{"id":660,"date":"2011-02-14T20:15:07","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T20:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=660"},"modified":"2017-02-13T13:49:44","modified_gmt":"2017-02-13T13:49:44","slug":"an-briathar-%e2%80%9cgraigh%e2%80%9d-love-i-ngaeilge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-briathar-%e2%80%9cgraigh%e2%80%9d-love-i-ngaeilge\/","title":{"rendered":"An Briathar \u201cGr\u00e1igh!\u201d (Love!) i nGaeilge"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The more I look into it, the more unusual features this verb seems to have.\u00a0 Interesting, and a bit complex, especially because of overlapping forms and near homonyms that are actually antonyms.\u00a0 Good news?\u00a0 It\u2019s not used nearly as much as the forms we\u2019ve recently gone over, especially \u201cMo ghr\u00e1 th\u00fa<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 So if you stick to \u201cmo ghr\u00e1 th\u00fa<\/strong>,\u201d at least for Valentines-ish purposes, that should work out just fine.<\/p>\n

So when would you use \u201cgr\u00e1igh<\/strong>\u201d as a command?\u00a0 Aside from when you are \u201csplanctha i ndiaidh duine \u00e9igin<\/strong>,\u201d that is!\u00a0 Even then, you might want to weigh the relative merits of verbs sa mhodh ordaitheach<\/strong> as opposed to sweet nothings sa tuiseal gairmeach<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Well, let\u2019s start with a situation in which you don\u2019t<\/em> use \u201cgr\u00e1igh!<\/strong>\u201d for \u201clove!\u201d \u00a0To say, \u201cLove me, love my dog,\u201d the closest traditional equivalent phrase would be, \u201cM\u00e1s ion\u00fain an chr\u00e1in, is ion\u00fain an t-\u00e1l<\/strong>\u201d (If the sow is dear to you, the litter [of piglets] is dear to you also\u201d).\u00a0 Note that I do say \u201ctraditional,\u201d since one could certainly translate \u201cLove me, love my dog\u201d literally.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s what people say.\u00a0 Not that I\u2019ve heard that many people talking about the charm of sows compared to the charm of the litter, for that matter, but at least it\u2019s \u201ctrad.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, where else would we find \u201clove\u201d as a command in Irish?\u00a0 I checked out \u201cLove thy neighbor as thyself\u201d in the Irish Bible but that turns out to be an indirect command.\u00a0 In English, \u201cThou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,\u201d and in Irish, \u201cN\u00ed fol\u00e1ir duit gr\u00e1 a thabhairt do do chomharsa mar th\u00fa f\u00e9in<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Don\u2019t be concerned about the negative particle \u201cn\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d there.\u00a0 The sentence is sort of like a double negative, say, \u201cIt isn\u2019t unfitting,\u201d but stronger, with the sense, \u201cIt is necessary\u201d or \u201cYou should.\u201c\u00a0 But the key thing here, regarding the verb \u201cgr\u00e1igh<\/strong>,\u201d is that we\u2019re back to the noun, \u201cgr\u00e1<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Literally, our Biblical line translates as \u201cYou ought to give love to your neighbor as to yourself,\u201d with \u201cto give\u201d (a thabhairt<\/strong>) as the actual infinitive (not \u201cto love\u201d).<\/p>\n

The other uses I find of \u201cgr\u00e1igh<\/strong>\u201d as a verb mostly tend to be religious, with some exceptions that use \u201cgr\u00e1\u00edm th\u00fa<\/strong>\u201d for \u201cI love you.\u201d\u00a0 But I think a lot of these are generated by verb conjugators or occur in literal, word-for-word translations.\u00a0 I still plump for \u201cMo ghr\u00e1 th\u00fa!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, what\u2019s the overlap?\u00a0 Well, the verbal noun of \u201cgr\u00e1igh<\/strong>\u201d takes us back to \u201cgr\u00e1<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 It strikes me as really rare to say, \u201cT\u00e1 s\u00e9 ag gr\u00e1 X<\/strong>\u201d but, in theory at least, it could be done.\u00a0 In the infinitive form (to love), we have \u201ca ghr\u00e1<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 And that just happens to look like our term of endearment, \u201cO, love (or \u201cdarling\u201d)!\u201d\u00a0 Of course, word order and sentence structure would help distinguish the two functions, but that\u2019s a bit of a tall order if someone is new to the language.\u00a0 In theory we could have, \u201cIs maith an rud do chomharsa a ghr\u00e1, a ghr\u00e1!<\/strong>\u201d (It\u2019s good to love your neighbor, darling!\u201d).<\/p>\n

And finally, what\u2019s the near-antonym bit?\u00a0 Anyone actually ever heard of a near-antonym?\u00a0 Maybe not, but there\u2019s always a first time.\u00a0 Try pronouncing all of these:<\/p>\n

gr\u00e1\u00edm<\/strong> [graw-eem]<\/p>\n

gr\u00e1\u00edonn<\/strong> [graw-ee-un]<\/p>\n

gr\u00e1in<\/strong> [graw-in]<\/p>\n

The vowel sound and the m\/n ending are all that\u2019s keeping two forms of the verb \u201clove\u201d from sounding like \u201cgr\u00e1in<\/strong>,\u201d a noun that means \u201chatred,\u201d \u201cabhorrence\u201d or \u201cugliness.\u201d\u00a0 This is a case where one really wants to enunciate clearly!<\/p>\n

There is an Irish proverb that plays nicely on the similarity of these words, \u201cFola\u00edonn gr\u00e1 gr\u00e1in<\/strong>,\u201d (Love hides ugliness, i.e. is blind).\u00a0 Alliteration plus vowel rhyme plus pithiness, oh my!\u00a0 Maise gur f\u00edor nach<\/strong> s\u00e1ra\u00edtear seanfhocal<\/strong> (Indeed it\u2019s true that a proverb cannot be surpassed).<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been \u201cloving\u201d this, as McDonald\u2019s would have us say, do stay tuned.\u00a0 Lots more love lore coming up, even though Valentine\u2019s Day will be past.\u00a0 And love-lorn phrases too, if you\u2019re interested!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) The more I look into it, the more unusual features this verb seems to have.\u00a0 Interesting, and a bit complex, especially because of overlapping forms and near homonyms that are actually antonyms.\u00a0 Good news?\u00a0 It\u2019s not used nearly as much as the forms we\u2019ve recently gone over, especially \u201cMo ghr\u00e1 th\u00fa.\u201d\u00a0 So if you…<\/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":[375033,172909,172908,111207,375028,111195,28834,172904,172910,255614,375030,100,375027,375031,375032,375029,11740,109569,96567,3022,6741,172911,28716,163],"class_list":["post-660","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-abhorrence","tag-folaionn","tag-folaionn-gra-grain","tag-ghra","tag-ghrain","tag-gra","tag-graigh","tag-graim","tag-grain","tag-hatred","tag-im-loving-it","tag-love","tag-love-is-blind","tag-love-lore","tag-love-lorn","tag-loving","tag-mcdonalds","tag-meme","tag-oh-my","tag-proverb","tag-seanfhocal","tag-ugliness","tag-valentine","tag-valentines-day"],"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