{"id":5820,"date":"2014-10-25T14:58:01","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T14:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5820"},"modified":"2015-10-31T16:09:15","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T16:09:15","slug":"ce-mhead-zombai-a-quiz-for-oiche-shamhna-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/ce-mhead-zombai-a-quiz-for-oiche-shamhna-halloween\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9 mh\u00e9ad zomba\u00ed? – A ‘quiz’ for ‘O\u00edche Shamhna’ (Halloween)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might remember a previous blog (Ag Comhaireamh Daoine i gCultacha O\u00edche Shamhna (Vaimp\u00edr\u00ed, G\u00fail, srl.)<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>that gave the Irish for many typical Halloween costumes. In that blog, we also used the “uimhreacha pearsanta<\/strong>” to count how many ghouls and zombies we were talking about. In this blog, we’ll recap those costume terms, this time as a mioncheisti\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong> (mini-quiz). So we have deich gculaith<\/strong> and fiche focal<\/strong> to complete, filling in the missing letters.<\/p>\n

You might want to reread the “Comhaireamh Daoine<\/strong><\/em>” blog, cited above, before doing this. Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos:<\/p>\n

1) g__l \u00a0a__h\u00e1in<\/strong><\/p>\n

2) be__rt \u00a0t__aibhs__<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) tri__r\u00a0\u00a0 __omba__th__ <\/strong><\/p>\n

4) ceathr__r \u00a0__ruaga__h<\/strong><\/p>\n

5) c__igear \u00a0b__n s\u00ed.<\/strong> As I noted last time, 12 Deireadh F\u00f3mhair 2012<\/strong>, it’s not that I\u2019ve ever heard of more than one of these supernatural creatures existing in one time and place, but it makes for good counting practice.<\/p>\n

6) seis__ar \u00a0d__abh__l<\/strong><\/p>\n

7) seacht__r \u00a0__aimp\u00edr\u00ed<\/strong> OR seacht__r deamhan f__la <\/strong>(lit. demons of blood) or seacht__r *s__-vaimp__<\/strong>\u201d (the last being my Irish coinage for the trendy new English word, \u201cpsy-vamp, as you might recall from the blog of October 12th, 2012, cited above).<\/p>\n

8) __chtar \u00a0cn__mharla__h<\/strong>. As discussed last time, this assumes the “cn __ mharlai __h<\/strong>” to be human-type beings, and thus counted with the “uimhreacha pearsanta<\/strong>” (personal numbers, used for counting “people”). If we consider the cn __ mharlai __ h <\/strong>to simply be inanimate objects, we\u2019d say \u201cocht gcn __ mharla __ h,<\/strong>\u201d using eclipsis and keeping the noun singular.<\/p>\n

9) naon__r \u00a0m__mait__e<\/strong>, or if you prefer the more specific implication of desiccation, naon__r searg__n<\/strong><\/p>\n

10) deichn__\u00far \u00a0ne_ch\u00a0\u00a0 ___othaitheach <\/strong>(It might be a little tricky to design costumes for these, but surely, with imagination, it could be done. Hmm, so how does one dress up as a crystalline entity (beith chriostalach<\/strong>; “Silicon Avatar,” Star Trek TNG)\u00a0or as a shimmering mass of energy (meall crithlonrach fuinnimh; <\/strong>“Metamorphosis” Star Trek TOS). Smaointe ar bith agaibh?<\/strong><\/p>\n

T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam go mbaineann t\u00fa sult as a bheith ag l\u00edonadh isteach na mbearna\u00ed<\/strong>. BTW, that’s “beith<\/strong>” in its more typical usage, the infinitive “a bheith<\/strong>” (to be). In reality, I can’t say I’ve heard “beith<\/strong>” used all that often as a noun meaning “entity” or “being.” But then, that’s getting into pretty philosophical topics, which are not necessarily the subject of everyday conversations in English, either. Ar aon chaoi, bain sult as O\u00edche Shamhna freisin. B’fh\u00e9idir go mbeidh muid ag caint go luath faoi na cultacha a bh\u00ed ar<\/strong> l\u00e9itheoir\u00ed an bhlag seo. Sl\u00e1n go g\u00fal<\/strong> (closest I could get to something Halloweenish that sort of rhymes with “f\u00f3ill<\/strong>“) — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed<\/strong>: Please remember, as I stated in the 10\/12\/12 blog (12\/10\/12 sa R.A. agus in \u00c9irinn<\/strong>), that I’m using the “genitive plural” rule for these. Several patterns are used following the personal numbers, but it seems to me that “ginideach iolra<\/strong>” gives the most consistency, since “beirt bhan<\/strong>” and “beirt mhac<\/strong>,” both widely used phrases, fit the pattern and are not construed as exceptions.<\/p>\n

BTW, the number “one,” here used for our “ghoul,” isn’t so specifically part of the “uimhreacha pearsanta<\/strong>” system. As you can see, it follows the noun; most Irish numbers, in contrast, come before the noun. And “amh\u00e1in<\/strong>” isn’t limited to people; it’s also used to count things or abstract nouns (bosca amh\u00e1in; smaoineamh amh\u00e1in<\/strong>). But “beirt<\/strong>,” “tri\u00far<\/strong>,” etc., are mostly limited to counting people, although there is some leeway when we’re just using numbers as an answer, not as part of a full sentence, but that somewhat exceptional situation will have to be \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1) g\u00fal amh\u00e1in<\/strong>, one ghoul<\/p>\n

2) beirt thaibhs\u00ed<\/strong>, two ghosts<\/p>\n

3) tri\u00far zombaithe<\/strong>, three zombies<\/p>\n

4) ceathrar gruagach<\/strong>, four hairy goblins. Hmm, so “gruagach<\/strong>” is specifically a hairy<\/em> goblin — does that mean “na boc\u00e1naigh<\/strong>” are non-hairy goblins? And how about the “ginid\u00ed<\/strong>“? Bhuel<\/strong>, the “giobachas<\/strong>” (hirsuteness) of goblins will have to be \u00e1bhar eile blag eile<\/strong>. Vs. “mosachas<\/strong>“? Vs. “fionnaitheachas<\/strong>“? Hmm, I’m looking forward to writing that one, some day. And making sure that “fionnaitheachas<\/strong>” (hairiness, furriness, shagginess) remains distinct from “fionnaitheacht<\/strong>” (a creeping sensation).<\/p>\n

5) c\u00faigear ban s\u00ed<\/strong>, five banshees. And I wonder how well five of these would get along if they found they had to share the back seat of a car or a railway compartment.<\/p>\n

6) seisear diabhal<\/strong>, six devils<\/p>\n

7) seachtar vaimp\u00edr\u00ed<\/strong> OR seachtar deamhan fola<\/strong> OR seachtar *s\u00ed-vaimp\u00ed<\/strong>, seven vampires OR demons of blood OR “psy-vamps”<\/p>\n

8) ochtar cn\u00e1mharlach<\/strong>, eight skeletons. As noted above, this considers the “cn\u00e1mharlaigh<\/strong>” to be human-ish, if not fully human. As “objects,” they would be \u201cocht gcn\u00e1mharlach,<\/strong>\u201d using eclipsis and the singular form of the noun. If the “-ach” ending being repeated seems odd, it’s just because this is an “m1” noun, with cn\u00e1mharlach<\/strong> being both nominative (common case) singular and genitive plural. “Cn\u00e1mharlaigh<\/strong>” is genitive singular and nominative (common case) plural, the exact opposite. Lots of possible future blog topics there. How to say, skeleton, of a skeleton, skeletons, of skeletons, etc.<\/p>\n

9) naon\u00far mumaithe<\/strong>, nine mummies, or, to emphasize triom\u00fa<\/strong> as opposed to balsam\u00fa<\/strong>, naon\u00far searg\u00e1n<\/strong>, nine desiccated mummies or nine shrivelled or withered persons<\/p>\n

10) deichni\u00far neach mothaitheach<\/strong>, ten sentient beings, and for good measure, deichni\u00far beitheanna criostalacha<\/strong>, ten crystalline entities, and deichni\u00far meallta<\/strong> crithlonracha fuinnimh<\/strong>, ten shimmering balls of energy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) You might remember a previous blog (Ag Comhaireamh Daoine i gCultacha O\u00edche Shamhna (Vaimp\u00edr\u00ed, G\u00fail, srl.) that gave the Irish for many typical Halloween costumes. In that blog, we also used the “uimhreacha pearsanta” to count how many ghouls and zombies we were talking about. In this blog, we’ll recap those costume terms…<\/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":[3798,4329,306953,254993,4801,7364,4852,4855,4949,5362,359459,3213,315858,306984,6344,34569,254989,359461,6667,6668,359462,359463,6940,7200,7234,304908],"class_list":["post-5820","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-avatar","tag-beirt","tag-beirt-bhan","tag-bunuimhir","tag-costume","tag-counting","tag-culaith","tag-cultacha","tag-devil","tag-ghost","tag-ghoul","tag-halloween","tag-irish-numbers","tag-metamorphosis","tag-oiche-shamhna","tag-personal-number","tag-psy-vamp","tag-psychic-vampire","tag-samhain","tag-samhna","tag-sentient-being","tag-silicon","tag-star-trek","tag-tsamhain","tag-uimhreacha-pearsanta","tag-vampire"],"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