{"id":6105,"date":"2015-01-06T13:56:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T13:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6105"},"modified":"2015-01-08T21:34:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T21:34:36","slug":"cen-t-ainm-ata-agat-ar-an-6u-la-d-mhi-eanair-6-ways-to-say-it-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/cen-t-ainm-ata-agat-ar-an-6u-la-d-mhi-eanair-6-ways-to-say-it-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00e9n t-ainm at\u00e1 agat ar an 6\u00fa l\u00e1 d mh\u00ed Ean\u00e1ir?\u00a0 6 ways to say it in Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Na<\/a>

Na Tr\u00ed R\u00edthe ag marca\u00edocht ar chamaill (http:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/holy-three-kings-camels-ride-528007\/ (License: CC0 Public Domain)<\/p><\/div>\n

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

How many ways are there to refer to the “last” day of Christmas (January 6th) in Irish?<\/p>\n

A solid leathdhosaen<\/strong>, at any rate, maybe a few more in folk tradition.\u00a0 Can you fill in the blanks to complete the phrases?\u00a0 The number of blanks corresponds to the number of letters to be filled in.\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a) L\u00e1 Nollag __ __ __ __<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. b) E__pea__\u00e1in__<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. c) an Dara L\u00e1\u00a0 __ __ __ __\u00a0 den\u00a0 Nollaig<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. d) Nollaig na m__an<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. e) F\u00e9ile na __ __ __ __\u00a0 R\u00edthe<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. f) __ __ __ __ __ __ __ St\u00e9ille<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The answers are below, with a little background and some pronunciation tips.<\/p>\n

    By the way, in case you’re wondering, I said “last” in the description above because while January 6th is the “last day” of Christmas in the western Christian religions, it is Christmas Eve for the eastern Orthodox religions.\u00a0 Maybe sometime I’ll look more into the Orthodox terminology in Irish, for example, can there be a concept of “Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag<\/strong>” if Christmas itself is on January 7th? \u00a0And what other holidays are similarly affected by the switch from “F\u00e9ilire I\u00fail<\/strong>” to “F\u00e9ilire Ghreag\u00f3ra<\/strong>“?\u00a0 An Ch\u00e1isc<\/strong>, for one, but I recall a few others in the folk tradition as well.\u00a0 And when was that change anyway?\u00a0 \u00c1, feicim anois, a bhu\u00ed leis an Vicip\u00e9id, 1582, an t\u00fas de, ar a laghad, ach, mh’anam, t\u00e1 a l\u00e1n d\u00e1ta\u00ed i gceist, i dt\u00edortha \u00e9ags\u00fala agus d’\u00fas\u00e1id\u00ed difri\u00fala.\u00a0 Bhuel, \u00e1bhar blag eile, b’fh\u00e9idir.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Hope this at least provided some food for thought, a linguistic complement to the bianna speisialta<\/strong> that I hope you had a chance to enjoy over the holiday season: ar\u00e1n sins\u00e9ir, f\u00edoracha sins\u00e9ir, c\u00e1na\u00ed canda\u00ed, briosca\u00ed, mar\u00f3g Nollag, c\u00edste tortha\u00ed, seacl\u00e1id\u00ed strufail <\/strong>(or “strufail seacl\u00e1ide<\/strong>,” I suppose), bleathach uibhe <\/strong>(remember, “bleathach,”<\/strong> not “bl\u00e1thach”)\u00a0 agus b’fh\u00e9idir g\u00e9 r\u00f3sta n\u00f3 turca\u00ed r\u00f3sta. \u00a0SGF – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Freagra\u00ed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. L\u00e1 Nollag Beag<\/strong>, lit. Day of Little Christmas. This phrase can also refer to New Year’s Day, so I actually avoid using it. Seems ambiguous.<\/li>\n
    2. Eipeaf\u00e1ine<\/strong>, Epiphany, based on the Greek for “manifest” (revealing)<\/li>\n
    3. an Dara L\u00e1 D\u00e9ag den Nollaig<\/strong>, the Twelfth Day of (the) Christmas; remember, the holiday is “An Nollaig<\/strong>” in Irish (“The” Christmas)<\/li>\n
    4. Nollaig na mBan<\/strong> [… nuh mahn, remember the “b” of “mBan<\/strong>” is silent, but it is the “hook” that reminds us that this word is one of the forms of the word “bean<\/strong>” (woman)], lit. “Women’s Christmas,” traditionally the day that women go out and enjoy themselves and men look after the house. Hopefully, these days, “na mn\u00e1<\/strong>” get more than one day out and “na fir<\/strong>” do more around the house anyway! Quick review for the uninitiated: an bhean<\/strong>, the woman; na mn\u00e1<\/strong>, the woman — despite the fact that the two words look, on the surface, like they’d be completely unrelated. \u00a0The phrase “Nollaig na mBan<\/strong>” is probably the most popular term for January 6th in everyday usage, “Epiphany” being mostly for theological contexts.<\/li>\n
    5. F\u00e9ile na dTr\u00ed R\u00edthe<\/strong> [… nuh drzh<\/sup>ee REE-huh], the Feast\/Festival of the Three Kings; note the eclipsis of the number “tr\u00ed<\/strong>” (becomes “dtr\u00ed<\/strong>) and that this special phrase doesn’t use the usual “personal number” for counting people, which would be “tri\u00far<\/strong>” as in “tri\u00far ban<\/strong>” (three women) or “tri\u00far mac<\/strong>” (three sons).<\/li>\n
    6. Nollaig St\u00e9ille<\/strong> [… SHTAYL-yuh], lit. “Christmas of (the) Star.” While the usual Irish word for “star” is “r\u00e9alta<\/strong>,” there is also the more literary word “st\u00e9ill<\/strong>,” a direct cognate of “stella.” I haven’t really encountered this phrase much in daily life, but the imagery is beautiful.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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

      a bhu\u00ed le<\/strong>, thanks to (nothing to do with “bu\u00ed<\/strong>,” the color “yellow”)<\/p>\n

      bl\u00e1thach <\/strong>[blawkh], buttermilk<\/p>\n

      bleathach <\/strong>[bl\u00e6kh, with the “\u00e6” sound like English “cat” or Irish “deas<\/strong>“]: if you turn straight to the dictionary for this, the first definition you’ll probably find is “grist” or “a bag or grist,” followed by “oatcakes” (hmm, defined in the plural, a special collective noun for “oatcakes?” whereas “tea cake,” for example, has a clear singular and plural: borr\u00f3g tae<\/strong> (singular) and borr\u00f3ga tae<\/strong> (plural). \u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0 N\u00edl a fhios agam!<\/strong>\u00a0 Anyway, the \u00a0word “bleathach<\/strong>” has long intrigued me.\u00a0 Presumably it’s related to “bleith<\/strong>” (grinding of corn) and “bleitheach<\/strong>” (grain sent to the mill for grinding) but I still wonder how this relates to “eggnog.”\u00a0 Eolas ag duine ar bith agaibh?<\/strong>\u00a0 Was grain of some sort ever added to the egg-based drink, for texture, maybe?\u00a0 Perhaps vaguely evocative of “toast” being crumbled into wine before it was drunk, thus giving us phrases like “to toast the bride and groom.”\u00a0 Or, on a completely different tack, is the word “bleathach<\/strong>” somehow related to “bleacht<\/strong>” (milk, or the cows themselves, both of which have more basic words in Irish, “bainne<\/strong>,” for milk, and “ba<\/strong>,” for cows).\u00a0 Well, enough pondering for this year, maybe revisit this topic an bhliain seo chugainn<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

      bleathach uibhe <\/strong>[bl\u00e6kh IV-uh], eggnog or egg-flip<\/p>\n

      f\u00e9ilire<\/strong>, calendar<\/p>\n

      f\u00edoracha<\/strong>, shapes, figures<\/p>\n

      mar\u00f3g<\/strong>, pudding<\/p>\n

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

      (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) How many ways are there to refer to the “last” day of Christmas (January 6th) in Irish? A solid leathdhosaen, at any rate, maybe a few more in folk tradition.\u00a0 Can you fill in the blanks to complete the phrases?\u00a0 The number of blanks corresponds to the number of letters to be filled…<\/p>\n

      Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":6115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[249,111728,6276,365345,365344,13297],"class_list":["post-6105","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-epiphany","tag-january-6","tag-nollaig-na-mban","tag-steill","tag-twelfth-day-of-christmas","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