{"id":4277,"date":"2013-07-28T20:02:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-28T20:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=4277"},"modified":"2013-08-09T20:26:15","modified_gmt":"2013-08-09T20:26:15","slug":"bearbaiciu-agus-bearbaiciunna-cno-agus-cnonna-slea-agus-sleanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/bearbaiciu-agus-bearbaiciunna-cno-agus-cnonna-slea-agus-sleanna\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa’ agus ‘Be\u00e1rbaici\u00fanna’ (‘Cn\u00f3’ agus ‘Cn\u00f3nna’, ‘Sle\u00e1 agus Sle\u00e1nna’)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The word “barbecue” is interesting in its own right in many ways but looking at the Irish adaptation of the word adds a further level of interest.\u00a0 What plural form do we use for Irish words that are derived the Taino language, via English?\u00a0 There is probably only one such word, “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong>,” which we’ve been discussing recently since, after all, “tis the season.”\u00a0\u00a0 Or the “blastanais<\/strong>” (seasonings), as it were.<\/p>\n

We’ll start with a brief summary of the word “barbecue” itself.\u00a0 The original Taino “barbac\u00f2a<\/em>” was noted by Spanish explorers in the Caribbean in the 17th century.\u00a0 \u00a0The phrase “Let’s barbicu [sic] this fat rogue” was used in a 1690 play by Aphra Behn (1640-89), “The Widdow Ranter, Or A History of Bacon in Virginia.”\u00a0 If you noticed anything strange about those dates, chillax, foilseach\u00e1n iarbh\u00e1is (posthumous) a bh\u00ed ann.\u00a0 I have to admit that I took a great interest in the title of Behn’s work, which seemed reasonably appropriate for a pioneering use of the word “barbicu” in English.\u00a0 And being distantly related, through a relative’s marriage, to the Gwaltneys of Virginia, founders of Gwaltney Foods (bacon, ham, etc.), my interest in the topic was more than usually piqued (i.e. Chuir m\u00e9 an-suim ann<\/strong>).\u00a0 Reading on about the document, I found that it’s actually about a rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon (ca. 1640-76), leading, creid \u00e9 n\u00f3 n\u00e1 creid \u00e9, an army of Native Americans, or as Behn would have called them, Indians.\u00a0 So much for bringing home the bag\u00fan<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

At any rate, getting back to the Irish word “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong>,” it’s hard to tell exactly when it entered the Irish language.\u00a0 Probably not as early as Behn and her contemporaries!\u00a0 A very quick survey of representative Irish sources prior to ca. 1990 shows no use of “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa” as such.\u00a0 When the topic comes up, a native Irish term “fulacht<\/strong>” or “fulacht fia<\/strong>” is used, but in my understanding, this is really a different style of outdoor cooking.\u00a0 At any rate, even if some stray examples of the word “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa” being used earlier than the late 20th century emerge, I think the basic trend holds.\u00a0 It wasn’t adopted as a cooking practice in Ireland until relatively recently, so the word “fulacht<\/strong>” sufficed for when the situation came up.<\/p>\n

But here we are now, with “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong>.”\u00a0 So what do we do with this word in a phrase or sentence?\u00a0 Well, we’ve already seen “ag an mbe\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong>” (at the barbecue), or as it would be said in the North, “ag an bhe\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The possessive form gets lenited: costas an bhe\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong> [… un VyAHR-bak-yoo].<\/p>\n

For today’s blog, though, I’m especially intrigued by the plural, “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fanna<\/strong>.”\u00a0 There aren’t actually that many words in Irish that form their plural this way.\u00a0 So let’s quickly review some plurals before we proceed with “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fanna<\/strong>.\u00a0 One typical pattern involves slenderization, as in:<\/p>\n

fear<\/strong> (man), fir (men), or amhr\u00e1n (song), amhr\u00e1in (songs)<\/p>\n

A variety of suffixes may be added instead (far more than the English -s \/-es and very occasional -en). \u00a0These include:<\/p>\n

-eacha: cathaoir, cathaoireacha,<\/strong> chair(s)<\/p>\n

-acha,<\/strong> sometimes with syncopation or loss of a syllable: cathair, cathracha,<\/strong> city (-ies)<\/p>\n

-eanna: aghaidh, aghaidheanna,<\/strong> face(s)<\/p>\n

-ta: r\u00f3n, r\u00f3nta<\/strong>, seal(s) [the animal, that is, from which the name “Ronan” is derived]<\/p>\n

-\u00ed: cail\u00edn, cail\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>, girl(s); buachaill, buachaill\u00ed,<\/strong> boy(s)<\/p>\n

-a: sp\u00fan\u00f3g, sp\u00fan\u00f3ga,<\/strong> spoon(s)<\/p>\n

-a\u00ed: mapa, mapa\u00ed<\/strong>, map(s)<\/p>\n

and the occasional completely irregular form, as in:<\/p>\n

bean<\/strong> (woman) [say “ban” as in “to ban” something–it’s not an “ee” sound as in English “bean,” “seen,” or “scene”], and the plural, mn\u00e1<\/strong> [pronounced either quite straightforwardly as “mnaw” or, sometimes, as “mraw.”\u00a0 If the initial “mn” is challenging, think of “ainmneacha<\/strong>” and take away the first syllable, “ain-.”<\/p>\n

And of course, there are variations in plural form according to dialect:<\/p>\n

crann<\/strong>, pl: crainn or crainnte<\/p>\n

leora\u00ed<\/strong>, pl: leoraithe or leora\u00eds [with a broad “s”]<\/p>\n

And changes:<\/p>\n

fear<\/strong> (man) is sometimes now pluralized as “feara”(men).\u00a0 “Feara” used to only occur in direct address (“A fheara,” arsa Fionn) but in recent years it has started to become a general plural.\u00a0 I first noticed it in Conamara ca. 2000, but the shift probably started earlier.<\/p>\n

So back to “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Our plural ending here is “-nna.”\u00a0 And where else might you see this?\u00a0 Not all that often really, but here are a few more examples:<\/p>\n

cri\u00fa, cri\u00fanna<\/strong>, crew(s)<\/p>\n

scri\u00fa, scri\u00fanna<\/strong>, screw(s)<\/p>\n

and because it’s so much fun to say, here’s one more:<\/p>\n

br\u00fascri\u00fa<\/strong>, which means, yes, you guessed it, based on “br\u00fa”<\/strong> + “scri\u00fa,”<\/strong> a pressure-screw, as used for protective clamping and such; its plural is “br\u00fascri\u00fanna<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

How ’bout one not borrowed from or based on English?\u00a0 Well, since you asked:<\/p>\n

coici\u00fa, coici\u00fanna<\/strong>, kokyu(s), as in the Japanese bowed musical instrument.\u00a0 Not based on English!<\/p>\n

Does this suffix occur with words ending in vowels other than “\u00fa”?\u00a0 Occasionally, but not often, at least, i mo thaith\u00ed f\u00e9in<\/strong>.\u00a0 A few additional examples are:<\/p>\n

sle\u00e1, sle\u00e1nna<\/strong>, spear(s), lance(s), javelin(s)<\/p>\n

cn\u00f3, cn\u00f3nna<\/strong>, nut(s)<\/p>\n

cn\u00f3 caisi\u00fa, cn\u00f3nna caisi\u00fa<\/strong>, cashew nut(s), which I’ve occasionally seen simply as “caisi\u00fanna<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

So there’s a little c\u00falra cult\u00fartha<\/strong> for the season, sprinkled with a tantalizing dose of Irish plural suffixes.\u00a0 Blasta!\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) The word “barbecue” is interesting in its own right in many ways but looking at the Irish adaptation of the word adds a further level of interest.\u00a0 What plural form do we use for Irish words that are derived the Taino language, via English?\u00a0 There is probably only one such word, “be\u00e1rbaici\u00fa,” which we’ve…<\/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":[292419,292423,218975,292421,4306,292422],"class_list":["post-4277","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-aphra-behn","tag-bacon","tag-barbecue","tag-barbicu","tag-bearbaiciu","tag-fat-rogue"],"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