{"id":7039,"date":"2015-08-20T20:24:10","date_gmt":"2015-08-20T20:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7039"},"modified":"2015-08-24T19:50:02","modified_gmt":"2015-08-24T19:50:02","slug":"from-fleasc-to-fleiscin-in-irish-or-what-does-a-wreath-have-to-do-with-a-hyphen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/from-fleasc-to-fleiscin-in-irish-or-what-does-a-wreath-have-to-do-with-a-hyphen\/","title":{"rendered":"From ‘fleasc’ to ‘fleisc\u00edn’ in Irish, or, What does a ‘wreath’ have to do with a ‘hyphen’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

In the last blog, I made quite a point of saying that certain compound words include a ‘fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>‘ in Irish and others do not, all depending on the spelling of the words that happen to be joined together in a ‘comhfhocal<\/strong>.’<\/p>\n

What pattern do you see in these examples, all of which are comhfhocail<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

drochl\u00e1<\/strong><\/p>\n

drocho\u00edche<\/strong><\/p>\n

droch-ch\u00e1il<\/strong><\/p>\n

droch-chro\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n

seanfhear<\/strong><\/p>\n

seanbhean<\/strong><\/p>\n

sean\u00fall<\/strong><\/p>\n

sean-n\u00f3s<\/strong><\/p>\n

The above examples show the prefix ‘droch<\/strong>-‘ used with four words.\u00a0 The two that include the ‘fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>‘ begin with the same two letters that the prefix ends with.\u00a0 That is to say, since “droch<\/strong>-” ends in “-ch,” we use the fleisc\u00edn<\/strong> when the second part of the word begins with “-ch” (ch\u00e1il, chro\u00ed<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Of course, the second “ch” in the pattern is because the prefix causes lenition, changing “c” to “ch.”\u00a0 If you look up the root words in a dictionary, you’ll find them under “c,” not under “ch.”\u00a0 So the root words are:<\/p>\n

c\u00e1il<\/strong> [kawl], which means …? (freagra th\u00edos sa ghluais<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

cro\u00ed<\/strong> (krrr<\/sup>ee), which means …? (freagra th\u00edos sa ghluais<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Similarly, when “sean<\/strong>-” comes before “fear<\/strong>” or “bean<\/strong>,” we simply apply lenition, but there’s no fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>. \u00a0So “fear<\/strong>” becomes “fhear<\/strong>” (pronounced “ar” as in “Larry”) and “bean<\/strong>” becomes “bhean<\/strong>” (pronounced “van”) for “seanfhear<\/strong>” and “seanbhean<\/strong>.” \u00a0But with “n\u00f3s<\/strong>,” we need the fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>, so both parts of the word are clear (sean + n\u00f3s<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

So what is this word ‘fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>‘ that we keep using here?\u00a0 It means ‘hyphen’.\u00a0 There are various other forms of the word, like the verb “fleisc\u00edni\u00fa<\/strong>” (to hyphenate) and “fleisc\u00ednithe<\/strong>” (hyphenated).<\/p>\n

‘Fleisc\u00edn<\/strong>‘ is a diminutive of the word ‘fleasc<\/strong>,’ which has a fairly wide range of meanings.\u00a0 We start with “rod” or “wand.”\u00a0 Curve it, and we get ‘fleasc<\/strong>‘ meaning “band,” “hoop,” “circlet,” “rim of a wheel,” “wreath” (and there’s our title connection), or “garland.”\u00a0 In the culinary realm, it can mean a “fillet” or “filet” (a long narrow strip of meat or fish, especially one cut in such a way that it is easy to debone), although these days, that would more likely be “fill\u00e9ad<\/strong>” (fill\u00e9ad sic\u00edn, fill\u00e9ad s\u00f3il bonne femme<\/strong>–what a name!, or st\u00e9ig fill\u00e9id<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

‘Fleasc<\/strong>‘ can be given an anthropomorphic touch and mean a “stripling” or “scion.”\u00a0 And finally, in language, punctuation, and typography, it can mean a “dash,” or historically speaking, the straight line or stroke used in ancient Irish ogham (ogam)<\/strong> writing.<\/p>\n

Curiously, though, if we’re really talking about modern typography, ‘fleasc<\/strong>‘ as ‘dash’ has largely been replaced by ‘dais<\/strong>‘ (pronounced like its English counterpart “dash”).\u00a0 So we have “eim-daiseanna<\/strong>” and “ein-daiseanna<\/strong>” in the fields of “cl\u00f3fhoirne<\/strong>” and “cl\u00f3ghrafa\u00edocht<\/strong>.”\u00a0 To pronounce those, remember, no “eim” as in “Heimlich” or “ein” as in “Einstein” sounds here.\u00a0 Just “eim<\/strong>” like English “hem” and “ein<\/strong>” as in English “pen” or “hen.”\u00a0\u00a0 Kudos to anyone who remembers which mark is wider, the “em-dash” or the “en-dash.”<\/p>\n

And then, just to add to the mix, we have the “corrfhleasc<\/strong>,” which is another type of “dash” in typography.\u00a0 Kudos (again) to anyone who can guess which one. \u00a0Freagra th\u00edos<\/strong>. \u00a0And no, it’s not a “churn dash”–that’d be a “loine<\/strong>.”\u00a0 And it’s not a “dash of milk” (steall bainne, bolgam bainne<\/strong>).\u00a0 Nor is it a type of race, like a “r\u00e1ib c\u00e9ad slat<\/strong>” (hundred-yard dash).<\/p>\n

Did you get the meaning of “corrfhleasc<\/strong>“?\u00a0 If not, t\u00e1 an freagra th\u00edos, faoin ngluais.\u00a0 SGF–R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. This ‘fleasc<\/strong>‘ is a completely different word from ‘fleasc<\/strong>,’ a ‘flask’ for drinking.<\/p>\n

Gluais: c\u00e1il<\/strong>, reputation, so droch-ch\u00e1il<\/strong> means “bad reputation”; cro\u00ed<\/strong>, heart, so droch-chro\u00ed<\/strong> means “bad heart,” which itself can mean “a weak heart” or “an evil heart\/disposition”;\u00a0 n\u00f3s<\/strong> [nohss], custom, manner, style, so “sean-n\u00f3s<\/strong>” means “old custom,” “old manner,” or “old style,” and is primarily used these days to describe music and dance.<\/p>\n

Freagra: corrfhleasc<\/strong> [kor-ly<\/sup>ask, with the “fh” silent], a swung dash.\u00a0 That’s the mark that looks like the ’tilde’ we see in Portuguese, for example (S\u00e3o Paolo<\/em>), but which is used either to indicate similarities or to indicate deliberately omitted parts of words in dictionary entries (sr\u00e1id, ~e, ~eanna<\/strong>, telling us the additional forms are ‘sr\u00e1ide<\/strong>” and ‘sr\u00e1ideanna<\/strong>‘).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) In the last blog, I made quite a point of saying that certain compound words include a ‘fleisc\u00edn‘ in Irish and others do not, all depending on the spelling of the words that happen to be joined together in a ‘comhfhocal.’ What pattern do you see in these examples, all of which are…<\/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":[390381,390380,5552,390383,376720,390382],"class_list":["post-7039","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-dash","tag-fleasc","tag-hyphen","tag-swung-dash","tag-tilde","tag-typography"],"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