{"id":2879,"date":"2012-07-30T03:18:31","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T03:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=2879"},"modified":"2018-02-27T00:00:22","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T00:00:22","slug":"coiriu-gruaige-tirghrach-dearg-ban-gorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/coiriu-gruaige-tirghrach-dearg-ban-gorm\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00f3iri\u00fa Gruaige T\u00edrghr\u00e1ch Venus Williams: Dearg, B\u00e1n, Gorm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Trilis th\u00edrghr\u00e1ch: dearg, b\u00e1n, agus gorm \u00f3 bhratach Mheirice\u00e1 (constru\u00e1il an \u00fadair)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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

Here we just finished discussing “dearg, b\u00e1n, agus gorm”<\/strong> for 4 (An Ceathr\u00fa L\u00e1) I\u00fail (L\u00e1 na Saoirse i Meirice\u00e1),<\/strong> when these three colors come swishing through the air again!\u00a0 This time they aren’t attached to a\u00a0crann brata\u00ed<\/strong>, but to ceann V\u00e9ineas Nic Liam<\/strong>, or, as she’s usually known, Venus Williams, sna Cluich\u00ed Oilimpeacha<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Looking at the photograph (http:\/\/uk.eurosport.yahoo.com\/blogs\/londonspy\/venus-unveils-usa-hair-160237391.html<\/a>), which has been plastr\u00e1ilte<\/strong> all over an nuacht<\/strong>, I’d say we’re looking at cornrows (though they’re more straightforward than many I’ve seen) and extensions.\u00a0\u00a0 So I’ve been pondering those terms (cornrows, extensions) in Irish, and, as sometimes happens, coming to a bit of a ceann caoch<\/strong> (dead end, lit. blind head or end).\u00a0 But we can still look at the vocabulary for them.<\/p>\n

“Extensions” is a bit easier to deal with, as vocabulary, than “cornrows.”\u00a0 So let’s start there. \u00a0“S\u00edneadh<\/strong>” means “to stretch \/ extend \/ prolong.”\u00a0 You might recognize it from the phrase “s\u00edneadh fada<\/strong>” (long mark), which is very important in learning Irish, making the difference between words like “l\u00f3n<\/strong>” (lunch) and “lon<\/strong>” (ouzel, among other meanings).\u00a0 “S\u00edneadh<\/strong>” is a “verbal noun,” which means it can be used as a noun, which further means that it has a plural form, “s\u00ednt\u00ed.”\u00a0<\/strong> So for hair extensions, let’s say “s\u00ednt\u00ed gruaige<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Let’s backtrack for a minute there, with the word for “hair”:<\/p>\n

gruaig<\/strong> [GROO-ig], hair; an ghruaig<\/strong>, the hair<\/p>\n

gruaige<\/strong> [GROO-ig-yuh], of hair; na gruaige<\/strong>, of the hair<\/p>\n

So “s\u00edneadh gruaige<\/strong>” would be a “hair extension” and “s\u00ednt\u00ed gruaige<\/strong>” would be “hair extensions.”<\/p>\n

Now for cornrows.\u00a0 The word “corn” is different in American and British\/Irish English.\u00a0 In the US, it is almost exclusively used for maize (i.e. sweet corn).\u00a0\u00a0 In British and Irish English, it means edible grain in general, which can include wheat and oats.\u00a0 In Irish, “arbhar<\/strong>” [“AR-oor” OR “AR-uh-vur”] means “corn” and the adjective “Indiach<\/strong>” is added (arbhar Indiach<\/strong>) to specify “Indian corn” (maize).\u00a0 The idea behind the term “cornrows” is that the hair looks like fields of planted corn (maize), but I think that adding “Indiach<\/strong>” to the mix here would make the phrase too complicated.\u00a0 So “arbhar<\/strong>,” on its own, could be one element of our word.<\/p>\n

Next is “row.”\u00a0 Once we separate out any uses of the word “row” for “rowing” (a boat) or for having a “row” (argument), we’re still left with a number of words that mean “row” as in a “line” of something.\u00a0 These include the following:<\/p>\n

iomaire<\/strong>, also a “ridge,” as in planting, or the surname, Mac an Iomaire<\/strong> [mahk uh NUM-irzh-uh]<\/p>\n

l\u00edne<\/strong>, also a “line<\/strong>,” as in “ar l\u00edne<\/strong>” [erzh LEEN-yuh]<\/p>\n

rae<\/strong>, a row as in planting, also for street names, such as “Rae Chaibhindis<\/strong>” (Cavendish Row)<\/p>\n

r\u00f3<\/strong>, in computing and statistics, for houses, trees, etc., also in damhsa<\/strong> (dancing)<\/p>\n

sraith<\/strong>, for seats, pews, etc., also in knitting; also, a “series” as in “sraith leabhar<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

So the path of least resistance would appear to be “r\u00f3<\/strong>,” since it can refer to plantings and echoes the B\u00e9arla<\/strong>.\u00a0 “*Arbhar-r\u00f3<\/strong>“?\u00a0 The plural, then, would be “*arbhar-r\u00f3nna<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Some little voice in my head is saying “*corn-r\u00f3<\/strong>” with the plural as “*corn-r\u00f3nna<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Probably the idea of cornrows is widespread enough that people would realize that “*corn-r\u00f3<\/strong>” would be a half-English, half-Irish term, especially since the word is constructed as a compound, with the same word order as English.<\/p>\n

I did search around online for references to any of this, and found virtually nothing.\u00a0 There were a few repetitive references to “s\u00ednt\u00ed gruaige<\/strong>” but they all bore the hallmarks of Google translate or some such engine.\u00a0 None of the sites were Irish or Irish-related, and all had random words in English embedded in Irish text, words that would have been easy enough for a human translator to deal with.\u00a0 Such sites can be amusing, or distracting, but aren’t useful for finding out how people<\/em> use words.\u00a0 For “corn-r\u00f3nna<\/strong>,” or whatever we end up calling it, there was nothing. \u00a0I did find one (and only one) hit for “r\u00f3nna corn<\/strong>” [sic] on a dating website, in a person’s profile. \u00a0Of course, if we really read that as Irish, it means “rows of horns \/ trophies” (“corn<\/strong>” in Irish means a “horn” or “trophy cup” in sports, music, or similar competitions, as in Corn U\u00ed Riada<\/strong>, for sean-n\u00f3s<\/strong> singing, or\u00a0Corn U\u00ed Mhuir\u00ed<\/b><\/strong> for peil Ghaelach<\/b><\/strong>).\u00a0 The distinctly Irish word “r\u00f3nna<\/strong>” coming first seems to prompt interpreting “r\u00f3nna corn<\/strong>” as a fully Irish phrase, since it’s in typical Irish word order.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s best to just say “cornrow” as such in Irish, maybe pluralizing it with “*cornrowanna<\/strong>,” or maybe just as in English, “cornrows.”\u00a0 At any rate, it’s useful to talk about fairly basic vocabulary words such as “corn” and “row,” no matter what outcome (or rows) we have for “cornrows.”<\/p>\n

Maybe by the next time I look into this topic, someone else will have worked it out and the Irish dictionaries will include “cornrow,” but so far, like I said, there’s no useful cybertrail for “cornrows” as Gaeilge<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0Or maybe, before much longer, some gruagaire sa Ghaeltacht<\/strong> will write in and say, right, we do them all the time and call them a leith\u00e9id seo d’ainm<\/strong> (such and such a name).\u00a0 \u00a0Gruagaire ar bith amuigh ansin, ag l\u00e9amh an bhlag seo?<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0After all, the style is not limited to people of African descent (with whom it originated), not since an scann\u00e1n<\/strong> 10<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But the colors in the picture of Venus aren’t static. \u00a0Part of the appeal of the picture and the concept is how the colors move as Venus moves. \u00a0Swishing, now how would one say that in Irish?\u00a0 Or flashing?\u00a0 Or swinging?\u00a0 Or waving? \u00a0Well, that gives us some vocabulary food for thought.\u00a0 I guess I’d describe gruaig<\/strong> Venus Williams as “ag lascadh<\/strong>” (whipping) or “ag luascadh<\/strong>” (swinging ), tr\u00edd an aer<\/strong>, that is, as she played, lead\u00f3g<\/strong>, of course.\u00a0 And you might have sensed where this was going.\u00a0 Watching Venus, I couldn’t help but semi-think, semi-translate the refrain “fuipe\u00e1il mo chuid gruaige, fuipe\u00e1il mo chuid gruaige, anonn is anall<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But that discussion, with leithsc\u00e9alta do Willow, Jimmy Fallon, Bruce Springsteen, agus Neil Young<\/strong>, will have to be \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As for the artwork for this blog, it is, as the foscr\u00edbhinn<\/strong> says, my interpretation of trilse trilseacha trilsithe ildathacha t\u00edrghr\u00e1cha Venus<\/strong>, since I wasn’t able an grianghraf f\u00e9in a uasl\u00f3d\u00e1il<\/strong>, hence an nasc d\u00f3, thuas<\/strong>.\u00a0 And I’m wondering, will this hair tour de force be repeated some time by others for Tr\u00eddhathach na h\u00c9ireann (uaine, b\u00e1n agus flannbhu\u00ed)<\/strong> or any other group of tr\u00ed dhath<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Gluais: c\u00f3iri\u00fa gruaige<\/strong>, hairdo; constru\u00e1il<\/strong>, construction, interpretation; crann brata\u00ed<\/strong>, flagpole;\u00a0cuid<\/strong>, share, portion (not just used for “do chuid pi\u00f3ige<\/strong>” but also routinely used to describe one’s hair, money, or knowledge of the Irish language — \u00e1bhar blag eile, m\u00e1s mian libh<\/strong>); gruagaire<\/strong>, hairdresser; ildathach<\/strong>, multicolored; lead\u00f3g<\/strong>, tennis; leithsc\u00e9al<\/strong>, apology, excuse; pi\u00f3g<\/strong>, pie (pi\u00f3ige<\/strong>, of pie); t\u00edrghr\u00e1ch<\/strong>, patriotic; trilis<\/strong>, tress (pl: trilse<\/strong>);\u00a0trilsithe<\/strong>, braided, plaited; trilseach<\/strong>, braided \/ plaited OR bright \/ glittering (an interesting double set of meanings!)<\/p>\n

Agus an bolgam siolla\u00ed leathuamach sin “trilse trilseacha trilsithe ildathacha t\u00edrghr\u00e1cha Venus,”<\/strong> that means “Venus’s bright braided multicolored patriotic tresses.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Here we just finished discussing “dearg, b\u00e1n, agus gorm” for 4 (An Ceathr\u00fa L\u00e1) I\u00fail (L\u00e1 na Saoirse i Meirice\u00e1), when these three colors come swishing through the air again!\u00a0 This time they aren’t attached to a\u00a0crann brata\u00ed, but to ceann V\u00e9ineas Nic Liam, or, as she’s usually known, Venus Williams, sna Cluich\u00ed…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":2902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[66239,4268,229594,460773,460774,229595,229596,4923,5419,229597,5667,229589,3327,2360,229590,96581,11,229593,460775,229588,7263,229587,32950],"class_list":["post-2879","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-66239","tag-ban","tag-blue","tag-corn-ui-mhuiri","tag-corn-ui-riada","tag-cornrow","tag-cornrows","tag-dearg","tag-gorm","tag-hair-extensions","tag-irish","tag-leadog","tag-olympic-games","tag-olympics","tag-patriotic-hairdo","tag-peil-ghaelach","tag-pronunciation","tag-red","tag-sean-nos","tag-tennis","tag-veineas","tag-venus-williams","tag-white"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2879","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=2879"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10196,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2879\/revisions\/10196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}