{"id":1986,"date":"2012-03-13T02:33:58","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T02:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1986"},"modified":"2015-03-16T16:10:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-16T16:10:06","slug":"deir-an-dumheidic-black-medick-ba-mhaith-liomsa-a-bheith-i-miomaitheoir-freisin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/deir-an-dumheidic-black-medick-ba-mhaith-liomsa-a-bheith-i-miomaitheoir-freisin\/","title":{"rendered":"Deir an D\u00famheidic (Black Medick): \u201cBa mhaith liomsa a bheith i m\u2019iomaitheoir freisin!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

d\u00famheidic (nach bhfuil ach a s\u00edolta dubh!)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the last blog (blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-tseamrog-the-shamrock\/<\/a>), I noted that there were at least eight contenders for the title of \u201cshamrock,\u201d including seams\u00f3g\u00a0<\/strong>(wood-sorrel) and various types of seamair<\/strong>\u00a0(clover).\u00a0 The blog I cited (www.naturalistsalmanac.com\/0317stpat.html<\/a>) mentioned there being eight possibilities, but only elaborated on six (five types of clover and the wood-sorrel).\u00a0 So what are the other two?\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ve found ceann amh\u00e1in acu<\/strong>, but am still looking for the eighth one.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s iomaitheoir an lae<\/strong> (the contender of the day): d\u00famheidic<\/strong> [DOO-VEDJ-ik], black medick (Medicago lupulina)<\/em>, aka Blackweed, Black Nonsuch (aka Black Nonesuch), and Black Hay.\u00a0 Each node of this plant bears three leaves, creating confusion with various clovers (like seamair dhuimhche<\/strong>\/Hop Trefoil) and the so-called \u201cfalse shamrock\u201d (the wood sorrel, which we could perhaps acknowledge as an actual \u201csham shamrock\u201d).<\/p>\n

Black medick is found throughout, most of the world, it seems, so we could probably have an interesting time collecting names for it in different languages.\u00a0 At least I\u2019d enjoy that!\u00a0 Among other locations, it\u2019s found in Europe, most of Asia, North Africa, and the United States.\u00a0 It has bright yellow flowers and its seed pods are black when ripe, hence the name. \u00a0It is used both as a forage crop and an intercrop, but there are some concerns about it since, to use botanists\u2019 lingo, its \u201cinvasive potential\u201d is \u201cmedium,\u201d due to its high rate of seed production.<\/p>\n

Why is it called \u201cmedick,\u201d with a suggestion of medicinal use in the Latin name also (medicago<\/em>)?\u00a0 I see some references to it having antibacterial properties when made into a water-based extract.\u00a0 It\u2019s described as \u201csoothing,\u201d which sounds fairly open to interpretation to me.\u00a0 It is also described as \u201clenitive,\u201d a term which certainly warms the cockles of my grammar-delirious heart.\u00a0 Now we just need the Irish for \u201clenitive,\u201d to distinguish it from our friends \u201clenite,\u201d \u201clenition,\u201d and \u201clenitable.\u201d And yes, we have it \u2026 \u201cmaolaitheach<\/strong>,\u201d which would have made sense to me from the get-go.\u00a0 \u201cMaolaitheach<\/strong>\u201d \u00a0comes from \u201cmaol\u00fa<\/strong>,\u201d which can mean \u201ctoning down,\u201d \u201cdulling,\u201d or \u201clessening,\u201d as well as the more material \u201cdehorning,\u201d as in cows, and \u201cbecoming bald\u201d.<\/p>\n

Black medick\u2019s cousin, meidic bhreac<\/strong>, has a dark spot in the center of each leaf, hence its name, which literally means \u201cspotted medick.\u201d\u00a0 As for how either spotted or black medick differs from meidic na mb\u00f3<\/strong> (purple medick aka lucerne aka alfalfa, lit. cows’ medick) I can\u2019t really say. \u00a0Dath, is d\u00f3cha. \u00a0Luibheola\u00ed, duine ar bith?<\/strong>\u00a0 Or how about it, a bha?\u00a0 C\u00e9n mheidic is blasta?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So can medick ever have four leaves, as clover sometimes does?\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m looking over a four-leaved medick \u2026\u201d \u2013 not quite!\u00a0 Maybe I should have quit while I was ahead!<\/p>\n

Anyway, that makes an seacht\u00fa hiomaitheoir<\/strong> in this assessment.\u00a0 Ar lorg uimhir a hocht f\u00f3s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a grammar quandary for those so inclined.\u00a0 If \u201ccontenders\u201d are usually people, counted with the \u201cpersonal number\u201d system (duine, beirt, tri\u00far, srl.<\/strong>), what happens if plants are the contenders?\u00a0 Uimhreacha pearsanta n\u00f3 na gn\u00e1thbhunuimhreacha<\/strong> ([GNAW-WUN-IV-rukh-uh], with the \u201cg\u201d pronounced, no relation to English \u201cto gnaw\u201d], ordinary cardinal numbers)?<\/p>\n

And just in case you were wondering, maidir leis an athfhriotal<\/strong> [AH-RIT-ul] i dteideal an bhlag seo, sin athleagan d\u2019fhr\u00e1sa<\/strong> Marlon Brando (mar<\/strong> Terry) sa scann\u00e1n<\/strong> On The Waterfront<\/em>: \u201cI coulda been a contender.\u201d\u00a0 Misneach, a dh\u00famheidic!\u00a0 N\u00edl s\u00e9 r\u00f3mhall duitse f\u00f3s!<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 At least you haven\u2019t been labeled \u201cfalse\u201d! \u00a0SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais: ar lorg<\/strong>, searching (for); athleagan<\/strong>, paraphrase (n); iomaitheoir<\/strong>, contender; misneach<\/strong> [MISH-nyukh], courage; r\u00f3mhall<\/strong> [row-wal], too late.<\/p>\n

And perhaps a little more circuitously, due to the delights of the Irish genitive-lenitive combo above, dumhach<\/strong> ([DOO-ukh], a dune).\u00a0 And where on earth was that<\/em> sa t\u00e9acs thuas<\/strong>. \u00a0It modifies \u201cseamair<\/strong>,\u201d which is feminine singular, as an attributive noun.\u00a0 For that purpose, \u201cdumhach<\/strong>\u201d is both lenited and put in its gentive case, which is \u201cduimhche<\/strong>\u201d ([DIV-hyuh], of a dune), when lenition doesn\u2019t apply.\u00a0 The word \u201cduimhche<\/strong>\u201d also has a bit of spelling syncopation, but sin \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 And btw, actually, I wouldn\u2019t normally use the medical term \u201clenitive\u201d in a linguistic context, but here, I just\u00a0 <osna<\/strong>> couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n

As for why \u201cHop Trefoil\u201d is called \u201cHop\u201d in English and \u201cof a dune\u201d in Irish, t\u00e1 s\u00e9 sin taobh amuigh de mo bh\u00e1illcheantar.\u00a0 Eolas ag duine ar bith agaibh?<\/strong>\u00a0 Can you make beer from it, as you do from leannlusanna<\/strong>?\u00a0 Do coin\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong> hop over it? \u00a0Or do dune-bunnies hop over it?\u00a0 Doubt it, but dunno!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) In the last blog (blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-tseamrog-the-shamrock\/), I noted that there were at least eight contenders for the title of \u201cshamrock,\u201d including seams\u00f3g\u00a0(wood-sorrel) and various types of seamair\u00a0(clover).\u00a0 The blog I cited (www.naturalistsalmanac.com\/0317stpat.html) mentioned there being eight possibilities, but only elaborated on six (five types of clover and the wood-sorrel).\u00a0 So what are the other…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":1994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[207336,207327,376525,316125,376515,359538,207333,376500,376517,7983,376496,174082,96640,376514,207342,4999,207341,376512,207340,207338,376527,309648,292916,376520,111845,376503,376506,376507,376495,5808,376529,5878,376508,376513,376524,376519,376499,376509,376510,316277,376498,376497,376516,207337,376526,8246,376502,376501,228922,34569,6476,207335,6698,207339,207328,207331,376505,6755,7982,207343,376518,207334,6936,376521,7113,207332,376511,376504,376528,7232,207330],"class_list":["post-1986","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-alfalfa","tag-an-tseamrog","tag-athleagan","tag-attributive","tag-bald","tag-black","tag-black-medick","tag-blackweed","tag-breac","tag-clover","tag-contender","tag-coulda","tag-cows","tag-dehorn","tag-dhuimhche","tag-dubh","tag-duimhche","tag-dull","tag-dumhach","tag-dumheidic","tag-dune","tag-false-shamrock","tag-four","tag-gnathbhunuimhir","tag-hay","tag-hop","tag-intercrop","tag-invasive","tag-iomaitheoir","tag-la-fheile-padraig","tag-leannlus","tag-lenition","tag-lenitive","tag-lessen","tag-lorg","tag-lucerne","tag-lupulina","tag-maolaitheach","tag-maolu","tag-marlon-brando","tag-medicago","tag-medick","tag-meidic-bhreac","tag-meidic-na-mbo","tag-misneach","tag-naomh-padraig","tag-nonesuch","tag-nonsuch","tag-on-the-waterfront","tag-personal-number","tag-plant","tag-purple-medick","tag-scannan","tag-seamair","tag-seamrog","tag-seamsog","tag-seed-pod","tag-seeds","tag-shamrock","tag-siolta","tag-spotted","tag-spotted-medick","tag-st-patricks-day","tag-terry","tag-three","tag-three-leaved","tag-tone-down","tag-trefoil","tag-tseamair","tag-uimhir-phearsanta","tag-wood-sorrel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986","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=1986"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6475,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions\/6475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}