{"id":3245,"date":"2012-09-24T17:15:23","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T17:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=3245"},"modified":"2020-03-05T00:54:19","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T00:54:19","slug":"na-mionna-na-miosan-ny-meeghyn-in-irish-scottish-gaelic-and-manx-cuid-3-as-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/na-mionna-na-miosan-ny-meeghyn-in-irish-scottish-gaelic-and-manx-cuid-3-as-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Na M\u00edonna, Na M\u00ecosan, Ny Meeghyn (in Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx), Cuid 3 as 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Working up these months and their meanings is taking longer than I expected.\u00a0 Bhuel, bh\u00ed tuaileas<\/strong> (hunch) agam<\/strong> … \u00a0(but I ambitiously thought that two parts would be enough for the topic).\u00a0 So you may have noticed that I’ve just expanded the number of sections this mionsraith<\/strong> (mini-series) will have.\u00a0 At this point, we’re up to ceithre chuid<\/strong> so the title now notes “Cuid 3 as 4<\/strong>.”\u00a0 That would read out loud as “Cuid a Tr\u00ed as Ceathair<\/strong>” (or “Ceithre Chuid<\/strong>“).\u00a0 Comparing the Scottish Gaelic month names to the Irish is going to take at least two blogs, six months to be \u00a0discussed per blog.<\/p>\n

If I do follow up at some point with the months in Welsh, Breton, and Cornish, as alluded to sna n\u00f3ta\u00ed tr\u00e1chta<\/strong>, that will be in a separate mionsraith<\/strong>.\u00a0 Those three languages, na teangacha Briotainise<\/strong>, are not part of the Gaelic (Goidelic) group (na teangacha Gaeilise<\/strong>), so I didn’t originally plan them as part of this series.\u00a0 But given an opportunity to translate Breatnais<\/strong> into Gaeilge<\/strong> and to compare Cornais<\/strong> to Briot\u00e1inis<\/strong>, I’ll always jump on it.\u00a0 So please keep a look out for another blog on months, perhaps after sos beag<\/strong> (a little break).<\/p>\n

You might also have noticed that here I’ve headed up one of the columns with “ciall<\/strong>” (meaning) instead of “aistri\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong>” (translation), since, to the best of my knowledge, these terms anns a’ Gh\u00e0idhlig<\/em> aren’t usually translated as such, except to say the “am Faoilleach<\/em>” means “January.”\u00a0 What I’m really looking at here are the actual Gaelic components of words like “Faoilleach<\/em>” or “Iuchar<\/em>,” since they are so strikingly different from the Irish terms.\u00a0 In contrast, most of the Manx terms, as previously discussed, \u00a0can readily be “translated” since many of them can be used as generic phrases (as in “Mean Arree<\/em>,” which literally means “middle of spring” (me\u00e1n earraigh<\/strong>) for “March.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Gaeilge <\/strong><\/td>\nG\u00e0idhlig<\/em><\/td>\nCiall i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong><\/td>\nFocail Ghaolta (Gaeilge)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ean\u00e1ir<\/strong><\/td>\nam Faoilleach<\/em><\/td>\nthe wolf season (OR\u00a0month OR ravage)<\/td>\nfaol <\/strong>(wolf)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Feabhra<\/strong><\/td>\nan Gearran<\/em><\/td>\nthe short one<\/td>\ngearr<\/strong> (short)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
M\u00e1rta<\/strong><\/td>\nam M\u00e0rt<\/em><\/td>\n(as with Irish and English, based on Latin “Mars<\/em>“)<\/td>\nM\u00e1rta<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Aibre\u00e1n<\/strong><\/td>\na’ Ghiblinn<\/em><\/td>\nno etymology available<\/td>\nunrelated; “Giblinn” is a WoW character though!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bealtaine<\/strong><\/td>\nan C\u00e8itean OR\u00a0<\/em>a’ Mh\u00e0igh<\/em><\/td>\nC\u00e8itean: \u00a0<\/em>first one; “M\u00e0igh” <\/em>is based on “May”<\/td>\nan ch\u00e9ad<\/strong> (the first)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Meitheamh<\/strong><\/td>\nan t-\u00d2gmh\u00ecos<\/em><\/td>\nthe young moon or month<\/td>\n\u00f3g<\/strong>, young; m\u00ed<\/strong>, month<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

(na m\u00edonna eile sa ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile)<\/em><\/p>\n

For “am Faoilleach<\/em>,” the ending of the word doesn’t specifically mean “month” (ScG: m\u00ecos<\/em>, Ir: m\u00ed<\/strong>), or “season” (ScG: aimsir, r\u00e0ithe<\/em>, Ir: s\u00e9as\u00far, r\u00e1ithe<\/strong>), or “ravage” (ScG:\u00a0 sgrios, creach<\/em>; Ir: scrios, creach<\/strong>, amongst other possibilities ).\u00a0 The “-each<\/em>” ending is fairly generic and has been given these interpretations by lexicographers.<\/p>\n

Ironically, there is another word in Scottish Gaelic, “faoilteach<\/em>” (“welcoming”), which is very similar-looking, but completely different in meaning (nearly a comhainm<\/strong>, a homonym, or, as the Scots would have it, a co-ainmnear<\/em>).\u00a0 In fact, the spelling of “faoilteach<\/em>” exactly matches an alternate spelling of the month name “Faoilteach<\/em>,” except for the capital letter.\u00a0 The Scottish Gaelic adjective “faoilteach<\/em>,” and related words like “faoilteachd<\/em>” and “faoiltich<\/em>,” are related to the Irish “f\u00e1ilte<\/strong>” (a welcome).\u00a0 Like I said, \u00edor\u00f3nta<\/strong> (ironic), since for most of us, January is the month we welcome least, at least weather-wise.<\/p>\n

“Faol<\/strong>” itself, as a word for “wolf,” is probably not quite as widely used in Irish as the alternate epithet-style name, “mac t\u00edre<\/strong>” (wolf, or “son of (the) land”).\u00a0\u00a0 But it certainly has its role, especially in compound words or terms like “faolch\u00fa<\/strong>” (wolf), “faolscad\u00e1n<\/strong>” (wolf-herring), or “c\u00fa faoil<\/strong>” (wolfhound).<\/p>\n

For “May,” it’s worth noting that Scottish Gaelic uses the word “Bealltainn<\/em>” (cognate to “Bealtaine<\/strong>” and to Manx “Boaldyn”<\/em>) for May Day (1 May), but not for the month itself.<\/p>\n

For “June,” two points of interest, especially for Irish speakers.\u00a0 First, the word for month in Scottish Gaelic, “m\u00ecos<\/em>,” is masculine, so we have the “t-insertion” in the compound word “\u00d2gmh\u00ecos<\/em>” (an t-\u00d2gmh\u00ecos<\/em>), as we would in Irish with words like “an t-\u00fall<\/strong>” or “an t-or\u00e1iste<\/strong>.”\u00a0 In Irish, though, the word for “month” is feminine (m\u00ed<\/strong>; an mh\u00ed<\/strong>).\u00a0 Second, “m\u00ecos”<\/em> can mean “moon” in Scottish Gaelic, although the usage is archaic.\u00a0 The most typical modern Scottish Gaelic word for “moon” is “gealach<\/em>,” as in Irish (also “gealach<\/strong>“), with “luan<\/em>” as an occasional variant, as also found in Irish “luan<\/strong>” (moon, halo).\u00a0\u00a0 The word for “moonwort” in the respective languages provides an example (ScG: luan-lus<\/em>, lit. moon-plant; Ir:\u00a0 luanlus<\/strong>, lit. moonplant).<\/p>\n

Please stay tuned to this blog for a discussion of the intriguingly named “Iuchar<\/strong>” (July), which I’ve seen variously interpreted as “warm month” and “worm month” (!). \u00a0Here, I’ll simply note that the typical Scottish Gaelic words for “worm” are “cnuimh<\/em>” (cf. Irish cruimh<\/strong>), “durrag<\/em>,” “daolag<\/em>,” and “baoiteag<\/em>.” \u00a0\u00a0The usual Irish word for “worm” is “p\u00e9ist<\/strong>” (ScG: \u00a0cf. biast <\/em>and b\u00e8ist<\/em>).\u00a0 Clearly, none of these are part of the word “Iuchar<\/em>.”\u00a0 \u00a0Perhaps by the next blog I’ll have found something more conclusive.<\/p>\n

If only we were talking about a “warm worm,” then we’d have a nice Yu-gi-oh tie-in (http:\/\/yugioh.wikia.com\/wiki\/Warm_Worm<\/a>). \u00a0Or we might get some hits from iascair\u00ed<\/strong> seeking advice such as the following:\u00a0 ” To keep your worms from overheating as you fish, transfer your worms from the store bought container to a styrofoam coffee cup with a lid.”\u00a0 For the rest of the details on preventing r\u00f3th\u00e9amh p\u00e9isteanna<\/strong> (overheating worms), please just go to http:\/\/www.fieldandstream.com\/forums\/fishing\/bass-fishing\/warm-worms<\/a>.\u00a0 So are we talking “warm month” or “worm month”?\u00a0 Could we postulate a “warm worm month,” perhaps connected to the fishing season?<\/p>\n

Anyway, na s\u00e9 mh\u00ed eile<\/strong> will be sa ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 Till then, SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. A caveat beag<\/strong> for anyone trying to use these calendar terms in any historical context.\u00a0 Practically every source I look at offers some variations in the time-period implied by the term, since earlier notions of seasons were based more on agricultural cycles than on the Gregorian calendar as such.\u00a0 This is particularly true for 19th-century or earlier sources.\u00a0 The month-by-month usage seems to be consistent and systematic for modern Scottish Gaelic, but exactly how that applies for each term would have to be individually researched.\u00a0 As an example, “Gearran<\/em>” (February) at one time meant the period from March 15 to April 11th.<\/p>\n

P.P.S. In case there’s any doubt, Briotainis<\/strong> is not the same as Briot\u00e1inis<\/strong>.\u00a0 All hail the s\u00edneadh fada r\u00edth\u00e1bhachtach agus uilechumhachtach, ciallmhalart\u00f3ir gan s\u00e1r\u00fa, \u00fcberch\u00e1ilitheoir na Gaeilge<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Gluais don P.P.S.: Briotainis<\/strong>, Brythonic (a linguistic classification); Briot\u00e1inis<\/strong>, Breton language; c\u00e1ilitheoir<\/strong>, qualifier; gan s\u00e1r\u00fa<\/strong>, unsurpassed; malart\u00f3ir<\/strong>, changer; r\u00edth\u00e1bhachtach<\/strong>, all-important; uilechumhachtach<\/strong>, all-powerful (uile + c(h)umhachtach)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Working up these months and their meanings is taking longer than I expected.\u00a0 Bhuel, bh\u00ed tuaileas (hunch) agam … \u00a0(but I ambitiously thought that two parts would be enough for the topic).\u00a0 So you may have noticed that I’ve just expanded the number of sections this mionsraith (mini-series) will have.\u00a0 At this point…<\/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":[229951,229953,4015,229948,229979,229950,229952,229949,229980,229955,229981,229954,4297,4449,229989,229990,460292,96687,5125,514382,298434,514383,5148,229991,229992,229993,316245,5667,229982,284340,5994,2295,96685,6136,106,514384,229971,229972,229973,229988,6725,11268,229983,229984,229985,229986,229987],"class_list":["post-3245","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-a-ghiblinn","tag-a-mhaigh","tag-aibrean","tag-am-faoilleach","tag-am-faoilteach","tag-am-mart","tag-an-ceitean","tag-an-gearran","tag-an-giblean","tag-an-t-iuchar","tag-an-t-og-mhios","tag-an-t-ogmhios","tag-bealtaine","tag-breton","tag-briotainis","tag-brythonic","tag-cu-faoil","tag-eanair","tag-fada","tag-faol","tag-faolchu","tag-faolscadan","tag-feabhra","tag-gaeilis","tag-gaeilise","tag-goidelic","tag-gregorian","tag-irish","tag-iuchar","tag-luanlus","tag-manx","tag-marta","tag-meitheamh","tag-month","tag-months","tag-moonwort","tag-na-mionna","tag-na-miosan","tag-ny-meeghyn","tag-overheating-worms","tag-scottish-gaelic","tag-warm","tag-warm-month","tag-worm","tag-worm-month","tag-yu-gi-oh","tag-yugioh"],"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