{"id":584,"date":"2010-12-31T04:36:41","date_gmt":"2010-12-31T04:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=584"},"modified":"2015-12-29T20:14:11","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T20:14:11","slug":"%e2%80%9cor%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9coir%e2%80%9d-or-%e2%80%9corga%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9cfainne%e2%80%9d-or-%e2%80%9cean%e2%80%9d-ean-cuid-a-tri-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/%e2%80%9cor%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9coir%e2%80%9d-or-%e2%80%9corga%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%9cfainne%e2%80%9d-or-%e2%80%9cean%e2%80%9d-ean-cuid-a-tri-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201c\u00d3r,\u201d \u201c\u00d3ir\u201d or \u201c\u00d3rga\u201d? \u201cF\u00e1inne\u201d or \u201c\u00c9an\u201d? \u00c9an?! (Cuid a Tr\u00ed: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re up to day five of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” usually sung as \u201cfive gold rings,\u201d with the word \u201cgold\u201d stretched into two syllables (go-old) to fit the song\u2019s meter.\u00a0\u00a0 Some people sing \u201cgolden,\u201d which will slightly change our translation into Irish.\u00a0 Of special interest, though, at least don aistritheoir seo, <\/strong>is the theory that we\u2019re not really talking about f\u00e1inn\u00ed <\/strong>at all here, but pias\u00fain, <\/strong>or perhaps lasracha coille.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

We may as well cover all bases, and translate all the possibilities.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 All the more practice with s\u00e9imhi\u00fa agus len\u00e1r seanchara, an tuiseal ginideach!<\/strong><\/p>\n

c\u00faig fh\u00e1inne \u00f3ir, <\/strong>five gold rings (lit. of \u201c\u00f3r<\/strong>,\u201dgold, using an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>).\u00a0 <\/strong>This is the most typical translation.<\/p>\n

c\u00faig fh\u00e1inne \u00f3rga, <\/strong>five golden rings.\u00a0 This phrase uses the adjective \u201cgolden,\u201d which ends in a vowel, so joins adjectives like \u201cfada<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cuaine<\/strong>\u201d in not having a plural ending. \u00a0Remember, even though the noun, \u201cfh\u00e1inne<\/strong>\u201d is singular, we use the plural adjective to modify it, after cardinal numbers. \u00a0But\u00a0\u00f3rga <\/strong>doesn’t change, period.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also seen \u201cc\u00faig fh\u00e1inne bhu\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d (lit. “five yellow rings,” understood to be gold).\u00a0 I\u2019d say this is a little more poetic, since \u201cbu\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d mostly means \u201cyellow.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cBu\u00ed\u201d <\/strong>can be understood as \u201cof gold,\u201d at least figuratively, in certain phrases, usually literary, like \u201cL\u00e1 bu\u00ed Bealtaine\u201d<\/strong>(a golden May Day).<\/p>\n

But if we follow the bird theory, we won\u2019t be dealing with any sort of f\u00e1inn\u00ed.\u00a0 <\/strong>Here are some possibilities:<\/p>\n

c\u00faig phias\u00fan mhuinceacha, <\/strong>five ring-necked pheasants (yes, that\u2019s the theory \u2013 since the song has so many birds, this line is really about, well, more birds)<\/p>\n

pias\u00fan<\/strong>, pheasant; here it\u2019s lenited (phias\u00fan<\/strong>), because it\u2019s being counted, but not plural (because it\u2019s following a number, according to the standard rule for counting things in Irish: keep \u2018em singular). \u00a0Just for reference, but not needed here, the plural form would be \u201cpias\u00fain<\/strong>,\u201d which could also be lenited, as \u201cphias\u00fain<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMuinceach\u201d <\/strong>is used to describe most ring-necked birds in Irish (not that that\u2019s any huge number, at least not that I\u2019ve come across).\u00a0 <\/strong>It\u2019s based on the word \u201cmuince,\u201d <\/strong>meaning a necklace or metal collar (like a torque).\u00a0 It can also be combined with the word for feather, cleite<\/strong>, as in \u201cmuince chleit\u00ed, <\/strong>to mean a \u201cfeather-boa.\u201d \u00a0Why did I mention that?\u00a0 Just in case you have to compliment Miss Piggy on her outfit in Irish.\u00a0\u00a0 From there, we could go on to discuss \u201cbuachrapair\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d and why English uses the idea of a boa-constrictor to describe this lady\u2019s accessory, but Irish bypasses the snake imagery and simply calls it a \u201cfeather necklace.\u201d\u00a0 Ach sin \u00e1bhar blag eile.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As if pheasants weren\u2019t enough to deal with, this stanza has also been interpreted as being about goldfinches.\u00a0 That would be \u201clasracha coille<\/strong>\u201d in Irish, which literally means \u201cflames of (the) forest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLasracha coille\u201d <\/strong>is plural, so what do you do if you\u2019re counting them?\u00a0 Revert to the singular form, lasair choille, <\/strong>which also means adding lenition to the word \u201ccoille,\u201d <\/strong>since it\u2019s functioning as an adjective.\u00a0 \u201cLasair\u201d <\/strong>(flame) is feminine, so adjectives modifying it are lenited (as in \u201clasair bheag,<\/strong>\u201d \u201clasair mh\u00f3r,<\/strong>\u201d \u201clasair dh\u00f3chais<\/strong>,\u201d etc.).\u00a0 <\/strong>Remember that that lenition rule only applies to feminine singular nouns, not to feminine plural ones, so, to recap: lasair choille, <\/strong>but lasracha coille.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

c\u00faig lasair choille<\/strong>, five goldfinches<\/p>\n

Hopefully this is supposed to be the Old World goldfinch, not the New World one, since that would add five more syllables to the equation and be much less singable:<\/p>\n

c\u00faig lasair choille Mheirice\u00e1nacha, <\/strong>five American goldfinches<\/p>\n

There\u2019s at least one other way to say \u201cgoldfinch\u201d in Irish, so there\u2019s one more choice:<\/p>\n

c\u00faig bhu\u00ed\u00e1n \u00f3ir<\/strong>, from bu\u00ed\u00e1n \u00f3ir<\/strong>, goldfinch, (lit. golden yellow-one).\u00a0 \u201cBu\u00ed\u00e1n\u201d<\/strong> on its own means \u201cyellowhammer\u201d or \u201cyellow bunting;\u201d adding the \u201c\u00f3ir<\/strong>\u201d part changes the term to refer to a different bird.<\/p>\n

Muna lu\u00edonn aon bhuille ort<\/strong> (if you\u2019re a glutton for punishment), here\u2019s one more possibility:<\/p>\n

c\u00faig bhu\u00ed\u00f3g an chinn \u00f3ir<\/strong>, five goldfinches (lit. five yellow-ones of the golden head, from \u201cceann \u00f3ir<\/strong>\u201d)<\/p>\n

For both \u201cbu\u00ed\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d and \u201cbu\u00ed\u00f3g<\/strong>,\u201d in my literal translations, I\u2019ve just used \u201cyellow-one,\u201d since that\u2019s about as close as one can get in English.\u00a0 Both \u201c-\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d and \u201c-\u00f3g<\/strong>\u201d are typical suffixes in Irish, often making something tangible out of something abstract, sometimes including a diminutive aspect.\u00a0 Other examples of these suffixes are \u201cclaon\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d (an inclined plane, from \u201cclaon<\/strong>,\u201d a slope), \u201cglas\u00f3g<\/strong>\u201d (a wagtail, yet another bird, from \u201cglas<\/strong>,\u201d green) and \u201cfad\u00f3g<\/strong>\u201d (an elongated thing, from \u201cfada<\/strong>,\u201d long).<\/p>\n

Bhuel, sin v\u00e9arsa a c\u00faig, agus fada go leor do bhlag amh\u00e1in<\/strong>.\u00a0 An iomarca f\u00e9idearthachta\u00ed, b\u2019fh\u00e9idir, ach c\u00e9n dochar?\u00a0 T\u00e1 siad go l\u00e9ir suimi\u00fail, s\u00edlim.<\/strong>\u00a0 Next verse, next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re up to day five of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” usually sung as \u201cfive gold rings,\u201d with the word \u201cgold\u201d stretched into two syllables (go-old) to fit the song\u2019s meter.\u00a0\u00a0 Some people sing \u201cgolden,\u201d which will slightly change our translation into Irish.\u00a0 Of special interest, though, at least don aistritheoir seo, is the theory…<\/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":[13298,13297],"class_list":["post-584","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag","tag-twelve-days-of-christmas"],"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