{"id":7422,"date":"2015-12-13T22:44:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T22:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7422"},"modified":"2015-12-14T13:03:49","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T13:03:49","slug":"men-and-christmas-specifically-fir-shneachta-and-fir-shinseir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/men-and-christmas-specifically-fir-shneachta-and-fir-shinseir\/","title":{"rendered":"Men and Christmas, specifically, ‘Fir Shneachta’ and ‘Fir Shins\u00e9ir’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Teaghlach<\/a>

Teaghlach sneachta i mBoise, Idaho–fear sneachta, bean sneachta agus beirt ph\u00e1ist\u00ed sneachta (grafaic: By Kencf0618 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)<\/em><\/p><\/div>OK, so this isn’t really going to be a Men-Are-from-Mars-Women-Are-from-Venus-y expos\u00e9 of the relationship between men and women around Christmastime.\u00a0 So we won’t be dealing with “man caves” (*fearuaimheanna, is d\u00f3cha<\/strong>) or oidhreacht an uaimhigh i socha\u00ed an lae inniu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Instead, we’ll simply look at the Irish words for “snowmen” and “gingerbread men,” both popular at this time of year.\u00a0 We’ll also look at “snowwomen” (Yay! That passed the spellchecker, so I guess the -owwo- is legit — I was owwondering!) and “gingerbread women,” but honestly, there aren’t nearly as many references to the distaff side of today’s topic, at least not online.<\/p>\n

In today’s blog, we’ll discuss the basics.\u00a0 Maybe in an upcoming blog we can discuss snowperson fashions, the relative merits of lumps of coal vs. currants for buttons, whether frosting is really “frost” from a snowman’s perspective, and whether having a carrot for a nose gives one a Pinocchio or Cyranose (oops, but not really!) de Bergerac complex.\u00a0 But meanwhile, here’s the lowdown on the snowmen and women:<\/p>\n

an fear sneachta<\/strong>, the snowman<\/p>\n

hata an fhir shneachta<\/strong>, the hat of the snowman<\/p>\n

na fir shneachta<\/strong>, the snowmen<\/p>\n

hata\u00ed na bhfear sneachta<\/strong>, the hats of the snowmen<\/p>\n

And for the women,<\/p>\n

an bhean sneachta<\/strong> (Why not “shneachta<\/strong>“? \u00a0Remember the d-n-t-l-s rule, with “s” resisting lenition after “n”)<\/p>\n

hata na mn\u00e1 sneachta<\/strong>, the hat of the snowwoman<\/p>\n

na mn\u00e1 sneachta<\/strong>, the snowwomen, and for one of the few samples of this phrase that I can find online, check out the photo posted by Osgur \u00d3 Ciardha at https:\/\/t.co\/Emhl3DpSuy (https:\/\/twitter.com\/OsgurOCiardha\/statuses\/669954578671104000).\u00a0 Osgur has aptly captioned his picture: “T\u00e1 na mn\u00e1-sneachta Kardashian i @SmithfieldSq anocht<\/strong>,” given the generous backsides presented by these snowperson-costume-clad folks.\u00a0 Which leads us to our final line of grammar practice, probably not found in any traditional Irish grammar book:<\/p>\n

t\u00f3ineanna na mban sneachta Kardashian (sa phicti\u00far i Smithfield Square)<\/strong>, the backsides of the Kardashian snowwomen (in the picture in Smithfield Square)<\/p>\n

Of course, what I’m really waiting to see is a “bean sneachta Cardassian<\/strong>,” or even a “fear sneachta<\/strong>” version.\u00a0 But somehow I don’t think the issue of frozen precipitation in the Cardassian Union ever came up in any of the Star Trek<\/em> episodes, so I doubt there’s a tradition of snow figures there.\u00a0 But with a little extra attention to detail (iomair\u00ed an mhuin\u00edl, srl.<\/strong>) and some green food coloring, I’m sure it could be managed.\u00a0 Oh, and a drop of blue for the women for the forehead marking outlined by “iomair\u00ed a n-\u00e9adain<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

And now for “na fir shins\u00e9ir<\/strong>,” starting with the singular form:<\/p>\n

an fear sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the gingerbread man<\/p>\n

cnaip\u00ed an fhir shins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the buttons of the gingerbread man<\/p>\n

na fir shins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the gingerbread men<\/p>\n

cnaip\u00ed na bhfear sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the buttons of the gingerbread men<\/p>\n

And now the gingerbread women:<\/p>\n

an bhean sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the gingerbread woman<\/p>\n

cnaip\u00ed na mn\u00e1 sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the buttons of the gingerbread woman<\/p>\n

na mn\u00e1 sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the gingerbread women<\/p>\n

cnaip\u00ed na mban sins\u00e9ir<\/strong>, the buttons of the gingerbread women<\/p>\n

Well, those are the main images I can think of for Christmas treats and pastimes.\u00a0 Speaking of “fir<\/strong>” and “mn\u00e1<\/strong>” and aimsir na Nollag<\/strong>, pretty soon we’ll have to revisit the “naon\u00far ban ag damhsa<\/strong>” and the “deichni\u00far tiarna\u00ed ag l\u00e9imneach<\/strong>” in the song “12 L\u00e1 na Nollag<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But meanwhile, you might want to check out other blog posts about that Christmas carol in this series, starting with https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/ce-mhead-patraisc-ce-mhead-drumadoir-or-12-la-na-nollag-redux-and-an-irish-counting-lesson-to-boot\/ (C\u00e9 Mh\u00e9ad Patraisc? C\u00e9 Mh\u00e9ad Drumad\u00f3ir?<\/strong> (or \u201912 L\u00e1 na Nollag<\/strong>\u2019 Redux and an Irish Counting Lesson to boot<\/a>, Posted on 18. Dec, 2013 by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, I’ll just wrap up by saying that I haven’t seen much discussion of “man caves” in Irish, or any at all, really, but there are countless references to the idea in English.\u00a0 Some of them also bring up the question of the household space designated for the woman, such as http:\/\/havetimenowwhat.com\/2012\/09\/06\/if-men-have-man-caves-what-do-women-have\/ (If Men have Man Caves, What do Women Have?\u00a0 Yvonne<\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0September 6, 2012<\/a>).\u00a0 Yvonne, for one, likes “She Cave” (but not “Woman Cave,” which would be a closer parallel to “Man Cave”).<\/p>\n

I doubt that that Yvonne had any reason to ponder what “She Cave” would be in Irish, but my gut reaction is that it would be a linguistic concatenation of meanings, since “s\u00ed<\/strong>” in Irish can mean both “she” (the pronoun) and “fairies” (collectively) or “fairy mound.”\u00a0 The latter refers to the underground dwelling place of fairies, who, as you may remember, in Irish folklore are generally approximately human-sized.\u00a0 So they don’t live under flower petals or toadstools.\u00a0 You might remember “s\u00ed<\/strong>” for “fairy mound” from the musical composition, “S\u00ed Bheag, S\u00ed Mh\u00f3r<\/strong>” (lit. little fairy mound, big fairy mound), often anglicized as “Sheebeg, Sheemore.”<\/p>\n

If we put “s\u00ed<\/strong>” for “she” (i.e. woman) in front of a word like “uaimh<\/strong>” (cave), we’d end up with “s\u00ed-uaimh<\/strong>,” which\u00a0would start to sound suspiciously like a possible fairy dwelling, instead of a room set up by a woman for “cearda\u00edocht<\/strong>” or “tioms\u00fa i leabhar gearrth\u00f3g<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Context should tell us that the phrase is supposed to mean “she-cave,” but what if the context is unclear?\u00a0 And what if fairy women have taken up scrapbooking and need their own space for it?\u00a0 S\u00ed-s\u00ed-uaimheanna<\/strong>? \u00a0Or “s\u00ed-uaimheanna s\u00ed<\/strong>?\u00a0 And one fairy woman’s she-cave?\u00a0 S\u00ed-uaimh si\u00f3ige<\/strong>?\u00a0 Well, that’s food for thought.\u00a0 On that note, let’s scrap the “gearrth\u00f3ga<\/strong>” (scraps, clippings) and go for the “gread\u00f3ga<\/strong>” (appetizers), since, after all, ’tis the season …<\/p>\n

Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

PS: If you want a little more reading practice, in Irish, about gingerbread men, here’s a fun article: http:\/\/tuairisc.ie\/ma-ta-fir-sinseir-le-deanamh-biodh-sinsear-agat\/ (M\u00e1 t\u00e1 fir sins\u00e9ir le d\u00e9anamh, b\u00edodh sins\u00e9ar agat!<\/a><\/strong>, le Bridget Bhreathnach<\/a>, D\u00e9ardaoin, Nollaig<\/strong> 18 2014 ag<\/strong> 10:06 am)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) OK, so this isn’t really going to be a Men-Are-from-Mars-Women-Are-from-Venus-y expos\u00e9 of the relationship between men and women around Christmastime.\u00a0 So we won’t be dealing with “man caves” (*fearuaimheanna, is d\u00f3cha) or oidhreacht an uaimhigh i socha\u00ed an lae inniu. Instead, we’ll simply look at the Irish words for “snowmen” and “gingerbread men,”…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4268,4301,390706,390597,43,390705,32970,390703,390702,390709,365059,5370,390710,390598,306907,289999,6128,275373,6273,6274,229237,390707,390711,365067,111710,111711,6864,984,6875],"class_list":["post-7422","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-ban","tag-bean","tag-bergerac","tag-cardassian","tag-christmas","tag-cyrano","tag-fear","tag-fir-shinseir","tag-fir-shneachta","tag-forehead","tag-ginger","tag-gingerbread","tag-iomaire","tag-kardashian","tag-mban","tag-men","tag-mna","tag-neck","tag-nollag","tag-nollaig","tag-pinocchio","tag-ridge","tag-shinseir","tag-shneachta","tag-sinsear","tag-sinseir","tag-sneachta","tag-snow","tag-snowman"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422","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=7422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7427,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7422\/revisions\/7427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}