{"id":5868,"date":"2014-11-09T14:58:33","date_gmt":"2014-11-09T14:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=5868"},"modified":"2015-07-26T19:17:12","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T19:17:12","slug":"the-fall-of-the-wall-i-balla-bheirlin-as-gaeilge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/the-fall-of-the-wall-i-balla-bheirlin-as-gaeilge\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fall of the Wall (.i. Balla Bheirl\u00edn) … as Gaeilge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Balla<\/a>

Balla Bheirl\u00edn sa bhliain 1986, c\u00fapla bliain sular leagadh \u00e9. (“Berlinermauer” by Noir – http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Datei:Bethanien06.jpg; eolas eile th\u00edos)<\/p><\/div>\n

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

C\u00faig bliana is fiche \u00f3 shin thit Balla Bheirl\u00edn. Bhuel, n\u00ed go d\u00edreach “thit.” “Leagadh” an focal ab fhearr, is d\u00f3cha.<\/strong> At any rate, the “Wall” is not only a timely topic but it can also give us some good vocabulary practice in Irish.<\/p>\n

Before we check out “wall” in general, let’s look at “the Berlin Wall.” For this phrase, “Beirl\u00edn<\/strong>” changes to “Bheirl\u00edn<\/strong>” [VERzh-leen] and the “b” sound becomes a “v” sound.<\/p>\n

Next, we’ll look at several different words for “wall” in Irish. Remember, there are almost always two different ways of saying something, if not more.<\/p>\n

There are at least two main words for “wall” in Irish. But the good news is that one of the two words for “wall” (balla<\/strong>) is used much more often than the other. And it sort of resembles the English. Here are the forms:<\/p>\n

1) balla<\/strong>, which is masculine, so “the wall” is “an balla<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

airde an bhalla<\/strong> [… WAH-luh], the height of the wall, with lenition<\/p>\n

na balla\u00ed<\/strong>, the walls<\/p>\n

airde na mballa\u00ed<\/strong>, the height of the walls, with eclipsis<\/p>\n

“Balla<\/strong>” is sometimes also spelled “falla<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The word “balla<\/strong>” is generally used when we’re talking about interior walls (of a room), or some outdoor walls, especially big or monumental ones: Balla Bheirl\u00edn, Balla M\u00f3r na S\u00edne, Balla an Olag\u00f3in.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s also used for many other types of walls: cillbhalla<\/strong> [KIL-WAHL-uh], a cell wall; cuasbhalla<\/strong>, a cavity wall; imbhalla<\/strong> [IM-WAHL-uh], a curtain wall; oighearbhalla<\/strong> [AI-yur-WAHL-uh], an ice wall, and one of my favorites, “balla fialainne<\/strong>” (a wall of a deerpark). Another intriguing usage is “balla fuar<\/strong>” (unmortared wall; “fuar<\/strong>” usually means “cold”).<\/p>\n

And here are two examples that are a little more miscellaneous:<\/p>\n

oighearshruth ballathaobhach<\/strong> [ AI-yur-HRUH BAHL-uh-HEEV-ukh], a wall-sided glacier. What a nice mouthful to say!<\/p>\n

laghairt bhalla\u00ed Lilford<\/strong>, Lilford’s wall lizard<\/p>\n

2) And then there’s “m\u00far<\/strong>,” which is somewhat more limited in application although it has a wide range of meanings, including “wall,” “bank,” “mound,” and “rampart.” It’s a cognate of Latin “murus<\/em>,” which gives us English words like “mural,” “intermural,” “intramural,” and “immure.” Here are some of its basic forms:<\/p>\n

m\u00far<\/strong>, and it’s masculine, so: an m\u00far<\/strong>, the wall<\/p>\n

airde an mh\u00fair<\/strong>, the height of the wall\/rampart, etc.<\/p>\n

na m\u00fartha<\/strong>, the walls\/ramparts, etc.<\/p>\n

airde na m\u00fartha<\/strong>, the height of the walls\/ramparts, etc.<\/p>\n

Examples in phrases include m\u00fareala\u00edn<\/strong> (wall art) and m\u00far cosanta<\/strong> (a rampart).<\/p>\n

And then, going beyond “balla<\/strong>” and “m\u00far<\/strong>,” there are a few very specific terms for types of walls, like the following:<\/p>\n

3) sceimheal<\/strong>, an encircling wall (or “eaves” or “a projecting rim”)<\/p>\n

4) spiara<\/strong>, a partition wall (or “diaphragm” in optics; “diaphragm” can also be “eadr\u00e1n<\/strong>,” or “scann\u00e1n<\/strong>,” or “scairt<\/strong>” — mh’anam<\/strong>!). “Spiara<\/strong>” also gives us the imminently useful “spiara cr\u00e1installa<\/strong>” (a sow-stall partition).<\/p>\n

5) There’s also “cla\u00ed<\/strong>,” which more typically means a “dike” or a “fence,” but which can sometimes mean “wall”: cla\u00ed, an cla\u00ed, airde an chla\u00ed<\/strong>, and plural: cla\u00edocha, na cla\u00edocha, airde na gcla\u00edocha<\/strong><\/p>\n

For complete contrast, there’s “wall-eyed,” for which there are several words in Irish, but none of them (fad m’eolais<\/strong>) use “balla<\/strong>” or “m\u00far<\/strong>.” They include the following: “gl\u00f3rsh\u00faileach<\/strong>” [GLOR-HOO-il-yukh], b\u00e1nsh\u00faileach<\/strong>, and sciathsh\u00faileach<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Maybe next time, keeping Ronald Reagan’s quote in mind, we’ll take a closer look at words for “tear,” “knock,” and “pull down.” Which one should one come closest to Reagan’s\u00a0phrase “Tear down this wall!”, i do bhar\u00fail<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

And to end on a lighter note, “Goid\u00e9 a d\u00fairt balla amh\u00e1in leis an mballa eile?” “Buailfidh m\u00e9 leat ag an gcoirne\u00e1l.”<\/strong> And yes, I did hear that joke in the Gaeltacht, specifically in Donegal, as you might be able to tell from the use of “Goid\u00e9<\/strong>” instead of “Cad<\/strong>?” or “C\u00e9ard<\/strong>?” SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais\u00edn: bar\u00fail<\/strong>: opinion; eolas<\/strong>: knowledge; oighear<\/strong>: ice; thit<\/strong> [say “hitch”]: fell<\/p>\n

Eolas faoin bpicti\u00far:<\/strong> “Berlinermauer” by Noir – http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Datei:Bethanien06.jpg<\/a> Original source: “selbst fotografiert”. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Berlinermauer.jpg#mediaviewer\/File:Berlinermauer.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) C\u00faig bliana is fiche \u00f3 shin thit Balla Bheirl\u00edn. Bhuel, n\u00ed go d\u00edreach “thit.” “Leagadh” an focal ab fhearr, is d\u00f3cha. At any rate, the “Wall” is not only a timely topic but it can also give us some good vocabulary practice in Irish. Before we check out “wall” in general, let’s look…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[66043,359582,359586,10499,359585,359589,359584,359583,359599,229379,359591,359588,365150,95022,359590,359580],"class_list":["post-5868","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-66043","tag-balla","tag-beirlin","tag-berlin","tag-bheirlin","tag-clai","tag-mur","tag-murtha","tag-reagan","tag-sceimheal","tag-shuileach","tag-spiara","tag-tear-down-this-wall","tag-wall","tag-wall-eyed","tag-what-did-one-wall-say-to-the-other-wall"],"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