{"id":20,"date":"2009-04-21T00:55:32","date_gmt":"2009-04-21T04:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=20"},"modified":"2016-01-02T04:27:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T04:27:43","slug":"terms-for-grandchildren-%e2%80%9cas-gaeilge%e2%80%9d-in-irish-garmhac-garinion-and-other-compounds-with-%e2%80%9cgar%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/terms-for-grandchildren-%e2%80%9cas-gaeilge%e2%80%9d-in-irish-garmhac-garinion-and-other-compounds-with-%e2%80%9cgar%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Terms for Grandchildren \u201cas Gaeilge\u201d (in Irish): Garmhac, Garin\u00edon and Other Compounds with \u201cGar\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u00a0 Unlike English, where the prefix \u201cgrand-\u201c is used with \u201cmother,\u201d \u201cfather,\u201d \u201cparent,\u201d \u201cson,\u201d \u201cdaughter,\u201d and \u201cchild,\u201d in Irish, there is a major shift in the qualifier used for \u201cgrandchildren.\u201d\u00a0 As you may recall from the previous blog on grandparents, there are three widely used options: seanathair<\/strong> \/ seanmh\u00e1thair,<\/strong> athair m\u00f3r<\/strong> \/ m\u00e1thair mh\u00f3r<\/strong>, and athair cr\u00edonna<\/strong> \/ m\u00e1thair chr\u00edonna<\/strong>.\u00a0 These are based on the words for \u201cold,\u201d \u201cbig, great,\u201d and \u201cwise,\u201d respectively.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean that a speaker is literally thinking \u201cold mother\u201d or \u201cwise father\u201d when they use these words.\u00a0 These are compound<\/em> words and the combined meaning overrides the meanings of the individual parts.\u00a0 Comparably, in English, we have words and phrases like \u201cGoodbye,\u201d which really means \u201cGod be with you,\u201d and \u201con tenterhooks,\u201d which really means \u201cto be stretched on a tenter.\u201d\u00a0 As we use these phrases in daily life, we don\u2019t dwell on their component parts.\u00a0 In fact, do we really analyze why, in English, our parents\u2019 parents are \u201cgrand\u201d but our parents\u2019 aunts and uncles, to us, are generally \u201cgreat\u201d (great-aunt, great-uncle), with some regional variation in English, of course, allowing for \u201cgrand-aunt\u201d and \u201cgrand-uncle\u201d?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 In my experience, \u201cseanathair<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cseanmh\u00e1thair<\/strong>\u201d seem to be the most widely used of the Irish possibilities.\u00a0 If we took the prefix \u201csean<\/strong>-,\u201d which gives the \u201cgrand-\u201c element, and applied it to \u201cp\u00e1iste<\/strong>\u201d (child), we would have a nearly meaningless term, \u201cold child.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 Likewise, if you say \u201cp\u00e1iste m\u00f3r<\/strong>,\u201d it would be understood to mean a \u201cbig or large child,\u201d and if you said \u201cp\u00e1iste cr\u00edonna<\/strong>,\u201d it would mean a \u201cwise, prudent, or sagacious child,\u201d perhaps an \u201cocsam\u00f3r\u00f3n<\/strong>,\u201d but that\u2019s<\/em> a subject for blag eile<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 So clearly, none of the terms commonly used for \u201cgrandfather \/ grandmother,\u201d are likely candidates to create the words \u201cgrandson\u201d and \u201cgranddaughter\u201d in Irish.\u00a0 Instead, Irish most typically uses \u201cgar<\/strong>\u201d (near, approximate), giving us the compounds \u201cgarmhac<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cgarin\u00edon<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Be advised, though, that in literary usage, mostly archaic now, these same terms can mean \u201cadopted son \/ daughter\u201d or \u201cnephew \/ niece\u201d (!).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 Group terms like \u201cgrandchildren\u201d and \u201cgrandparents\u201d are more multifaceted in Irish than one might expect (as an English speaker), so will be reserved for, you guessed it, blag \u00e9igin eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 The prefix \u201cgar-\u201c<\/strong> is used for various other compounds as well, such as gar-amharc<\/strong> (close-up), garbhuaic<\/strong> (an approach shot i ngalf<\/strong>, in golf), and gariascaireacht<\/strong> (inshore fishing).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 Back to kinship, \u201cgar<\/strong>-\u201c is also added to \u201cnia<\/strong>\u201d (nephew) and \u201cneacht<\/strong>\u201d (niece) to give us \u201cgarnia<\/strong>\u201d (grandnephew) and \u201cgarneacht<\/strong>\u201d (grandniece).\u00a0 In fact, it can be added to \u201cathair<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cm\u00e1thair<\/strong>,\u201d but the meaning is less clear-cut.\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen \u201cgarathair<\/strong>\u201d translated as \u201cgrandsire,\u201d \u201cgrandfather,\u201d AND \u201cgreat-grandfather.\u201d\u00a0 In theory, \u201cgarmh\u00e1thair<\/strong>\u201d should be parallel, but in practice, I\u2019ve seen it far less than \u201cgarathair<\/strong>,\u201d which, itself, isn\u2019t that prevalent in everyday use.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0 Bhuel<\/span><\/strong>, I guess I\u2019ve done enough rambling i ngar agus i gc\u00e9in<\/strong> (near and far) sa bhlag seo<\/strong>, so, \u201cHappy Grandparenting,\u201d \u00f3 bhur mblag\u00e1la\u00ed, R\u00f3isl\u00edn <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) \u00a0 Unlike English, where the prefix \u201cgrand-\u201c is used with \u201cmother,\u201d \u201cfather,\u201d \u201cparent,\u201d \u201cson,\u201d \u201cdaughter,\u201d and \u201cchild,\u201d in Irish, there is a major shift in the qualifier used for \u201cgrandchildren.\u201d\u00a0 As you may recall from the previous blog on grandparents, there are three widely used options: seanathair \/ seanmh\u00e1thair, athair m\u00f3r \/ m\u00e1thair…<\/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":[359192,359194,4237,4238,94538,219133,49718,359191,4753,5312,359168,359189,359181,359190,359174,5331,359188,5332,359187,359178,359177,359185,5414,359197,359198,359164,359165,359166,5425,359179,359180,5428,359186,5429,5433,359182,359167,359171,359195,359183,359196,359175,289784,6023,6024,111155,275303,359176,359184,111159,111156,359173,339422,302972,2503,6738,6744,94537,359172],"class_list":["post-20","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-approach-shot","tag-approximate","tag-athair-crionna","tag-athair-mor","tag-aunt","tag-big","tag-child","tag-close-up","tag-compound-word","tag-galf","tag-gar","tag-gar-amharc","tag-garathair","tag-garbhuaic","tag-gariascaireacht","tag-garinion","tag-garinionacha","tag-garmhac","tag-garmhic","tag-garneacht","tag-garnia","tag-gcein","tag-golf","tag-grand-aunt","tag-grand-uncle","tag-grandchild","tag-grandchildren","tag-granddaughter","tag-grandma","tag-grandnephew","tag-grandniece","tag-grandparent","tag-grandparenting","tag-grandparents","tag-grandpop","tag-grandsire","tag-grandson","tag-great","tag-great-aunt","tag-great-grandfather","tag-great-uncle","tag-inshore-fishing","tag-kinship","tag-mathair-chrionna","tag-mathair-mhor","tag-neacht","tag-near","tag-nephew","tag-ngar","tag-nia","tag-niece","tag-ocsamoron","tag-old","tag-paiste","tag-sean","tag-seanathair","tag-seanmhathair","tag-uncle","tag-wise"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20","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=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7496,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions\/7496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}