{"id":2501,"date":"2012-07-07T14:42:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-07T14:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2501"},"modified":"2012-07-11T20:51:50","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T20:51:50","slug":"tri-bhratach-eire-meiricea-an-bhreatain-bheag-agus-a-ndathanna-flag-colors-cuid-2-or-cen-ghaeilge-ata-ar-coch-gwyn-gwyrdd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tri-bhratach-eire-meiricea-an-bhreatain-bheag-agus-a-ndathanna-flag-colors-cuid-2-or-cen-ghaeilge-ata-ar-coch-gwyn-gwyrdd\/","title":{"rendered":"Tr\u00ed Bhratach (\u00c9ire, Meirice\u00e1, An Bhreatain Bheag) agus a nDathanna (Flag Colors, Cuid 2), or, C\u00e9n Ghaeilge At\u00e1 ar “Coch, Gwyn, Gwyrdd”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Well, as promised here is the third flag to be discussed as we address dathanna bratacha<\/strong> (colors of flags).\u00a0\u00a0 As you may have recently read, Cuid A<\/strong> was about Bratach na h\u00c9ireann<\/strong> and Cuid B was about Bratach na St\u00e1t Aontaithe (Bratach Mheirice\u00e1)<\/strong>, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tri-bhratach-eire-meiricea-an-bhreatain-bheag-agus-a-ndathanna-flag-colors-cuid-1\/<\/a>. \u00a0The colors we discussed were uaine<\/strong> (and the companion term “glas<\/strong>,”), b\u00e1n, flannbhu\u00ed, gorm,<\/strong> and dearg<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Welsh flag includes three of those colors, so this blog will, in a way, just be looking at those colors in a new light.<\/p>\n

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Bratach na Breataine Bige<\/p><\/div>\n

C. Bratach na Breataine Bige<\/strong><\/p>\n

I decided to include the Welsh flag in this discussion because I \u00a0 \u00a0thought the presence of the color green would make for some \u00a0interesting food for thought.\u00a0 Of course, dragain<\/strong> are also interesting to ponder, vexillogically and otherwise, but more from a dearcadh criptea-z\u00f3-eola\u00edoch<\/strong>.\u00a0 Someday perhaps we’ll compare dragan bhratach na Breataine Bige<\/strong> with dragan bhratach na B\u00fata\u00edne<\/strong>, since that’s the only other country which has a dragon on its national flag.\u00a0 And it’s also, by many recent reckonings, the happiest country in the world.\u00a0 Ach sin alt eile\u00a0 Agus n\u00ed amh\u00e1in mar gheall ar na dragain ach ceist eile — c\u00e9n focal is fearr le cur ar<\/strong> “happiest” mar t\u00e1 a l\u00e1n roghanna ann do<\/strong> “happy”: \u00e1thasach, gliondrach, s\u00e9anmhar, sona, srl., ach sin \u00e1bhar blag(anna) eile!<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Bratach na B\u00fat\u00e1ine -- dragan eile! (an chuid l\u00e1rnach den bhratach)<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s easy enough to find the colors of the Welsh flag described in Welsh (coch, gwyn, gwyrdd<\/em>), but the challenging bit here is finding them described in Irish.\u00a0 So why not take the plunge?\u00a0 It would actually be interesting to look at all the flags of the world, really, in terms of the color names used in the native language(s) of each country with a cur s\u00edos<\/strong> (description) in Irish.\u00a0 Ach sin\u00a0tionscadal an-mh\u00f3r, nach ea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, maidir leis an mBreatain Bheag<\/strong>, we have:<\/p>\n

1) the red of the dragon – “dearg<\/strong>” is a shoe-in, i mo bhar\u00fail f\u00e9in<\/strong>, since this dragon isn’t “coppery red” and it certainly isn’t furry (see freagra B1<\/strong> in the previous blog, if you’re wondering why I’m even postulating a furry dragon).\u00a0\u00a0 Bonus points if you can say “The Red Dragon” yn Gymraeg<\/em> (in Welsh), keeping the grammatical gender of the word “dragon” in mind (Freagra C1<\/strong>).\u00a0 Come to think of it, I’ve never actually thought about whether the actual dragon on the Welsh flag is fireann<\/strong> or baineann<\/strong>.\u00a0 I do have a red plush souvenir one (with backpack straps), but somehow I don’t think that “draig<\/em>” will answer ceist na hinscne.<\/strong>\u00a0 Hmmm, anyone know?\u00a0 (Gluais\u00edn: baineann<\/strong>, female; fireann<\/strong>, male; inscne<\/strong>, gender)<\/p>\n

2) As we’ve already seen above, the Welsh for “white,” as used in their flag and in general, is “gwyn<\/em>” (feminine form: gwen<\/em>, for when that’s needed).\u00a0 So, since that’s fairly predictable, how about a slightly different ceist<\/strong>: \u00a0which Irish word for “white” is cognate to “gwyn<\/em>” — b\u00e1n, fionn<\/strong>, or geal? \u00a0(Freagra th\u00edos, C2.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) And as for the green, well, first up, I’ll say that I have found no official description of the Welsh flag in Irish.\u00a0 So the green-green situation becomes a question again.\u00a0 If we model the usage on the Irish flag, we’ll use “uaine<\/strong>” for the Welsh “gwyrdd<\/em>.”\u00a0\u00a0 If we model it on the most typical entry for “green” in various color lists, it would be “glas<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Curiously, “glas,<\/strong><\/em>” which basically means “green-blue-gray” in the Pan-Celtic spectrum, actually means “blue” in Welsh.\u00a0 The Welsh word for “green” (gwyrdd\/gwerdd<\/em>) is cognate to Latin “viridis<\/em>,” from which we also get “vert,” “verde,<\/em>” \u00a0and the surname Verdi.\u00a0 Speaking of “Verdi,” I read some place that the majestic-sounding name “Giuseppe Verdi” simply means “Joe Green,” which wouldn’t imbue the 19th-century opera composer with quite the same \u00e9lan.\u00a0 C’est la vie, I suppose.\u00a0 Also related to Latin “viridis<\/em>” are English words like “verdigris” and “verderer,” but not their Irish equivalents, which are “glasar<\/strong>” and “maor coille<\/strong>” (lit. warden of woods, i.e. wood-ranger).\u00a0 \u00a0Actually there are two additional words for “verdigris” in Irish.\u00a0 They’re interesting because they’re based on the word for copper, but they aren’t connected to the viridis-verde-<\/em>Verdi family.\u00a0 An bhfuil siad agat?\u00a0 Muna bhfuil, t\u00e1 an freagra (C3) th\u00edos.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To conclude, I’ll propose “uaine<\/strong>” for the green of the Welsh flag (Bratach na Breataine Bige), <\/strong>since “uaine”<\/strong> is generally reserved for things which are dyed or manufactured green, as opposed to things that are “glas<\/strong>” (naturally occurring in nature).\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t know if they’ve ever tackled the issue, but www.draigwerdd.org<\/a> might be just the place to further this discussion.\u00a0\u00a0 As you might have picked out, the name of this Dublin-based Welsh organization, Draig Werdd<\/em>, means “Green Dragon.” \u00a0Any other thoughts for this color term for the Welsh flag?\u00a0 Breatnach ar bith ar an liosta?\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n

C.1. The Welsh for “An Dragan Dearg<\/strong>” is “Y Ddraig Goch<\/em>.”\u00a0 It’s grammatically feminine (baininscneach<\/strong>) in Welsh.\u00a0 In Irish, as it happens, the word for dragon, “dragan<\/strong>” is grammatically masculine (firinscneach<\/strong>).\u00a0\u00a0 Thereby must hang some sort of tale!\u00a0 (Note to self: next project, grammatical gender of dragons go hidirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta<\/strong>, just for languages that have grammatical gender, of course — not all do).<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, “dragan<\/strong>” is also the Irish word for “tarragon,” which is considered to be the “dragon herb” and which was believed to cure snake bites.\u00a0 But the Welsh do not mix up their herbs with their “dreigiau<\/em>” (that’s the Welsh plural, btw, one less word to learn for those strictly interested in Irish).\u00a0\u00a0 The Welsh for “tarragon” is either “taragon”<\/em> (reasonably enough) or “amgwyn<\/em>,” which appears to be from “cwyn<\/em>” (complaint, lament, suit).\u00a0 It would be interesting to know more about the word “amgwyn<\/em>,” since I don’t exactly see the connection between the herb and complaining or lamenting, let alone between that and dragons.\u00a0 But, n\u00ed luibheola\u00ed m\u00e9, de hiarracht ar bith den tsamhla\u00edocht<\/strong>, so for now, sin \u00e9<\/strong>, but not quite before I at least note that “cwyn<\/strong>” must be related to Irish “caoineadh<\/strong>.”\u00a0 That much, at least, is r\u00e9as\u00fanta soil\u00e9ir.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais\u00edn do C1: caoineadh<\/strong>, to lament, to keen; luibheola\u00ed<\/strong>, herbalist; iarracht<\/strong>, attempt (here “stretch”), samhla\u00edocht<\/strong>, imagination.<\/p>\n

C.2. “fionn<\/strong>” and “gwyn<\/strong>” are cognates, both derived from the Celtic root “vindo-s<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

C.3. Additional words for “verdigris” in Irish, besides “glasar,<\/strong>” are “umhaghuirim<\/strong>,” f (lit. copper-blue, in a slightly archaic spelling), and “meirg umha<\/strong>” (lit. rust of copper).\u00a0 “Copper,” as you may have figured from that, is “umha,<\/strong>” but “caveataig\u00ed<\/strong>,” all ye miotal\u00f3ir\u00ed<\/strong>, “umha<\/strong>” also means “copper alloy” or “bronze.”<\/p>\n

Of course, we could just use the Pantone numbering system and be done with the whole green-green question: Pantone 348 U.\u00a0 Nothing like a good set of digit\u00ed<\/strong> when na focail iad f\u00e9in<\/strong> are a little \u00e9iginnte<\/strong> or neamhiata<\/strong>.\u00a0 Somehow, I think Spock would like that!<\/p>\n

Gluais\u00edn do C3<\/strong>: caveataigi<\/strong>, a new hybrid combining Latin and the usual plural ending for commands (I know, “caveat” is by no means an Irish verb, but then “amachaigi<\/strong>” and “isteachaigi<\/strong>” allow verb endings even though “amach<\/strong>” and “isteach<\/strong>” are not verbs — just a little word play!\u00a0; digit<\/strong> [DIG-itch, not with a “soft” g like the English word “digit], digit; \u00e9iginnte<\/strong>, ambiguous; neamhiata<\/strong>, open-ended. lit. more like “non-closed,” based on the prefix “neamh<\/strong>-” \u00a0and the verb “iaigh<\/strong>,” close, shut, stop, dam, with the additional forms “iamh<\/strong>,” to close\/shut\/stop\/dam,\u00a0 and “iata<\/strong>,” closed, shut, secured, fastened, and last but not least, constipated)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Well, as promised here is the third flag to be discussed as we address dathanna bratacha (colors of flags).\u00a0\u00a0 As you may have recently read, Cuid A was about Bratach na h\u00c9ireann and Cuid B was about Bratach na St\u00e1t Aontaithe (Bratach Mheirice\u00e1), https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/tri-bhratach-eire-meiricea-an-bhreatain-bheag-agus-a-ndathanna-flag-colors-cuid-1\/. \u00a0The colors we discussed were uaine (and the companion…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":2514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4268,229508,4352,229519,4435,229504,2887,229498,229511,229513,229507,229518,229517,229515,229516,229512,229514,229505,229506,1091,5483,229509,7220,229503,229510],"class_list":["post-2501","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-ban","tag-baner","tag-bhratach","tag-bhutan","tag-bratach","tag-coch","tag-colors","tag-colours","tag-cymraeg","tag-ddraig","tag-describing-colors","tag-dragain","tag-dragan","tag-dragon","tag-dragons","tag-draig","tag-dreigiau","tag-gwyn","tag-gwyrdd","tag-happiness","tag-happy","tag-irish-dearg","tag-uaine","tag-welsh-flag","tag-yn-gymraeg"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501","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=2501"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2520,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2501\/revisions\/2520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}