{"id":5258,"date":"2014-05-10T19:56:43","date_gmt":"2014-05-10T19:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5258"},"modified":"2016-02-09T06:42:02","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T06:42:02","slug":"six-ways-to-say-i-want-some-more-in-irish-ag-cur-gaeilge-ar-athfhriotal-cluiteach-oilibheir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/six-ways-to-say-i-want-some-more-in-irish-ag-cur-gaeilge-ar-athfhriotal-cluiteach-oilibheir\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Ways to Say, “I Want Some More” in Irish (ag cur Gaeilge ar athfhriotal cl\u00faiteach Oilibh\u00e9ir)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Cad<\/a>

Cad a deir Oilibh\u00e9ar tar \u00e9is “Le do thoil, a dhuine uasail”? What would an Irish-speaking Oliver Twist say after “Le do thoil, a dhuine uasail …” (Please, Sir, …)?<\/p><\/div>\n

“Please, sir, …” r\u00e1ite go truac\u00e1nta<\/strong>.\u00a0 And then what?\u00a0 In the last blog (nasc th\u00edos)<\/strong> , we talked about the “please” part of this sentence.\u00a0 But there wasn’t enough room to include the different ways to say “I want” or “more.”\u00a0 So here goes.<\/p>\n

Our keywords could include the following: maith, d\u00edth, iarraidh, teastaigh, s\u00e1<\/strong>, and d\u00f3thain<\/strong>, and I’m sure there are other possibilities.<\/p>\n

Before we plunge in, I’ll just note that there are some other words for “want” that deal more with abstractions (like “wanting patience”), something being missing (like a page in a book), or being “wanted” (by the police).\u00a0 Those will have to be for blag \u00e9igin eile l\u00e1 \u00e9igin eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So now, on to our main topic, “I want some more.”<\/p>\n

I thought about several options but decided they didn’t seem quite right for the Dickensian context.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, I’d be interested to hear what you think, a lucht l\u00e9ite an bhlag seo<\/strong>.\u00a0 Oh, I nearly wanted to say, a lucht leite<\/strong> (which almost means “O porridge folks”) but of course, it would have to be “a lucht leitean<\/strong>” because of an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>.\u00a0 Hmmm.\u00a0 Never underestimate the power of the “fada<\/strong>“!<\/p>\n

Anyway, from porridge to parsing,<\/p>\n

Ba mhaith liom tuilleadh<\/strong>, I would like (some) more.<\/p>\n

Ba mhaith liom n\u00edos m\u00f3<\/strong>, I would like (some) more.<\/p>\n

The words “tuilleadh<\/strong>” and “n\u00edos m\u00f3<\/strong>” both mean “more,” so that’s not the main focus of this blog. \u00a0They’re more or less interchangeable.\u00a0 We’ll basically be dealing with the word “want.”<\/p>\n

This option (“Ba mhaith<\/strong>“) strikes me as too polite for Oliver Twist’s situation.\u00a0 Oliver doesn’t say, “I would like some more.”\u00a0 He says, “I want some more.”\u00a0 Curiously, a lot of people, including, at one point, myself, remembered the phrase as “May I have some more,” but apparently that’s not what the original Dickens text says.<\/p>\n

Another choice for “want” could be “T\u00e1 tuilleadh de dh\u00edth orm<\/strong>. ”\u00a0 Nothing wrong with it grammatically, but it just doesn’t sound quite right for this context.\u00a0 The phrase “de dh\u00edth<\/strong>” [de yeeh, with a breathy “h” sound at the end but with the “t” silent) literally means “of want,” “of lack” (i.e. lacking), “of need,” or “of requirement” (hmmm, An Seomra D\u00edthe \u00f3 shraith Harry Potter?\u00a0 Ach sin \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

So what’s option three?\u00a0 The verb “iarraidh<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 m\u00e9 ag iarraidh tuillidh<\/strong>.\u00a0 Hmmm.\u00a0 More like “I’m asking for more” or “I’m requesting more.”\u00a0 Again not quite the same.<\/p>\n

Rogha a ceathair?<\/strong> (Option 4): the verb “teastaigh”<\/strong> (be wanted, be needed) as in “Teasta\u00edonn cabhair \u00f3 na daoine sin<\/strong>,” (Those people need\/help, lit. help is needed\/wanted by\/from \u00a0those people, but note that the sentence isn’t<\/em> in the passive voice).\u00a0 This verb often has a sense of necessity, as in\u00a0“Teasta\u00edonn tuilleadh uaim<\/strong>,” which sounds more like “I need more,” as if talking about supplies or money. \u00a0Another example is “Sin a raibh ag teast\u00e1il<\/strong>” (That is all that was necessary).<\/p>\n

At this point, it seems time to veer away from the verb “want,” “be wanted,” and even ” would like.” \u00a0Let’s try a different tack for “I want some more.”<\/p>\n

A very characteristic structure in Irish is to say, essentially, “I have my sufficiency,” “I didn’t get my sufficiency,” etc. There are several words for “sufficiency,” in Irish: d\u00f3thain<\/strong> and s\u00e1ith<\/strong> (or “s\u00e1<\/strong>“).\u00a0 I know that sounds a bit awkward as translated, but it’s important to remember that we’re not simply saying, “I didn’t get enough.”\u00a0 Literally, we’re saying, “I didn’t get ‘my’ enough,” which obviously doesn’t work in English grammar.\u00a0 The possessive adjective is required here in Irish.<\/p>\n

So, for the remaining roghanna<\/strong> (choices), we’ll use quite a different structure:<\/p>\n

“N\u00ed bhfuair m\u00e9 mo sh\u00e1ith<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

“N\u00edl mo dh\u00f3thain agam<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

And some more examples of “s\u00e1ith<\/strong>” and “d\u00f3thain<\/strong>” in some other contexts:<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 bean in\u00a0\u00c9irinn<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>a phronnfadh s\u00e9ad domh is mo sh\u00e1ith le n-\u00f3l” (\u00f3n amhr\u00e1n, “Mn\u00e1 na h\u00c9ireann”)<\/strong>:\u00a0 There is a woman in Ireland who would bestow treasures and my sufficiency of drink upon me. (from the song, “Women of Ireland”)<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 mo sh\u00e1 \u00f3lta agam<\/strong>, I’ve drunk enough, lit. My sufficiency is drunk at (i.e. by) me<\/p>\n

s\u00e1ith r\u00ed de chaisle\u00e1n<\/strong>, a castle fit for a king, lit. a king’s sufficiency of a castle<\/p>\n

d\u00f3thain r\u00ed de bh\u00e9ile<\/strong>, a meal fit for a king, lit. a king’s sufficiency of a meal<\/p>\n

T\u00e1 a seacht nd\u00f3thain le r\u00e1 aici<\/strong>, She talks far too much<\/p>\n

So for Oliver Twist, my vote is to bypass the word “want,” as such, and use either “s\u00e1<\/strong>,” “s\u00e1ith<\/strong>,” or “d\u00f3thain<\/strong>.”\u00a0 I think it conveys the directness of Oliver’s request, “I want some more.”\u00a0 So we could say either:<\/p>\n

“N\u00edl mo sh\u00e1ith agam.<\/strong>” or<\/p>\n

“N\u00edl mo dh\u00f3thain agam<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Bar\u00falacha ar bith agaibh, a lucht l\u00e9ite an bhlag seo<\/strong>? \u00a0Now that I’ve gotten this far with the topic, I’d like to find out how this has been\u00a0 or could be expressed in other languages as well.\u00a0 Which could keep me busy for quite a while, given the nearly six thousand languages (s\u00e9 mh\u00edle teanga<\/strong>) that exist in the world. \u00a0Never a dull moment! \u00a0Even if the “leite<\/strong>” was more like “praiseach<\/strong>.”\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc<\/strong>:\u00a0https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/say-pleeeeease-i-ngaeilge\/ (6 Bealtaine 2014). \u00a0<\/strong>Discusses “le do thoil” <\/strong>and “m\u00e1s \u00e9 do thoil \u00e9,” <\/strong>amonst other phrases.<\/p>\n

Gluais: b\u00e9ile<\/strong>, meal; cabhair<\/strong>, help; caisle\u00e1n<\/strong>, castle; leite<\/strong>, porridge (leitean<\/strong>, of porridge); praiseach<\/strong>, thin porridge; r\u00ed<\/strong>, king<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) “Please, sir, …” r\u00e1ite go truac\u00e1nta.\u00a0 And then what?\u00a0 In the last blog (nasc th\u00edos) , we talked about the “please” part of this sentence.\u00a0 But there wasn’t enough room to include the different ways to say “I want” or “more.”\u00a0 So here goes. Our keywords could include the following: maith, d\u00edth, iarraidh…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":8038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[331898,9310,331908,292412,331903,331907,5491,331884,331902,331866,32994,32995,173302,331899,331867,331896,331900,331913,331914,331883,292932,331897,362396,331912,331905,6645,331906,331909,331904,331910,331901,7205,306455,9311],"class_list":["post-5258","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-a-dhuine-uasail","tag-de-dhith","tag-dhothain","tag-dickens","tag-dithe","tag-dothain","tag-harry-potter","tag-i-want-some-more","tag-iarraidh","tag-le-do-thoil","tag-leite","tag-leitean","tag-like","tag-maith","tag-mas-e-do-thoil-e","tag-may-i-have-some-more","tag-mhaith","tag-more","tag-nios-mo","tag-oliver","tag-please","tag-please-sir","tag-porridge","tag-request","tag-room-of-requirement","tag-sa","tag-saith","tag-seacht-ndothain","tag-seomra-dithe","tag-sufficiency","tag-teastaigh","tag-tuilleadh","tag-twist","tag-want"],"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