{"id":4189,"date":"2013-06-23T19:52:08","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T19:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=4189"},"modified":"2013-07-09T15:54:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T15:54:02","slug":"the-case-of-the-missing-p-or-o-tharmachan-irish-go-ptarmigan-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/the-case-of-the-missing-p-or-o-tharmachan-irish-go-ptarmigan-english\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case of the Missing ‘P’ or, \u00d3 ‘Tharmachan’ (Irish) go ‘Ptarmigan’ (English)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In the last blog, we looked at a few of the more unusually spelled words in the Irish language (aghaidh, bratach\/bhratach, buachar\/bhuachair l\u00e1mh\/l\u00e1imhe, Saoirse\/Shaoirse<\/strong> and saoirse\/shaoirse, sr\u00e1id\/tsr\u00e1id<\/strong>).\u00a0 Not that these are overly long or unusual words in Irish.\u00a0 They’re mostly very basic vocabulary, except perhaps for “buachar<\/strong>” (cow-dung) which is no doubt ordinary enough in the appropriate agricultural context (see n\u00f3ta a haon<\/strong> below for a few more details on “buachar<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n

Please note that the pronunciation issues for these words don’t really have to do with length, although Irish does have some impressively long words.\u00a0 One oft-cited example is “grianghrafad\u00f3ireachta<\/strong>” (“of photography”), which is the genitive case of “grianghrafad\u00f3ireacht<\/strong>” (photography).\u00a0 Even though it’s a long word, it’s actually relatively straightforward in terms of pronunciation: grian + ghraf + -ad\u00f3ir<\/strong>, an occupational suffix + –eacht<\/strong>, a suffix to indicate an activity + -a<\/strong>, the genitive case ending).\u00a0\u00a0 For an even longer version of the same word, see n\u00f3ta a d\u00f3 <\/strong>(th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The examples discussed in the last blog are relatively short words, simply one or two syllables.\u00a0 It’s the combination of letters, rather than sheer length, that gives us pause when learning words like “aghaidh<\/strong>” or “tsr\u00e1id<\/strong>.”\u00a0 We closed, last time, with a little amalgamation of English words with unusual consonant clusters, among them, “ptarmigan” and “pterodactyl.”\u00a0 These words aren’t exceptionally long–they’re just unusual in starting off with “pt.”<\/p>\n

So what happens when we look at these words in Irish?\u00a0 \u00a0Irish may seem to be full of silent letters, but one arena where it doesn’t follow this trend is in the Greek and Latin borrowings.\u00a0 The Irish for “pterodactyl” is simply “teireadachtalach<\/strong>.” \u00a0It’s a longish word (16 letters) as opposed to the eleven of “pterodactyl.”\u00a0 Some of that is due to vowel harmony, which we could say gives us two additional vowels here.\u00a0 And the other additional letters are due to the Irish “dachtal<\/strong>” being one letter longer than its English counterpart (dactyl) and the to the need for an ending (-ach<\/strong>) to make this word into a creature as opposed to a concept.\u00a0 But most significantly, the silent initial “p,” a carryover from the Greek “pter\u00f3n<\/em>” (wing), is no longer present.<\/p>\n

Looking over this material got me curious, so I took a quick gander (ach, just bird imagery) through some other languages.\u00a0 My short, but hopefully representative, search reveals that most other languages have not made the same decision.\u00a0 In other words, they’ve kept the initial “p,” at least in writing (Sp\u00e1innis, Portaing\u00e9ilis<\/strong>: pterod\u00e1ctilo<\/em>, Iod\u00e1ilis<\/strong>: pterodattilo<\/em>).\u00a0 And then there’s Hav\u00e1is<\/strong>, which actually splits the “pt” suffix apart: peterodaketila<\/em>.\u00a0 Japanese, intriguingly, has both options, one keeping the “p” sound and adding a vowel behind it and the other removing the “p;”: in roman letters, the two forms are “puterodakutirusu<\/em>”\u00a0and “terodakutiru<\/em>.”\u00a0 \u00a0As for Breatnais<\/strong>, the singular form is the same as English “pterodactyl,” but it has a distinctively Welsh plural: pterodactyliaid<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0And, i nGaeilge na hAlban<\/strong>, the word is completely transformed into traditional Gaelic components: \u00a0sgiath-mheurach<\/em> (lit. wing-digital).\u00a0 In Irish, by the way, that would be nearly identical: *sciath-mh\u00e9arach<\/strong> [SHKEE-uh VAY-rukh], and if you went back, say, 150 years ago, you might have found the same spelling in use in Irish.<\/p>\n

So, so far, we have “pterodactyl,” which, in Irish, loses the Greek initial “p.”\u00a0 How about “ptarmigan,” which one might think had followed the same etymological path?\u00a0 Not so!\u00a0 In fact, an mhalairt<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

The English word “ptarmigan” comes from the Scottish Gaelic “t\u00e0rmachan<\/em>.”\u00a0 The “p” of “ptarmigan” was apparently deliberately added to the English in the 17th century, partly based on the Greek “pter\u00f3n<\/em>” (wing) and probably, in part, to make the word look more scientific.\u00a0 Perhaps even to make it look less Gaelic, but that can probably never be proven.\u00a0\u00a0 The Irish is basically identical (tarmachan<\/strong>), except for the long mark in the Scottish Gaelic version.\u00a0 Like any good Irish word worth its salt, though, the word “tarmachan<\/strong>” can get its share of prefixed letters, since the initial “t” is both lenitable and eclipsable.\u00a0 For example, we have:<\/p>\n

an tarmachan<\/strong>, the ptarmigan (no change yet, that’s just for a base-line)<\/p>\n

And now a lenited example (t changes to th, the “t” is now silent):<\/p>\n

mo tharmachan<\/strong>, my ptarmigan (not that they’re domesticated, but they are hunted).<\/p>\n

More lenited examples:<\/p>\n

\u00f3 tharmachan<\/strong>, from a ptarmigan<\/p>\n

dh\u00e1 tharmachan<\/strong>, two ptarmigans (or just “two ptarmigan,” depending on which plural you use in English)<\/p>\n

And now eclipsed (t changes to dt, the “t” becoming silent):<\/p>\n

i dtarmachan<\/strong>, in a ptarmigan<\/p>\n

cleit\u00ed na dtarmachan<\/strong>, the feathers of the ptarmigans<\/p>\n

As for “ptarmigan” in other languages, well, it looks like the original Scottish Gaelic didn’t travel that far.\u00a0 Most of the Romance languages I’ve been able to check have a variation of “Lagopus<\/em>” (part of the Latin taxonomic name for ptarmigans), like French “Lagop\u00e8de alpin<\/em>.”\u00a0 Some of the Germanic languages use a compound word meaning “Alpine Snow Hen,” as in “Alpensneeuwhoen<\/em>” (Ollainnis<\/strong>) or “Alpenschneehuhn<\/em>” (Gearm\u00e1inis<\/strong>). \u00a0In some other Germanic languages, there is another root word for this bird, “rype”<\/strong> as in “fjeldrype<\/em>” (Danmhairgis<\/strong>) and “rj\u00fapa<\/em>” (\u00cdoslainnis<\/strong>). \u00a0Anyone else have any more background for the name of this bird?\u00a0 \u00a0Someday, maybe I’ll pursue the spread of the word “ptarmigan” further.\u00a0 Have other words gotten false prefixed letters to look like Greek when they’re really not?\u00a0\u00a0 It’s a mind-boggling concept, but one best left to blaganna eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So there we have two different flying creatures whose names both start with a silent “p” in English — definitely unusual, but perfectly logical once you know the background.\u00a0 And neither word starts with a “p” in Irish, but for completely different reasons.<\/p>\n

All of which probably leads me to the only opportunity I’ll ever have for this newly minted riddle, if you care to grace it with that courtesy:<\/p>\n

What did the pterodactyl say when the ptarmigan asked him why his name started with the letter “p”?\u00a0 “I don’t know, it’s all Greek to me.” <rimshot><\/p>\n

I could translate that into Irish, but I think the effect would be “caillte san aistri\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong>.”\u00a0 C’est la vie!\u00a0 Most jokes don’t translate well.\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

And a P.S. now that you’ve made it down to bun an bhlag seo<\/strong>.\u00a0 That wasn’t by any chance a “ptarmigander” a few paragraphs earlier, was it?\u00a0 <ba-dum chishhhh, I suppose><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 1: buachar<\/strong> is used in both Irish and Scottish Gaelic and derives from Old Irish “b\u00f3char,” based on “b\u00f3<\/strong>” (cow) and an early form of “cur<\/strong>” (putting, placing).\u00a0 I’d be tempted to postulate “cow-pat” as some obscure past tense of “cow-put,” but, alas, that would really be a far-fetched etymology! \u00a0\u00a0A useful Scottish Gaelic verb is “buachair<\/strong>” (bedaub with dung).\u00a0 Irish has at least four other words for dung, including specific terms distinguishing bovine from equine contributions.\u00a0 Scottish Gaelic has at least five. \u00a0\u00a0\u00c1bhar blag eile<\/strong>, no doubt.<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta 2<\/strong>: I can actually “one-up” the standard example of the longest word in Irish, by adding the prefix “pr\u00edomh<\/strong>-” (pr\u00edomhghrianghrafad\u00f3ireachta<\/strong>, “of principal photography”), referring to film-making.\u00a0 Ah, the wonders of r\u00e9im\u00edreanna<\/strong>, if there’s a competition for word length!\u00a0 So far I find only a handful of examples of this word online, both in the nominative, not genitive form, but it is a legitimate word (Naisc<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.seupb.eu\/Libraries\/Corporate_Documents\/CS-Annual_Report_2005_Irish_Version.sflb.ashx<\/a> and http:\/\/www.daa.ie\/Libraries\/Annual_Reports\/DAA_Annual_Report_2012_As_Gaeilge.sflb.ashx<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) In the last blog, we looked at a few of the more unusually spelled words in the Irish language (aghaidh, bratach\/bhratach, buachar\/bhuachair l\u00e1mh\/l\u00e1imhe, Saoirse\/Shaoirse and saoirse\/shaoirse, sr\u00e1id\/tsr\u00e1id).\u00a0 Not that these are overly long or unusual words in Irish.\u00a0 They’re mostly very basic vocabulary, except perhaps for “buachar” (cow-dung) which is no doubt ordinary…<\/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":[290051,290049,290048,1938,290055,290043,290042,290054,287,5347,290047,290057,290046,290045,290050,290036,290037,290056,110867,290044,290039,290038,290041,290040],"class_list":["post-4189","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-alpenschneehuhn","tag-alpensneeuwhoen","tag-alpine-snow-hen","tag-bird","tag-danmhairgis","tag-dtarmachain","tag-dtarmachan","tag-fjeldrype","tag-french","tag-gearmainis","tag-germanic","tag-ioslainnis","tag-lagopede-alpin","tag-lagopus","tag-ollainnis","tag-ptarmigan","tag-pterodactyl","tag-rjupa","tag-rype","tag-tarmachain","tag-tarmachan","tag-teireadachtalach","tag-tharmachain","tag-tharmachan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189","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=4189"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4192,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4189\/revisions\/4192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}