{"id":6953,"date":"2015-07-17T20:06:18","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T20:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6953"},"modified":"2015-07-27T12:25:57","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T12:25:57","slug":"pronouncing-taoschno-and-other-chn-chr-and-chl-combinations-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/pronouncing-taoschno-and-other-chn-chr-and-chl-combinations-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"Pronouncing “taoschn\u00f3” and other “-chn-,” “-chr-,” and “-chl-” combinations in Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In the last blog we looked at the recent “scannal lite na dtaoschn\u00f3nna<\/strong>,” as reported in the media concerning Ariana Grande in the Dunkin’ Donuts shop.<\/p>\n

And I have to admit that even though I’ve been familiar with the words “taos<\/strong>,” “cn\u00f3<\/strong>,” and “taoschn\u00f3<\/strong>” for years, I still notice an “eye-boggling” effect, where\u00a0 the “-sch” cluster of “taoschn\u00f3<\/strong>” seems to jump out, suggesting a pronunciation like the “sh” of English “shoe” or “shine,” or even better, like German “Schloss<\/em>.”\u00a0 Actually, the “-s” is the ending of the first part of the compound word (taos<\/strong>) and the “-ch-” is the lenited form of the letter “c” of “cn\u00f3<\/strong>,” lenited here because it’s the second half of a compound word.<\/p>\n

This “-sch” must be imprinted on my mind from words like the name Hieronymus Bosch, a few foreign terms used in English like “flysch,” “kitsch,” “borsch,” “mensch,” and a bunch of German words like “Fleisch<\/em>” or “Kirsch<\/em>.”\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Or the “Schloss Drachenfels<\/em>,” which I can never forget (not that I’d want to) since it was so prominently featured in my first-year German textbook.<\/p>\n

Why this “-sch-” pattern should jump out at me, at the expense of the Irish “-chn-,” when my German is sooooo rusty, baffles me, but c’est la vie.\u00a0 I try to discipline my eyes to read the word with the correct word division for Irish.<\/p>\n

At any rate, how do we pronounce “taoschn\u00f3<\/strong>?”\u00a0 Just remember where the word division lies: “taos<\/strong>” + “cn\u00f3<\/strong>,” with “cn\u00f3<\/strong>” becoming “chn\u00f3<\/strong>” because it’s the second half of a compound word.<\/p>\n

taos<\/strong> [teess or tayss] + chn\u00f3<\/strong> [khnoh, with the “kh” sound as in “chutzpah” or “Achtung<\/em>“]<\/p>\n

Adding one more syllable, to make the word plural, doesn’t change the basic word division:<\/p>\n

taoschn\u00f3nna<\/strong> (taos-chn\u00f3-nna) [TEESS-KHNOH-nuh OR TAYSS-KHNOH-nuh], doughnuts<\/p>\n

Nor does adding the initial eclipsis (“d” becoming “t”):<\/p>\n

na dtaoschn\u00f3nna<\/strong> (na dtaos-chn\u00f3-nna) [nuh DEESS-KHNOH-nuh OR nuh DAYSS-KHNOH-nuh], of the doughnuts<\/p>\n

Another typical “-chn-” combination would be when the word “cnoc<\/strong>” (hill) gets lenited .\u00a0 Of course, there’s “chn-” at the very beginning of a word, as in “barr an chnoic<\/strong>” ([bahr uh khnik], the top of the hill).\u00a0 But we’ll focus here on some examples where there’s a prefix.<\/p>\n

-nchn- in B\u00e1nchnoic \u00c9ireann \u00d3<\/strong> [bawn-khnik …] (song title, typically translated as “The White Hills of Ireland-O!”)<\/p>\n

-nchn- in bunchnoc<\/strong> [bun-khnok], a foothill<\/p>\n

-thchn- in gn\u00e1thchnoc<\/strong> [gnaw-khnok, remember, this “gn-” is fully pronounced, not like the English word “to gnaw”], a normal hill.\u00a0 Hmm, this is a sports reference in contrast to what, an abnormal hill?\u00a0 An abnormally large hill?\u00a0 \u00c1bhar blag eile<\/strong>, I suppose.<\/p>\n

And then there’s another “-chn-” cluster in:<\/p>\n

T-chn- in st\u00e9ig T-chn\u00e1imhe<\/strong> [shtayg TEE-KHNAWV-uh], T-bone steak.\u00a0 This one, at least, retains the “fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>,” so it’s easier on the eye.<\/p>\n

You might also remember that the “n” in all these “cn” and “chn” combinations is pronounced in some dialects like an “r” (“cnoc<\/strong>” as “krok” instead of “knok”) but that’s definitely \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And how about “-chr-” in a combination such as:<\/p>\n

-chr- in r\u00f3chruinn<\/strong> (r\u00f3 + c(h)ruinn) [roh-khrin], perfectly round, lit. too\/very round<\/p>\n

Of course, that one was a little easier, since “r\u00f3<\/strong>-” is a widely recognized prefix (r\u00f3the, r\u00f3dhaor, srl.<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

A less standard prefixed element is “aer<\/strong>,” as in:<\/p>\n

-rchr- aerchrochadh<\/strong> [AYR-KHROKH-uh], air suspension<\/p>\n

Here are a couple for “-chl-”<\/p>\n

-nchl- seanchl\u00f3<\/strong> (sean- + c(h)l\u00f3<\/strong>) [shan-khloh], old font\/print<\/p>\n

-ch-chl- in droch-chl\u00fa<\/strong> (droch- + c(h)l\u00fa<\/strong>) [drokh-khloo], a bad reputation<\/p>\n

Again, those two had readily recognizable prefixes (sean-<\/strong> and droch-<\/strong>).\u00a0\u00a0 Here are a couple that are less everyday:<\/p>\n

-mchl- in candamchlog<\/strong> (candam + c(h)log<\/strong>) [KAHN-dum-KHLOG], a quantum clock<\/p>\n

-rchl- in dobharchlog<\/strong> (dobhar + c(h)log<\/strong>) [DOH-ur-KHLOG], a klepsydra\u00a0 (aka “clepsydra”).\u00a0 If that doesn’t ring any immediate bells, you might recall the g\u00e9asar<\/strong> known as the Clepsydra Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, so named from its clockwork-paced eruptions.\u00a0 Or you might recognize it from Bruno Schulz’s Sanatorium Pod Klepsydra<\/em>, which resurfaced in Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen<\/em> as the “Klepsydra Sanatorium.” \u00a0Stumped?\u00a0 This “dobhar<\/strong>” is “water,” so it’s a water clock.\u00a0 This “dobhar<\/strong>” is also a cognate of the Welsh “d\u0175r<\/strong>” (water) and the place name “Dover.”\u00a0 Who said Irish doesn’t have many cognates to other languages?\u00a0 Maybe time to resurrect and extend that “mionsraith<\/strong>,” which some of you may remember (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

-bhchl- in scl\u00e1bhchlog<\/strong>\u00a0(scl\u00e1bh + c(h)log<\/strong>) [sklawv-khlog], a slave clock (in telecommunications)<\/p>\n

Here’s a fairly transparent example, transparent because “stop<\/strong>” is such a familiar word, in Irish and in English:<\/p>\n

-pchl- in stopchlog<\/strong> (stop + c(h)log<\/strong>) [stop-khlog], a stop-clock (in sports)<\/p>\n

And here’s a beauty to end up with, bringing us back to the “-sch” issue.\u00a0 Does the same thing happen to you — the “-sch-” part jumps out and attracts the eye’s attention?<\/p>\n

tafraigeochuaschlaonas<\/strong> (tafrai- + geo- + c(h)uas + c(h)laonas<\/strong>) [TAF-ruh-GAY-oh-KHOO-us-KHLAYN-us] taphrogeosyncline<\/p>\n

Bhuel<\/strong>, that was a nice little work-out–looking at word divisions and recognizing them helps you read words, especially the longish compound ones, more easily.\u00a0 Hope you found it helpful.\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

nasc<\/strong>: the “cognates” series starts with: Ascaill, Axilla, Armpit \u2014 Who Says Irish Doesn\u2019t Have Many Cognates with English? (Cuid a hAon\/Pt. 1)<\/a> Posted on 24. Apr, 2013 by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) In the last blog we looked at the recent “scannal lite na dtaoschn\u00f3nna,” as reported in the media concerning Ariana Grande in the Dunkin’ Donuts shop. And I have to admit that even though I’ve been familiar with the words “taos,” “cn\u00f3,” and “taoschn\u00f3” for years, I still notice an “eye-boggling” effect, where\u00a0…<\/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":[384417,384423,384427,384429,384426,384428,384425,384418,5878,384424,384432,384419,202879,173052,384431,384430],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-ariana","tag-chno","tag-chnoc","tag-chnoic","tag-cnoc","tag-cnoic","tag-eye-boggling","tag-grande","tag-lenition","tag-scannal","tag-tafraigeochuaschlaonas","tag-taos","tag-taoschno","tag-taoschnonna","tag-taphrogeosyncline","tag-word-division"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953","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=6953"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6982,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6953\/revisions\/6982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}