{"id":225,"date":"2010-05-12T23:28:38","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T23:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=225"},"modified":"2010-05-25T15:39:09","modified_gmt":"2010-05-25T15:39:09","slug":"la-idirnaisiunta-na-naltrai-international-nurses-day-12-bealtaine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/la-idirnaisiunta-na-naltrai-international-nurses-day-12-bealtaine\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u00e1 Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta na nAltra\u00ed (International Nurses Day): 12 Bealtaine"},"content":{"rendered":"

L\u00e1 Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta na nAltra\u00ed<\/strong> (International Nurses Day): 12 Bealtaine<\/strong><\/p>\n

B\u00edonn L\u00e1 Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta na nAltra\u00ed \u00e1 cheili\u00faradh ar an 12\u00fa l\u00e1 de mh\u00ed na Bealtaine.\u00a0 An bhfuil a fhios agat c\u00e9n f\u00e1th a bhfuil s\u00e9 ar an l\u00e1 sin? (Freagra th\u00edos)\u00a0 <\/strong>International Nurses Day is celebrated on the 12th<\/sup> of May.\u00a0 Do you know why it\u2019s on that day? (Answer below).<\/p>\n

The term \u201caltra<\/strong>\u201d (nurse) and the earlier term, \u201cbanaltra<\/strong>\u201d (nurse), offer some interesting insight into the way languages change and evolve.\u00a0 For years, generations really, the term in common usage was \u201cbanaltra<\/strong>,\u201d which uses the prefix \u201cban<\/strong>-\u201c (woman).\u00a0 More recently, the switch has been made to \u201caltra<\/strong>,\u201d which doesn\u2019t refer to the gender of the person holding the job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You might know the prefix \u201cban<\/strong>-\u201c from other occupational terms such as bandraoi<\/strong> (druidess), banphrionsa<\/strong> (princess), and bandia<\/strong> (goddess).\u00a0 Well, maybe that last one\u2019s not really an occupation as such, but it fits the pattern.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019m not sure if the first two are viable occupations today, as such, but people do hold the positions.\u00a0 Anyway, note that these three terms, and most others like them, are grammatically masculine, so we say: an bandraoi, an banphrionsa,<\/strong> and an bandia<\/strong>. \u00a0In other words, no lenition is used to say \u201cthe druidess,\u201d \u201cthe princess,\u201d and \u201cthe goddess.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re treated just like masculine nouns (an draoi, an prionsa, an dia<\/strong>, the last typically for \u201cthe deity\u201d as opposed to \u201cDia<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cGod\u201d).\u00a0 The governing principle is that the masculine core element (draoi, prionsa, dia<\/strong>) determines the gender of the entire compound word, although it refers to a woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The word \u201cbanaltra<\/strong>,\u201d however, is grammatically feminine. So you\u2019d say \u201can bhanaltra<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cthe nurse\u201d (with lenition).\u00a0 A few (very few) other occupational terms or titles work this way, even when the core word is masculine: \u201cban-ab, an bhan-ab<\/strong>\u201d (abbess) and \u201cbantiarna, an bhantiarna<\/strong>\u201d (lady, lit. \u201cwoman-lord\u201d) are the only examples that come readily to mind.\u00a0 Both \u201cab<\/strong>\u201d and \u201ctiarna<\/strong>\u201d are masculine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note some of the other nouns that are grammatically masculine but refer to women.\u00a0 These include \u201cadulteress\u201d (banadhaltrach<\/strong>), \u201cseductive woman\u201d \u201cbanchealgaire<\/strong>,\u201d and \u201clady friend\u201d (banchara<\/strong>).\u00a0 \u00a0Probably not terms you\u2019d find in an ordinary textbook!\u00a0 Remember, the grammatical gender mostly determines the possessive endings and the forms of adjectives modifying the nouns.\u00a0 You\u2019d still use the feminine pronoun \u201cs\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (she) to refer to the adulteress, the siren, or the lady friend.\u00a0 So it\u2019s not as though one considers person male, just because the basic occupational term is.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

The newer term for \u201cnurse\u201d (altra)<\/strong>, is grammatically masculine, so you\u2019d say \u201can t-altra<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cthe nurse.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the standard t-insertion-before-masculine-singular-nouns-beginning-with-a-vowel rule (an t-\u00fall<\/strong>, the apple; an t-uisce<\/strong>, the water, etc.).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prior to the changeover to just using \u201caltra<\/strong>,\u201d Irish had the term \u201cbanaltra fir<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cmale nurse.\u201d\u00a0 That pattern (adding \u201cfir<\/strong>\u201d) still shows up in \u201cbaintreach fir<\/strong>,\u201d the term for \u201cwidower,\u201d where the core element is feminine (baintreach)<\/strong>.\u00a0 The \u201cfir<\/strong>\u201d element is from \u201cfear<\/strong>\u201d (man), here in the genitive case.\u00a0 This is similar to the process in English, which adds a suffix to make \u201cwidow\u201d masculine–not mere coincidence, I presume, but related to demographics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today we can still specify \u201cmale nurse\u201d (altra fir<\/strong>), but at least the basic occupational title doesn\u2019t presume gender.\u00a0 For anyone who\u2019s ever tempted just to look words up in a dictionary and match them up like puzzle pieces, or worse yet, to have a computer do it for you, please do note that the adjective for \u201cmale\u201d in Irish is either \u201cfireann<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cfireannach<\/strong>.\u201d Obviously, that\u2019s not what used here to make the Irish phrase for \u201cmale nurse,\u201d which reflects a different thought process, and one which uses a feature English doesn\u2019t have, an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong> (the genitive case).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting back to saying \u201cInternational Nurses Day\u201d in Irish, the \u201cna nAltra\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d part means \u201cof the nurses.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s genitive plural, which means we:<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 use \u201cna<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cthe\u201d (as expected)<\/p>\n

b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 apply eclipsis before the initial \u201ca\u201d of \u201cAltra\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (giving \u201cnAltra\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d), and<\/p>\n

c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 attach the \u201cn\u201d directly to \u201cAltra\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d instead of using the hyphen, since this is usage is a title and the phrase is capitalized.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The punctuation rule described in c) above also applies to \u201cL\u00e1 na nAithreacha<\/strong>\u201d (lit. the Day of the Fathers).\u00a0 In a title or proper noun, the nouns are capitalized and the hyphen isn\u2019t used.\u00a0 If the phrases were generic, the hyphen would be used, as in \u201chata\u00ed na n-aithreacha<\/strong>\u201d or \u201ccaip\u00edn\u00ed na n-altra\u00ed<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As is typical in Irish, there is no real word for \u201cof\u201d to show possession.\u00a0 The idea of \u201cof\u201d is indicated by word order, eclipsis (for plural), and the ending of the noun.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A final note, and a bit of a disclaimer, I translated the phrase \u201cInternational Nurses Day\u201d myself, assuming the current word for \u201cnurse\u201d would be used.\u00a0 Diligent searching on the Internet failed to bring up any official reference to the phrase in Irish, even when I explored as many possibilities as I could think of, such as using \u201cbanaltra<\/strong>\u201d (na mBanaltra\u00ed<\/strong>) instead of \u201caltra<\/strong>\u201d or interpreting it as grammatically singular but implying plural (as in English \u201cMother\u2019s Day\u201d and \u201cFather\u2019s Day).\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t have expected the latter to crop up, since it would really translate \u201cInternational Day of the Nurse,\u201d but I tried it anyway, for good measure (with genitive phrases \u201cna Banaltra<\/strong>\u201d and \u201can Altra<\/strong>\u201d).\u00a0 The search included An Bord Altranais<\/strong> and various nursing websites as well as keyword searches in Irish or partly in Irish.<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta\u00ed: 12\u00fa<\/strong>, twelfth (read as \u201can dara l\u00e1 d\u00e9ag\u201d <\/strong>or \u201can d\u00f3\u00fa l\u00e1 d\u00e9ag\u201d); an bhanaltra<\/strong> [un WAHN-AL-truh or un VAHN-AL-truh, depending on dialect]; \u00e1 cheili\u00faradh<\/strong> [aw Hy<\/sup>EL-yur-uh], lit. \u201cat its celebrating,\u201d i.e. being celebrated.\u00a0 The long \u201c\u00e1<\/strong>\u201d at the beginning of this phrase distinguishes it from \u201ca cheili\u00faradh<\/strong>\u201d (to celebrate).\u00a0 The slender \u201cch\u201d sound is shown by \u201chy<\/sup>\u201d (like the initial sound of English \u201chumid\u201d or Welsh \u201cHuw\u201d).\u00a0 The final \u2013dh is either silent or could be pronounced \u201coo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Freagra:<\/strong> Is \u00e9 12 Bealtaine 1820 l\u00e1 breithe Florence Nightingale<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

L\u00e1 Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta na nAltra\u00ed (International Nurses Day): 12 Bealtaine B\u00edonn L\u00e1 Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta na nAltra\u00ed \u00e1 cheili\u00faradh ar an 12\u00fa l\u00e1 de mh\u00ed na Bealtaine.\u00a0 An bhfuil a fhios agat c\u00e9n f\u00e1th a bhfuil s\u00e9 ar an l\u00e1 sin? (Freagra th\u00edos)\u00a0 International Nurses Day is celebrated on the 12th of May.\u00a0 Do you know why it\u2019s…<\/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":[1],"tags":[9031,9032,9034,9029,9028,9030,9036,9039,9027,9040,9038,9035,9037,9041,4297,9033,9024,9025,9026],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-9031","tag-12u","tag-9034","tag-altra","tag-an-bhanaltra","tag-an-t-altra","tag-ban-ab","tag-banadhaltrach","tag-banaltra","tag-banchara","tag-banchealgaire","tag-bandraoi","tag-banphrionsa","tag-bantiarna","tag-bealtaine","tag-florence-nightingale","tag-international-nurses-day","tag-la-idirnaisiunta-na-naltrai","tag-may-12"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","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=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}