{"id":5382,"date":"2014-06-23T19:38:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T19:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5382"},"modified":"2014-06-24T23:10:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-24T23:10:52","slug":"cen-ghaeilge-ata-ar-fifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/cen-ghaeilge-ata-ar-fifa\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9n Ghaeilge at\u00e1 ar ‘FIFA’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

It seems that ‘FIFA,’ like many a good acronym (acrainm<\/strong>), has long been a word unto itself, used in many languages. \u00a0But many languages also have a translation of the phrase “F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association” (FIFA). \u00a0In Wikipedia, I find examples ranging from “Die\u00a0Internasionale Federasie vir Voetbal Assosiasie<\/em>” to “Egbe Ipapo Kariaye Ajose Boolu-Elese<\/em>.”\u00a0 That’s as close as I could get to samples from A to Z.\u00a0 An bhfuil a fhios agat c\u00e9 na teangacha iad? (Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So, in line with those, there is an Irish translation, which we’ll look at in this blog:<\/p>\n

an Comhaontas Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta Sacair<\/strong><\/p>\n

As such translations go, I’d say it’s pretty straightforward.<\/p>\n

an<\/strong> [un], the<\/p>\n

comhaontas<\/strong>, [KOH-AYN-tuss], federation, from “comh<\/strong>-” (co-) and “aontas<\/strong>” (union)<\/p>\n

idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta<\/strong> [IDJ-ir-NAWSH-oon-tuh], a straightforward combination of “idir<\/strong>” (between) and “n\u00e1isi\u00fanta<\/strong>” (national)<\/p>\n

sacair<\/strong> [SAHK-irzh<\/sup>] of soccer (i.e. of “association football”).\u00a0 This is the genitive case of “sacar<\/strong>” (soccer); note that the difference is in the final “r,” which is now “slenderized,” with the inserted “i.”\u00a0 This “slender r” sound is almost non-existent in English, but it does occur in other language families, like Slavic.\u00a0 The best comparison in sound, I think, is to the Czech name Ji\u0159\u00ed<\/em>, which one can easily look up online for pronunciation guides and sound files (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Why did I transcribe the sound as “zh”?\u00a0 Precedent.\u00a0 The Irish slender “r” sounds, to some extent, like the ‘J” of French “Jacques,” and the “s” of English vision,” both of which are sometimes roughly transcribed as “zh.”<\/p>\n

Actually, I wonder how the “zh” transcription started getting used for all these different letters, since I don’t really see any English words that actually have a “zh”.\u00a0 Wikipedia gives the Polish town name Zabrze<\/em> as an example of this sound (referring to the “-rz-“, not the initial “z”) and even that’s not “zh.”\u00a0 And I think the transcribers are getting fairly desperate when they pick a southern Polish town name as the “English” example of a sound.\u00a0 But it works.\u00a0 And actually, now that I look into it a bit further, in Russian, there’s also Zhdanov<\/em> and Zhitomir<\/em> as place names and Zhukov<\/em> as a surname.\u00a0 So I guess the “zh” practice started from transcribing Russian.<\/p>\n

At any rate, that’s the phrase and the basic pronunciation.\u00a0 But it wouldn’t surprise me to hear “FIFA” inserted into an Irish sentence, as it might be in other languages besides its original French.<\/p>\n

An interesting point of comparison to saying “FIFA” in other languages is the use here of the word “sacar<\/strong>,” since “football” as such, in Irish (peil<\/strong>), generally refers to Irish football.<\/p>\n

In fact, I wonder if there’s an agreed-upon literal term for “association football,” as such, in Irish.\u00a0 It doesn’t appear so, from what I’ve found so far.\u00a0 Food for future thought?\u00a0 I don’t see many examples that would even lead to the existence of such a phrase, but the most prominent one I find still uses “sacar<\/strong>” (craobh sacair Airm<\/strong>, Army association football championship, i.e. Army championship for association football)<\/p>\n

In considering that issue, it’s important to remember that “association football” (sacar<\/strong>) is not the same as a “football association,” which would be “cumann sacair<\/strong>” in Irish. \u00a0 The term “association football” got started around 1863 to distinguish this game from rugby football (rugby union football). \u00a0The ‘-er’ ending, added to “Assoc,” is considered an Oxfordism, in the same -er\/-ers tradition as rugger, eccer, All\u00a0Soggers, Maggers Memoggers, and Wuggers.<\/p>\n

And the French word-order adds to mix here, since the French say “football association<\/em>” (i.e. association-style football) for “association football”!\u00a0 It’s the usual French word order, adjective second.<\/p>\n

And a final curious note, IF (agus is <\/strong>“if” m\u00f3r \u00e9<\/strong>), we made an acronym out of the Irish version of FIFA, an Comhaontas Idirn\u00e1isi\u00fanta Sacair,\u00a0<\/strong>we’d get “CIS<\/strong>,” which would look like it should pertain to a different sport altogether, CISpheil<\/strong> (basketball).\u00a0 Ach n\u00e1 b\u00ed buartha — n\u00edl ann ach comhtharl\u00fa amach is amach<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

SGF – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Afrac\u00e1inis<\/strong>: Die\u00a0Internasionale Federasie vir Voetbal Assosiasie<\/em><\/p>\n

Iar\u00faibis<\/strong>: Egbe Ipapo Kariaye Ajose Boolu-Elese<\/em><\/p>\n

And what’s “Iar\u00faibis<\/strong>“?\u00a0 Yoruba.\u00a0 Remember, very few Irish words actually have a “y” in them, most, probably all, of the few examples being borrowed or scientific words like “y\u00f3y\u00f3<\/strong>” and “y-chr\u00f3mos\u00f3m<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

How to pronounce Ji\u0159\u00ed<\/em> (a sampler):<\/p>\n

http:\/\/inogolo.com\/query.php?qstr=Jiri&key=1 (uses “zh” to transcribe the sound)<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.forvo.com\/word\/ji%C5%99%C3%AD_trnka\/ (sound file)<\/p>\n

https:\/\/answers.yahoo.com\/question\/index;_ylt=A0LEV1iZyqlTGREAln5XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzcGV2dXJrBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1FCQUNLMl8x?qi (uses “zh” to transcribe the sound)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) It seems that ‘FIFA,’ like many a good acronym (acrainm), has long been a word unto itself, used in many languages. \u00a0But many languages also have a translation of the phrase “F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association” (FIFA). \u00a0In Wikipedia, I find examples ranging from “Die\u00a0Internasionale Federasie vir Voetbal Assosiasie” to “Egbe Ipapo Kariaye…<\/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":[332023,11912,2143,332024,332019,332010,2637],"class_list":["post-5382","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-comhaontas","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-idirnaisiunta","tag-sacair","tag-sacar","tag-world-cup"],"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