{"id":746,"date":"2011-03-30T20:49:34","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T20:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=746"},"modified":"2015-02-13T14:16:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T14:16:22","slug":"speaking-%e2%80%9cof-blue-mice%e2%80%9d-and-%e2%80%9cof-pink-elephants%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/speaking-%e2%80%9cof-blue-mice%e2%80%9d-and-%e2%80%9cof-pink-elephants%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaking \u201cof blue mice\u201d and \u201cof pink elephants\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A recent blog hinted at some upcoming entries on possessive forms, so here they are.\u00a0\u00a0 We start with a few more luch\u00f3g ghorm \/ eilifint bh\u00e1ndearg <\/strong>examples and then transition to some more practical phrases that indicate possession, and maybe even point towards some Easter expressions, for the upcoming holiday.\u00a0 Some of you might remember the chocolate Easter Bunny ears series from last year, so maybe we can make some of those phrases the basis for more expressions in the possessive.<\/p>\n

If anyone has just joined the blog, you might want to backtrack to a few blogs back to see why we\u2019re talking about blue mice and pink elephants anyway.\u00a0 Blame it on Jack London and an t-\u00f3lach\u00e1n<\/strong>, if you\u2019re looking for an improbable probable cause!<\/p>\n

Why do Irish nouns have a \u201cpossessive\u201d form (aka an fhoirm sa tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>)?\u00a0 Primarily it indicates ownership, but in Irish, \u201cpossessive\u201d forms can also be used a) as modifiers (like adjectives), b) to indicate parts \u201cof\u201d something, and c) as the object of verbal nouns.\u00a0 That last category is probably the most different from teangacha eile<\/strong>, so it may require a blog (n\u00f3 dh\u00f3<\/strong>) on its own, but we may be able to at least touch on it here.<\/p>\n

One thing the term \u201cpossessive\u201d doesn\u2019t<\/em> indicate in the grammar world is spiritual or soul possession \u00e0 la Linda Blair, the head-turning, invective-spewing trance-like state depicted in movies like \u201cAn tEacsaircist\u00ed.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>If we ever get around to that topic, which would be called \u201cseilbh ainspride<\/strong>,\u201d it might be around O\u00edche Shamhna.\u00a0 Am feili\u00fanach? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are some examples of \u201c(an) luch\u00f3g ghorm\u201d <\/strong>in the possessive:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

ruball na luch\u00f3ige goirme<\/strong><\/p>\n

Notice a couple of changes here:<\/p>\n

\u201can\u201d <\/strong>becomes \u201cna\u201d <\/strong>for possessive forms of feminine singular definite nouns<\/p>\n

\u201cluch\u00f3g\u201d <\/strong>becomes \u201cluch\u00f3ige\u201d <\/strong>with the possessive ending \u201c-\u00f3ige\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cgorm\u201d <\/strong>becomes \u201cgoirme,\u201d <\/strong>for the feminine singular possessive<\/p>\n

What\u2019s \u201cruball\u201d?\u00a0 <\/strong>\u201cTail.\u201d\u00a0 A shortened form of \u201ceireaball\u201d <\/strong>(tail).<\/p>\n

So the whole phrase means \u201cthe tail of the blue mouse.\u201d\u00a0 Notice that the definite article (\u201cthe\u201d in English) only occurs once in the Irish phrase (\u201cna<\/strong>\u201d), in the middle, not twice (as it would in English).<\/p>\n

If the phrase is indefinite (a tail of a blue mouse), there is no change.\u00a0 At least that\u2019s the case these days.\u00a0 It used to be that \u201cblue mouse\u201d would change here as well, but it\u2019s not the norm now. \u00a0So the phrase is:<\/p>\n

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

How about “the trunk (trunc, <\/strong>remember, no \u201ck\u201d to speak of in Irish) of the pink elephant”?<\/p>\n

trunc na heilifinte b\u00e1ndeirge <\/strong>(the trunk of the pink elephant)<\/p>\n

trunc eilifint bh\u00e1ndearg <\/strong>(a trunk of a pink elephant)<\/p>\n

While having a tail or a trunk may not be ownership in the formal sense, it qualifies for the use of the possessive form (an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>) in Irish.<\/p>\n

And that will actually bring us to deireadh an bhlag seo<\/strong>, so cluasa coin\u00edn\u00ed, an Ch\u00e1isc, codanna, ainmfhocail ch\u00e1il\u00edochta<\/strong>, and ainmfhocail bhriathartha<\/strong> will have to wait their \u201cseal<\/strong>\u201d ([shal] turn). \u00a0As will na foirmeacha iolra <\/strong>and\u00a0na sampla\u00ed praitici\u00fala.\u00a0 Go dt\u00ed sin, sgf, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) A recent blog hinted at some upcoming entries on possessive forms, so here they are.\u00a0\u00a0 We start with a few more luch\u00f3g ghorm \/ eilifint bh\u00e1ndearg examples and then transition to some more practical phrases that indicate possession, and maybe even point towards some Easter expressions, for the upcoming holiday.\u00a0 Some of you…<\/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":[374989,375021,375019,375026,375024,375018,375023,32916,375022,375025,374954,375017,375020],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-blue-mice","tag-eacsaircisti","tag-eacsaircistithe","tag-eilifint-bhandearg","tag-exorcist","tag-heacsaircistithe","tag-invective-spewing","tag-jack-london","tag-linda-blair","tag-luchog-ghorm","tag-pink-elephants","tag-seilbh-ainspride","tag-teacsaircisti"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746","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=746"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6340,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746\/revisions\/6340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}