{"id":741,"date":"2011-03-26T11:56:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T11:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=741"},"modified":"2015-02-13T10:57:40","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T10:57:40","slug":"bandeirgeeilifinti-agus-goirmeluchoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/bandeirgeeilifinti-agus-goirmeluchoga\/","title":{"rendered":"B\u00e1ndeirge\/Eilifint\u00ed agus Goirme\/Luch\u00f3ga"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Since we\u2019ve started talking about eilifint\u00ed b\u00e1ndearga, <\/strong>we might as well continue with the rest of Jack London\u2019s expression, namely, the luch\u00f3ga gorma<\/strong> (blue mice).\u00a0 According to London, both of these animals are seen frequently seen in alcoholic hallucinations.<\/p>\n

Of course, our real purpose here isn\u2019t to analyze b\u00e1ndeirge na n-eilifint\u00ed<\/strong> or goirme na luch\u00f3g,<\/strong> but to practice pairing feminine nouns with adjectives, in the singular and in the plural.\u00a0 In case anyone wants more mundane examples of the same grammatical features, we\u2019ll also practice with the words for \u201cshoe\u201d and for \u201cstreet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The translation sequence is given after the actual Irish, for the first set, instead of line by line, just for a little more d\u00fashl\u00e1n<\/strong>.\u00a0 Note that the feminine singular examples have lenition, with \u201cb\u00e1ndearg\u201d <\/strong>becoming \u201cbh\u00e1ndearg\u201d <\/strong>and \u201cgorm\u201d <\/strong>becoming \u201cghorm.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

eilifint bh\u00e1ndearg<\/strong><\/p>\n

an eilifint bh\u00e1ndearg <\/strong><\/p>\n

eilifint\u00ed b\u00e1ndearga<\/strong><\/p>\n

na heilifint\u00ed b\u00e1ndearga, <\/strong>with the standard prefixing of \u201ch\u201d before plural nouns beginning with vowels when they come after \u201cna<\/strong>\u201d (plural form of \u201cthe\u201d)<\/p>\n

i mB\u00e9arla<\/strong>: pink elephant, the pink elephant, pink elephants, the pink elephants<\/p>\n

And for our mice, since \u201cluch\u00f3g\u201d<\/strong> is also feminine,<\/p>\n

luch\u00f3g ghorm<\/strong><\/p>\n

an luch\u00f3g ghorm<\/strong><\/p>\n

luch\u00f3ga gorma<\/strong><\/p>\n

na luch\u00f3ga gorma<\/strong><\/p>\n

Not sure how you\u2019d work pink elephants and blue mice into an everyday conversation?\u00a0\u00a0 How about shoes, then, or streets, as promised above?\u00a0 We\u2019ll use some nice practical adjectives, \u201cbig\u201d and \u201clong,\u201d to modify them:<\/p>\n

br\u00f3g mh\u00f3r<\/strong><\/p>\n

an bhr\u00f3g mh\u00f3r<\/strong><\/p>\n

br\u00f3ga m\u00f3ra<\/strong><\/p>\n

na br\u00f3ga m\u00f3ra<\/strong><\/p>\n

And \u201cstreet\u201d (remember the \u201cs\u201d-becoming-\u201cts\u201d rule for feminine singular nouns)<\/p>\n

sr\u00e1id fhada <\/strong>(remember that \u201cfh\u201d is always silent in Irish, so \u201cfhada<\/strong>\u201d sounds like \u201cAH-duh\u201d)<\/p>\n

an tsr\u00e1id fhada<\/strong> (remember the \u201cs\u201d is now completely silent, so \u201ctsr\u00e1id<\/strong>\u201d sounds like \u201ctrawdj\u201d)<\/p>\n

sr\u00e1ideanna fada <\/strong>(no plural ending for \u201cfada<\/strong>,\u201d or, for that matter, for most adjectives that end in vowels)<\/p>\n

na sr\u00e1ideanna fada<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just for a little contrast, we could switch to a masculine noun.\u00a0 For that, I\u2019ll pick an extremely mundane noun, carbhat<\/strong>, following the lead of Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry (Le Petit Prince<\/em>), who picked beiriste, galf, an pholait\u00edocht<\/strong> and carbhait<\/strong> as the most suitable topics for having serious conversations with unimaginative adults.\u00a0 Of course, when Saint-Exup\u00e9ry picked them, they were in French (cravates<\/em>, etc.), not Irish, but thanks to Breand\u00e1n \u00d3 Doibhlin\u2019s translation, we can now read An Prionsa Beag<\/em><\/strong> in Irish.\u00a0 Just to challenge the presumed leamhas<\/strong> (drabness) of neckties, we\u2019ll use a \u201cflashy tie\u201d as our example:<\/p>\n

carbhat p\u00e9acach<\/strong><\/p>\n

an carbhat p\u00e9acach<\/strong><\/p>\n

carbhait ph\u00e9acacha<\/strong><\/p>\n

na carbhait ph\u00e9acacha<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are two key features to note here, in comparison to feminine nouns.\u00a0 First, the adjective is not lenited in the singular (carbhat p\u00e9acach<\/strong>).\u00a0 You might also be wondering about the lenition of \u201cp\u00e9acach<\/strong>\u201d in the plural.\u00a0 That\u2019s the second key feature.\u00a0 Lenition is used for adjectives modifying masculine nouns whose plural form is made by inserting the letter \u201ci\u201d (b\u00e1id<\/strong>, etc.) instead of adding an ending (like \u201c\u2013anna\u201d or \u201c-\u00ed\u201d).\u00a0 You might remember typical examples of i-insertion, like \u201cfir mh\u00f3ra<\/strong>\u201d (big men) and \u201cb\u00e1id bheaga\u201d<\/strong> (little boats).\u00a0 Those would be in contrast to plurals formed by adding actual endings, like \u201cCDanna deasa<\/strong>,\u201d \u201cdl\u00fathdhiosca\u00ed deasa<\/strong>\u201d (also means \u201cnice CDs\u201d) and, for what it\u2019s worth, but irresistibly, \u201cyurtanna m\u00f3ra<\/strong>\u201d (big yurts) and \u201cyurtanna<\/strong> beaga<\/strong>\u201d (little yurts).<\/p>\n

Getting back to our original premise, which, if there is a discernible one, is that elephants and mice somehow go together, at least in siabhr\u00e1nachta\u00ed<\/strong>.\u00a0 What is it about elephants and mice anyway? \u00a0\u00a0The combo seems to go back at least to Roman days, as witnessed by the proverb \u201cElephantus non capit murem<\/em>\u201d (N\u00ed bheireann eilifint ar luch\u00f3g<\/strong>).\u00a0 And jumping forward about 2000 years, Disney immortalized the elephant\/mouse relationship with Dumbo\u2019s buddy, Timothy Q. Mouse.\u00a0 But Timothy isn\u2019t blue \u2013 I just double-checked some images from the 1941 movie.\u00a0 So, I suppose, maidir le heilifint\u00ed agus luch\u00f3ga<\/strong>, that it\u2019s just a natural pairing based on extreme opposites in size, an mh\u00f3r agus an-bheag<\/strong>.\u00a0 I wish I could check with Jack London!<\/p>\n

To take it all back a step further, apparently Jack London\u2019s inspiration for his line was an even earlier popular phrase, 1890s-ish, to see \u201cpink giraffes.\u201d\u00a0 In Irish, that would be \u201csior\u00e1if bh\u00e1ndearga<\/strong>,\u201d or, in the singular, \u201csior\u00e1f b\u00e1ndearg<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 But that is a hallucination of a different shape, albeit the same color, and so will remain a topic for blag \u00e9igin eile<\/strong>. \u00a0.<\/p>\n

You might have noticed that we didn\u2019t really deal with examples in the possessive yet (the tail of the blue mouse, etc.).\u00a0 That will also have to wait for blag \u00e9igin eile, <\/strong>although if you look carefully above, there are two examples worked seamlessly into the text.\u00a0 <\/strong>Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed this discussion of adjective\/noun agreement in Irish, even if some of the sampla\u00ed<\/strong> weren\u2019t exactly \u201cina ngn\u00e1thshampla\u00ed<\/strong>.\u201d \u00a0SGF, \u00f3 R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais: b\u00e1ndeirge<\/strong>, pinkness; beiriste<\/strong>, bridge (card-game); gn\u00e1th<\/strong>-, ordinary; goirme<\/strong>, blueness; p\u00e9acach<\/strong>, flashy, gaudy; siabhr\u00e1nacht<\/strong>, hallucination (just a reminder from the last blog)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Since we\u2019ve started talking about eilifint\u00ed b\u00e1ndearga, we might as well continue with the rest of Jack London\u2019s expression, namely, the luch\u00f3ga gorma (blue mice).\u00a0 According to London, both of these animals are seen frequently seen in alcoholic hallucinations. Of course, our real purpose here isn\u2019t to analyze b\u00e1ndeirge na n-eilifint\u00ed or goirme…<\/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":[],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","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=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6335,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions\/6335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}