{"id":3940,"date":"2013-04-27T18:08:51","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T18:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=3940"},"modified":"2014-10-18T11:27:42","modified_gmt":"2014-10-18T11:27:42","slug":"who-says-irish-doesnt-have-many-cognates-with-english-cuid-a-dopt-2-tearmai-gaoil-focail-ghaolmhara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/who-says-irish-doesnt-have-many-cognates-with-english-cuid-a-dopt-2-tearmai-gaoil-focail-ghaolmhara\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Says Irish Doesn’t Have Many Cognates with English? (Cuid a D\u00f3\/Pt. 2: T\u00e9arma\u00ed Gaoil, Focail Ghaolmhara)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

athair, m\u00e1thair, dearth\u00e1ir, deirfi\u00far<\/p><\/div>\n

Ascaill<\/strong>, axilla … in the last blog* we talked about how Irish may, in fact, have many focail ghaolmhara<\/strong> with other languages.\u00a0 The words are just not always cognates with English, at least not basic everyday \u00a0English.\u00a0 Most of us are more likely to say that “ascaill<\/strong>” means “armpit” than to say that “ascaill<\/strong>” means “axilla,” so the cognate relationship is lost, for typical everyday purposes. \u00a0\u00a0But still,”axilla” is an English word, as is “axillary,” and these more scientific terms do show the relationship.<\/p>\n

Similarly, when we translate “leabhar<\/strong>” as “book,” which is a reasonable and accurate thing to do, we miss out on the close connection to the Romance language words for book, which include “liber<\/em>” (Laidin<\/strong>), “libro”<\/em> (Sp\u00e1innis<\/strong>), and “livre<\/em>” (Fraincis<\/strong>).\u00a0 \u00a0English cognates include “library,” “libel” (from “libellus<\/em>,” little book) and “libretto,” all for specialized purposes, but not, of course, “book” itself.<\/p>\n

For the word “leabhar<\/strong>,” this relationship to the Romance languages helps explain why there still is a “-bh-” in the spelling, even though it’s not pronounced.\u00a0 The “-bh-” reminds us of the word’s history, its cousins, as it were.\u00a0 Catchphrases, especially those using “r\u00edm <\/strong>(rhyme),” like “Leabhar Power<\/strong>,” from http:\/\/www.leabharpower.com\/<\/a> (a book-marketing initiative) remind us of how the word is pronounced today.<\/p>\n

So, in general, recognizing cognates is a helpful way to expand vocabulary.\u00a0 If we consider the word “cognate” itself, literally meaning “co-born,” it’s almost like getting to know a family by getting to know the various children in it, not just the one child who is in our particular class in school.<\/p>\n

What happens when the spelling or pronunciation thoroughly disguises the cognate relationship?\u00a0 Bhuel<\/strong>, we get by without that extra bit of knowledge and usually work a little harder to retain those vocabulary words.\u00a0 But I’ve always found it interesting to find out that certain sets of words are in fact focail ghaolmhara<\/strong> (cognates), even if I’ve already been using them for years.<\/p>\n

One set of words that is similar pretty much across the spectrum of Indo-European languages is the terms for “mother” and “father.”\u00a0 And in Irish, these words are readily recognizable.\u00a0 “Mother” is “m\u00e1thair<\/strong> [MAW-hirzh]” not too far removed from “moder<\/em>” (Danmhairgis<\/strong>) and “matar-<\/em>” (Sanscrait<\/strong>), to push the envelope of the Indo-European package (with “m\u0101ter<\/em>,” “m\u00e8re<\/em>,” “madre<\/em>,” and many related words along the way, even Tocharian “m\u0101car”<\/em> and “m\u0101cer”<\/em>).\u00a0 Toc\u00e1iris<\/strong>, by the way, is the easternmost Indo-European language, \u00a0formerly spoken in the Tarim Basin, Central Asia.\u00a0 The amount of Tocharian vocabulary we know is quite limited, since the language became extinct in the 9th century AD, but we do have enough to make comparisons to a lot of core vocabulary words, like “mother,” “father,” “sister,” “brother,” “horse,” “cow,” and “name.”<\/p>\n

How about “father” then?\u00a0 Quite straightforward.\u00a0 “Athair<\/strong>” [AH-hirzh] in Irish, with “fader<\/em>” (Danmhairgis<\/strong>) and “pitar<\/em>-” (Sanscrait<\/strong>) as some of its cousins.\u00a0 Some of its other col ceathracha<\/strong> are “pater<\/em>,” “p\u00e8re<\/em>,” and “padre<\/em>,” and the perhaps less familiar Tocharian “p\u0101car<\/em>” and “p\u0101cer<\/em>” thrown in for good measure.\u00a0 Yes, those last two are Tocharian again.\u00a0 Even “Darth Vader” (“dark father”) fits the pattern, although there’s no special reason why we should expect languages from r\u00e9altra\u00ed i bhfad i bhfad uainn<\/strong> to be Ind-Eorpach<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What happens then when we get to “brother” and “sister”?\u00a0 Here we’ll have to backtrack a little farther in the history of the language.\u00a0 As explained in the last blog, “dearth\u00e1ir<\/strong>” [DJAR-harzh] \u00a0initially seems unrelated to the “broder\/bhr\u0101tar<\/em>-” continuum.\u00a0 After all, where’s the letter “b,” which, with its counterpart “f” (fr\u0101ter, fr\u00e8re<\/em>) is one of the core letters for this word, across the Indo-European spectrum?\u00a0 As mentioned in the last blog, that “b” is simply buried under the linguistic “cave-in” of various other letters that have disappeared along the way.\u00a0 Irish started with “br\u00e1thair<\/strong> [BRAW-hirzh]” and when the religious sense of “friar, brother” came in, Irish added the prefix “dearbh<\/strong>-,” indicating “real” or “blood” to differentiate one’s brother by birth. \u00a0That gave us “dearbh-bhr\u00e1thair<\/strong>” or “dearbhr\u00e1thair<\/strong> [DJAR-uv-VRAW-hirzh], which was eventually shortened to “dearth\u00e1ir<\/strong>,” the form we have today.<\/p>\n

Other forms of brother?\u00a0 Seo iad<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

an dearth\u00e1ir<\/strong>, the brother<\/p>\n

an dearth\u00e1r<\/strong> (note the dropped “-i-“), of the brother (this ending is also used with “of my<\/em> brother,” etc., as in “An mise coim\u00e9ada\u00ed mo dhearth\u00e1ir<\/strong>?” from Geineasas<\/strong> 4:9)<\/p>\n

na dearth\u00e1ireacha<\/strong>, the brothers<\/p>\n

na ndearth\u00e1ireacha<\/strong>, of the brothers (“An muide coim\u00e9adaithe \u00e1r ndearth\u00e1ireacha<\/strong>?”\u00a0 C\u00e1in cl\u00f3n\u00e1ilte<\/strong>?\u00a0 Well, it was a good example above so why not recycle it?)<\/p>\n

For “sister,” the same basic process has happened.\u00a0 The Modern Irish is “deirfi\u00far<\/strong>” [DJER-if-yoor].\u00a0 We start with “si\u00far<\/strong>,” nicely cognate with “s\u00f8ster<\/em>” and “svasar<\/em>-“.\u00a0 The “sister” series has a little more variety in the initial letter than the “brother” set.\u00a0 Going beyond “soror<\/em>” and “soeur<\/em>,” we also have “chwaer<\/em>” (Breatnais<\/strong>), “c’hoar<\/em>” (Briot\u00e1inis<\/strong>), “zuster<\/em>” (Ollainnis<\/strong>), and “Schwester<\/em>” (Gearm\u00e1inis<\/strong>), among others.\u00a0 But still the core of the word is recognizable, and “si\u00far<\/strong> [shoor]” would fit nicely.\u00a0 But “si\u00far<\/strong>” came to have a religious meaning and “deirbh<\/strong>-” (real, blood, here “slenderized, ” so the “-i-” matches the “-i-” in “si\u00far<\/strong>“) was added, giving us “deirbhshi\u00far<\/strong>.”\u00a0 That got shortened to “deirfi\u00far<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Like “brother,” it’s a little irregular in the genitive case, as the list below shows:<\/p>\n

an deirfi\u00far<\/strong>, the sister<\/p>\n

na deirf\u00e9ar<\/strong> (note the vowel change), of the sister.\u00a0 “My Sister’s Keeper” has already been used in English as the title for at least 4 \u00farsc\u00e9al<\/strong>, 2 scann\u00e1n<\/strong>, agus<\/strong> 7 n-eipeas\u00f3id teilif\u00edse<\/strong>.\u00a0 I’m not sure if any have been translated or dubbed into Irish, but if so, the title would be, “Coim\u00e9ada\u00ed Mo Dheirf\u00e9ar<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Curiously, the possessive for “si\u00far<\/strong>” (a religious sister) is quite different — “si\u00farach<\/strong>,” as in “aib\u00edd na si\u00farach sin<\/strong>,” that sister’s habit)<\/p>\n

na deirfi\u00faracha<\/strong> [nuh DJERzh-if-yoor-ukh-uh], the sisters<\/p>\n

na ndeirfi\u00faracha<\/strong> [nuh NyERzh-if-YOOR-ukh-uh], of the sisters, which would give us “Tairngreacht na nDeirfi\u00faracha<\/strong>,” for the popular new trilogy by Michelle Zink, if it were to be translated into Irish (tairngreacht<\/strong> [TARzh-in-guh-rukht, prophecy)<\/p>\n

For “sister ships” though, sorry, no “sisters” involved in Irish.\u00a0 That’s “comhlonga<\/strong>” (lit. “co-ships).<\/p>\n

So there you have it – two readily detectable t\u00e9arma\u00ed gaoil<\/strong> (m\u00e1thair, athair<\/strong>) and two that are less obvious but still a part of the Indo-European picture (dearth\u00e1ir, deirfi\u00far<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

There are plenty more focail ghaolmhara<\/strong> out there, but it’s also interesting to consider which Irish words are not cognates.\u00a0 In a future blog, we’ll take a closer look at the Irish words for sun and moon, and see how they differ from most of their Indo-European counterparts.\u00a0 Meanwhile, to paraphrase the late astronomer Jack Horkheimer, “Keep looking up [words, that is].\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

*\u00a0https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/ascaill-axilla-armpit-who-says-irish-doesnt-have-many-cognates-with-english\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Ascaill, axilla … in the last blog* we talked about how Irish may, in fact, have many focail ghaolmhara with other languages.\u00a0 The words are just not always cognates with English, at least not basic everyday \u00a0English.\u00a0 Most of us are more likely to say that “ascaill” means “armpit” than to say that…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":3942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[275748,4222,4236,277343,283126,4481,11109,359338,359337,281873,282826,278784,282184,282555,278653,5141,279404,359340,359328,1083,274810,359339,5636,279662,5848,281566,281280,280298,280566,280191,5888,280913,279958,66106,6022,359335,94610,6144,359329,359330,359331,94535,359336,282944,359332,27752,359333,279016,211740,359334],"class_list":["post-3940","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-armpit","tag-ascaill","tag-athair","tag-axilla","tag-brathair","tag-brother","tag-cognates","tag-comhlong","tag-comhlonga","tag-dearbh","tag-dearbhrathair","tag-dearthair","tag-deirbh","tag-deirbhshiur","tag-deirfiur","tag-father","tag-focail-ghaolmhara","tag-gaolmhar","tag-genesis","tag-genitive","tag-horkheimer","tag-ind-eorpach","tag-indo-european","tag-keep-looking-up","tag-leabhar","tag-leabhar-power","tag-leabharpower","tag-libel","tag-libellus","tag-liber","tag-library","tag-libretto","tag-libro","tag-livre","tag-mathair","tag-michelle","tag-moon","tag-mother","tag-my-brothers-keeper","tag-my-sisters-keeper","tag-religious","tag-sister","tag-sister-ship","tag-siur","tag-siurach","tag-sun","tag-tairngreacht","tag-tearmai-gaoil","tag-tocharian","tag-zink"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940","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=3940"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5778,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3940\/revisions\/5778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}