{"id":247,"date":"2010-05-31T23:56:17","date_gmt":"2010-05-31T23:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=247"},"modified":"2010-06-01T22:50:22","modified_gmt":"2010-06-01T22:50:22","slug":"da-mbeadh-dali-ina-ghaeilgeoir-%e2%80%93-an-tseasmhacht-chuimhne-srl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/da-mbeadh-dali-ina-ghaeilgeoir-%e2%80%93-an-tseasmhacht-chuimhne-srl\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00e1 mBeadh Dal\u00ed ina Ghaeilgeoir \u2013 an tSeasmhacht Cuimhne, srl."},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, not really.\u00a0 T\u00e1 br\u00f3n orm m\u00e1 gh\u00e9araigh an teideal sin ar do ghoile<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m afraid I indulged in a bit of \u201cmeall agus malartaigh<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0in the title.\u00a0\u00a0This blog\u00a0is just an examination of words like \u201cmemory,\u201d \u00a0\u201cremembrance,\u201d and \u201cmemorial,\u201d \u201cremember,\u201d and perhaps the most basic of all, \u201cI remember.\u201d\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be looking at “cuimhne,\u201d \u201ccuimhneamh,\u201d \u201ccuimhneach\u00e1n,\u201d \u201ccuimhnigh,\u201d <\/strong>and, probably the most useful of all, \u201cIs cuimhin liom \/ leat \/ leis \/ l\u00e9i, <\/strong>etc.\u201d<\/strong>. \u00a0All more or less picked for inclusion here at this time because of the American holiday on May 31st<\/sup>, L\u00e1 Cuimhneach\u00e1in<\/strong>.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll also actually ponder the Dal\u00ed idea, as well as a little Proust, simply because I like the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone who really wants to translate the titles of Dal\u00ed\u2019s works is welcome to give it a whirl.\u00a0 Please let us know if you pursue the challenge!\u00a0 His titles do offer intriguing possiblities, not just for using an tuiseal ginideach <\/strong>and other choice grammatical features, but also for figuring out how to balance the odd juxtapositions he used and still have them come out making reasonable sense (D\u00e9ant\u00fas Bog le P\u00f3nair\u00ed Beirithe: Mana den Chogadh Sibhialta, mar shampla?)<\/strong>.\u00a0 As much sense, ar a laghad, <\/strong>as we can expect from osr\u00e9alachas.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyway, here are some basics: <\/strong><\/p>\n

1. cuimhne <\/strong>[KWIV-neh, sllent \u201cm\u201d], memory.\u00a0 Examples:<\/p>\n

\u201cL\u00e1 a mbeidh cuimhne air\u201d <\/strong>(a day that will be remembered, and, by the way, a nice example of an indirect relative clause using eclipsis). \u00a0Literally?\u00a0 \u201cA day that there will be memory on it.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

De r\u00e9ir mo chuimhne, <\/strong>as far I remember, lit. \u201caccording to my memory\u201d<\/p>\n

2. cuimhneamh<\/strong> [KWIV-nyav or KWIV-nyoo or KWIV-neh, depending on dialect, both \u201cm\u2019s\u201d are silent], remembering, to remember, remembrance, recollection, thought.\u00a0 Examples:<\/p>\n

N\u00ed f\u00e9idir liom cuimhneamh air.<\/strong>\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember on it \/ him (I\u2019m not able to remember it \/ him).<\/p>\n

Is ag cuimhneamh ar a leas f\u00e9in at\u00e1 siad.<\/strong>\u00a0 They are thinking of their own interest, lit. It is remembering on their own benefit that they are.<\/p>\n

3. cuimhneach\u00e1n <\/strong>[KWIV-nyakh-awn] commemoration, memorial, memento<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

Beidh s\u00e9 mar chuimhneach\u00e1n ar na himeachta\u00ed sin.<\/strong>\u00a0 It will be a reminder of those events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Various phrases like \u201cplaic chuimhneach\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d or \u201csearmanas cuimhneach\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d as we discussed in the last blog.\u00a0 Note the lenition (initial c -> initial ch) for feminine.<\/p>\n

Also, cuimhneach\u00e1in bheaga<\/strong> [KWIV-nyakh-aw-in VEG-uh] little souvenirs<\/p>\n

4. cuimhnigh! <\/strong>[KWIV-nee], remember (command form, singular).\u00a0 cuimhn\u00edg\u00ed<\/strong> (plural command form)<\/p>\n

Example: Cuimhnigh ar an Alam\u00f3<\/strong>! \u00a0Or maybe that should be \u201cCuimhn\u00edg\u00ed ar an Alam\u00f3<\/strong>\u201d (plural).<\/p>\n

5. cuimhin <\/strong>[KWIV-in], used with the Irish verb \u201cis \/ ba<\/strong>\u201d and the preposition \u201cle<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Is cuimhin liom \u00e9.\u00a0 <\/strong>I remember it \/ him. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Is cuimhin liom \u00ed.\u00a0 <\/strong>I remember it \/ her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ba chuimhin liom \u00e9.\u00a0 <\/strong>I remembered it \/ him (past tense)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIs cuimhin\u201d<\/strong> and \u201cBa chuimhin<\/strong>\u201d are followed first by the subject in Irish (like \u201cit\u201d), then by the preposition \u201cle<\/strong>\u201d and a noun or pronoun, which would be the actual subject of the sentence in English.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More examples:<\/p>\n

Is cuimhin leo \u00e9.\u00a0 <\/strong>They remember it \/ him. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ba chuimhin leis na daoine sin \u00e9.\u00a0 <\/strong>Those people remembered it \/ him.\u00a0 In English \u201cthose people\u201d would be the subject of the sentence.\u00a0 In Irish, the word \u201cpeople\u201d is the object of the preposition \u201cle<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 The Irish literally translates to something like \u201cIt was \u2018memory\u2019 with those people.<\/p>\n

\u201cCuimhin\u201d <\/strong>isn\u2019t exactly \u201cto remember.\u201d\u00a0 That function is taken by \u201ccuimhneamh,\u201d <\/strong>as discussed above.\u00a0 Grammatically, the part of speech assigned to the word \u201ccuimhin\u201d <\/strong>is \u201csubstantive,\u201d which in discussing Irish grammar generally means a noun that is limited to set expressions and that often no longer has grammatical gender.\u00a0 Often, also, there\u2019s no literal way to translate it as a single word; you just have to translate the entire phrase in which it appears.\u00a0 There are about twenty of these substantives in fairly common usage, and a few more that are more obscure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Standard adjustments to this phrase create negatives, questions, etc.\u00a0 For example:<\/p>\n

N\u00ed cuimhin liom \u00e9.\u00a0 <\/strong>I don\u2019t remember it \/ him.(note: no lenition!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

An cuimhin leat \u00e9? <\/strong>Do remember it \/ him?\u00a0 Is cuimhin <\/strong>(Yes).\u00a0 N\u00ed cuimhin <\/strong>(No).<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s it for the practical stuff.\u00a0 Sorry there wasn\u2019t much Dal\u00ed, after all.\u00a0 No Proust either, though it was a flickering temptation.\u00a0 Then I remembered that \u00a0Proust\u2019s original title, \u00c0 la recherche du temps perdu<\/em>, didn\u2019t have the word \u201cRemembrance\u201d in it, so, why bother translating \u201cRemembrance of
\nThings Past<\/em>?\u00a0 \u00a0There\u2019s not that much point in translating a translation, unless there\u2019s no other recourse. \u00a0I\u2019m pleased to note that even the Irish version of Pinocchio was translated from the original Italian, not the English, and that\u2019s from 1933!<\/p>\n

On further thought \u00a0\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u2026 if Salvador Dal\u00ed had somehow been a Gaeltacht artist (!), there would have been lots of room for pondering the topic of his famous painting, La persistencia de la memoria<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/strong>While I\u2019m not sure what variations on the title Spanish could have offered, Irish suggests a neat though subtle contrast (all hypothetically speaking): An tSeasmhacht Cuimhne<\/strong> as opposed to An Dianseasmhacht Cuimhne.\u00a0 <\/strong>Both, in theory, mean \u201cThe Persistence of Memory.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSeasmhacht\u201d <\/strong>is interesting in and of itself, based on the verb \u201cseas\u201d <\/strong>(stand); it also means \u201csteadfastness\u201d and \u201cconstancy.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDianseasmhacht<\/strong>\u201d builds on \u201cseasmhacht<\/strong>\u201d by adding the prefix \u201cdian<\/strong>-\u201c (intense, vehement, hard).\u00a0 Should the painting have been a diptic<\/strong>, with one panel for \u201cAn tSeasmhacht Cuimhne<\/strong>\u201d and one for \u201can Dianseasmhacht Cuimhne<\/strong>\u201d? \u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m actually of two minds, also, as to whether to include the definite article or not, or to make the phrase \u201cThe Persistence of the Memory\u201d (Seasmhacht na Cuimhne, <\/strong>etc.), but that makes it sound like it\u2019s one specific memory that\u2019s persistent.\u00a0 Well, I doubt Dal\u00ed would have cared too much about the potential ambiguity of translating the title of his painting into Irish, and I doubt he would have made it a diptic<\/strong> ar \u00e9ileamh<\/strong> (diptych on demand), so, on that note, might as well wrap up this blag<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta\u00ed:<\/strong> bog<\/strong> [not quite like English \u201cbog\u201d although the words are etymolgically related; it\u2019s a short \u201co\u201d like Irish \u201cpota<\/strong>\u201d], soft, used here to translate the Spanish \u201cblanda<\/em>\u201d in Construcci\u00f3n blanda con jud\u00edas hervidas (Premonici\u00f3n de la Guerra Civil<\/a>)<\/strong><\/em>; g\u00e9ar\u00fa ar do ghoile,<\/strong> to whet your appetite;\u201d mana<\/strong>, premonition; osr\u00e9alachas<\/strong>, surrealism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since I couldn\u2019t find any Irish for \u201cbait and switch,\u201d as such, I\u2019ve coined a phrase for it, adding beag\u00e1n uama<\/strong> (a little alliteration) in the process: meall agus malartaigh<\/strong>, from meall<\/strong>, entice, here \u201cbait,\u201d and malartaigh<\/strong> change, exchange, here \u201cswitch.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe Irish merchants are above the practice, but no harm in a little headline intrigue.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Caveat: The Irish Pinocchio is back in print, if you\u2019re interested.\u00a0 If you do undertake to read it, be forewarned that it was translated into heavily dialectal Gaelainn Mh\u00fasgra\u00ed<\/strong> (Muskerry Irish), so it\u2019s quite a workout to read it unless you\u2019re really familiar with the Irish of that area. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, not really.\u00a0 T\u00e1 br\u00f3n orm m\u00e1 gh\u00e9araigh an teideal sin ar do ghoile.\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m afraid I indulged in a bit of \u201cmeall agus malartaigh\u201d\u00a0in the title.\u00a0\u00a0This blog\u00a0is just an examination of words like \u201cmemory,\u201d \u00a0\u201cremembrance,\u201d and \u201cmemorial,\u201d \u201cremember,\u201d and perhaps the most basic of all, \u201cI remember.\u201d\u00a0 So we\u2019ll be looking at “cuimhne,\u201d \u201ccuimhneamh,\u201d…<\/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":[9194,9206,9207,9209,9195,9197,9188,9196,9200,9205,9192,9193,5747,9208,9198,9201,9204,9202,9199,143,9203],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-an-cuimhin","tag-ar-eileamh","tag-ba-chuimhin","tag-bait-and-switch","tag-cuimhne","tag-cuimhneachain","tag-cuimhneachan","tag-cuimhneamh","tag-dali","tag-diptic","tag-gaelainn-mhusgrai","tag-is-cuimhin","tag-italian","tag-meall-agus-malartaigh","tag-plaic","tag-proust","tag-remembering","tag-remembrance","tag-searmanas","tag-spanish","tag-to-remember"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","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=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}