{"id":5767,"date":"2014-10-10T18:47:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T18:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5767"},"modified":"2014-11-04T20:31:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T20:31:35","slug":"how-to-say-ebola-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/how-to-say-ebola-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"How to say ‘Ebola,’ ‘Ebola Virus,’ and ‘Ebola Virus Disease’ in Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fearann<\/a>

Ebola (fearann poibl\u00ed: http:\/\/phil.cdc.gov\/phil\/details.asp?pid=10816, CDC\/Cynthia Goldsmith)<\/p><\/div>\n

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

Not surprisingly, the word \u201cEbola\u201d got an impressive 22,700,000 hits (22,700,000 amas<\/strong>), in my recent Google search.\u00a0\u00a0 How many of those hits might be Irish-language resources?<\/p>\n

Since \u201cEbola,\u201d as such, is exactly the same in Irish (Ebola<\/strong>), it\u2019s not easy to search for results that are specifically in Irish. In fact, for many of the languages I checked online, \u201cEbola\u201d is the same in some major ones (e.g. Fraincis<\/strong>, Portaing\u00e9ilis<\/strong>), almost the same + or – diacritical marks in some others (Sp\u00e1innis<\/strong>: \u00c9bola<\/em>, R\u00faisis thraslitrithe<\/strong>: Eb\u00f3la<\/em> (\u00f3<\/strong> \u042d\u0431\u043e\u0301\u043b\u0430<\/a><\/em>), and the same but as part of a compound word in some others (Danmhairgis<\/strong>: ebolavirus<\/em>, Gearm\u00e1inis<\/strong>: Ebolavirus<\/em>).<\/p>\n

So, unlike some other disease names of global importance but with distinctively Irish names, it\u2019s a little tricky to find articles in Irish on Ebola. For example, if you Googled \u201can bholgach<\/strong>,\u201d you\u2019d probably only get Irish-language results for \u201csmallpox.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I just tested that and got 350 hits for \u201can bholgach<\/strong>,\u201d filtered down by Google to 52, avoiding duplications, etc. They all appear to Irish-related. Likewise, the search term \u201cSiondr\u00f3m Easpa Imdh\u00edonachta Faighte<\/strong>\u201d (SEIF<\/strong>; \u201cAIDS\u201d i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong>) will probably mostly get Irish language results (na tortha\u00ed<\/strong>: I get 1760, filtered down to 75).<\/p>\n

I tried another search, for \u201cv\u00edreas<\/strong> Ebola<\/strong>,\u201d adding the Irish word \u201cv\u00edreas<\/strong>\u201d to get results that were more likely in Irish. The preliminary results were 955 hits, but Google sorted them down to a mere 42. Of those, the last several, at least, had no obvious Irish language connections so I think they were included perhaps because of machine translations or sheer listing of terms, without context.<\/p>\n

Note the word order, by the way, in \u201cv\u00edreas<\/strong> Ebola.”\u00a0 <\/strong>Unlike in English, “Ebola” comes second, after the noun, because it’s functioning as an aidiacht<\/strong> (like “p\u00f3ca<\/strong>” in “scian ph\u00f3ca<\/strong>” or “shn\u00e1mha<\/strong>” in “culaith shn\u00e1mha”<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

I tried various other searches, using \u201cadvanced search\u201d and \u201chl\u201d restrictions, to see if I\u2019d get any more Irish language hits, but I didn\u2019t get any conclusive results.<\/p>\n

So my conclusion is that, not surprisingly, there\u2019s relatively little commentary about Ebola that is completely in Irish. But, additionally, I also conclude, to more or less state the obvious, that it\u2019s difficult to search for Irish-language results for a word like \u201cEbola,\u201d which is exactly the same in various languages, including Irish. The good news, if anything can be good about this \u00e1bhar tromch\u00faiseach<\/strong>, is that the word “Ebola” itself is straightforward in Irish.<\/p>\n

From the search results for \u201cv\u00edreas Ebola<\/strong>,\u201d I\u2019ve picked out a few links that are actually full articles in Irish (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>\/links below). B\u2019fh\u00e9idir go mbeadh suim agat iontu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As for the river from which the Ebola virus gets its name, I only found three hits (tr\u00ed amas<\/strong>) in Irish, two of which were \u201cd\u00fablaigh<\/strong>\u201d (duplicates). I wanted to determine the exact form of the river name in Irish, but I found two slightly different versions: \u201cabhainn Ebola<\/strong>\u201d (lit. river Ebola, with no “the”) and \u201can Abhainn Ebola<\/strong>\u201d (lit. the River Ebola). The presence of the definite article (\u201can<\/strong>,\u201d in English \u201cthe\u201d), may not seem very significant, but it does make a difference in Irish for phrases using prepositions or the genitive case.\u00a0 Many typical river names in Irish do include the definite article, including most, probably all, that are actually in Ireland, and many abroad, such as Abhainn an Hooghly (i mBeang\u00e1l Thiar) <\/strong>and An Abhainn Bhu\u00ed (sa tS\u00edn).\u00a0<\/strong> Other river names seem to not include the definite article (Abhainn Charles, Abhainn Yazoo<\/strong>). Others, especially large ones, both in and outside of Ireland, are frequently referred to without the word \u201criver,\u201d (An Volta, An Dan\u00f3ib, An Dn\u00edpir, An tSionainn<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

In fact, all this is making me consider, what are the rules for English usage with river names? Do we ever just say \u201cCharles River,\u201d aside from adjectival usages such as Charles River Laboratories or Charles River Apparel?\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the issue of word order (the Schuylkill River vs. the River Liffey). Why does iol.ie give us \u201cThe Liffey River, Dublin, Ireland\u201d as a title but refer to the body of water as \u201cthe river Liffey\u201d in the text of its article? (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 But those questions, plus the ins and outs of river names in Irish, will have to wait for blag \u00e9igin eile<\/strong>. For now, for \u201cthe Ebola River\u201d in Irish, suffice it to say that there aren\u2019t many readily searchable examples to look at.<\/p>\n

A final phrase that might be useful for referring to Ebola in Irish is \u201cgalar v\u00edris Ebola<\/strong>\u201d (Ebola virus disease). Here, as we can see, the word \u201cv\u00edreas<\/strong>\u201d ([VEE-rzh<\/sup>ass] virus) changes to the genitive case (v\u00edris<\/strong> [VEE-rzh<\/sup>ish, note the \u201csh\u201d sound at the end) because we\u2019re literally saying \u201cdisease (of) Ebola virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

One might wonder, what\u2019s the big deal if \u201cEbola\u201d is \u201cEbola<\/strong>\u201d in Irish? Well, one thing I\u2019ve learned in Irish is never to assume that any word from another language will be what you think it might be, based on English or other languages. Sometimes simple adjustments are made to gaelicize a word, for example, just a s\u00edneadh fada<\/strong> or \u201clong mark\u201d (\u201cCong\u00f3<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cCongo\u201d) Other times, adjustments are made for Irish vowel harmony (\u201cm\u00f3ideim<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cmodem\u201d). \u201cEbola<\/strong>,\u201d for example, could have had a couple of letters added to accommodate for Irish vowel harmony rules, or it could have gotten a long mark over the \u201co.\u201d\u00a0 But it didn’t.<\/p>\n

And of course, some adaptations can be much more dramatic (\u201cXMODEM\u201d in Irish isn\u2019t simply putting \u201cX\u201d in front of \u201cm\u00f3ideim<\/strong>\u201d because we also have to use lenition, giving us \u201cX-mh\u00f3ideim<\/strong>\u201d [\u2026 WOHDj<\/sup>-em, with the \u201cw\u201d sound for the “mh” (or “v” for some speakers)]. That\u2019s the same process by which \u201cga<\/strong>\u201d (ray) becomes \u201cgha<\/strong>\u201d in the word \u201cx-gha<\/strong>.\u201d How many people ever talk about an<\/strong> X-mh\u00f3ideim<\/strong> in Irish?\u00a0 N\u00edl a fhios agam<\/strong>.\u00a0 But \u201cX-mh\u00f3ideim<\/strong>\u201d is the official version, at any rate. What r\u00edomhchl\u00e1raitheoir\u00ed<\/strong> actually say for this in Irish I don\u2019t really know for sure, since XMODEM and its successors YMODEM and ZMODEM, have never been part of mo<\/strong> ghn\u00e1thchaint<\/strong>, in Irish or in English (agus n\u00ed r\u00edomhchl\u00e1raitheoir mise<\/strong>!).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the gender issue. Is a new word in Irish, especially a \u201cfocal iasachta<\/strong>,\u201d going to be \u201cfirinscneach<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cbaininscneach<\/strong>\u201d? Or \u201cgan inscne<\/strong>\u201d? \u201cEbola<\/strong>,\u201d apparently does not have gender in Irish. Grammatically, it\u2019s considered a \u201csubstantive\u201d noun in Irish.\u00a0 Substantive nouns are marked \u201cs\u201d in most dictionaries and genderless. But \u201cm\u00f3ideim<\/strong>,\u201d a new adaptation, is masculine, despite the fact that some similar-looking words (\u201creim<\/strong>, \u201d meaning \u201crem\u201d in nuclear physics and \u201cpeineim<\/strong>,\u201d meaning \u201cpenem\u201d in chemistry) are feminine (and, for good measure, let\u2019s note that \u201cgreim<\/strong>,\u201d meaning \u201ca bite,\u201d \u201ca stitch,\u201d or \u201ca grip\u201d is masculine). Word endings don\u2019t always accurately predict the gender of a noun in Irish. So, with new words, we need to check if there\u2019s an Irish adaptation, a gaelicization, or a full translation of the word, and if there is, for nouns, what\u2019s the gender. Even if we\u2019re looking at a focal iasachta<\/strong>, and assume it\u2019ll probably be the same in Irish and English, it\u2019s always worth checking.<\/p>\n

Next up (sa ch\u00e9ad bhlag eile)<\/strong>, since it\u2019s also in the news a lot these days, how do we say \u201cin quarantine\u201d in Irish? Can we count on the preposition still being \u201cin\u201d in Irish, followed by eclipsis? Or, should we assume that prepositions rarely match up from language to language? Oh, how well I remember struggling with \u201cpor<\/em>\u201d and \u201cpara<\/em>\u201d in Spanish! And all that \u201cauf dem Tisch<\/em>\u201d and \u201can dem Tisch<\/em>\u201d differentiation in German!<\/p>\n

So the take-away here is that, minimally, we\u2019ve clarified that the Irish and English words for \u201cEbola\u201d are the same. And we\u2019ve looked at how a few other focail iasachta<\/strong> (loan words) are handled. And reminded ourselves never to take Irish spelling or word adaptations for granted.<\/p>\n

While on the topic of Ebola, I also want to add \u201cR.I.P. Excalibur.\u201d I feel that this dog (madra an altra Maria Teresa Romero Ramos, sa Sp\u00e1inn)<\/strong> was prematurely euthanized. I see from browsing broadly online that some readers in some forums get angry when there is a discussion of canine victims as opposed to human victims of this raging illness. Nevertheless, I\u2019m very sad that the life of this innocent dog, who knew nothing of the controversy or the possibilities of quarantine, was ended, despite the enormous rally to save him. It reminds me of the very sad saga of the dog Lennox in Belfast (https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/failte-na-madrai-roimh-lennox-the-dogs-welcome-to-lennox\/<\/a>), who was also unfairly euthanized, although for completely different reasons.<\/p>\n

And given that this is an Irish blog, how eerily coincidental that the first dog known to be euthanized because of Ebola has a Celtic name, or at least a semi-Latinized version of a Celtic name. Not that he was an Irish or Welsh breed of dog as far as I can tell from his photos; he was a mixed-breed dog (mar mo dh\u00e1 mhadra f\u00e9in<\/strong>) according to what I read. The word \u201cExcalibur\u201d comes from the Welsh \u201ccaled<\/em>\u201d (hard) and \u201cbwlch<\/em>\u201d (gap, pass, breach, cleft) and has cognates in medieval Irish (calad(h),<\/strong> hard; bolg<\/strong>, gap, although normally \u201cbolg<\/strong>\u201d would mean \u201cbag\u201d or \u201cstomach\u201d in modern Irish). Mo chomhbhr\u00f3n do Maria Teresa agus a fear, Javier Lim\u00f3n (\u00fain\u00e9ir\u00ed Excalibur), agus do gach teaghlach a chaill daoine muinteartha san eipid\u00e9im seo. Go raibh biseach ar na daoine at\u00e1 ag streachailt leis an ngalar seo faoi l\u00e1thair.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill agus go br\u00f3nach — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Naisc: <\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/antuairisceoir.com\/2014\/08\/16\/ebola-an-galar-agus-an-sceimhle\/ (Posted on L\u00fanasa 16, 2014<\/strong> le Gaeilgeoir na Fionlainne<\/a><\/strong> )<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.rte.ie\/news\/nuacht\/2014\/1007\/650621-imni-anois-go-bhfuil-ebola-ar-cheathrar-sa-spainn\/<\/a> (Imn\u00ed anois go bhfuil Ebola ar thri\u00far sa Sp\u00e1inn – RT\u00c9 News<\/a>. D\u00e9 M\u00e1irt 07 Deireadh F\u00f3mhair 2014 17.32<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.iol.ie\/~ndnsp\/rivers\/liffey1.htm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Not surprisingly, the word \u201cEbola\u201d got an impressive 22,700,000 hits (22,700,000 amas), in my recent Google search.\u00a0\u00a0 How many of those hits might be Irish-language resources? Since \u201cEbola,\u201d as such, is exactly the same in Irish (Ebola), it\u2019s not easy to search for results that are specifically in Irish. In fact, for many…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[3960,359324,9029,9027,359477,359474,359476,4536,359473,4620,359325,2072,4981,359317,359323,359481,359314,359485,359475,359320,359479,359483,359480,5966,359478,359326,96651,359315,218826,359482,359484,142,359321,359322,254632,7296,359327],"class_list":["post-5767","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-abhainn","tag-abhann","tag-altra","tag-banaltra","tag-bolg","tag-bwlch","tag-calad","tag-caladh","tag-caled","tag-celtic","tag-congo","tag-disease","tag-dog","tag-ebola","tag-ebolavirus","tag-eipideim","tag-excalibur","tag-focail-iasachta","tag-fwlch","tag-galar","tag-javier","tag-liffey","tag-limon","tag-madra","tag-maria-teresa","tag-mhoideim","tag-moideim","tag-nurse","tag-river","tag-sceimhle","tag-schuylkill","tag-spain","tag-vireas","tag-viris","tag-virus","tag-welsh","tag-x-mhoideim"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5767","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=5767"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5828,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5767\/revisions\/5828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}