{"id":1774,"date":"2012-01-30T17:13:24","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T17:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1774"},"modified":"2018-02-27T00:35:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T00:35:52","slug":"tearmai-geimhridh-winter-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tearmai-geimhridh-winter-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u00e9arma\u00ed Geimhridh (Winter Terms)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This winter is proving to be unusually cold (fuar<\/strong>) in some parts of the world (an Eoraip<\/strong>) and unseasonably mild (bog<\/strong>) in others (Meirice\u00e1, b\u2019fh\u00e9idir Ceanada<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Before we proceed, let\u2019s look briefly at the pronunciation of the adjectives “fuar<\/strong>” and “bog<\/strong>.” For \u201cfuar<\/strong>,\u201d I\u2019ll simply note that each vowel is pronounced, so it’s \u201cfoo-ur.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s noticeably different from most other 2-vowel combinations in Irish, which usually have just one discrete sound (fear, duine, bu\u00ed, maith, srl.<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The pronunciation of \u201cbog<\/strong>,\u201d might seem to be straightforward, but it is worth noting that it\u2019s not the same as the pronunciation of \u201cbog\u201d in English, although the two words are historically related (a “bog” being a “soft — if squishy — place”).\u00a0 \u201cBog<\/strong>\u201d in Irish, is most commonly used as an adjective (soft, tender, lenient, mellow, loose).\u00a0 As such, the short \u201co\u201d sound is as in \u201cpota<\/strong>\u201d (not quite the same sound as English \u201cpot\u201d) or \u201cros<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 I emphasize this because it is easy to assume that two similar-looking words, especially short one-syllable ones with only one vowel, would be pronounced the same, even if they are in two different languages.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost a gut reaction (and I\u2019ve heard the phenomenon happen many times over the years in teaching Irish).\u00a0 But chance homographs from two different languages are rarely pronounced alike.\u00a0 Irish and English share a number of homographs but they are different in pronunciation, meaning, and part of speech.\u00a0 Examples include as<\/strong>\/as, is<\/strong>\/is, air<\/strong>\/air, and gorm<\/strong>\/gorm (the English \u201cgorm\u201d being the nearly defunct root of \u201cgormless\u201d). \u00a0And that intriguing situation might actually be \u00e1bhar blog eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To wrap that up, \u201cbog<\/strong>\u201d in Irish isn\u2019t actually the noun for \u201ca bog\u201d (a place for digging peat, or in the U.S., for growing cranberries); that is generally \u201cportach<\/strong>\u201d (or \u201ccriathrach<\/strong>,\u201d although that<\/em> is more specifically a \u201cpitted\u201d bog; hmm, a \u201ccranberry bog,\u201d I might have to re-think that one since cranberry bogs don\u2019t look anything like an Irish \u201cportach<\/strong>\u201d).\u00a0 \u201cBog<\/strong>\u201d in Irish can also be a verb (soften, become soft, loosen), or it can be a noun referring to something soft, as in \u201cbog na cluaise<\/strong>\u201d (the ear lobe).<\/p>\n

Anyway, now that we\u2019ve established the basics (geimhreadh iontach fuar<\/strong> vs. geimhreadh bog<\/strong>), let\u2019s look at some other winter-related words:<\/p>\n

an geimhreadh <\/strong>[un GYEV-ruh or GYEER-uh], the winter (comparable to Welsh \u201cgaeaf<\/em>\u201d)<\/p>\n

geimhridh<\/strong>, [GYEV-ree], of winter, as in \u201c\u00e9ada\u00ed geimhridh<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cglaslus geimhridh;<\/strong>\u201d when used with feminine singular nouns, gheimhridh<\/strong> [YEV-ree], as in \u201caimsir gheimhridh<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 an gheimhridh<\/strong> [un YEV-ree], of the winter, as in \u201cr\u00e1ithe an gheimhridh\u201d <\/strong>(winter-time, lit. the season of the winter)<\/p>\n

geimhr\u00ed<\/strong> [GYEV-ree] or geimhr\u00edocha<\/strong> [GYEV-ree-ukh-uh], winters, and na geimhr\u00ed,<\/strong> or na geimhr\u00edocha<\/strong>, the winters<\/p>\n

geimhreata<\/strong> or geimhri\u00fail<\/strong>, wintry<\/p>\n

As for \u201csnow,\u201d the basic word is \u201csneachta<\/strong>,\u201d with the following forms:<\/p>\n

an sneachta<\/strong>, the snow<\/p>\n

\u2026 an tsneachta<\/strong>, of the snow, as in \u201cdoimhne an tsneachta<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t occur much in the plural, but it can, so, we do have \u201cna sneachta\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d the snows.\u00a0 But, for whatever reason, the classic phrase \u201cthe snows of yesteryear\u201d (one of the few plural uses even in English) remains in the singular, as \u201csneachta na bliana anuraidh.<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 I would have thought \u201csneachta\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d but so be it.\u00a0 Yossarian did pluralize his \u201cSnowdens of yesteryear\u201d quip (Catch-22<\/em>), but that, of course, is derivative.\u00a0 Sneachta\u00ed Kilimanjaro, <\/strong>would be a legitimate example, is d\u00f3cha<\/strong>, but I see neither hide nor hair of it online.\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell me no one has translated Hemingway into Irish! \u00a0\u00a0An ndeir t\u00fa (t\u00fa <\/strong>being Google!) liom?<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now, a little more vocabulary practice.\u00a0 Can you match these winter terms with their definitions?\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos (A).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1. sneachta<\/strong><\/td>\n2. flich-shneachta<\/strong><\/td>\n3. cal\u00f3ga sneachta<\/strong><\/td>\n4. reod\u00f3g<\/strong><\/td>\n5. s\u00edobadh sneachta <\/strong><\/td>\n6. greallach shneachta<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
a. snowflakes<\/td>\nb. icicle<\/td>\nc. snow<\/td>\nd. slush<\/td>\ne. sleet<\/td>\nf. blizzard<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

And what happens to some of our English phrases that evoke wintriness in a more abstract or metaphoric manner?\u00a0 As one might guess, their Irish equivalents are a little more literal.\u00a0 Can you match up these expressions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1. wintry reception<\/td>\n2. a dead frost<\/td>\n3. slushy sentimentality<\/td>\n4. wintry smile<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0a. g\u00e1ire beag fuar<\/strong><\/td>\nb. truflais mhaoth-chainte<\/strong><\/td>\nc. fuarfh\u00e1ilte<\/strong><\/td>\nd. gan aon mhaith<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

More wintry terms coming up, in upcoming blogs, since we are i nd\u00fala\u00edocht an gheimhridh,<\/strong> at least from the North American perspective (winter season = December, January, February, equinoxes notwithstanding).\u00a0 In the traditional Irish calendar, spring starts on L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile Br\u00edde (1 Feabhra)<\/strong>.\u00a0 Go dt\u00ed sin, agus ag smaoineamh ar an ngrian, SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais\u00edn: bog<\/strong>, mild (re: winter, not for a \u201cmild personality,\u201d which would use adjectives like \u201cs\u00e9imh<\/strong>\u201d or \u201ccaomh<\/strong>,\u201d or \u201cmild beer,\u201d which would be \u201cs\u00e9imh<\/strong>\u201d); greallach<\/strong>, loam, mire, trampled ground<\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed A<\/strong>: 1c, 2e, 3a, 4b, 5f, 6d; Freagra\u00ed B<\/strong>: 1c, 2d (as in \u201cfailure,\u201d rather dated slang, I know, but still metaphoric), 3b, 4a<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta: sneachta vs. sneachta\u00ed.<\/strong>\u00a0 Hmm, Rossetti kept the plural in his iconic translation of “Mais o\u00f9 sont les neiges d’antan?”<\/em>\u00a0but I see a German translation in the singular \u201cWo ist der Schnee vom vergangenen Jahr?\u00a0 <\/em>So, is snow countable or uncountable?\u00a0 Is Irish different from English in this regard?\u00a0 Or does it matter, since the \u201csnows\u201d in Villon\u2019s poem are actually women, such as Joan of Arc, Heloise, and \u201cBerte au grant pi\u00e9<\/em>\u201d (Bertha of the Big Foot, as per the medieval French spelling). \u00a0Looking for \u201csneachta\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d online, I find very few actual uses in context.\u00a0 Most of the 63 hits (a pretty small sample, at that) are simply dictionary entries that repeat the existence of a plural form.\u00a0 An unusual exception is the phrase \u201cd\u00e1 mbeinn i dT\u00edr Bheannaithe na Sneachta\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d a reference to Tibet, from a poem called \u201cF\u00e9inghlacadh<\/strong>\u201d by \u201cTQ\u201d (a Dubliner whose full name isn\u2019t given in his blog, \u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/machnamh.blogspot.com\/2006_03_01_archive.html<\/a>).\u00a0 On the other hand, Irish poet and translator Gabriel Rosenstock treats Issa\u2019s \u201csnows of Shinano\u201d as singular in his phrase \u201csneachta Shinano<\/strong>\u201d (http:\/\/haikuguy.com\/issa\/rosenstock.html<\/a>).\u00a0 And that raises a question that I can\u2019t answer \u2013 is \u201csnow\u201d countable or uncountable in Japanese? \u00a0Bhuel, bia smaoinimh as seo amach.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nuashonr\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0(Update):\u00a0N\u00f3ta<\/strong>\u00a0re:\u00a0Ceart\u00fach\u00e1n do na Freagra\u00ed (Freagrai A): \u00a0T\u00e1 siad ceartaithe<\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0(corrected)\u00a0agam anois. \u00a0Bh\u00ed dh\u00e1 fhreagra “c” agam. \u00a0Br\u00f3n orm m\u00e1 chuir s\u00e9 am\u00fa th\u00fa.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) This winter is proving to be unusually cold (fuar) in some parts of the world (an Eoraip) and unseasonably mild (bog) in others (Meirice\u00e1, b\u2019fh\u00e9idir Ceanada). Before we proceed, let\u2019s look briefly at the pronunciation of the adjectives “fuar” and “bog.” For \u201cfuar,\u201d I\u2019ll simply note that each vowel is pronounced, so it’s…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":1789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4404,172880,172893,376462,5210,111059,5435,172884,172886,5667,172883,2241,172888,11,172882,13249,172885,172881,6842,6864,984,172892,172887,172894,376463,172895,172896,992,172891],"class_list":["post-1774","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-blizzard","tag-calog","tag-catch-22","tag-countable","tag-flichshneachta","tag-geimhreadh","tag-greallach","tag-haiku","tag-icicle","tag-irish","tag-issa","tag-japanese","tag-neiges","tag-pronunciation","tag-reodog","tag-schnee","tag-shinano","tag-siobadh","tag-sleet","tag-sneachta","tag-snow","tag-snowdens","tag-snows","tag-snows-of-yesteryear","tag-uncountable","tag-villon","tag-where-are-the-snows-of-yesteryear","tag-winter","tag-yossarian"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774","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=1774"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10200,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1774\/revisions\/10200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}