(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n Time for an chuid dheireanach<\/strong> of our musical instrument series.\u00a0 And this time, it does end.\u00a0 The last specific entry is with “x,” not “z.” Remember why — from the previous blogs sa tsraith seo?<\/strong>\u00a0 But, nevertheless, there are a few comments here about some instruments whose names start with letters, like “y” and “z,” which are not widely used in the Irish alphabet.<\/p>\n As in the previous blogs, I’ll do some of the formatting for the genitive case and leave a few up to you.\u00a0 R\u00e9idh — do sheal ar dt\u00fas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 17) triant\u00e1n<\/strong>: So, let’s go Cajun here, natch.\u00a0 Bh\u00ed Alphonse <\/strong>“Bois Sec” Ardoin <\/strong>(1915-2007) ag seinm an ___________.\u00a0 Agus ar an \u00e1bhar sin, b\u00edonn John Deacon (sa ghr\u00fapa <\/strong>Queen) ag seinm an __________ (an freagra c\u00e9anna) \u00f3 am go ham freisin.<\/strong><\/p>\n 18) uathchl\u00e1irseach: T\u00e1 Joni Mitchell, Maybelle Carter, Carlene Carter, Sylvia Tyson, Robbie Robertson, agus John Sebastian i measc na ndaoine a bh\u00edonn n\u00f3 a bh\u00edodh ag seinm na huathchl\u00e1irs\u00ed.\u00a0 C\u00fapla athr\u00fa deas ansin<\/strong>: a) adding the initial “h” because this feminine noun happens to start a vowel and is used here to say “playing of an autoharp” and b) changing the ending, again, because this is really “of an autoharp.”<\/p>\n Don’t tell me you wanted an easier one!\u00a0 Well, there’s not much to choose from, musically, for initial “u,” but you could also do “ucail\u00e9ile<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Can’t escape that h-prefixing though — it comes with the territory.\u00a0 No change at the end (it’s 4th declension), so it becomes “ag seinm na hucail\u00e9ile<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n 19) v\u00edol: T\u00e1 s\u00e9 ag seinm an<\/strong> _______.\u00a0 Which is going to mean, “he is playing the viol.”\u00a0 Not the “viola,” which in Irish would be “ag seinm na vi\u00f3la<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n For “w,” it’s pretty slim pickins. \u00a0I haven’t found any typical Irish musical instrument name\u00a0that starts with a “w.”\u00a0 Very few Irish words do, anyway.<\/p>\n Mostly, if you see words in an Irish text starting with “w,” they’re borrowed and left like their native or English spelling (wadi, wigwam, williwaw, winceyette,<\/strong> srl.<\/strong>) .\u00a0 There are a few that could be considered full-fledged Irish words, like “W-r\u00e9alta<\/strong>” and “waighnde\u00e1il<\/strong>” (as in “waighnde\u00e1il an t\u00e9ip<\/strong>,” wind the tape).\u00a0 For music, there is the “waiata<\/strong>” (canadh Maorach<\/strong>), but that’s vocal, not instrumental and “uirlis\u00ed ceoil<\/strong>” are the focus of this mini-series, not “an guth<\/strong>.”\u00a0 There’s also the “wah-wah<\/strong>,” but normally that is preceded by the word “troithe\u00e1n<\/strong>,” which as you probably guessed means … (freagra th\u00edos<\/strong>, 20)<\/p>\n And then there’s the “whamola,” for which I’ve yet to discover an Irish name, not too surprisingly.\u00a0 Cad \u00e9 an<\/strong> “whamola,” a deir t\u00fa?\u00a0 Is<\/strong> “whammy bar” agus “vi\u00f3la” le ch\u00e9ile \u00e9<\/strong>.<\/p>\n And does the extra large version of it become a “double whamola”? \u00a0Could we make an Irish word out of that, “an dordwhamola<\/strong>“?\u00a0 Or “an t-ollwhamola<\/strong>“?<\/p>\n So that was supposed to be slim pickins, but turned into a sort of fun couple of paragraphs.\u00a0 Bhuel<\/strong>, back to a more well-documented word,<\/p>\n 21) xileaf\u00f3n: T\u00e1 m\u00e9 ag seinm an<\/strong> _________ .\u00a0 No change to the initial “x” but the “-\u00f3n” ending changes to ___?<\/p>\n Hmm, I can’t say that the names of any xileaf\u00f3naithe c\u00e1ili\u00fala<\/strong> are leaping to mind, but the following website shows an entertaining look at some players from the past, starting at the tender age of ceithre bliana d’aois<\/strong>: https:\/\/britishpathe.wordpress.com\/2010\/09\/08\/the-x-files-top-10-xylophonists-of-the-past\/ (The \u2018X\u2019 Files: Top 10 \u00a0Xylophonists of the Past\u00a0 <\/strong>Posted by\u00a0British Path\u00e9<\/a> 8 September 2010<\/a>)<\/p>\n For “y” and “z,” again there’s virtually no choice for instruments with actual Irish names, although looking globally we do see such intriguing ones as the yayl\u0131 tambur, <\/em>the yu, <\/em>the zhalaika, <\/em>and the zugtrompette.\u00a0 <\/em>Once again, as a reminder, there are very few words in Irish that start with “y” or “z,” with “y\u00f3y\u00f3<\/strong>,” “y-chr\u00f3mas\u00f3m<\/strong>,” “z\u00e9ite-ch\u00fang\u00fa<\/strong>,” “z\u00f3n\u00f3is<\/strong>,” “z\u00fa<\/strong>,” “z\u00fam\u00e1il<\/strong>,” and “Z\u00fainis<\/strong>” among the rare exceptions.\u00a0 As you can see, all of these are borrowed from words that start with “z” in English or other languages and which have retained the “z,” unlike earlier times, when “z-words” typically picked up an “s” when they were borrowed into Irish, “zebra” becoming “s\u00e9abra<\/strong>” and “zinc” becoming “sinc<\/strong>,” mar shampla<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Well, that’s an interesting “turas mar a bheadh gaoth Mh\u00e1rta ann<\/strong>,” to recast an idiom, through the world of uirlis\u00ed ceoil<\/strong>, and some cleachtadh gramada\u00ed<\/strong> to boot.\u00a0 “To boot,” now that would be a fun expression to look into sometime, “buta<\/strong>” vs. “buatais\u00ed<\/strong>” and all that.\u00a0 Ach \u00e1bhar blag eile, ar nd\u00f3igh. \u00a0Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill, agus beidh m\u00e9 ag tn\u00fath le cluinstin uait faoi na huirlis\u00ed ceoil is fearr leat n\u00f3 na cinn a sheinneann tusa!\u00a0 – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n Freagra\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n 17) ag seinm an triant\u00e1in<\/strong>, playing the triangle<\/p>\n 18) d\u00e9anta thuas<\/strong><\/p>\n 19) ag seinm an v\u00edola<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not the “vi\u00f3la<\/strong>,” which is a different instrument!\u00a0 “Ag seinm an v\u00edola<\/strong>” means “he is playing the viol<\/em>.”\u00a0 To say, “playing the viola<\/em>” in Irish would be “ag seinm na vi\u00f3la<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Talk about attention to detail!\u00a0 “V\u00edol<\/strong>” [VEE-ul] is masculine and has a long mark above the “i.”\u00a0 “Vi\u00f3la<\/strong>” [vee-OH-luh] is feminine and has the long mark above the “o,” reflecting the pronunciation in English, and, presumably, Italian.\u00a0 “Vi\u00f3la<\/strong>” always includes the letter “a;” it’s an intrinsic part of the word’s spelling.\u00a0 “V\u00edola<\/strong>” only adds the “a” to mean “of a viol,” a typical genitive-case use.\u00a0 “Ag seinm an v\u00edola<\/strong>” literally means “at playing of a viol.”<\/p>\n It’s a bit like the difference between “Fi\u00f3na<\/strong>” (a girl’s name) and “f\u00edona<\/strong>” (“of wine”), as in “gloine f\u00edona<\/strong>.”\u00a0 “F\u00edona<\/strong>” is based on the word “f\u00edon<\/strong>” (wine).\u00a0 Tuiseal ginideach: f\u00edona<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 20) An freagra don cheist faoin “wah-wah”: troithe\u00e1n<\/strong>, pedal (based on “troigh<\/strong>,” foot, usually for measurement, these days, although originally it meant the foot on the body.\u00a0 That’s usually “cos<\/strong>” these days.\u00a0 “Troithe\u00e1n wah-wah<\/strong>” — wah-wah pedal.<\/p>\n 21) ag seinm an xileaf\u00f3in<\/strong>, playing the xylophone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Time for an chuid dheireanach of our musical instrument series.\u00a0 And this time, it does end.\u00a0 The last specific entry is with “x,” not “z.” Remember why — from the previous blogs sa tsraith seo?\u00a0 But, nevertheless, there are a few comments here about some instruments whose names start with letters, like “y”…<\/p>\n