{"id":6137,"date":"2015-01-14T21:17:54","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T21:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6137"},"modified":"2017-05-05T12:16:56","modified_gmt":"2017-05-05T12:16:56","slug":"owl-about-it-cinealacha-ulchabhan-i-ngaeilge-types-of-owls-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/owl-about-it-cinealacha-ulchabhan-i-ngaeilge-types-of-owls-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Owl’ About It? Cine\u00e1lacha Ulchabh\u00e1n i nGaeilge (Types of Owls in Irish)\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Ulchabh\u00e1n<\/a>

Ulchabh\u00e1n ag m\u00e9anfach (http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:SpottedEagleOwl2483MGYawn.jpg, with appreciation to the photographer, GalliasM, who designated the photo public domain)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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Since I just happened to mention the term “ulchabh\u00e1n sneacht\u00fail<\/strong>” in the most recent blog, I thought it would be fun to look into some other types of owls and what they’re called in Irish.\u00a0 It’s especially interesting to see which terms mean basically the same thing in Irish and in English, \u00a0and which are fairly different.<\/p>\n

To start with, let’s look at the basic word for owl itself:<\/p>\n

ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>, an owl [UL-khuh-wawn]<\/p>\n

an t-ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>, the owl<\/p>\n

sciath\u00e1n ulchabh\u00e1in<\/strong>, an owl’s wing [SHKEE-uh-hawn\u00a0 UL-khuh-waw-in]<\/p>\n

sciath\u00e1n an ulchabh\u00e1in<\/strong>, the wing of the owl<\/p>\n

Do you remember the plural forms?\u00a0 When it’s the subject, we just need to add one letter for “owls” and two letters if we’re saying “the owls.”\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

ulchabh\u00e1__n<\/strong>, owls<\/p>\n

na\u00a0 __ulchabh\u00e1__n<\/strong>, the owls<\/p>\n

sciath\u00e1in ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>, owls’ wings (note that the letter we added before the “n” goes away, leaving us with just the “-\u00e1n”)<\/p>\n

For “of the owls,” the basic word ending stays the same (“-\u00e1n”) but we add one more letter at the beginning of the word.\u00a0 Our old friend “eclipsis” (ur\u00fa<\/strong>).\u00a0 Remember what happens with eclipsis before vowels?<\/p>\n

sciath\u00e1in \u00a0na \u00a0__-ulchabh\u00e1n,<\/strong> the wings of the owls (again, that added letter at the end disappears)<\/p>\n

A colloquial term for owl is “cailleach o\u00edche<\/strong>,” lit. old woman of the night.<\/p>\n

And now for some types of owls:<\/p>\n

barn owl or screech owl: scr\u00e9ach\u00f3g reilige<\/strong>, literally “screecher of the cemetery,” not exactly “barn” and not literally “owl,” so one translation is closer than the other<\/p>\n

Christmas Island hawk owl: ulchabh\u00e1n seabhaic Oile\u00e1n na Nollag<\/strong>; note that genitive case for “of Christmas” (“Nollaig<\/strong>” having become “Nollag<\/strong>“); quite literal really — owl of hawk (i.e. hawk-owl) of island of the Christmas<\/p>\n

Great Eagle Owl: r\u00ed-ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>, lit. king-owl or kingly-owl; not really “eagle” at all — “eagle” is “iolar<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Great Grey Owl: ulchabh\u00e1n m\u00f3r liath<\/strong> [LEE-uh]; quite literal: owl-big-grey<\/p>\n

Lesser Eagle Owl: r\u00ed-ulchabh\u00e1n beag<\/strong>, lit. little king-owl; again, more literally, “little king owl,” not “eagle”<\/p>\n

Screech Owl – ulscr\u00e9ach\u00f3g<\/strong>, lit. owl-screecher<\/p>\n

Tawny Owl: ulchabh\u00e1n donn<\/strong>, lit. brown owl.\u00a0 The usual words for “tawny” are (get ready to count ’em): odhar<\/strong>, cr\u00f3n<\/strong>, and ciarbhu\u00ed<\/strong> (“dark-yellow”).<\/p>\n

Speaking of owls, one phrase from Harry Potter that always intrigued me is “Eeylops Owl Emporium.”\u00a0 Almost every unusual word in the Harry Potter series seems to have some explanation (like Erised, Mungo, and even Hogwarts itself) but I never found an explanation of “Eeylops” (and I just double-checked the Harry Potter wikia, \u00a0http:\/\/harrypotter.wikia.com\/wiki\/Eeylops_Owl_Emporium).\u00a0 If it’s some sort of word play, it has eluded me for, hmm, wow, almost 18 years, since the first Harry Potter book appeared.\u00a0 In the Irish translation, the store is simply called “Ollsiopa Ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>” (Great-Shop of Owls).\u00a0 It advertises the following types of owls.\u00a0 Can you translate them (aistri\u00fach\u00e1n th\u00edos<\/strong>):<\/p>\n

Ulchabh\u00e1in Bheaga agus Dhonna, Ulchabh\u00e1in Shneacht\u00fala, Scr\u00e9ach\u00f3ga Reilige agus Ceanna Cait<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, that’s about it for now.\u00a0 There are of course many other owls we could think of in a literary context, but here, at least, we’ve made a start.\u00a0 Is ulchabh\u00e1n sneacht\u00fail \u00ed Hedwig<\/strong>.\u00a0 So maybe more on owls later, but for now, dare I say it, “Toodle-hoo! Hoo!” – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

9 Feabhra 2015<\/strong> (a link I couldn’t resist adding; the title is self-explanatory):<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/asia\/japan\/11400515\/In-pictures-The-Tokyo-cafe-where-patrons-play-with-owls-as-they-sip-tea.html<\/p>\n

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

ulchabh\u00e1in<\/strong>, owls (an inserted “i” marks the plural for this word)<\/p>\n

na\u00a0 hulchabh\u00e1in<\/strong>, the owls (prefixed “h” because the noun begins with a vowel)<\/p>\n

sciath\u00e1in ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>, owls’ wings (back to the original “-\u00e1n” ending)<\/p>\n

sciath\u00e1in\u00a0 na\u00a0 n-ulchabh\u00e1n<\/strong>, the wings of the owls (“n-” as a new prefix, showing eclipsis)<\/p>\n

Aistri\u00fach\u00e1n<\/strong><\/em> (literally, from the Irish):<\/p>\n

Owls Small and Brown (i.e. Small Owls and Brown Owls), Snowy Owls, Screech Owls, and Horned Owls<\/p>\n

The English original actually says: Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)                                     Since I just happened to mention the term “ulchabh\u00e1n sneacht\u00fail” in the most recent blog, I thought it would be fun to look into some other types of owls and what they’re called in Irish.\u00a0…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":6139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4293,365385,365389,306325,365374,365394,365393,365381,365382,365390,1083,365373,365377,5491,5508,229845,365387,365376,32951,365372,365375,365391,6273,6274,365392,365367,365379,365378,6633,305894,365388,365386,306331,365383,365384,365368,306328,365380,365370,365371],"class_list":["post-6137","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-beag","tag-brown","tag-ceanna-cait","tag-christmas-island","tag-christmas-island-hawk-owl","tag-ciarbhui","tag-cron","tag-eeylops","tag-eeylops-owl-emporium","tag-erised","tag-genitive","tag-great-eagle","tag-great-grey","tag-harry-potter","tag-hedwig","tag-hogwarts","tag-horned","tag-lesser-eagle","tag-liath","tag-meanfach","tag-mor","tag-mungo","tag-nollag","tag-nollaig","tag-odhar","tag-owl","tag-ri-ulchabhan","tag-ri-ulchabhan-beag","tag-rowling","tag-sciathan","tag-screachog","tag-screech","tag-seabhac","tag-snowy","tag-tawny","tag-ulchabhan","tag-ulchabhan-seabhaic-oilean-na-nollag","tag-ulscreachog","tag-yawn","tag-yawning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6137"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9154,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6137\/revisions\/9154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}