{"id":345,"date":"2010-08-14T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=345"},"modified":"2010-08-15T14:06:11","modified_gmt":"2010-08-15T14:06:11","slug":"cen-ghaeilge-ata-ar-%e2%80%9ctriskaidekaphobia%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/cen-ghaeilge-ata-ar-%e2%80%9ctriskaidekaphobia%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9n Ghaeilge At\u00e1 ar \u201cTriskaidekaphobia\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since we recently saw a Friday the 13th<\/sup> come and go, I thought I\u2019d write about triskaidekaphobia in Irish.\u00a0 In fast, triskaidekaphobia recently topped the \u201ctrending now\u201d list on www.yahoo.com<\/a>, so it seemed like an especially timely topic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hitch is, I can\u2019t find any existing Irish word for \u201ctriskaidekaphobia.\u201d\u00a0 But at least we can discuss the various words for \u201cphobia,\u201d a couple of well known phobias with existing Irish terms, and conclude with how the word might be constructed in Irish, based on the number 13.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The basic word involved is \u201cf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>,\u201d a feminine noun with the forms \u201can fh\u00f3ibe<\/strong>\u201d [un OH-ib-yeh], the phobia, and \u201cf\u00f3ib\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (phobias).<\/p>\n

To describe specific phobias, it can either be used as a suffix, as in English, or as the first word in a phrase, followed by the noun for the specific topic, like school or animals.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples, first with the \u201c-f\u00f3ibe<\/strong>\u201d suffix and then with \u201cf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>\u201d as a separate word:<\/p>\n

\u00a0acraf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>, acrophobia (fear of heights)<\/p>\n

\u00a0seineaf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>, xenophobia (fear of strangers)<\/p>\n

\u00a0f\u00f3ibe scoile<\/strong>, didaskaleinophobia (school phobia, lit. phobia of school).\u00a0 As far as I know, this is a newish addition to the list of phobias \u2013 it first came to my attention with discussion of the issue in Japan, known as \u201cHutoukou.\u201d\u00a0 Sadly, it seems to be a sign of our times.\u00a0 Note that in the Irish phrase, the word \u201cscoil<\/strong>\u201d (school) is in the genitive case, with the \u201c-e\u201d ending.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two other ways to say \u201cphobia\u201d in Irish are \u201cgr\u00e1in sh\u00edora\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (lit. eternal hatred) and \u201cuamhan<\/strong>\u201d (awe, used in the traditional sense of \u201cfear-inducing\u201d).\u00a0 \u201cGr\u00e1in sh\u00edora\u00ed\u201d<\/strong> doesn\u2019t seemed to be used in the technical terms, in fields like Siceola\u00edocht<\/strong> and S\u00edceatracht<\/strong>.\u00a0 That\u2019s probably partly due to the fact that it\u2019s already a two-word phrase and adding the specific topic (like spiders or the number thirteen) would make for fairly complicated phrases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Uamhan<\/strong> is used reasonably frequently to describe phobias, as in:<\/p>\n

\u00a0uamhan ainmh\u00ed<\/strong>, zoophobia (animal phobia)<\/p>\n

In some cases, two terms exist for the same thing:<\/p>\n

\u00a0uamhan dorchadais,<\/strong> lit. awe of darkness, and aclaf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>, for achluophobia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

uamhan sr\u00e1ide, <\/strong>lit. awe\/terror of street, and agraf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>, for agoraphobia (fear of open places)<\/p>\n

\u00a0uamhan cl\u00f3is<\/strong> and cl\u00e1straf\u00f3ibe<\/strong>, for claustrophobia (fear of enclosed places).<\/p>\n

Finally, let\u2019s consider \u201ctriskaidekaphobia.\u201d\u00a0 The number thirteen in Irish is \u201ctr\u00ed d\u00e9ag<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 So one possibility, as I see it, would be:<\/p>\n

\u00a0*tr\u00edd\u00e9agaf\u00f3ibe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oddly, though, this term would seem to me to be a lot more readily understandable than the English term, which is based on rather obscure-looking Greek.\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m sure if one knows Greek, it\u2019s not obscure looking, but I think for the average English speaker, \u201ctriskaidekaphobia\u201d is probably one of those cool long words that one sees in limited contexts and forgets about when the trigger (like an actual Friday the 13th<\/sup>) is past. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Since some of the Irish terms for phobias seem to be based on Gaelicizing the Greek-based compound, not translating it, we might also have:<\/p>\n

\u00a0*trioscaideiceaf\u00f3ibe<\/strong><\/p>\n

The asterisk is used, as I\u2019ve done before, to indicate that as far as I can tell, the word is coined.\u00a0 In these cases, they leave no lexicographical footprint, at least not that I can find.\u00a0 Perhaps publishing this blog will trigger some interest and one of the words will catch on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If I had my druthers in this situation, I think I\u2019d go for \u201c *trioscaideiceaf\u00f3ibe\u201d <\/strong>since it really is closer to the technical term and Gaelicization of spelling is quite typical in these situations.\u00a0 Some of you may remember the \u201cIrish-for-telescope\u201d dilemma as presented in the 1950s.\u00a0 By that point in time (and that\u2019s pre-Internet, with all the word coinage it has generated), there were about 19 words known in Irish for telescope, including \u201ccianarc\u00e1n<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cfadradharc\u00e1n<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cradharghloine<\/strong>,\u201d \u201ctelesc\u00f3p<\/strong>\u201d (Gaelicized but breaking vowel harmony, which is sometimes acceptable) and \u201cteileasc\u00f3p<\/strong>\u201d (with vowel harmony and which ultimately became the favored term).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019ll have to check now and see when the next Friday the 13th<\/sup> is coming up and then I\u2019ll \u201c*athGhoogl\u00e1il<\/strong>\u201d these two terms for \u201ctriskaidekaphobia\u201d and see what, if anything, turns up, aside from references to this blog.\u00a0 Of course, that\u2019s always of interest too!<\/p>\n

Oh, and if you just want to say something basic with the number 13, like thirteen tables or thirteen cats, here\u2019s the groundwork:<\/p>\n

tr\u00ed bhord d\u00e9ag<\/strong>, thirteen tables (with the item being counted coming between the two digit words)<\/p>\n

tr\u00ed chat d\u00e9ag<\/strong>, thirteen cats<\/p>\n

and, if the noun being counted ends in a vowel (instead of a consonant),<\/p>\n

tr\u00ed mhadra dh\u00e9ag<\/strong>, thirteen dogs, (note the lenition of \u201cd\u00e9ag\u201d after the vowel).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since we recently saw a Friday the 13th come and go, I thought I\u2019d write about triskaidekaphobia in Irish.\u00a0 In fast, triskaidekaphobia recently topped the \u201ctrending now\u201d list on www.yahoo.com, so it seemed like an especially timely topic.\u00a0 Hitch is, I can\u2019t find any existing Irish word for \u201ctriskaidekaphobia.\u201d\u00a0 But at least we can discuss…<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345","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=345"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}