{"id":28,"date":"2009-05-13T00:03:46","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T04:03:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=28"},"modified":"2012-05-22T21:39:03","modified_gmt":"2012-05-22T21:39:03","slug":"smaoinigh-air-sin-smaoinigh-air-seo-or-a-penny-for-your-%e2%80%9csmaointe%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/smaoinigh-air-sin-smaoinigh-air-seo-or-a-penny-for-your-%e2%80%9csmaointe%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Smaoinigh air sin! Smaoinigh air seo! Or, A Penny for your \u201cSmaointe\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Transparent Language\u2019s Word of the Day recently featured \u201csmaoineamh<\/strong>,\u201d a word whose pronunciation has intrigued many of my students over the years.\u00a0 <\/span>Fortunately, now all you have to do is click on the WOTD link to hear it (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/wotd\/today\/irish.htm).\u00a0 <\/span>Some speakers don\u2019t pronounce the final \u2013mh at all (SMWEEN-yuh); others pronounce it as a \u201cv\u201d or \u201coo\u201d (SMWEEN-yuv, SMWEEN-yoo).\u00a0 <\/span>Here are a few more forms of the word: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smaoineamh: <\/span><\/strong>an idea, a thought.\u00a0 <\/span>This is the verbal noun and can serve either as an actual noun or, with \u201cag<\/strong>,\u201d to indicate that the action is ongoing.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smaointe<\/span><\/strong>: You may remember that Enya\u2019s early album Shepherd\u2019s Moon<\/em> included the song, \u201cSmaointe<\/em><\/strong>\u201d (thoughts, reflections).\u00a0 <\/span>This is the plural of the verbal noun \u201csmaoineamh<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, Irish verbal nouns usually have plurals AND grammatical gender AND genitive cases, but more on those for blag l\u00e1 fearthainne <\/strong>(a rainy day blog). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ag smaoineamh<\/span><\/strong>: thinking, the act of thinking, as in \u201cT\u00e1 m\u00e9 ag smaoineamh ar uimhir idir a haon agus a deich<\/strong>,\u201d (I\u2019m thinking of a number between one and ten).\u00a0 <\/span>This form is used after the verb \u201cto be\u201d to indicate that the action is in progress.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smaoinigh<\/span><\/strong>: think, or reflect, in the \u201ccommand form,\u201d used to tell someone to think about or reflect upon something. \u00a0<\/span>Examples: \u201cSmaoinigh air sin!<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cSmaoinigh air seo!<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>It is followed by a form of the preposition \u201car<\/strong>\u201d (literally \u201con\u201d but here with the sense of \u201cabout\u201d), giving us \u201cair sin<\/strong>\u201d (on that) or \u201cair seo<\/strong>\u201d (on this).\u00a0 <\/span>Another example I noticed recently was \u201cSmaoinigh ar na bunt\u00e1ist\u00ed ar fad a bheadh ag do ph\u00e1ist\u00ed d\u00e1 mbeid\u00eds d\u00e1theangach<\/span><\/strong>,\u201d as stated on the website for www.teangafein.ie<\/a>, an organization promoting Irish-English bilingualism for children [the phrase means \u201cthink on\/about all the advantages that your children would have if they were bilingual\u201d]. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smaoinigh:<\/span><\/strong> The past tense form of the same verb, as in \u201cSmaoinigh s\u00e9 air sin<\/strong>\u201d (he thought about that).\u00a0 <\/span>For this particular verb, the past tense looks exactly the same as the command form.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Smaointeoir<\/span><\/strong>: \u201cThe Thinker,\u201d probably the best name for Rodin\u2019s famous statue if we had reason to discuss it in Irish.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And finally, the rhyming connection between \u201csmaoinigh<\/strong>\u201d [SMWEEN-yee] and the surname \u201cSweeney\u201d has not gone unnoticed, as I recently saw in a young Dubliner\u2019s bebo.com profile page, \u201cSmaoinigh An Sweeney<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Here the verb is in the past tense, so the phrase means \u201cSweeney thought.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>The word \u201can<\/strong>\u201d (the) here is a carryover from an Irish naming tradition, giving us forms like \u201cAn Conallach<\/strong>,\u201d (Mr. O\u2019Connell \/ the O\u2019Connell man), \u201cAn Flaitheartach<\/strong> \u201c (Mr. O\u2019Flaherty), and \u201cAn Paorach,<\/strong>\u201d as in the proverb, \u201cBeidh l\u00e1 eile ag an bPaorach<\/strong>\u201d (Mr. Power will have another day, i.e. chance).\u00a0 <\/span>Of course, if \u201cSweeney\u201d were in its original form, we\u2019d have \u201cSmaoinigh an Suibhneach<\/strong>\u201d [SMWEEN-yee un SWIV-nyukh] so we wouldn\u2019t have the rhyme (An Suibhneach,<\/strong> Mr. Sweeney or \u201cThe Sweeney man\u201d). <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Like most figurative idioms, the English phrase \u201ca penny for your thoughts\u201d doesn\u2019t really translate into traditional Irish, but the equivalent idea is \u201cCad \u00e9 a bhfuil t\u00fa ag smaoineamh air<\/strong>?\u201d (What are you thinking of?).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ach n\u00e1 b\u00ed ag smaoineamh gurb \u00e9 seo deireadh an sc\u00e9il, \u00e1fach.\u00a0 <\/span>T\u00e1 ceithre fhocal eile i nGaeilge ar a laghad a chialla\u00edonn \u201cto think.\u201d<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>But don’t think that this is the end of the story, however.\u00a0 <\/span>There are at least four other words in Irish that mean \u201cto think.\u201d \u00a0<\/span>Intrigued?\u00a0 <\/span>Check back i mblag eile<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bhur mblag\u00e1la\u00ed – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Transparent Language\u2019s Word of the Day recently featured \u201csmaoineamh,\u201d a word whose pronunciation has intrigued many of my students over the years.\u00a0 Fortunately, now all you have to do is click on the WOTD link to hear it (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/wotd\/today\/irish.htm).\u00a0 Some speakers don\u2019t pronounce the final \u2013mh at all (SMWEEN-yuh); others pronounce it as a \u201cv\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":[3898],"tags":[3978,3996,3999,211661,4010,4030,4031,4109,4116,4137,4142,4196,4319,4371,4372,4514,4910,4934,5094,1084,5421,5580,5605,5606,5708,5806,6155,6156,2376,6427,11,6587,6588,6619,6854,6855,6856,6857,6858,6859,6941,6986,6987,7036,7039,7098,7099,7110,7111,7138,3585,7322,7648],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-action-ongoing","tag-afach","tag-ag-an-bpaorach","tag-ag-an-phaorach","tag-ag-smaoineamh","tag-air-seo","tag-air-sin","tag-an-conallach","tag-an-flaitheartach","tag-an-paorach","tag-an-suibhneach","tag-ar-a-laghad","tag-beidh-la-eile-ag-an-bpaorach","tag-bilingual","tag-bilingualism","tag-cad-e-a-bhfuil-tu-ag-smaoineamh-air","tag-datheangach","tag-deireadh-an-sceil","tag-enya","tag-genitive-case","tag-grammatical-gender","tag-i-mblag-eile","tag-idea","tag-ideas","tag-irish-english","tag-la-eile","tag-mr-power","tag-mr-sweeney","tag-past-tense","tag-penny-for-your-thoughts","tag-pronunciation","tag-reflection","tag-reflections","tag-rodin","tag-smaoineamh","tag-smaoinigh","tag-smaoinigh-an-sweeney","tag-smaointe","tag-smaointeoir","tag-smaointi","tag-statue","tag-sweeney","tag-sweeney-thought","tag-teanga-fein","tag-teangafein","tag-the-sweeney-man","tag-the-thinker","tag-thought","tag-thoughts","tag-to-think","tag-verbal-noun","tag-will-have-another-day","tag-wotd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t