{"id":6965,"date":"2015-07-22T19:27:32","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T19:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=6965"},"modified":"2015-07-24T20:19:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T20:19:37","slug":"coid-phoist-faoi-dheireadh-ach-cen-costas-don-teanga-the-new-irish-postal-codes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/coid-phoist-faoi-dheireadh-ach-cen-costas-don-teanga-the-new-irish-postal-codes\/","title":{"rendered":"C\u00f3id Phoist\u00a0 – faoi dheireadh\u00a0 ach c\u00e9n costas don teanga?\u00a0 (The New Irish Postal Codes)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Learners of Irish outside of Ireland often show surprise at the way addresses \u00a0(seolta\u00ed<\/strong>) are typically taught in Irish language textbooks, especially ones that primarily depict rural life (an saol faoin tuath<\/strong>).\u00a0 Typically, there will be the addressee’s name, a house name (Radharc na Farraige, mar shampla<\/strong>), a townland name (An Cnoc, mar shampla<\/strong>), a town or village name (An Cheathr\u00fa Rua, mar shampla<\/strong>) and a county name (Contae na Gaillimhe, mar shampla<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Gan uimhir ar an teach agus gan ch\u00f3d poist<\/strong>.\u00a0 No house number and no postal code. \u00a0No house number, because often they were not needed, and no postal code because there was none.<\/p>\n

Ireland has just launched its postal code (Eircode) program for the entire nation.\u00a0 Previously, there were “postal districts” used as codes for Dublin, like “Dublin 4,” and Cork had numbered “postal districts” but the “districts” were different from postal codes as such.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, the main issues that I have noticed in news article and forums and chats are the slighting of the Irish language, the prioritization of English forms of names, the ineffectiveness of the system, and the cost.\u00a0 There is ample coverage of these issues in the media in general, and I’ve included a few links below.\u00a0 My main goal for today’s blog is simply to look at the two different Irish terms for “postal code” (yes, there are two) and for the benefit of American readers, a passing comment on the fact that these are not “ZIP codes,” as such.<\/p>\n

The two terms are “c\u00f3d poist<\/strong>” and “postch\u00f3d<\/strong>.”\u00a0 “C\u00f3d poist<\/strong>” seems to be by far the more widely used, with approximately 1,040,000 Google hits (amais Google<\/strong>).\u00a0 “Postch\u00f3d<\/strong>” gets 103,000 (103,000 amas<\/strong>).\u00a0 I wish I had thought to check these before the July 13 launch, but so be it.\u00a0 It would have been interesting to see if the proportion of hits per term was about the same, even before the recent hullaballoo about the codes.\u00a0 Those high numbers are also “unsorted,” meaning there may be duplicates or irrelevant results.\u00a0 But in general, these kinds of comparisons give a rough idea of word usage.<\/p>\n

So let’s look at these two terms, with their plurals and other forms:<\/p>\n

A. c\u00f3d poist<\/strong> [kohd pw<\/sup>isht], postal code. The familiar word “post<\/strong>” has changed to “poist<\/strong>” because we’re really saying “code of post.” Remember, Irish “post<\/strong>” is a close rhyme to the English words “must” and “fussed,” not to the English words “most” or “host.”\u00a0 So “post<\/strong>” in Irish doesn’t have the “long o” sound of the English word “post office.”<\/p>\n

If you’re talking about postal codes, plural, you would say “c\u00f3id phoist<\/strong>.”\u00a0 “C\u00f3d<\/strong>” becomes “c\u00f3id<\/strong>” [say “kohdj] and “poist<\/strong>” changes to “phoist<\/strong>” [fw<\/sup>isht].<\/p>\n

In the first article listed in the webliography below, you’ll see that the phrase for “of the postal codes” is “na gc\u00f3d poist<\/strong>.”\u00a0 So we have three slight changes: 1) eclipsis (“c” becomes “gc”), b) a return to the regular (broad) “d” (not the “slender” d which has a “j-ish” sound), and c) dropping the lenition of the “p” that we saw in “c\u00f3id phoist<\/strong>.”\u00a0 All happening quite systematically, since “c\u00f3d<\/strong>” is a straightforward 1st-declension masculine noun, like many you’ve probably seen before (ar\u00e1n, cup\u00e1n, capall, fear, zipchomhad<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

B. postch\u00f3d<\/strong> [pust-khohd]. Here we have a compound word, with “post<\/strong>” as the first element and “c\u00f3d<\/strong>” as the second. “C\u00f3d<\/strong>” gets lenited (“c” becomes “ch”), since it’s the second element of the compound.\u00a0 The same thing happens with thousands of comhfhocail<\/strong> in Irish (cloigtheach, dordchl\u00e1irn\u00e9id, dordghiot\u00e1r, gobcheol, grianghraf, rapcheol, roc-cheol, snagcheol<\/strong>, and, for that matter, zipchomhad, mar shampla<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

To make “postch\u00f3d<\/strong>” plural, it becomes “postch\u00f3id<\/strong>,” again with the slender “d” (the “d” as in Dia, Diarmaid, leid<\/strong>, and m\u00e9id<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

“The postal codes” (plural) is “na postch\u00f3id<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

To say “of the postal codes,” the phrase becomes “na bpostch\u00f3d<\/strong>,” with the eclipsis of the “p” and the loss of that inserted “i.”\u00a0 Sampla: ceist na bpostch\u00f3d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As for the “zip” element of the American designation “ZIP code,” suffice it to say that the word has nothing to do with the Irish terminology.\u00a0 In Irish, “zipper” is “zip<\/strong>” and “to zip” is “zipe\u00e1il<\/strong>” (unzip, d\u00edzipe\u00e1il<\/strong>) but neither of these are connected to postal codes.\u00a0 In Irish, an American ZIP code is referred to as a “c\u00f3d poist<\/strong>,” the same as for any other country, not a “code of zip” or some such structure.\u00a0 None of the words for “zipping” in Irish have anything to do with mail service.\u00a0 A bit ironic, though, isn’t it, that the Irish for a “Zip file” ends up being “Zipchomhad<\/strong>,” with the “-chomhad<\/strong>” part pronounced “khohd” (i.e. with a long o).\u00a0 The “-chomhad<\/strong>” element comes from “comhad<\/strong>” [kohd], a file. \u00a0Try saying it out loud for the full \u00e9ifeacht<\/strong> \u00edor\u00f3nta. \u00a0<\/strong>But it’s simply “comhtharl\u00fa<\/strong>,” a sheer coincidence.<\/p>\n

Why “ZIP” anyway, and why caps?\u00a0 The nutshell answer is it’s an acronym for “Zone Improvement Plan.”\u00a0 But it’s also a clever pun, suggesting that the mail would zip along faster if the code were used.\u00a0 And of course, zippers make fastening clothing or bags much quicker, so there’s an indirect relationship.\u00a0 And why are “zippers” called “zippers” anyway? \u00a0It’s onamataip\u00e9ach<\/strong> (onomatopoeic), based on the sound the zipper slider makes. \u00a0Deirtear sin, p\u00e9 sc\u00e9al \u00e9.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apparently Ireland is the last country in western Europe to set up a nationwide postal code system and it certainly has raised many “ceisteanna<\/strong>.” \u00a0Will it settle into a “seirbh\u00eds \u00fas\u00e1ideach<\/strong>“?\u00a0\u00a0 Will it offer better recognition to an teanga Gaeilge<\/strong> in the future?\u00a0 I’m tempted to ask if Ireland really has a new efficient effective\u00a0c\u00f3ras c\u00f3d poist<\/strong> or whether it’s simply a new serving of old codswallop.\u00a0\u00a0 Or perhaps a dose of old codology.\u00a0 Do bhar\u00fail?\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ceann de na hailt is sine faoi na c\u00f3id<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.beo.ie\/alt-mibhuntaisti-na-gcod-poist.aspx, M\u00edbhunt\u00e1ist\u00ed na gC\u00f3d Poist, le P\u00e1draig Mac \u00c9amoinn, Meitheamh 2005.<\/p>\n

C\u00fapla cinn \u00f3n bhliain seo caite (2014) <\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/environment\/new-irish-postcodes-to-be-sent-to-2-2m-households-in-spring-2015-1.1776841, 4\/28\/14<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.rte.ie\/news\/2014\/1105\/657111-eircode\/, 11\/5\/14<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/social-affairs\/devil-is-in-the-detail-of-new-postcode-system-1.1994401, 11\/10\/14<\/p>\n

Agus an hurlamaboc deireanach (2015) <\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/ireland\/eircode-is-useless-says-transport-and-courier-trade-body-340245.html, 7\/2\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/politics\/thousands-of-place-names-have-no-eircode-says-campaign-group-1.2282592, 7\/12\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.rte.ie\/news\/nuacht\/2015\/0713\/714443-coras-cod-poist-seolta-ach-agoidithe-gaeilge-ag-cur-ina-aghaidh\/, 7\/13\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/ireland\/irish-news\/eircode-q-a-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-new-system-1.2283200, 7\/13\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/ireland\/eircode-postcodes-will-be-standard-in-2-years-342327.html, 7\/14\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/ireland\/protest-over-irish-language-omissions-342326.html, 7\/14\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/ireland\/postcode-issued-in-name-of-dead-man-342538.html, 7\/15\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/editorial\/long-overdue-introduction-of-postcodes-1.2285003, 7\/15\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/viewpoints\/yourview\/eircode-is-like-something-out-of-monty-python-342928.html, 7\/17\/15<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/opinion\/letters\/introducing-eircode-1.2287408, 7\/17\/15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Learners of Irish outside of Ireland often show surprise at the way addresses \u00a0(seolta\u00ed) are typically taught in Irish language textbooks, especially ones that primarily depict rural life (an saol faoin tuath).\u00a0 Typically, there will be the addressee’s name, a house name (Radharc na Farraige, mar shampla), a townland name (An Cnoc, mar…<\/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":[390282,390279,390289,8667,390287,390280,5878,390281,8612,390284,390283,390285,390288,390290,390286],"class_list":["post-6965","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-cod-poist","tag-coid-phoist","tag-comhad","tag-eclipsis","tag-eircode","tag-gcod","tag-lenition","tag-phoist","tag-poist","tag-postchod","tag-postchoid","tag-zip-code","tag-zipchomhad","tag-zipeail","tag-zone-improvement-plan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965","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=6965"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6970,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6965\/revisions\/6970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}