{"id":48,"date":"2009-06-29T00:37:54","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T04:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=48"},"modified":"2016-02-08T12:55:28","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T12:55:28","slug":"blianta-go-leor-years-galore-except-the-donkey%e2%80%99s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/blianta-go-leor-years-galore-except-the-donkey%e2%80%99s\/","title":{"rendered":"Blianta Go Leor — Years Galore, Except the Donkey\u2019s!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

You may have noticed Transparent\u2019s recent Word of the Day, bliain <\/strong>(year) or an bhliain<\/strong> (the year).\u00a0 Care to guess how many forms of this word are in common use?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s the lenited form (an bhliain)<\/strong>, the special form used after the numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 (bliana), <\/strong>the eclipsed \u201cspecial\u201d form used after the numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10 (mbliana<\/strong>), the possessive form (also bliana<\/strong>), and the plural form (blianta<\/strong>).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Examples, you cry?\u00a0 Coming up!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo hamstar bliain d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 My hamster is a year old.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo hamstar bliain amh\u00e1in d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 My hamster is one year old (emphasizing the \u201cone\u201d bit) <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo hamstar dh\u00e1 bhliain d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 (dh\u00e1 bhliain<\/strong>, two years).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo hamstar tr\u00ed bliana d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 Just like I promised, a change kicks in at number three.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo hamstar seacht mbliana d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 (seacht mbliana<\/strong>, seven years, showing “eclipsis” or covering of the letter “b”).\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How long do hamsters live anyway?\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019d better switch to pear\u00f3id\u00ed<\/strong> (parrots).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo phear\u00f3id tr\u00ed bliana d\u00e9ag d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 My parrot is thirteen years old.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo phear\u00f3id fiche bliain d\u2019aois.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 My parrot is twenty years old.\u00a0Time for an osna faoisimh<\/strong> (sigh of relief) \u2013 no change to the word \u201cbliain<\/strong>\u201d for multiples of ten!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And how about that possessive form?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Beidh s\u00e9 anseo go ceann bliana<\/span><\/strong>. He\u2019ll be here for a year (lit. \u201cuntil the head of a year\u201d)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And the plural:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

N\u00ed fhaca m\u00e9 le blianta \u00e9<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t seen him for years.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And speaking of not seeing someone le blianta<\/strong> (for years), one phrase that has \u201cyears\u201d in English but not in Irish, is \u201cdonkey\u2019s years.\u201d\u00a0 As in, \u201cI haven\u2019t seen a Slinky in donkey\u2019s years.\u201d\u00a0 For all of the presence of Equus africanus asinus<\/em> in Ireland, this particular idiom doesn\u2019t have an exact equivalent in Irish.\u00a0 To say \u201cI haven\u2019t seen him for a long time,\u201d you just substitute \u201cfada<\/strong>\u201d (long) in the phrase \u201cle blianta<\/strong>,\u201d giving:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

N\u00ed fhaca m\u00e9 le fada \u00e9<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 Literally, I didn\u2019t see him with \u201clong.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So why do we drag the word \u201cdonkey\u201d into expressions like this in English. It\u2019s sort of like rhyming slang, although in this case almost a reverse rhyming slang. The idea behind the expression is \u201cdonkey\u2019s ears,\u201d which are, well, you guessed it, long. Add a little word play to the mix and you have \u201cdonkey\u2019s years.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe there\u2019s also a little insinuation that donkeys may take a long time to move along, or, if not a long time, their own sweet time.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t hurt to learn the actual phrase for \u201cdonkey\u2019s ears:\u201d One of these days, I plan to blog about the tearmainn asal<\/strong>, donkey sanctuaries in Ireland, which I hope to visit sometime, so I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll return to the topic of donkey\u2019s ears eventually. \u00a0At that point we can discuss more features of donkeys \u2013 ears, fur, hoofs, their vulnerable hind legs, etc.* <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The phrase \u201cdonkey\u2019s ears\u201d is basic enough as far as vocabulary goes:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

cluas<\/span><\/strong>, ear<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

cluasa,<\/span><\/strong> ears<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

cluasa asail<\/span><\/strong>, donkey\u2019s ears<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I just read in one of the documents for University College Cork\u2019s Irish Department that, \u201c\u2026 <\/span>is fada siar a th\u00e9ann an ceangal idir chluasa asail agus r\u00ed<\/span><\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 That means \u201cThe connection between donkey\u2019s ears and kings goes back a long time,\u201d and on that intriguing n\u00f3ta<\/strong>, I\u2019ll leave you for now.\u00a0 Sl\u00e1n ach n\u00ed go ceann fada<\/strong>! — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Leideanna Fuaimnithe<\/span><\/strong> (Pronunciation Tips)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

bhliain<\/strong> \u2013 VLEE-in, the \u201cbh\u201d is pronounced like a \u201cv\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

mbliana<\/strong> \u2013 MLEE-un-nuh<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

n\u00ed fhaca<\/strong> \u2013 nee AHK-uh, the \u201cfh\u201d is completely silent<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*I\u2019ll have to remember to keep the \u201chupcoming\u201d donkey blog short and succinct, otherwise I might be accused of \u201ctalking the hind leg off the (proverbial) donkey.\u201d\u00a0 By the way, the Irish for \u201cHup!\u201d is (drumroll) \u201cHup<\/strong>!\u201d\u00a0 \u2018Nuff said!\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) You may have noticed Transparent\u2019s recent Word of the Day, bliain (year) or an bhliain (the year).\u00a0 Care to guess how many forms of this word are in common use? Well, there\u2019s the lenited form (an bhliain), the special form used after the numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 (bliana), the eclipsed \u201cspecial\u201d…<\/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":[359304,359298,229757,359305,307112,307111,307113,307115,8166,4705,359299,96585,229801,359308,192219,359303,5182,359307,359313,359296,359297,359311,359306,307114,359302,359300,6421,359301,11,6730,359312,359290,359309],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-africanus","tag-aois","tag-asail","tag-asinus","tag-bhliain","tag-bliain","tag-bliana","tag-blianta","tag-cluas","tag-cluasa","tag-daois","tag-dha","tag-donkey","tag-donkeys","tag-ears","tag-equus","tag-fiche","tag-for-a-long-time","tag-galore","tag-hamstar","tag-hamster","tag-hup","tag-le-blianta","tag-mbliana","tag-osna-faoisimh","tag-pearoid","tag-pearoidi","tag-phearoid","tag-pronunciation","tag-seacht","tag-talking-the-hind-leg-off-a-donkey","tag-tearmainn","tag-years"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","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=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7625,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/7625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}