQCTA <\/em>or EEQCTA? <\/em>“J’esp\u00e8re que ca t’aidera”<\/em> or “en esp\u00e9rant que ca t\u2019aide.”\u00a0 <\/em>Or plural forms: JEQCVA or EEQCVA<\/em> for \u201cvous\u201d? <\/em>(Fraincis)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais: adhantach, <\/strong>igneous, inflammable; molta\u00ed<\/strong>, suggestions; Rinn an D\u00f3chais, <\/strong>The Cape of Good Hope; smaoineamh<\/strong>, to think, to reflect; Su\u00e1inis<\/strong>, Tswana (a language of southern Africa); tabhartas in aisce<\/strong>, a giveaway; thug s\u00e9 an leabhar go<\/strong> \u2026, he swore that \u2026 (lit. he gave\/took the book that \u2026)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Bhuel, to answer the title question, braitheann s\u00e9.\u00a0 It depends.\u00a0 You might remember \u201cTSAGGSSL\u201d from the last blog.\u00a0 No, it\u2019s not some permutation of \u201cYggdrasil\u201d or a new companion to the smallish list of words with 8 letters but only one vowel.\u00a0 Yes, there are some examples of those 8-letter wonders in languages…<\/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":[3973,3975,172875,172873,35678,172877,172876,5667,11,172872,172878,172879],"class_list":["post-1768","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-acrainm","tag-acronym","tag-dochas","tag-eye","tag-hope","tag-hope-this-helps","tag-hth","tag-irish","tag-pronunciation","tag-suil","tag-ta-suil-agam-go-gcuidionn-se-seo-leat","tag-tsaggssl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768","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=1768"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5128,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1768\/revisions\/5128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}