{"id":579,"date":"2010-12-29T21:56:09","date_gmt":"2010-12-29T21:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=579"},"modified":"2015-12-29T17:40:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T17:40:00","slug":"cearca-francacha-agus-lonta-dubha-cuid-a-do-don-tsraith-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/cearca-francacha-agus-lonta-dubha-cuid-a-do-don-tsraith-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag\/","title":{"rendered":"Cearca Francacha agus Lonta Dubha (Cuid a D\u00f3 don tSraith: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Two birds down, done in an earlier blog, and deich mbronntanas f\u00e1gtha (idir \u00e9in agus dhaoine).\u00a0 <\/strong>This blog will deal with the \u201cFrench\u201d hens (3) and the \u201ccolly\u201d birds (4).\u00a0 And how to use adjectives with nouns that are being counted.\u00a0 So buckle up for more lenition!<\/p>\n

V\u00e9arsa a Tr\u00ed:<\/strong> \u201cThree French Hens\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of dispute about what exactly (note: I didn\u2019t yield to the temptation and say \u201ceggzactly\u201d) a French hen is.\u00a0 Among the suggestions I see on English-language websites are the following actual breeds of hens from France: Faverolles, La Fleche, Crevecoeurs, Marans, and Houdans.\u00a0 Tricky thing from my viewpoint, though, is that in Irish, there are two extremely similar terms \u201ccearc fhrancach\u201d <\/strong>and \u201ccearc Fhrancach,\u201d <\/strong>one with a lower-case adjective and one with an upper-case adjective.\u00a0 \u201cCearc fhrancach\u201d <\/strong>(French hen, lower-case) is understood to refer to a turkey-hen, which is actually a guinea-hen (not a turkey as known in America), and which is not specifically French in origin. Guinea-hens are also known in Irish as \u201ccearca guine\u201d <\/strong>but it\u2019s not uncommon to have two (or more) names for the same thing (like \u201cpismire\u201d and \u201cemmet\u201d for \u201cant\u201d in English).\u00a0 <\/strong>In contract, a\u00a0\u201ccearc Fhrancach\u201d <\/strong>would normally be understood as a hen from France, either literally or originally (in breed).\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCearc,\u201d<\/strong> as you probably deduced, is the Irish for \u201chen\u201d and it is, quite logically, a feminine noun.\u00a0 So adjectives following it are lenited (cearc bheag<\/strong>, a little hen, cearc mh\u00f3r, <\/strong>a big hen, etc.), as they would be with comparable nouns (muc bheag<\/strong>, a little pig; b\u00f3 mh\u00f3r<\/strong>, a big cow).\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Irish, the adjective \u201cFrench\u201d inherently has the two forms, as stated above, whether you\u2019re talking about hens or other topics.\u00a0 This is even before you start making adjustments for gender (masculine, feminine), number (singular, plural), grammatical case (nominative, genitive), or position in sentence (predicate, attributive).\u00a0 When the word for \u201cFrench\u201d is capitalized, \u201cFrancach,\u201d <\/strong>it usually refers to something that is actually French, or was originally French (like a \u201cfuinneog Fhrancach,\u201d <\/strong>French window).\u00a0 <\/strong>When it\u2019s lower case, it typically refers to something that is large for its type or \u201cforeign\u201d or \u201cexotic.\u201d\u00a0 The latter two, of course, are a matter of perspective, since one person\u2019s \u201cforeign\/exotic\u201d is another person\u2019s \u201cnative,\u201d but for practical purposes here we\u2019ll just say not particularly representative of Ireland, or at least of Irish-speaking Ireland.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the dilemma.\u00a0 If we say \u201ccearc fhrancach\u201d <\/strong>in Irish, we\u2019re not really referring to any of the breeds above (Faverolles, etc.).\u00a0 We\u2019re referring to turkey-hens (aka guinea hens).\u00a0 So quite a few people have already been singing this song in the various translations that exist, with the phrase in lower case (tr\u00ed chearc fhrancacha<\/strong>).\u00a0 They\u2019re actually singing about guinea-hens, as far as I can tell.\u00a0 I\u2019ll leave it at that and let the \u00e9aneolaithe <\/strong>amongst our readers sort it out further.\u00a0 That is, if there\u2019s aon \u00e9aneola\u00ed <\/strong>amongst you!\u00a0 If so, I\u2019d love to hear the viewpoint of a professional ornithologist.\u00a0 Maybe there\u2019s an even more specialized term for the field, a gallinologist (hen specialist) perhaps? \u00a0Or maybe a \u201ccogarnach cearc\u201d <\/strong>(hen whisperer), who could give us dearcadh na gcearc <\/strong>(the hens\u2019 viewpoint) on what this song is really about.<\/p>\n

What I can do, though, is tell you how to count the French hens, whatever they are, and what to do with the adjective, whatever it means.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to assume that these are hens from France and use the upper-case \u201cFrancach<\/strong>.\u201d:<\/p>\n

cearc Fhrancach amh\u00e1in<\/strong>, one French hen, straightforward enough once one has mastered the bunuimhreacha <\/strong>in Irish.\u00a0 Note that the adjective \u201cFrancach<\/strong>\u201d is lenited here (\u201cF\u201d changing to \u201cFh\u201d) because it is modifying a feminine noun.\u00a0 This \u201cFh\u201d is completely silent, so the first syllable sounds like \u201crank.\u201d<\/p>\n

To say \u201cthree French hens,\u201d we have lenition of the letter \u201cc,\u201d so it becomes \u201cch\u201d (as in tr\u00ed chearc<\/strong>). \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0This \u201cch\u201d is \u201ccaol<\/strong>\u201d (slender), pronounced like the \u201ch\u201d in \u201chew\u201d or \u201cHugh.\u201d \u00a0That\u2019s in contrast to the Irish \u201cbroad ch\u201d as in \u201cloch<\/strong>,\u201d which is also like the German \u201cBuch<\/em>\u201d or \u201cAch-du-lieber.<\/em>\u201d The \u201cbroad ch\u201d is the one that is often described as \u201cguttural\u201d or \u201cthroaty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s actually start with \u201ctwo,\u201d since that\u2019s how examples of counting are usually sequenced:<\/p>\n

dh\u00e1 chearc Fhrancacha<\/strong>, two French hens (lit. \u201ctwo hen French\u201d).\u00a0 We have lenition of the \u201cc\u201d after the number two: dh\u00e1 chearc<\/strong>.\u00a0 We also have lenition of the \u201cF,\u201d not <\/em>because \u201ccearc<\/strong>\u201d is feminine but because the adjective \u201cFrench\u201d here modifies a noun that is being counted with a \u201cbunuimhir<\/strong>\u201d (basically, a regular cardinal number). \u00a0Note the very important point that when counting things in Irish, they almost always stay singular, hence \u201chen\u201d not \u201chens\u201d (couldn\u2019t resist using \u201chence\u201d there though I agree it\u2019s a bit formal these days!).<\/p>\n

If we had the male of the species (whatever the species is!), we\u2019d still have \u201cFhrancacha<\/strong>\u201d:<\/p>\n

dh\u00e1 choileach Fhrancacha<\/strong>.\u00a0 Strange, perhaps, but true.\u00a0 Here, being counted trumps gender.<\/p>\n

The song specifies three French hens, so let\u2019s do that phrase now.\u00a0 The same rule applies:<\/p>\n

tr\u00ed chearc Fhrancacha<\/strong>, or for the male, tr\u00ed choileach Fhrancacha<\/strong><\/p>\n

If we were to have seven hens, we\u2019d have a slightly different scenario, with ur\u00fa<\/strong> (eclipsis):<\/p>\n

seacht gcearc Fhrancacha<\/strong>, but that\u2019s really \u00e1bhar blag eile.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

A final point about this phrase: although the noun, c(h)earc<\/strong>, appears singular, the adjective modifying it takes a plural ending.\u00a0 To show it\u2019s plural, we simply add the letter \u201c-a\u201d to the end of the word (Francach <\/strong>becomes Francacha<\/strong>; lenited Fhrancach<\/strong> becomes Fhrancacha<\/strong>).\u00a0 This is distinctly different from how you would pluralize \u201cFrancach\u201d<\/strong> when it means \u201ca Frenchman,\u201d but that, a chairde<\/strong>, is \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So, in summary, if we sing about \u201ccearca Francacha\u201d <\/strong>we\u2019re singing about hens that are from France, by birth (hatching, really) or heritage.\u00a0 <\/strong>If we sing about \u201ccearca francacha,\u201d <\/strong>we\u2019re singing about guinea- or turkey-hens, which aren\u2019t originally French. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why did I stop leniting the adjective \u201cFrancach\/francach\u201d <\/strong>in the phrases above?\u00a0 <\/strong>Because the bunuimhir <\/strong>is no longer involved AND because \u201ccearca\u201d <\/strong>is plural, which shifts the rules around.\u00a0 \u00a0If I referred to a single French hen, we\u2019d be back to lenition (cearc Fhrancach)<\/strong> and if I were referring to a single guinea- or turkey-hen, we\u2019d also be back to lenition (cearc fhrancach).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

To summarize the summary, to make the full phrase \u201cthree French hens,\u201d here are the key points:<\/p>\n