{"id":30,"date":"2009-05-10T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2009-05-10T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=30"},"modified":"2015-12-29T12:18:46","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T12:18:46","slug":"la-na-maithreacha-vs-la-na-mathar-%e2%80%9cday-of-the-mothers%e2%80%9d-or-%e2%80%9cof-the-mother%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/la-na-maithreacha-vs-la-na-mathar-%e2%80%9cday-of-the-mothers%e2%80%9d-or-%e2%80%9cof-the-mother%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u00e1 na M\u00e1ithreacha vs. L\u00e1 na M\u00e1thar (\u201cDay of the Mothers\u201d or \u201cof the Mother\u201d)?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been following this debate in Irish circles for a good 10 or so years now, probably since the first time I wrote on the topic\u00a0for my Irish language column for children in the Philadelphia-based Irish Edition<\/em> newspaper (www.irishedition.com<\/a>). \u00a0Are we celebrating one mother or all mothers?\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I should probably qualify that to say \u201ci gciorcail Ghael-Mheirice\u00e1nacha agus Ghael-Cheanadacha<\/strong>\u201d (in Irish-American and Irish-Canadian circles), since Mother\u2019s Day as such wasn\u2019t traditionally celebrated in Ireland, or Britain for that matter.\u00a0 Instead, \u201cMothering Sunday\u201d was, and is, observed on the fourth Sunday of Lent (aka Laetare Sunday).\u00a0 Mothering Sunday was originally a religious holiday, for the purpose of visiting one\u2019s mother church (\u201cgoing a-mothering\u201d) and typically being reunited with one\u2019s mother for the day.\u00a0 Recently, however, it has become increasingly secularized and more like North American Mother\u2019s Day.\u00a0 The Irish term for \u201cMothering Sunday\u201d is surprisingly elusive, but \u201cDomhnach an Mh\u00e1ithreachais<\/strong>\u201d should do.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The consensus seems to be that the Mother\u2019s Day concept is plural, despite the English grammatical structure, which makes it singular.\u00a0 These days many people leave out the apostrophe altogether, adding to the confusion, since the phrase \u201cMothers Day\u201d without the apostrophe isn\u2019t specifically singular or plural or even possessive. \u00a0In English, of course, the apostrophe is currently dying a slow death, despite the valiant attempts of organizations like the Apostrophe Protection Society (www.apostrophe.org.uk<\/span><\/span>) and websites like www.apostrophecatastrophes.com<\/span><\/span>, as well as attention from such prominent commentators as Arianna Huffington, who wrote \u201c<\/span>The Apostrophe Crisis: When Perfectly Good Punctuation Goes Bad<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span> (www.huffingtonpost.com\/arianna-huffington\/the-apostrophe-crisis-wh_b_12628.html<\/span><\/a>).\u00a0 So, at some point in the future, we\u2019ll just have a blur of events like \u201cMothers Day,\u201d \u201cFathers Day,\u201d and \u201cSt. Patricks Day.\u201d\u00a0 The latter will be particularly problematic if it presumes the existence of more than one St. Patrick!\u00a0 Mother \u2013 Mothers, Father — Fathers — OK.\u00a0 But is there another St. Patrick?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Irish language will never fall quite into that grammatical trap.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t use the apostrophe to show possession.\u00a0 So you see, those of you from Ireland, all those years of studying the tuiseal ginideach<\/strong> (genitive case) are of some benefit!\u00a0 It\u2019s true that Irish has some complicated use of apostrophes, including indicating the real colloquial pronunciation of phrases like \u201cfear an phoist<\/strong>\u201d (the postman, pronounced fear a\u2019 phoist<\/strong>).\u00a0 Bhuel<\/strong>, more on na huascham\u00f3ga<\/strong>\u00a0(lit. “upper-commas”) and an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong> later but that \u00c1.B.E. (\u00e1bhar blag eile) <\/strong>will have to wait.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Back to Mother\u2019s Day itself.\u00a0 \u201cL\u00e1 na M\u00e1ithreacha<\/strong>\u201d seems to be favored somewhat over \u201cL\u00e1 na M\u00e1thar<\/strong>,\u201d to judge by some recent online searching.\u00a0 As I mentioned, there\u2019s not much precedent for either of these phrases in older Irish sources, since the day was not traditionally observed in Ireland under the name \u201cMother\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Conveniently for our purposes, this topic has also introduced some of the irregularities of the word \u201cm\u00e1thair<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s an irregular noun, with the following forms: <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

m\u00e1thar: <\/span><\/strong>of a mother (note the \u201ci\u201d has been dropped at the end \u2013 that shows that this form is possessive).\u00a0 Example: gach mac m\u00e1thar<\/strong>, every mother\u2019s son\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

na m\u00e1thar: <\/span><\/strong>of the mother.\u00a0 Ex.: Sl\u00e1inte na m\u00e1thar<\/strong>, the health of the mother.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

m\u00e1ithreacha<\/span><\/strong>: mothers, \u00a0Ex. \u00e1r m\u00e1ithreacha romhainn<\/strong>, our mothers before us<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span>
\nBased on this, can you guess the forms for \u201cathair<\/strong>\u201d (father)?\u00a0 It\u2019s irregular in a similar way to \u201cm\u00e1thair.<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 How would you suppose we\u2019d say \u201cFather\u2019s Day\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0 Or \u201cGrandpar\u00adents Day,\u201d which, by the way, is officially gan uascham\u00f3g\u00a0<\/strong>(apostrophe-less) according to its creator\u2019s website (www.grandparents-day.com). <\/span><\/span>
\nHowever you celebrate the day, bain sult as<\/strong> (enjoy it) \u2013 bhur mblag\u00e1la\u00ed — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

P.S. nuashonr\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong>: still no entry for “Mothering Sunday” in major Irish online dictionaries, but “L\u00e1 na M\u00e1ithreacha<\/strong>” (the plural version) is official according to focloir.ie. \u00a0(29 M\u00ed na Nollag)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) I\u2019ve been following this debate in Irish circles for a good 10 or so years now, probably since the first time I wrote on the topic\u00a0for my Irish language column for children in the Philadelphia-based Irish Edition newspaper (www.irishedition.com). \u00a0Are we celebrating one mother or all mothers?\u00a0 I should probably qualify that to say…<\/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":[3954,3955,3963,4036,4133,4149,4185,4186,4187,4188,4189,4201,4213,4236,4239,4258,4356,4595,4596,4597,4619,4683,4684,4697,4734,4984,5115,5141,5144,5142,5143,5151,5150,5235,5280,5292,5293,5295,5296,5324,1083,1084,5373,5411,5423,5424,5426,5432,5430,5431,5433,5434,5572,5675,5676,5703,5707,97,5714,5810,5811,5823,5824,1134,5959,5978,5979,5980,6022,6025,6058,6059,6060,6068,6069,6076,6078,6079,6145,6150,6147,6148,6149,6180,6192,6210,6290,6328,6334,6335,3351,6515,6624,3404,6841,6936,6997,7075,7084,7093,7206,7207,7651,7652,7657,7658,7660],"class_list":{"0":"post-30","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"hentry","5":"category-irish-language","6":"tag-a-mothering","7":"tag-abe","8":"tag-abhar-blag-eile","9":"tag-aithreacha","10":"tag-an-mhathair","11":"tag-an-t-athair","12":"tag-apastrof","13":"tag-apastrofa","14":"tag-apostrophe","15":"tag-apostrophe-protection-society","16":"tag-apostrophe-less","17":"tag-ar-maithreacha-romhainn","18":"tag-arianna-huffington","19":"tag-athair","20":"tag-athar","21":"tag-bain-sult-as","22":"tag-bhuel","23":"tag-ceanadach","24":"tag-ceanadacha","25":"tag-ceanadaigh","26":"tag-celebrate","27":"tag-ciorcail","28":"tag-ciorcal","29":"tag-clibeanna","30":"tag-colloquial-pronunciation","31":"tag-domhnach-an-mhaithreachais","32":"tag-every-mothers-son","33":"tag-father","34":"tag-fathers-day","37":"tag-fear-a-phoist","38":"tag-fear-an-phoist","39":"tag-fourth-sunday-of-lent","40":"tag-gach-mac-mathar","41":"tag-gael-cheanadach","42":"tag-gael-cheanadacha","43":"tag-gael-mheiriceanach","44":"tag-gael-mheiriceanacha","45":"tag-gan-apastrof","46":"tag-genitive","47":"tag-genitive-case","48":"tag-ginideach","49":"tag-going-a-mothering","50":"tag-granddad","51":"tag-grandfather","52":"tag-grandmother","53":"tag-grandparents-day","56":"tag-grandpop","57":"tag-granny","58":"tag-i-gciorcail","59":"tag-irish-edition","60":"tag-irish-edition-newspaper","61":"tag-irish-american","62":"tag-irish-canadian","63":"tag-irregular","64":"tag-irregular-noun","65":"tag-la-na-maithreacha","66":"tag-la-na-mathar","67":"tag-laetare","68":"tag-laetare-sunday","69":"tag-lent","70":"tag-mac-mathar","71":"tag-maithreacha","72":"tag-maithreachais","73":"tag-maithreachas","74":"tag-mathair","75":"tag-mathar","76":"tag-meiriceanach","77":"tag-meiriceanacha","78":"tag-meiriceanaigh","79":"tag-mhaithreachais","80":"tag-mhaithreachas","81":"tag-mhathair","82":"tag-mheiriceanach","83":"tag-mheiriceanacha","84":"tag-mother-church","85":"tag-mothers-day","86":"tag-mothering-sunday","88":"tag-mothers-day-without-the-apostrophe","89":"tag-n-aithreacha","90":"tag-na-hapastrofa","91":"tag-naithreacha","92":"tag-north-american-mothers-day","93":"tag-of-a-mother","94":"tag-of-the-mother","95":"tag-of-the-mothers","96":"tag-possessive","97":"tag-postman","98":"tag-romhainn","99":"tag-singular","100":"tag-slainte-na-mathar","101":"tag-st-patricks-day","102":"tag-t-athair","103":"tag-the-apostrophe-crisis","104":"tag-the-health-of-the-mother","105":"tag-the-mothers-day-concept-is-plural","106":"tag-tuiseal","107":"tag-tuiseal-ginideach","108":"tag-wwwapostropheorguk","109":"tag-wwwapostrophecatastrophescom","110":"tag-wwwgrandparents-daycom","111":"tag-wwwhuffingtonpostcom","112":"tag-wwwirisheditioncom"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","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=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7456,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/7456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}