{"id":477,"date":"2010-10-29T02:19:21","date_gmt":"2010-10-29T02:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=477"},"modified":"2020-03-05T16:47:43","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T16:47:43","slug":"samhain-1-mi-na-samhna-the-first-day-of-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/samhain-1-mi-na-samhna-the-first-day-of-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Samhain (1 M\u00ed na Samhna): The First Day of Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only was Samhain<\/strong> the first day of the traditional Celtic year \u2013 it was also the first day of winter, fitting neatly with the rest of the laethanta trascheathr\u00fan<\/strong> (cross-quarter days) san fh\u00e9ilire Ceilteach<\/strong>.\u00a0 The others are Imbolc<\/strong> (1 Feabhra<\/strong>\/February, now usually called L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile Br\u00edde<\/strong>), Bealtaine<\/strong> (1 May), and Lughnasa<\/strong> (aka L\u00fanasa<\/strong>, 1 August).<\/p>\n

The idea that November 1st<\/sup> is the beginning of Winter is also shown in the Welsh terms for Halloween (Nos Galan Gaeaf<\/em> or G<\/em>\u0175yl<\/em> Calan Gaeaf)<\/em> and for November First (<\/strong>Calan Gaeaf<\/em>).\u00a0 As you might expect, \u201cnos<\/em>\u201d is \u201cnight\u201d in Welsh. G<\/em>\u0175yl <\/em>is \u201cfestival\u201d and is related to the Irish \u201cf\u00e9ile<\/strong>\u201d (despite only having one letter in common!) and both are related to the Latin \u201cvigilia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalan Gaeaf<\/em>\u201d means \u201cthe first day of winter.\u201d\u00a0 It comes from \u201ccalan<\/em>,\u201d (first day of a month, like \u201cCalan Mai<\/em>;\u201d related to Calends, calendar, etc.) and \u201cgaeaf.<\/em>\u201d \u00a0\u201cGaeaf<\/em>\u201d is pronounced like English \u201cguy\u201d + \u201cof,\u201d with the final \u201cf\u201d like a \u201cv,\u201d or silent (for once I\u2019m just using English analogies rather than phonetics or my phonetics \u201crough guide\u201d since it seems more straightforward for this case).<\/p>\n

\u201cGaeaf<\/em>\u201d is related to the Irish word for \u201cwinter\u201d as well as to the term in Scottish Gaelic and Manx.\u00a0 And Breton and Cornish.\u00a0 So what\u2019s the Irish word for \u201cwinter.\u201d\u00a0 N\u00e1 b\u00ed buartha<\/strong> \u2013 I\u2019ve just given your memory a chance to be jogged and the various Celtic terms for \u201cwinter\u201d are in the note below.\u00a0 Just out of eye-drift range.\u00a0 Not sure if \u201ceye-drift range\u201d is really a term in English, but it seems to fit the bill.<\/p>\n

Whether you observe the day as Samhain<\/strong>, Calan Gaeaf, or L\u00e1 na Naomh Uile<\/strong>, bain sult as<\/strong> (enjoy it).\u00a0 And although it\u2019s not particularly traditional in Irish, one could always say \u201cO\u00edche Shamhna shona <\/strong>[happy] duit<\/strong>\u201d (on a analogy with \u201cNollaig Shona duit<\/strong>\u201d).\u00a0 It would seem like a contradiction in terms to use \u201cbeannachta\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d as one does with Easter (Beannachta\u00ed na C\u00e1sca<\/strong>).\u00a0 Greetings for holidays in Irish usually involve either the word \u201csona<\/strong>\u201d (happy, or \u201cshona<\/strong>\u201d [HUN-nuh], the feminine form) or \u201cbeannachta\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (blessings), so there\u2019s not much choice!\u00a0 SGF — \u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta a hAon: winter:<\/strong> Irish: geimhreadh (geimhridh<\/strong>, of winter; an gheimhridh<\/strong>, of the winter etc.); Scottish Gaelic: geamhrach<\/em>, Manx: geurey<\/span><\/em>; Cornish: gwav<\/em>, Breton: goa\u00f1v<\/em>.\u00a0 An example of very consistent pan-Celtic vocabulary, despite all the spelling differences!<\/p>\n

All these words derive from an early Celtic form, *gaimo,<\/em> or its variants.\u00a0 You might be thinking \u201cgaim<\/em>\u201d to \u201cgeimh<\/strong>-\u201d or \u201cgeamh<\/em>-\u201c for the Irish and Scottish forms, OK, but \u201cm\u201d to \u201cf\u201d in \u201cgaeaf\u201d for the Welsh?\u00a0 Hunh?\u00a0 \u201cElementary, my dear foghlaimeoir \/ f\u00f2ghlumach \/ dysgwr<\/strong>!\u201d\u00a0 The letter \u201cm\u201d regularly changes to \u201cf\u201d [pronounced \u201cv\u201d] in Modern Welsh (as in merch<\/em>, daughter, dy ferch<\/em>, your daughter; mam<\/em>, mother, dy fam<\/em>, your mother, etc.) so it\u2019s not too surprising that the \u201cm\u201d of \u201c*gaimo<\/em>\u201d ends up as an \u201cf\u201d in Modern Welsh.\u00a0 Remember how the pronunciation has ended up in Modern Irish, with the \u201c-mh-\u201c also pronounced like a \u201cv\u201d.\u00a0 And, sure, that explanation is not for the saineolaithe teangeola\u00edochta<\/strong> out there, just the bare bones to reassure learners that these mutation of letters are not random and unpredictable.\u00a0 They\u2019re actually quite logical and predictable.\u00a0 I suppose I should add, \u201cin their own special way.\u201d<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta a D\u00f3 (Fuaimni\u00fa): geimhreadh<\/strong> [Gy<\/sup>EV-ruh, GEER-uh, Gy<\/sup>EV-roo, etc. \u2013 I don\u2019t always try to do multiple dialect pronunciations as I\u2019ve done here, but for this word they all seem quite prominent]; trascheathr\u00fan<\/strong> [TRASS-HY<\/sup>A-hroon] cross-quarter, from tras<\/strong> + ceathr\u00fa<\/strong> (quarter portion, here lenited to start with \u201cch\u201d since it\u2019s the second element of a compound word).<\/p>\n

And for those who want to master the Welsh phrases: in g<\/em>\u0175yl<\/em>, the circumflex above the \u201cw\u201d indicates that it is pronounced \u201coo,\u201d not like the typical Welsh combination of \u201cgwy\u201d as in \u201cgwyn<\/em>\u201d (white, also a man\u2019s name), \u201cgwynt<\/em>\u201d (wind), or \u201cGwyddel<\/em>\u201d (an Irishman).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)\u00a0 Not only was Samhain the first day of the traditional Celtic year \u2013 it was also the first day of winter, fitting neatly with the rest of the laethanta trascheathr\u00fan (cross-quarter days) san fh\u00e9ilire Ceilteach.\u00a0 The others are Imbolc (1 Feabhra\/February, now usually called L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile Br\u00edde), Bealtaine (1 May), and Lughnasa (aka…<\/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":[12182,513307,474863,96663,111059,6667,6668],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-calan-gaeaf","tag-cead","tag-chead","tag-first","tag-geimhreadh","tag-samhain","tag-samhna"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477","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=477"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11267,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions\/11267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}