{"id":554,"date":"2010-12-12T22:44:03","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T22:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=554"},"modified":"2018-12-28T04:26:56","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T04:26:56","slug":"happy-vs-merry-and-all-that-sona-meidhreach-srl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/happy-vs-merry-and-all-that-sona-meidhreach-srl\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy vs. Merry and All That! (Sona, Meidhreach, srl.)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u2018S \u00e9 an s\u00e9as\u00far \u00e9!<\/strong>\u00a0 \u2018Tis the season!\u00a0 So let\u2019s do a little holiday terminology.\u00a0 \u00a0Some of these phrases are quite well known but all are interesting when looked at from a translator\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

Nollaig Shona!<\/strong>\u00a0 or to be more specific \u201cNollaig Shona dhuit!\u201d<\/strong> (to one person) or \u201cNollaig Shona dhaoibh<\/strong>! (plural).\u00a0 Or \u201cNollaig Shona duit<\/strong>\u201d (or \u201cdaoibh<\/strong>\u201d), depending on dialect.<\/p>\n

So, here the word for \u201chappy,\u201d comes from \u201csona<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It becomes \u201cshona<\/strong>\u201d [HUN-uh] because \u201cNollaig<\/strong>\u201d is grammatically feminine.<\/p>\n

But for \u201cHappy New Year,\u201d the most typical phrase is \u201cAthbhliain faoi mhaise<\/strong>!\u201d or sometimes \u201cAthbhliain faoi sh\u00e9an is faoi mhaise<\/strong>!\u201d\u00a0 No \u201csona<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cshona<\/strong>\u201d at all!<\/p>\n

For \u201cHappy St. Patrick\u2019s Day\u201d and \u201cHappy Easter,\u201d the phrases are usually \u201cBeannachta\u00ed na F\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig<\/strong>\u201d [the blessings of the feast-day of Patrick] and \u201cBeannachta\u00ed na C\u00e1sca<\/strong>\u201d [the blessings of Easter].\u00a0 No \u201chappy\u201d as such at all at all!<\/p>\n

For \u201cHappy Birthday to you!\u201d we return to \u201csona<\/strong>\u201d in the phrase \u201cL\u00e1 Breithe Sona dhuit<\/strong>!\u201d\u00a0 And it\u2019s not \u201cshona<\/strong>\u201d as I frequently see on the Internet.\u00a0 \u201cSona<\/strong>\u201d changed to \u201cshona<\/strong>\u201d with \u201cNollaig\u201d<\/strong> because \u201cNollaig\u201d<\/strong> is feminine.\u00a0 \u201cL\u00e1<\/strong>\u201d is masculine, so we stick to the basic form, \u201csona<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just to balance out the mix, the phrase for a \u201chappy death,\u201d (death in the state of grace), the phrase is \u201cdea-bh\u00e1s<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 The basic meanings of the prefix \u201cdea<\/strong>-\u201c are \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the moral of the story is don\u2019t simply look up the word \u201chappy\u201d in an English-Irish dictionary and assume that the first meaning you find fits all the contexts.\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t work that way!<\/p>\n

\u201cAch cad faoi <\/strong>\u2018merry\u2019?\u201d a deir na Meirice\u00e1naigh<\/strong>. \u00a0Fairly straightforward, I guess.\u00a0 In Irish, one is simply wishing that the Christmas will be \u201chappy,\u201d not \u201cmerry\u201d as such, which would be \u201cmeidhreach<\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0Depending on what you mean by \u201cmerry,\u201d it can also be understood as \u201cs\u00fagach<\/strong>\u201d (tipsy, hmmm) or \u201ccro\u00ed\u00fail\u201d<\/strong> (full of heart).<\/p>\n

As confirmation for avoiding \u201cmeidhreach<\/strong>\u201d for a Christmas greeting, I note that there is only one<\/em> example of it in my recent Google search.\u00a0 And there it is incorrectly spelled, missing the \u201ch\u201d it would need to show lenition because it\u2019s modifying a feminine noun. \u00a0\u201cNollaig shona<\/strong>,\u201d on the other hand, has about 145,000 hits, at least in the first go-round.<\/p>\n

As for Santa\u2019s \u201cHo! Ho! Ho!,\u201d there\u2019s no traditional Irish precedent that I know of.\u00a0 One could use \u201cH\u00f3igh<\/strong>!\u201d, but that leans more to meaning \u201choy\u201d or \u201cahoy.\u201d\u00a0 We could also consider \u201c\u00c1! \u00c1! \u00c1!,\u201d<\/strong> since \u201c\u00c1<\/strong>!\u201d as an interjection can express mirth.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t quite work for me.\u00a0 Aside from other considerations, \u201c\u00e1<\/strong>\u201d can mean too many other things in Irish.\u00a0 It seems more like saying, \u201cAh! Ah! Ah!,\u201d and sounds more like the prelude to a sneeze.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s \u201cho h\u00f3<\/strong>!\u201d for \u201cOho!\u201d (note there is only one long mark).\u00a0 But then Santa doesn\u2019t really say \u201cOho! Oho! Oho!\u201d\u00a0 That would become an impressive \u201cHo H\u00f3!\u00a0 Ho H\u00f3! Ho H\u00f3!<\/strong>\u201d But checking for that online simply takes me to the website for Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey.\u00a0 Short-circuited Google, I guess.<\/p>\n

So on that note, I\u2019ll leave you till the next holiday blog, coming up soon. –\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. There\u2019s a cute oversized (about 18\u201d by 24\u201d) book by C\u00e1it N\u00ed Dhuibhir called Daid\u00ed na Nollag<\/em><\/strong>, but Santa doesn\u2019t say \u201cHo! Ho! Ho!\u201d anywhere in it.\u00a0 Just \u201cNollaig Shona duit, a Liam<\/strong>!\u201d\u00a0 Liam beag<\/strong> answers back politely, \u201cGurab amhlaidh duit, a Dhaid\u00ed na Nollag<\/strong>!\u201d\u00a0 More on that construction n\u00edos moille<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) \u2018S \u00e9 an s\u00e9as\u00far \u00e9!\u00a0 \u2018Tis the season!\u00a0 So let\u2019s do a little holiday terminology.\u00a0 \u00a0Some of these phrases are quite well known but all are interesting when looked at from a translator\u2019s perspective. Nollaig Shona!\u00a0 or to be more specific \u201cNollaig Shona dhuit!\u201d (to one person) or \u201cNollaig Shona dhaoibh! (plural).\u00a0 Or…<\/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":[306390,4240,4304,306391,111605,4890,5137,255521,5483,109546,306388,13060,13055,306389,13057,13058,306387,306385,13053,13059,13054,6242,13052,306386,3651,2503,111625,13056,111602,111603],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-a-dhaidi-na-nollag","tag-athbhliain","tag-beannachtai-na-casca-ort","tag-cait-ni-dhuibhir","tag-croiuil","tag-daidi-na-nollag","tag-faoi-mhaise","tag-faoi-shean","tag-happy","tag-happy-birthday","tag-ho-ho","tag-ho-ho-kus","tag-ho-ho-ho","tag-hoigh","tag-la-breithe","tag-la-breithe-sona","tag-liam-beag","tag-maise","tag-meidhreach","tag-merry","tag-mheidhreach","tag-new-jersey","tag-nollaig-shona","tag-oho","tag-santa-claus","tag-sean","tag-shona","tag-sona","tag-sugach","tag-tipsy"],"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