{"id":5677,"date":"2014-09-12T18:53:49","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T18:53:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5677"},"modified":"2014-09-15T19:12:40","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:12:40","slug":"how-to-say-scottish-scotland-and-scot-in-irish-and-how-about-scot-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/how-to-say-scottish-scotland-and-scot-in-irish-and-how-about-scot-free\/","title":{"rendered":"How to say ‘Scottish,’ ‘Scotland,’ and ‘Scot’ in Irish (and how about ‘scot-free’?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Bratach<\/a>

Bratach na hAlban, or, in Scottish Gaelic: Bratach na h-Alba (public domain: http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scotland#mediaviewer\/File:Flag_of_Scotland.svg)<\/p><\/div>\n

As the Scottish Referendum vote comes ever closer, let’s look at some of the basic terms for Scotland itself, the Scottish people, and some specifically Scottish things.\u00a0 For the latter, I mean things actually labeled Scottish, or as it sometimes occurs, “Scotch.”\u00a0 I don’t mean things we simply associate with Scotland, like “haggis.” \u00a0I don’t think we have to specify that “hagaois<\/strong>” is “Albanach<\/strong>,” since I know of no other country that makes such a delicacy.\u00a0 (No other?\u00a0 Bhuel, f\u00e9ach an n\u00f3ta th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 Whatever one thinks of the spelling, the traditional egg dish is usually called “Scotch,” not “Scottish.” \u00a0Eggs aren’t “Scottish” unless you’re talking about importing or exporting eggs from hens raised in Scotland or some such context.\u00a0 And then, of course, there’s the beverage, scotch, but is that ever anything other than “uisce beatha<\/strong>” or “fuisce<\/strong>” in Irish (uisge-beatha anns a’ Gh\u00e0idhlig<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Let’s start with the country.\u00a0 Originally, and sometimes still given as “Alba<\/strong>,” it has mostly settled into “Albain<\/strong>” in modern Irish.\u00a0 Traditionally, “Albain<\/strong>” was specifically the dative case, used after prepositions, as in “go hAlbain<\/strong>,” “\u00f3 Albain<\/strong>,” “in Albain<\/strong>” (or the earlier version, “i nAlbain<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n

Like “\u00c9ire<\/strong>” and “na h\u00c9ireann<\/strong>,” the word “Albain<\/strong>” picks up the word “the” when it’s possessive.\u00a0 This is fairly unusual.\u00a0 Most country names in Irish either take the definite article (an t-alt<\/strong> cinnteach<\/strong>) all the time, as in “An Fhrainc<\/strong>” and “An Sp\u00e1inn<\/strong>” (and in the genitive: muintir na Fraince, muintir na Sp\u00e1inne<\/strong>) or they don’t take the definite article at all, as in “C\u00faba<\/strong>” (in the genitive: muintir Ch\u00faba<\/strong>).\u00a0 But “\u00c9ire<\/strong>” and “Albai<\/strong>n” add the word “the” (as “na<\/strong>“) specifically in the genitive case: Banc na h\u00c9ireann<\/strong>, uachtar\u00e1n na h\u00c9ireann<\/strong>, rialtas na hAlban<\/strong>, muintir na hAlban<\/strong>).\u00a0 Note that there are also changes to the end of each place name (“-ann” for “\u00c9ire”<\/strong> and dropping the “i” for “Albain<\/strong>“), but those aren’t the main point here.<\/p>\n

So, to say “Scotland,” we have:<\/p>\n

Albain<\/strong> [AH-luh-bin, with 3 syllables], Scotland<\/p>\n

go hAlbain, \u00f3 Albain, in Albain<\/strong>, to \/ from \/ in Scotland (the prefixed “h” will have to be \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

na hAlban<\/strong>, of Scotland; Reifreann ar Neamhsple\u00e1chas na hAlban<\/strong>, the Scottish Independence Referendum (lit. the referendum on independence of Scotland)<\/p>\n

And the people:<\/p>\n

Albanach<\/strong> [AH-luh-buh-nukh, 4 syllables) , a Scotsman, a Scot (“Albanach mn\u00e1”<\/strong> can be used for “Scotswoman” if the distinction is desired, but in my experience, the “mn\u00e1<\/strong>” part isn’t used all that often)<\/p>\n

an tAlbanach<\/strong>, the Scotsman<\/p>\n

Albanaigh<\/strong>, of a Scotsman (filleadh beag Albanaigh<\/strong>, a Scotsman’s kilt)<\/p>\n

an Albanaigh<\/strong>, of the Scotsman, (filleadh beag an Albanaigh<\/strong>, the Scotsman’s kilt)<\/p>\n

na hAlbanaigh<\/strong>, the Scots (na hAlbanaigh ina bhfillteacha beaga<\/strong>, the Scotsmen in their kilts)<\/p>\n

na nAlbanach<\/strong>, of the Scots (fillteacha beaga agus cosa deasa na nAlbanach<\/strong>, the kilts and nice legs of the Scotsmen)<\/p>\n

The adjective for “Scottish” is the same as the ethnonym, so we have the following.\u00a0 \u00a0Sometimes, as in the third example, a thing will be called “Scotch” or “Scottish” in English, but not in Irish.\u00a0 Can you translate these?\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos: <\/strong><\/p>\n

brocaire Albanach<\/strong><\/p>\n

ubh Albanach<\/strong><\/p>\n

fraoch fireann<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Scotch tape,” for anyone wondering, is simply a brand name.\u00a0 In Irish, it’s “seilit\u00e9ip<\/strong>” (based on the trademark “Sellotape”) or simply “t\u00e9ip ghreamaitheach.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

To differentiate Scotch (“whisky,” no “e”) from Irish “whiskey,” we can say “fuisce na hAlban<\/strong>” or “uisce beatha Albanach<\/strong>.”\u00a0 For the spelling issue (never mind the taste), check out: http:\/\/www.thekitchn.com\/whiskey-vs-whisky-whats-the-di-100476<\/p>\n

The verb, “to scotch,” is not related to anything “Albanach<\/strong>” per se.\u00a0 In fact, there are several meanings of “to scotch,” but probably the most basic are:<\/p>\n

gearradh<\/strong> ([GYAR-uh], also means “to cut”)<\/p>\n

lot <\/strong>([pronounced more like “lut,” with the Irish short “o,” not like the English word “lot,” which is more like “laht”], also means “to hurt” or “to wound”)<\/p>\n

ciorr\u00fa<\/strong> [KYUR-oo], also means “to cut” or “to hack,” or in references to boats, “to lower (sails)”<\/p>\n

As for the traditional phrase, “scot-free,” there’s no linguistic connection to Scotland or things Scottish.\u00a0 The irony is conspicuous though, isn’t it?\u00a0 Scot?\u00a0 Free?<\/p>\n

The ‘scot’ in ‘scot-free’ comes from the Middle English ‘scot<\/em>,’ based on Scandinavian roots, like the Icelandic word “skot<\/em>.”\u00a0\u00a0 In Irish, this word would simply be ‘sco<\/strong>t’ or “airgead scoit<\/strong>,” (“-it” ending because it’s really saying “money of scot” or “scot-money,” as it were).<\/p>\n

And then there’s “He got away scot-free,” with “getting away” or “getting off” probably the most English typical expression using “scot-free.” \u00a0The Irish surprised me the first time I encountered it:<\/p>\n

Thug s\u00e9 na haenna leis sl\u00e1n s\u00e1bh\u00e1ilte.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

If your Irish is somewhere in the intermediate range, you probably got most of the words there, but maybe not “haenna<\/strong>,” from “ae<\/strong>,” which mostly means, yes, liver (the organ).\u00a0 Here it’s plural (shades of the two-hearted Dr. Who?), and very literally means, “He took the livers with him safe (and) sound.”\u00a0 Go figure.\u00a0 Or as I’ve seen on some Irish t-shirts, “N\u00e1 cuir ceist ormsa.\u00a0 N\u00edl a fhios agam<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

We see this same basic construction in:<\/p>\n

Thug s\u00e9 na haenna leis<\/strong> (He escaped with his life).<\/p>\n

The word “ae<\/strong>” is probably worth a blog of its own, around Valentine’s Day, I think.<\/p>\n

Why Valentine’s Day?\u00a0 One of the more surprising greetings in Irish is “a chara na n-ae istigh<\/strong>,” meaning “dear friend,” figuratively “O friend of the(my) innermost heart” and very literally, “O friend of the internal livers,” with “n-ae<\/strong>” as an alternate genitive plural form, the standard being “na n-aenna<\/strong>.”\u00a0\u00a0 At some point I’ll have to check how much that phrase is actually used.\u00a0 All I can say is I’m sure I’ve never been treated to that salutation.\u00a0 The phrase does make one wonder–are we supposed to postulate “aenna amuigh<\/strong>,” external livers or for that matter, external hearts?\u00a0 Mh’anam<\/strong> (which hopefully is “istigh<\/strong>” and not “amuigh<\/strong>“)!<\/p>\n

On that note, eagerly waiting to see what happens on l\u00e1 an Reifrinn<\/strong> — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta faoi hagaois<\/strong>: Wikipedia lists 15 similar dishes, from Andouillette<\/em> to Weckewerk<\/em>.\u00a0 The list includes the Pennsylvania German dish, scrapple, but, that is not served very ceremoniously (a mhalairt<\/strong>) and there’s no suggestion of the original “bolg<\/strong>” into which the rest of the “comh\u00e1bhair<\/strong>” are stuffed.\u00a0 “Saumagen<\/em>” really does look pretty similar.\u00a0 But is it ever piped in and saluted?<\/p>\n

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

brocaire Albanach<\/strong>, Scottish terrier<\/p>\n

ubh Albanach<\/strong>, Scotch egg, consisting of an ubh chruabhruite<\/strong>, wrapped in feoil isp\u00edn<\/strong>, coated with grabhr\u00f3ga ar\u00e1in<\/strong> and then served domhainfhriochta<\/strong> \u00a0or b\u00e1c\u00e1ilte<\/strong><\/p>\n

fraoch fireann<\/strong>, Scotch heather (but literally it means “real heather,” not the more typical meaning of “fireann<\/strong>,” which is “male”).\u00a0 So what’s “not-real” heather?\u00a0 N\u00edl a fhios agam ach m\u00e1 fhaighim amach \u00e9 is \u00e1bhar blag eile a bheas ann!<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. All that discussion about internal and external hearts and livers makes me wonder if we could establish a connection to the fairy tale “Giant Who Had No Heart in his Body,” but, at best that’ll have to wait for a rainy day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) As the Scottish Referendum vote comes ever closer, let’s look at some of the basic terms for Scotland itself, the Scottish people, and some specifically Scottish things.\u00a0 For the latter, I mean things actually labeled Scottish, or as it sometimes occurs, “Scotch.”\u00a0 I don’t mean things we simply associate with Scotland, like “haggis.”…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4041,4042,358974,4045,5469,5470,192252,6719],"class_list":["post-5677","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-alba","tag-albain","tag-alban","tag-albanach","tag-halbain","tag-halban","tag-referendum","tag-scotland"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5677","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=5677"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5680,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5677\/revisions\/5680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}