{"id":2125,"date":"2012-04-01T19:22:03","date_gmt":"2012-04-01T19:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2016-09-13T23:59:34","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T23:59:34","slug":"fools-on-hills-and-otherwise-with-irish-pronunciation-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/fools-on-hills-and-otherwise-with-irish-pronunciation-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Fools on Hills, and Otherwise, with Irish Pronunciation Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On the topic of fools (amad\u00e1in<\/strong>), Irish seems to have an endless supply of words.\u00a0 Probably other languages do as well (Welsh offering up ff<\/em>\u0175l, ffwlcyn, hurtyn, lolyn, penbwl, twpsyn<\/em>, and ynfytyn<\/em>, just for starters), but our focus here, ar nd\u00f3igh<\/strong>, will be on Irish terms.\u00a0 We\u2019ve recently discussed quite a few (gamal, pleidhce, pleota<\/strong>, and specifically female, \u00f3inseach<\/strong>).\u00a0 Let\u2019s review some of those from previous blogs, plus a few more, this time with a rough guide to pronunciation, both in the basic form and in the vocative (for direct address … direct address at your own risk, that is):<\/p>\n

amad\u00e1n<\/strong> [AH-muh-dawn], fool, fairly straightforward in pronunciation. \u00a0In direct address: \u201cA amad\u00e1in!\u201d<\/strong> \u201cFool!\u201d \u00a0This is pronounced almost the same, but the \u201cn\u201d at the end is now slender, marking the vocative, so is tenser, almost like an \u201caw-in\u201d sound, but more flowing.\u00a0 Rhymes with \u201cT\u00e1in<\/strong>,\u201d the famous Cattle Raid of Cooley.<\/p>\n

Now if this fool really were on a hill, as suggested by Lennon\/McCartney, we\u2019d probably say \u201cAn tAmad\u00e1n ar an gCnoc\u201d<\/strong> for the title of the song (or \u201car an Chnoc\u201d<\/strong> for Northern Irish).\u00a0 I don\u2019t recall that the song actually had any direct address, but if we did want to greet the fool on the hill, we could say \u201cA amad\u00e1in ar an gcnoc,\u201d<\/strong> or I\u2019d be tempted to add poetic license to song and say \u201cA amad\u00e1in an chnoic!\u201d<\/strong> (O fool of the hill!).\u00a0 As for the \u201cfoolish grin\u201d in the song, that\u2019ll have to wait for blag eile<\/strong>, since there are quite a few ways to say \u201cgrin\u201d in Irish, as one might expect (“c\u00e1r” agus “drannadh” ina measc<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

dundarl\u00e1n<\/strong> [DUN-dur-lawn], dunce, dunderhead, which Severus Snape implies is the intelligence level of his incoming Rang Pos\u00f3id\u00ed (\u201cmura bhfuil sibh in bhur ndundarl\u00e1n chomh m\u00f3r is a bh\u00edonn os mo chomhair de ghn\u00e1th\u201d)<\/strong>.\u00a0 In the vocative singular, this will be \u201cA dhundarl\u00e1in!\u201d<\/strong> \u201cDunderhead!\u201d\u00a0 Same comments for the pronunciation of \u201c-\u00e1in\u201d as above.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a change from the normal initial \u201cd\u201d to an initial \u201cdh,\u201d bringing us to the voiced velar fricative as discussed in various previous blogs (among them, \u201cSaying \u2018I love you\u2019 in Irish and Minding Your Velar Fricatives<\/a>,\u201d https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/saying-i-love-you-in-irish\/<\/a> ).\u00a0 The rough guide to that \u201cdh-\u201c is a throaty (guttural) gargling sound, best learned by hearing native speakers.<\/p>\n

gamal<\/strong> [GAH-mul], fool.\u00a0 In direct address, \u201cA ghamail!\u201d<\/strong> [uh \u03b3AH-mil].\u00a0 That symbol that looks sort of like a \u201cy\u201d is the phonetic symbol (\u201cgamma\u201d) for the sound I just described, which has no equivalent in the English language.\u00a0 It comes from the \u201cgamma\u201d letter of the Greek alphabet.<\/p>\n

gamal\u00f3g<\/strong>, [GAH-mul-ohg], female version of the above.\u00a0 In direct address: \u201cA ghamal\u00f3g!\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0 Same initial \u201cgh-\u201c sound as for \u201cgamal<\/strong>,\u201d otherwise, no change.<\/p>\n

\u00f3inseach<\/strong> [OHN-shukh], female fool.\u00a0 In direct address: \u201cA \u00f3inseach!\u201d<\/strong> [uh OHN-shukh, no change to the main word]<\/p>\n

\u00f3ins\u00edn<\/strong> [OHN-sheen], young or small female fool.\u00a0 No change in direct address.<\/p>\n

pleidhce<\/strong> [PLAI-kyuh, \u201cai\u201d rhyming with \u201cI,\u201d \u201caye,\u201d \u201ceye,\u201d and \u201cmy\u201d], fool.\u00a0 In direct address: \u201cA phleidhce!\u201d<\/strong> [uh FLAI-ky<\/sup>uh, with \u201cflai\u201d rhyming with \u201cfly\u201d].<\/p>\n

pleota<\/strong> [PLy<\/sup>OH-tuh], fool.\u00a0 In direct address: \u201cA phleota!\u201d<\/strong> [uh FLy<\/sup>OH-tuh]<\/p>\n

And then, of course, words can be paired up to intensify the effect:<\/p>\n

pleidhce amad\u00e1in<\/strong>, a silly fool.\u00a0 In direct address: \u201cA phleidhce amad\u00e1in!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

stumpa amad\u00e1in,<\/strong> an out-an-out fool, as Hagrid calls Mr. Dursley in the Irish version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/em><\/p>\n

Guess you can tell what I\u2019ve been reading lately.\u00a0 Actually re-reading, on the lookout for the st\u00f3rfhocal is suimi\u00fala<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u2018Sea, sin \u00e9, Harry Potter agus an \u00d3rchloch<\/em>,<\/strong> which so far is the only volume from the series to have been translated into Irish : (<\/p>\n

Bhuel, t\u00e1 s\u00fail agam nach am am\u00fa \u00e9 seo uaim at\u00e1 amanna i m\u2019\u00f3inseach, is d\u00f3cha. \u00a0SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. \u00a0In case anyone was wondering about \u201cgn\u00e1thfhadhbanna<\/strong>,\u201d cited in the last blog,\u00a0 it breaks down fairly neatly to \u201cgn\u00e1th<\/strong>-\u201c [gnaw] + fhadhb<\/strong> [aib, rhyming with scribe, tribe, etc.] + –anna<\/strong> [uh-nuh, a plural ending].\u00a0 For that one, I think we can skip the direct address form!\u00a0 As you may recall, the word is from the line, \u201cAgus t\u00e1 na gn\u00e1thfhadhbanna f\u00f3s \u00e1 ciapadh: an Pleota sa bhaile agus Bean U\u00ed Bhatam\u00f3r ar scoil\u201d<\/strong> (from a \u201cblurba<\/strong>\u201d for the children\u2019s book \u201cCailit\u00edn\u201d by Caitr\u00edona N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa, http:\/\/www.siopaancarn.com\/irishchildrensbooksnsrang67?pm2_a=show&pm2_id=389<\/a>).\u00a0 Got the rest of the sentence?\u00a0 It\u2019s \u201cAnd the ordinary problems are still pestering her: the Fool [her silly brother] at home and Bean U\u00ed Bhatam\u00f3r [lit. Mrs. \u201cBig-stick\u201d] at school.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) On the topic of fools (amad\u00e1in), Irish seems to have an endless supply of words.\u00a0 Probably other languages do as well (Welsh offering up ff\u0175l, ffwlcyn, hurtyn, lolyn, penbwl, twpsyn, and ynfytyn, just for starters), but our focus here, ar nd\u00f3igh, will be on Irish terms.\u00a0 We\u2019ve recently discussed quite a few (gamal…<\/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":[4061,4062,4145,8088,36228,207466,207459,9103,5228,111216,5322,207458,5491,5667,5812,207455,207456,207461,207464,207465,8662,207437,207452,207436,207467,11,207462,207463,207451,207454,207457,207460,30166],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-amadain","tag-amadan","tag-an-t-amadan","tag-april-fools","tag-april-fools-day","tag-dhundarlain","tag-dursley","tag-fool","tag-fools","tag-fricative","tag-gamma","tag-hagrid","tag-harry-potter","tag-irish","tag-la-na-namadan","tag-lennon","tag-mccartney","tag-mr-dursley","tag-ndundarlain","tag-ndundarlan","tag-oinseach","tag-pleidhce","tag-pleidhce-amadain","tag-pleota","tag-potions","tag-pronunciation","tag-severus-snape","tag-snape","tag-stumpa-amadain","tag-the-fool-on-the-hill","tag-velar","tag-vernon-dursley","tag-voiced-velar-fricative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125","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=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8388,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/8388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}