{"id":18,"date":"2009-04-09T08:10:23","date_gmt":"2009-04-09T12:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=18"},"modified":"2018-01-29T14:49:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T14:49:32","slug":"mor-crionna-or-sean-grandparents-by-any-other-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/mor-crionna-or-sean-grandparents-by-any-other-name\/","title":{"rendered":"M\u00f3r? Cr\u00edonna? or Sean? — Grandparents By Any Other Name!"},"content":{"rendered":"
(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0 I frequently get asked about the Irish word for \u201cgrandmother\u201d or \u201cgrandma,\u201d so children in Irish-American families can start using it as a pet name.\u00a0 Sometimes the basic term \u201cGrandma\u201d has already been taken by one side of the family, so the other side may look for a different name, like \u201cNana\u201d in English. \u00a0Most of the people who ask for this are the actual grandmothers, not the grandfathers, but in this blog, I\u2019ll be an equal opportunity terminologist and assume that the male and female terms are of equal interest.\u00a0 A Sheanaithreacha<\/strong> (grandfathers!), please take note!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s start with the formalities, \u201cgrandmother\u201d and \u201cgrandfather.\u201d\u00a0 Most children don\u2019t actually use these in talking with the actual grandparent but they\u2019re useful in narrative and in general discussion.\u00a0 There are three pairs of terms, each building on the words \u201cm\u00e1thair<\/strong>\u201d (mother) and \u201cathair<\/strong>\u201d (father):<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 seanmh\u00e1thair, seanathair<\/span><\/strong>: based on the prefix \u201csean-<\/strong>\u201c (old)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 m\u00e1thair chr\u00edonna, athair cr\u00edonna<\/span><\/strong>: based on the adjective \u201ccr\u00edonna<\/strong>\u201d (wise, prudent, aged).\u00a0 Please note: despite the endearing bit of misinformation currently circulating on the Internet (sites will remain nameless), these terms do NOT mean \u201cmother of my heart\u201d and \u201cfather of my heart.\u201d\u00a0 Those phrases would be based on \u201ccro\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d ([krrr<\/sup>ee] heart), not \u201ccr\u00edonna<\/strong>\u201d ([K<\/span>Rzh<\/sup>EE-uh-nuh] wise).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 m\u00e1thair mh\u00f3r, athair m\u00f3r:<\/span><\/strong> based on the adjective \u201cm\u00f3r<\/strong>\u201d (big, great).\u00a0 I\u2019ve mostly heard this term in Donegal.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 For the more familiar terms, there are \u201cMam\u00f3<\/strong>\u201d (or “Maimeo<\/strong>“) and \u201cM\u00f3ra\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cgrandma,\u201d and \u201cDaideo<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cgrandpa.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 Using these words is one way that Irish words can be come part of a child\u2019s life, and perhaps stimulate further study of the language later.\u00a0 \u00a0Needless to say, the terms can now grace muga\u00ed <\/strong>(mugs), t-l\u00e9inte <\/strong>(t-shirts), or l\u00e9inte acla\u00edochta (<\/strong>sweatshirts, lit. \u201cexercise shirts\u201d). Or, for that matter, any other merchandise that allows you to send in customized text for printing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0 One curious feature of all of these terms is that none of them are used to create the words \u201cgrandchild,\u201d \u201cgrandson,\u201d or \u201cgrand-daughter.\u201d\u00a0 So how do you do it?\u00a0 Bhuel, ag bogarnach ar an aill sin<\/strong> (Well, hanging on that cliff), sl\u00e1n go dt\u00ed an ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile<\/strong> (goodbye until the next blog).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Bhur mblag\u00e1la\u00ed – R\u00f3isl\u00edn <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) \u00a0 I frequently get asked about the Irish word for \u201cgrandmother\u201d or \u201cgrandma,\u201d so children in Irish-American families can start using it as a pet name.\u00a0 Sometimes the basic term \u201cGrandma\u201d has already been taken by one side of the family, so the other side may look for a different name, like \u201cNana\u201d 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":[3950,379076,4236,4237,4238,4359,474580,4830,4889,5302,5359,5424,5425,5426,5427,5433,5667,5865,5866,5985,6022,6023,6024,6033,6138,6146,6161,6162,6526,6539,6738,6744,6998,6999],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-a-sheanaithreacha","tag-aill","tag-athair","tag-athair-crionna","tag-athair-mor","tag-bhur-mblagalai","tag-bogarnach","tag-crionna","tag-daideo","tag-gaelic","tag-ghaeilge","tag-grandfather","tag-grandma","tag-grandmother","tag-grandpa","tag-grandpop","tag-irish","tag-leine-aclaiochta","tag-leinte-aclaiochta","tag-mamo","tag-mathair","tag-mathair-chrionna","tag-mathair-mhor","tag-mblagalai","tag-morai","tag-mother-of-my-heart","tag-muga","tag-mugai","tag-prefix-sean-","tag-pronounce","tag-seanathair","tag-seanmhathair","tag-t-leine","tag-t-leinte"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","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=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10071,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/10071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}