{"id":7174,"date":"2015-10-06T19:01:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T19:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7174"},"modified":"2015-10-17T18:30:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T18:30:35","slug":"when-is-dh-pronounced-like-y-in-irish-words-think-a-dhia-and-a-dhiarmaid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/when-is-dh-pronounced-like-y-in-irish-words-think-a-dhia-and-a-dhiarmaid\/","title":{"rendered":"When Is ‘dh’ pronounced like ‘y’ in Irish words?\u00a0 Think ‘a Dhia’ and ‘a Dhiarmaid’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

We recently looked at some Irish words that start with “gh” followed by “e” or “i,” and noted that the “gh” now sounds like “y” as in “year” or “yet” (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 In other words, nothing like a “broad” Irish “gh” (as in “a Ghr\u00e1inn<\/strong>e” or “a ghort<\/strong>“), and, needless to say, nothing like the occasional “gh” we see in English, usually in a loan word or place name (ghat, Western Ghats, ghee, Afghanistan, etc.).<\/p>\n

The good news about “dh” followed by “e” or “i,” is that it’s the same sound as the “gh” followed by “e” or “i.”<\/p>\n

Some of the circumstances in which “d” typically becomes “dh” are:<\/p>\n

Nouns of direct address:<\/p>\n

a Dhia<\/strong> [uh YEE-uh], said when addressing\u00a0Dia<\/strong> (God)<\/p>\n

a Dhiarmaid, <\/strong>said when addressing\u00a0Diarmaid<\/strong> (Dermot), as in “Dia dhuit, a Dhiarmaid<\/strong>” (Hello, Diarmaid)<\/p>\n

Past tense of verbs:<\/p>\n

dheisigh s\u00e9 \u00e9 <\/strong>[YESH-ee … ]\u00a0he repaired it, from the verb\u00a0deisigh<\/strong> (repair)<\/p>\n

Negative of verbs, after “n\u00ed<\/strong>” (though there are some rare exceptions) or “n\u00edor<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

n\u00ed dhearna<\/strong> [nee YARrr<\/sup>-nuh], didn’t make\/didn’t do; the underlying form ” *dearn<\/strong>a ” doesn’t really exist as such in Modern Irish, but we see the same root in “An ndearna<\/strong> …?” and “Nach ndearna<\/strong> …?”<\/p>\n

n\u00edor dheisigh<\/strong> [NEE-ur YESH-ee], didn’t repair<\/p>\n

Possessive:<\/p>\n

mo dhearth\u00e1ir<\/strong> [muh Y\u00c6R-hawrzh<\/sup>], my brother — I know, just one of many ways to say this<\/p>\n

do dheirfi\u00far<\/strong> [duh YERzh<\/sup>-ih-fy<\/sup>oor], your sister — again, just one of several versions<\/p>\n

Actually there don’t seem to be that many other really basic vocab words starting with “de-” or “di” that lend themselves to this exercise, so we could continue with some, um, far-fetched but accurate examples like:<\/p>\n

do dhealg\u00e1n<\/strong>, your knitting-needle<\/p>\n

mo dhearc\u00e1n<\/strong>, my acorn<\/p>\n

a dhineas\u00e1r<\/strong>, my dinosaur<\/p>\n

mo dhi\u00falfhiacail<\/strong>, my milk-tooth<\/p>\n

and although questions have been raised as to its grammaticality, the implied “mo Dhia<\/strong>” in the catchphrase “OMD<\/strong>,” pronounced as “oh muh YEE-uh”, a nice parallel to “OMG” in English.<\/p>\n

Here are some more names with the slender “dh” as “y” pronunciations:<\/p>\n

a Dhearbh\u00e1il<\/strong>, said when addressing Dearbh\u00e1il (Derval, Dervilla, Dervla)<\/p>\n

a Dheirdre<\/strong>, said when addressing Deirdre, generally the same in English.\u00a0 This is a beautiful name with a tragic romantic history, but my experience shows that learners find this challenging to pronounce, because of the combination of slender r’s plus the slender “d.”\u00a0 So the initial “dh” being pronounced “yuh” isn’t really the most challenging aspect of this name, just a bit eye-boggling till you get used to it.\u00a0 And I think people generally do get used to the appearance of the various DHs, GHs, BHs, and MHs, etc., in Irish, fairly rapidly because they occur so frequently.<\/p>\n

a Dhi\u00e1na<\/strong>, said when addressing Di\u00e1na (Diana)<\/p>\n

a Dh\u00e9agl\u00e1in<\/strong>, said when addressing D\u00e9agl\u00e1n (Declan)<\/p>\n

a Dheas\u00fain<\/strong>, said when addressing Deas\u00fan (Jason)<\/p>\n

In case you were wondering about the various names related to Delia, Dillie, and Dina, they all seem to default to “Br\u00edd<\/strong>” (older spelling: Brighid<\/strong>; still older spelling: Brigid<\/strong>).\u00a0 So while there’s a direct address form for “Br\u00edd<\/strong>” (Dia dhuit, a Bhr\u00edd<\/strong>, pronounced like “vreedj”), there’s no Irish direct address form per se for Delia and company.\u00a0 How “Delia” became a nickname or pet name for “Bridget” is a topic I’ve yet to investigate.\u00a0 Any leads from any Br\u00edds out there?<\/p>\n

At any rate, that’s the slender Irish “dh” for you, so remember, it’s nothing like the handful of other non-Irish words that you might typically see that have a “dh” in them (it’s almost non-existent in English): Gandhi, dharma, dharna (yes, both words exist, one with “m,” in Hinduism and Buddhism, and one with “n,” the former practice of fasting at someone’s door until they grant your request or honor your demand — hmm, seems like I’ve heard of that outside India as well!), Dhaulagiri (the mountain), dhow (the boat, which, btw, is “dabha<\/strong>” in Irish, pronounced more or less like “Dow” of “Dow Jones,” but slightly 2-syllable-ish), and the noteworthy “Dhrystone” of “Dhrystone benchmark” in computing.\u00a0 That last word is a deliberate pun on “whetstone” (as in “Whetstone benchmark, natch), presumably by its developer, Reinhold P. Weicker.\u00a0 Anyone know otherwise?<\/p>\n

So what is “Dhrystone benchmark” in Irish, anyway?\u00a0 “Tagamharc pr\u00f3ise\u00e1la<\/strong>,” so the whole “Dhrystone” bit, humorous as it is word-wise, disappears, lock, stock, and barrel. \u00a0But “benchmark” in terms of marking elevation is simply “marc airde<\/strong>.”\u00a0 And so one vocab item leads to another, but the other permutations here will have to wait for “blag \u00e9igin eile<\/strong>.”\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc<\/strong>:\u00a0When Is \u201cgh\u201d pronounced like \u201cy\u201d in Irish words?\u00a0 Think \u2018gheobhaidh\u2019 and \u2018gheocaigh\u2019<\/a>\u00a0Posted on 30. Sep, 2015 by r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a> in Irish Language<\/a>\u00a0(https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/when-is-gh-pronounced-like-y-in-irish-words-think-gheobhaidh-and-gheocaigh\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) We recently looked at some Irish words that start with “gh” followed by “e” or “i,” and noted that the “gh” now sounds like “y” as in “year” or “yet” (nasc th\u00edos).\u00a0 In other words, nothing like a “broad” Irish “gh” (as in “a Ghr\u00e1inne” or “a ghort“), and, needless to say, nothing…<\/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":[390539,390540,390536,376712,390538,51325,390537,229391,229390],"class_list":["post-7174","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-dharma","tag-dharna","tag-dheisigh","tag-dhia","tag-dhrystone","tag-gandhi","tag-mo-dhia","tag-omd","tag-omg"],"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