{"id":6639,"date":"2015-04-30T20:00:05","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T20:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6639"},"modified":"2016-09-20T23:40:31","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T23:40:31","slug":"speaking-of-galar-na-bo-buile-mad-cow-disease-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/speaking-of-galar-na-bo-buile-mad-cow-disease-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking of ‘galar na b\u00f3 buile’ (‘mad cow disease’ in Irish)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"B\u00f3<\/a>

B\u00f3 a bhfuil einceifileapaite sp\u00fainseach bh\u00f3lachta (galar na b\u00f3 buile) uirthi. T\u00e1 s\u00ed r\u00f3thana\u00ed agus t\u00e1 s\u00ed corrach ar a cosa. (grianghraf le hArt Davis, USDA, ag: http:\/\/faculty.uca.edu\/march\/bio1\/DNA_GMO\/DNA_MadCow\/BSEOverview.pdf)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In a recent blog post, we briefly discussed einceifileapaite sp\u00fainseach bh\u00f3lachta<\/strong>, which is also known as ‘galar na b\u00f3 buile<\/strong>‘ (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 In other words, bovine spongiform encephalopathy aka mad cow disease.\u00a0 It’s a bit of a mouthful in Irish as it is in English, so why don’t we take a closer look at the Irish terms for the disease, both the “einceifileapaite<\/strong>” term and the “galar<\/strong>” term.” \u00a0And along the way, we’ll be practicing some more basic vocabulary, like “cow,” “cows,” “legs,” and “herd.”<\/p>\n

“Galar na b\u00f3 buile<\/strong>” is a little more straightforward than einceifileapaite sp\u00fainseach bh\u00f3lachta<\/strong>, so let’s start with that.<\/p>\n

The word “galar<\/strong>” has a variety of meanings, such as disease, illness, sickness, and a little more abstractly, misery, distress, trouble or affliction<\/p>\n

You may already know “b\u00f3<\/strong>,” since it tends to be taught very early on in most Irish courses.\u00a0 It’s an interesting word, irregular in its forms and in having so little change when showing possession (an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>). \u00a0It appears as follows:<\/p>\n

b\u00f3<\/strong>, a cow<\/p>\n

an bh\u00f3<\/strong> [un woh OR un voh, depending on dialect], the cow<\/p>\n

b\u00f3<\/strong>, of a cow; galar b\u00f3<\/strong>, a disease of a cow<\/p>\n

na b\u00f3<\/strong>, of the cow; note there’s no change to the word ‘b\u00f3<\/strong>‘ itself; ruball na b\u00f3<\/strong>, the tail of the cow<\/p>\n

ba<\/strong> [bah], cows; T\u00e1 ba sa ph\u00e1irc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

na ba<\/strong>, the cows; T\u00e1 na ba sa ph\u00e1irc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

b\u00f3<\/strong>, of cows, galar b\u00f3<\/strong>, a disease of cows.\u00a0 This looks the same as the singular form, “galar b\u00f3<\/strong>” (a disease of a cow), no discernible difference, but does it really matter?\u00a0 Generally, a disease that one cow might get could be gotten by many cows — unfortunately.<\/p>\n

na mb\u00f3<\/strong>\u00a0[nuh moh], of the cows.\u00a0 Here, the letter “m” tells us clearly that the phrase is plural, so we can distinguish;<\/p>\n

cosa na b\u00f3<\/strong>, the legs of the cow<\/p>\n

cosa na mb\u00f3,<\/strong> the legs of the cows<\/p>\n

Of course, if we were dealing with the “ruball<\/strong>” (aka eireaball<\/strong>), context would probably tell us if we were talking about one cow or more than one:<\/p>\n

ruball na b\u00f3<\/strong>, the tail of the cow<\/p>\n

rubaill na mb\u00f3<\/strong>, the tails of the cows<\/p>\n

We probably wouldn’t ever need to say “rubaill na b\u00f3<\/strong>” (the tails of the cow) because we would assume each cow has only one tail.\u00a0 Likewise, we would probably never need to say “ruball na mb\u00f3<\/strong>” (the tail of the cows), because, we would hope that each cow has its own tail!\u00a0 Of course, if we had a “Pin The Tail on the Donkey” kit, which came with a replacement tail in case the kids playing the game lost or destroyed one of the tails, we might have some reason to say, “rubaill an asail<\/strong>” (the tails of the donkey), but even then, I admit, my example is a bit \u00e1if\u00e9iseach<\/strong> (far-fetched).<\/p>\n

Thereby, no doubt, hangs a tale, or in the case of the donkey, a tail, but we’ll save further discussion of rubaill<\/strong>, eireabaill<\/strong>, and fim\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>, and related words like glibeanna<\/strong>, moingeanna<\/strong> and p\u00f3naithe<\/strong>, for some other future blog post.<\/p>\n

Getting back to the basic issue, is “b\u00f3<\/strong>” singular or plural in the phrase, “galar na b\u00f3 buile<\/strong>,” we know it’s singular because the phrase is “na b\u00f3<\/strong>,” not “na mb\u00f3<\/strong>.”\u00a0 The phrasing is singular, indicating one cow, lit. the disease of the mad cow. \u00a0This is as it is in English–we don’t say “mad cows disease.”<\/p>\n

The final keyword of our phrase is “buile<\/strong>,” which you might know from the popular song, “An Poc ar Buile<\/strong>” (The Mad Billy-Goat).\u00a0 It’s a fun song to sing, and many people especially like singing it because in one line, the word “poc\u00e1n<\/strong>” (basically the same as “poc<\/strong>,” a buck-goat, puck-goat, or billy-goat) gets lenited, meaning it’s spelled “ph,” and sounds like, well, you can imagine what it sounds like.\u00a0 The line is “Is \u00e9 d\u00fairt gurbh \u00e9 an diabhal ba dh\u00f3igh leis a ghaibh an treo ar phoc\u00e1n buile<\/strong>.”\u00a0 You can hear S\u00e9amus Ennis singing the song, from a 1965 recording, at: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GrXsmfmqcFA&feature=player_embedded (posted by Gravel Walks)<\/p>\n

So that takes care of the everyday name for the disease.\u00a0 Now, let’s get medical.<\/p>\n

einceifileapaite<\/strong> [en-KEF-il-YAHP-itch-uh], encephalopathy.\u00a0 Note that the “-ph-” of the English becomes “f” in Irish, reflecting the pronunciation.\u00a0 Also, in English the “c” of the “cephalo-” element is pronounced like an “s,” but in Irish, it’s a “k” sound.<\/p>\n

sp\u00fainseach<\/strong> [SPOON-shukh] spongy, \u00a0spongiform, and occasionally, “sponge” as an adjective.\u00a0 Often the ending “-chruthach<\/strong>” (lit. -shaped) is used in Irish for English “-iform,” as in “croschruthach<\/strong>,” “fearsaidchruthach<\/strong>,” “fungaschruthach<\/strong>,” and the charming “p\u00e9istchruthach<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But, for whatever reason, the Irish for “spongiform” is the same as the Irish for “spongy,” much like “srathach<\/strong>” means \u00a0“stratiform” and “dr\u00f3lannach<\/strong>” means “coliform” without having the “-chruthach<\/strong>” ending.<\/p>\n

The word “b\u00f3lacht<\/strong>” brings us back into a more traditional realm of Irish rural life.\u00a0 It means “cattle” in general.\u00a0 Grammatically, the word is singular but it refers to the plural idea of “cows” in a herd, much like the archaic English word “kine,” which itself is a cousin of the Scots “kye<\/em>.”\u00a0 Recognize “kine”?\u00a0 How about Deuteronomy 32:14<\/em>: “butter of kine and milk of sheep.”\u00a0 Of course, that’s the King James version.\u00a0 Probably more recent translations have updated the term.<\/p>\n

The Irish Bible (An B\u00edobla Naofa<\/strong>), BTW, uses our same word, “b\u00f3lacht<\/strong>,” for this line (Deotranaim\u00ed 32:14<\/em><\/strong>): “gruth \u00f3n mb\u00f3lacht, bainne \u00f3n tr\u00e9ad<\/strong>” (lit. curds from the kine\/cows, milk from the herd).\u00a0 Why “gruth<\/strong>” and not “im<\/strong>” (the usual word for “butter”), I wonder.\u00a0 But that would probably involve going back to the language of the original, Eabhrais<\/strong>, and the intricacies the Hebrew roots of the cow\/kine concept, areas which are beyond my ken.<\/p>\n

Actually a similar question arises with “tr\u00e9ad<\/strong>” (herd), since it could mean a herd of cows (ba<\/strong>), sheep (caoirigh<\/strong>), pigs (muca<\/strong>), or presumably, also, animals from further afield, like eilifint\u00ed<\/strong> and gasail\u00ed<\/strong>.\u00a0 Should it refer specifically to sheep here?\u00a0 How did the KJV come up with “sheep.”\u00a0 The original Hebrew?\u00a0 Regardless of the outcome of those inquiries, readers might find the word “tr\u00e9idlia<\/strong>” to be some useful vocabulary for today.\u00a0 Even for those of us who live urban and suburban lives, far from tr\u00e9ada ainmhithe ar bith<\/strong>, we still might visit the tr\u00e9idlia<\/strong> for our city-dwelling pets, be they madra\u00ed, cait, \u00e9in, fir\u00e9id, iogu\u00e1na\u00ed<\/strong>, or faoileoir\u00ed si\u00facra<\/strong> (that last one’s for you, a Bhic\u00ed<\/strong>, if you’re still following the blog)<\/p>\n

In our phrase, “b\u00f3lacht<\/strong>” shows up as “bh\u00f3lachta<\/strong>” [WOH-lukh-tuh], for “of cattle.”\u00a0\u00a0 It’s lenited (“b” becoming “bh”) and in the genitive case (giving us the “-a” ending).<\/p>\n

So that’s the breakdown of BSE (Irish “ESB<\/strong>“) in its formal and informal terms.<\/p>\n

And what’s up next, while we’re on the subject of galair agus tinnis<\/strong>?\u00a0 An Ghaeilge ar<\/strong> “Pneumono\u00adultra\u00admicroscopic\u00adsilico\u00advolcano\u00adconiosis?”\u00a0 B’fh\u00e9idir<\/strong>, or perhaps some more ordinary afflictions like\u00a0slaghd\u00e1in<\/strong> or tinnis chinn de dheasca bia fuar a ithe<\/strong>.\u00a0 Why the latter term doesn’t specify ice-cream as the culprit, I don’t know. \u00a0But it’ll be interesting food for thought, anyway.\u00a0 As long as I don’t end up with brain freeze.\u00a0 SGF – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc<\/strong>:\u00a0https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/if-bron-can-be-orm-in-irish-phrases-like-tbo-what-else-can-be-ort\/ (If \u2018br\u00f3n\u2019 can be \u2018orm\u2019 in Irish phrases like \u2018TBO,\u2019 what else can be \u2018ort\u2019?<\/a>\u00a0Posted on 28. Apr, 2015 by r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a> in Irish Language<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) In a recent blog post, we briefly discussed einceifileapaite sp\u00fainseach bh\u00f3lachta, which is also known as ‘galar na b\u00f3 buile‘ (nasc th\u00edos).\u00a0 In other words, bovine spongiform encephalopathy aka mad cow disease.\u00a0 It’s a bit of a mouthful in Irish as it is in English, so why don’t we take a closer look…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":6646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[376860,365201,55042],"class_list":["post-6639","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-einceifileapaite-spuinseach-bholachta","tag-galar-na-bo-buile","tag-mad-cow-disease"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639","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=6639"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8395,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639\/revisions\/8395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}