{"id":2216,"date":"2012-04-23T18:19:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T18:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2012-05-08T18:27:06","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T18:27:06","slug":"an-focal-aimsir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-focal-aimsir\/","title":{"rendered":"An Focal \u201caimsir\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A little while ago, there was a query in our Facebook site about the word \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d (http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/learn.irish<\/a>, on 8 Aibre\u00e1n<\/strong>).\u00a0 And truly, I think it is surprising when one finds out that \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d not only means \u201cweather,\u201d but also \u201ctime\u201d (including \u201ctide\u201d for holiday times) and, regarding verbs, \u201ctense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually, it\u2019s less surprising when one reflects that in French and Spanish, at least, the basic words for \u201cweather\u201d and \u201ctime\u201d are the same (Fr: temps<\/em>, Sp: tiempo<\/em>), and perhaps this is true in other languages as well.\u00a0 While Irish does have the word \u201caimsir<\/strong>,\u201d (weather, time, tide, tense), it also has many other words for time, including, \u201cam<\/strong>\u201d (probably the most basic) and \u201cuair<\/strong>\u201d (also \u201chour,\u201d etc.) and \u201ctr\u00e1th<\/strong>\u201d (also \u201coccasion,\u201d etc.) and another few for more specialized purposes (r\u00e9, linn, saol, seal, tr\u00e9imhse, srl.<\/strong>).\u00a0 I would estimate that about 90% of the time, if you see the word \u201caimsir<\/strong>,\u201d it refers to the weather, but if it\u2019s used in reference to holidays, grammar, or certain stretches of time (in aimsir na bhFiann<\/strong>), it\u2019s time-related (time, tide, tense).<\/p>\n

So if we go back to https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/laethanta-na-seachtaine-laethanta-aimsir-na-casca\/<\/a>\u00a0(the blog of\u00a04 Aibre\u00e1n<\/strong>\u00a0), we can understand the word \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d as \u201ctide,\u201d in the calendrical sense.\u00a0 \u201cLaethanta Aimsir na C\u00e1sca<\/strong>\u201d would mean \u201cthe days of Eastertide.\u201d\u00a0 An bhfuil Gearm\u00e1inis agat?\u00a0 M\u00e1 t\u00e1, t\u00e1<\/strong> \u201cleg up\u201d agat leis seo mar t\u00e1 <\/strong>\u201ctide\u201d (mar<\/strong> \u201ctime\u201d) agus<\/strong> \u201cZeit<\/em>\u201d (mar shampla sa bhfocal<\/strong> \u201cZeitgeist<\/em>\u201d) gaolta mar fhocail<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not all holidays seem to have \u201ctides\u201d in English, and all the English \u201c-tide\u201d phrases seem a bit dated to me, albeit charmingly so, but nevertheless, here are all the most common ones using \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d that I\u2019ve been able to round up, in English and Irish.<\/p>\n

aimsir na C\u00e1sca<\/strong>, Eastertide<\/p>\n

aimsir na Cinc\u00edse<\/strong>, Whitsuntide (beginning the seventh Sunday after Easter)<\/p>\n

aimsir na Nollag<\/strong>, Christmastide<\/p>\n

Less typically, we have \u201caimsir na P\u00e1ise<\/strong>\u201d (Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent), but a caveat re: usage, I only found two examples of this, total, both of which were online.\u00a0 Each had a few copies of itself, generating a few more hits, but sin \u00e9<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not very widespread.\u00a0 Terms for this time period do exist in other languages (Tempo di Passione, Passionszeit, etc.<\/em>), but it doesn\u2019t seem all that applicable in Irish.<\/p>\n

For \u201cAll-Hallowtide\u201d or \u201cHallowtide\u201d (more commonly called \u201cHallowe\u2019en\u201d), the words \u201coiche Shamhna<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cSamhain<\/strong>\u201d seems to suffice, without \u201caimsir (na)<\/strong>\u201d as a preceding phrase.\u00a0 Perhaps this is because this holiday predates Christianity in Ireland and also predates the formal notion of a liturgical calendar with specially designated weeks.\u00a0 And how about \u201cHollantide\u201d (i.e. Old Hallowe\u2019en, Nov. 11)?\u00a0 Well, there is Nos Calan Gwaf \u00a0<\/em>in Cornish for Hollantide (aka Allantide), though this is quite entangled with Hallowe\u2019en itself, etc.).\u00a0 In fact, Allantide, Hollantide, Hallowtide, and All-Hallowtide probably deserve a mblag f\u00e9in<\/strong> (their own blog)!<\/p>\n

Bringing up Hallowe\u2019en actually opens a Pandora\u2019s box of \u201cp\u00e9isteanna<\/strong>\u201d (worms) here, because we can say \u201cum Shamhain<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cat Hallowtide.\u201d\u00a0 The preposition \u201cum<\/strong>\u201d will be described further below.\u00a0 So is Hallowe\u2019en simply an evening, or is it the beginning of a \u201ctide\u201d?\u00a0 And what was Samhain<\/strong>, back in aimsir na bhFiann<\/strong>, when most people didn\u2019t have access to calendars as such?\u00a0 Well, we might never know, so let\u2019s move on.<\/p>\n

But just one more note.\u00a0 I know that that Pandora bit was a double metaphor but let\u2019s just consider it Celticly intertwined, just like the calligraphic knotwork.\u00a0 You learned the word for \u201cworms\u201d from it, right (if you didn\u2019t know it before).<\/p>\n

As noted above, there\u2019s another way to indicate the time period connected to a holiday, that is to use the preposition \u201cum<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 This \u201cum<\/strong>\u201d is not pronounced like \u201cum,\u201d the American English pause word or \u201crum\u201d or \u201cdrum,\u201d but more like the \u201cum\u201d in \u201cKumbaya\u201d or \u201cTumbalalaika\u201d (at least as I know them).\u00a0 In other words, it\u2019s like the \u201cu\u201d of \u201cput,\u201d not like the \u201cu\u201d of \u201cputt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Actually all this \u201cum<\/strong>\u201d business is getting me more \u201ctr\u00edna ch\u00e9ile<\/strong>\u201d than when I started out, because now I\u2019m wondering what exactly the parameters of phrases like \u201cat Easter\u201d or \u201cat Christmas\u201d are, and how did I live to adulthood without having a firmer understanding of these.\u00a0 That\u2019s when we\u2019re contrasting them to \u201con Easter\u201d or \u201con Christmas,\u201d which would refer to a single day.\u00a0 Hmm, errmm, or just good ole \u2018um.\u201d That\u2019s the \u201cschwa um\u201d (\/\u0259<\/a>m\/), not the \u201c\/um\/ um\u201d of \u201cum Ch\u00e1isc<\/strong>,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n

At any rate, we can say the following, \u201cum Inid,\u201d \u201cum Ch\u00e1isc,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cum Chinc\u00eds,\u201d \u201cum Shamhain,\u201d <\/strong>and \u201cum Nollaig\u201d<\/strong> for \u201cat Shrove,\u201d \u201cat Easter,\u201d \u201cat Whit (Pentecost),\u201d \u201cat Hallowtide,\u201d and \u201cat Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

With \u201cum<\/strong>,\u201d we get to ditch the genitive case.\u00a0 You did notice that above, right?\u00a0 Like keeping \u201cNollaig<\/strong>\u201d (instead of \u201cNollag<\/strong>\u201d in \u201caimsir na Nollag<\/strong>\u201d) and \u201cCh\u00e1isc<\/strong>\u201d instead of \u201cC\u00e1sca<\/strong>\u201d (lenition after \u201cum<\/strong>\u201d explains the \u201ch\u201d).<\/p>\n

How did \u201cShrove\u201d (Inid<\/strong>) get in there?\u00a0 Well, we don\u2019t seem to need \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cInid<\/strong>,\u201d since \u201cInid<\/strong>\u201d (from \u201cinitium\u2019) already means a three-day time period, hence a \u201ctide.\u201d\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to give it short shrift, of course, it\u2019s just that \u201cInid<\/strong>\u201d works separately from the holidays that take \u201caimsir<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, of this selection, from an English perspective, I think Shrovetide, Eastertide, Whitsuntide, and Christmastide would be somewhat more widely used than Passiontide or Hallowtide\/Hollantide.\u00a0 In summary, here are the \u201ctides\u201d I\u2019ve found in English, chronologically: Shrovetide, Passiontide, Eastertide, Whitsuntide, Hallowtide\/Hollantide, Christmastide.\u00a0 And here are the ones that seem to be able to take the word \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d in front of them: aimsir na C\u00e1sca, aimsir na Cinc\u00edse, aimsir na Nollag<\/strong>, and occasionally, \u201caimsir na P\u00e1ise<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Beyond that, this whole topic is probably the bailiwick of some sort of theological calendarian.<\/p>\n

As for \u201caimsir<\/strong>\u201d as \u201ctense (of verb),\u201d you may well have already seen it: an aimsir chaite<\/strong> (past), an aimsir l\u00e1ithreach<\/strong> (present), etc.<\/p>\n

And one final thought, how would one say, \u201cO Tempora, O Mores!<\/em>\u201d in Irish?\u00a0 I\u2019ll have to ponder\/hunt for that.\u00a0 F\u00e1ilte roimh mholta\u00ed!<\/strong>\u00a0 Hmmm, now what I need is an Irish-Latin, Latin-Irish dictionary.\u00a0 An ann d\u00f3?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Getting back to ceist Ghr\u00e1inne<\/strong> (about the phrase \u201claethanta aimsir na C\u00e1sca<\/strong>\u201d), hope that helped!\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) A little while ago, there was a query in our Facebook site about the word \u201caimsir\u201d (http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/learn.irish, on 8 Aibre\u00e1n).\u00a0 And truly, I think it is surprising when one finds out that \u201caimsir\u201d not only means \u201cweather,\u201d but also \u201ctime\u201d (including \u201ctide\u201d for holiday times) and, regarding verbs, \u201ctense.\u201d Actually, it\u2019s less surprising…<\/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":[4018,211583,211584,2201,211587,155,211582,156,211586,211585,169],"class_list":["post-2216","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-aimsir","tag-am","tag-an-t-am","tag-holiday","tag-in-aimsir-na-bhfiann","tag-tense","tag-tide","tag-time","tag-trath","tag-uair","tag-weather"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216","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=2216"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2228,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216\/revisions\/2228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}