{"id":766,"date":"2011-04-08T14:41:22","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T14:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=766"},"modified":"2012-04-05T01:51:25","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T01:51:25","slug":"an-chead-diochlaonadh-newts-frogs-and-for-easter-baskets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-chead-diochlaonadh-newts-frogs-and-for-easter-baskets\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ch\u00e9ad D\u00edochlaonadh: Newts, Frogs, and, for Easter, Baskets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

We\u2019ve recently seen a number of first-declension nouns in Irish, with their various forms.\u00a0 You might have noticed how when we say \u201chats of men\u201d or \u201ceyes of newts,\u201d the plural form appears to look singular.\u00a0 In other words, \u201cfear\u201d <\/strong>normally means \u201ca man\u201d but can mean \u201cof men\u201d in the right grammatical context.\u00a0 Likewise, \u201cni\u00fat\u201d <\/strong>can be either \u201ca newt\u201d or \u201cof newts.\u201d\u00a0 When the phrases are definite (i.e. when we\u2019re saying \u201cthe hats of the men\u201d or \u201cthe tails of the newts\u201d), there is a little less ambiguity, because we may have an initial change as well (like \u201cfear<\/strong>\u201d becoming \u201cbhfear<\/strong>\u201d).\u00a0 But for \u201cni\u00fat<\/strong>,\u201d unfortunately for foghlaimeoir\u00ed<\/strong>, no initial change because \u201cn\u201d can\u2019t be eclipsed.<\/p>\n

This applies to the most typical first-declension nouns, but there is a sub-category (including nouns like \u201cr\u00f3n\u201d<\/strong> and \u201csc\u00e9al\u201d<\/strong>), for which it doesn\u2019t apply.\u00a0 That will also be addressed below.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s take a closer look at some of these plural forms, keeping in mind the difference between \u201chata\u00ed fear<\/strong>\u201d and \u201chata\u00ed na bhfear<\/strong>\u201d (see eochair<\/strong> below if the difference is meirgeach<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with \u201ccise\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d (basket), since that will show us an initial change (eclipsis):<\/p>\n

luach cise\u00e1in, luach an chise\u00e1in<\/strong> (both singular: a basket\u2019s price, the basket\u2019s price)<\/p>\n

luachanna cise\u00e1n, luachanna na gcise\u00e1n<\/strong> (both plural: prices of baskets, the prices of the baskets)<\/p>\n

Note that in the genitive plural, the ending is \u201c-\u00e1n,\u201d not \u201c-\u00e1in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, not all nouns begin with consonants that can be \u201ceclipsed.\u201d\u00a0 Only b, c, d, f, g, p, t are affected by this initial change (a mb\u00e1id<\/strong>, their boats, but a m\u00e1la\u00ed<\/strong>, their bags).\u00a0 So, for newts, there will be no change at the beginning or at the end of the word.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because initial \u201cn\u201d cannot be eclipsed and \u201cni\u00fat<\/strong>\u201d belongs to the main group of first-declension nouns whose genitive plural ending is the same as the nominative singular.<\/p>\n

ruball ni\u00fait, ruball an ni\u00fait<\/strong> (a newt\u2019s tail, the tail of the newt)<\/p>\n

rubaill ni\u00fat, rubaill na ni\u00fat<\/strong> (newts\u2019 tails, the tails of the newts)<\/p>\n

For \u201cfrog,\u201d if we use \u201closc\u00e1n<\/strong>,\u201d we\u2019ll have a similar situation:<\/p>\n

cos losc\u00e1in, cos an losc\u00e1in<\/strong> (a frog\u2019s leg, the leg of the frog)<\/p>\n

cosa losc\u00e1n, cosa na losc\u00e1n<\/strong> (frogs\u2019 legs, the legs of the frogs)<\/p>\n

There are other words for \u201cfrog,\u201d so we might do more with alternate choices later.\u00a0 I\u2019m somewhat partial to phrases like \u201ccos an fhroig<\/strong>,\u201d which has the silent \u201cfh-,\u201d making the phrase sounds like \u201ckussunRIG.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s still first-declension masculine.\u00a0 Likewise, there\u2019s \u201closcann<\/strong>\u201d (close to \u201closc\u00e1n\u201d<\/strong> but not the same d\u00edochlaonadh<\/strong>) and then there\u2019s \u201cfrogs\u201d in railroading and \u201cfrogs\u201d in horses\u2019 hoofs, frog fasteners, and, if I can track down the preferred usage, \u201cfrogs\u201d in fiddle bows.\u00a0 Not to mention frogair\u00ed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If anyone\u2019s really loving (chun McDonaldais a labhairt<\/strong>) this t\u00e9ama d\u00e9bheathach<\/strong>, maybe we\u2019ll continue it in a future blog, including torb\u00e1in<\/strong> (tadpoles) and eirc luachra<\/strong> (efts), which will also bring up the interesting taxonomic dilemma of whether to say \u201cni\u00fat<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cearc luachra<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cearc sl\u00e9ibhe<\/strong>,\u201d and how to handle their genitive forms.<\/p>\n

To get back to the grammatical side of things, I mentioned above that there\u2019s a subset within the first declension of nouns that have the same ending for nominative and genitive plural.\u00a0 Ahh, just when were getting used to the system described above.\u00a0 N\u00edl aon neart agamsa air \u2013 sin mar at\u00e1 agus seo sampla\u00ed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

r\u00f3n, an r\u00f3n<\/strong>, seal, the seal<\/p>\n

lapa r\u00f3in, lapa an r\u00f3in<\/strong>, a seal\u2019s flipper, the flipper of the seal<\/p>\n

r\u00f3nta, na r\u00f3nta<\/strong>, seals, the seals<\/p>\n

lapa\u00ed r\u00f3nta, lapa\u00ed na r\u00f3nta<\/strong>, seals\u2019 flippers, the flippers of the seals<\/p>\n

\u201cSc\u00e9al<\/strong>\u201d follows the same pattern:<\/p>\n

sc\u00e9al, an sc\u00e9al<\/strong>, story, the story<\/p>\n

t\u00e9ama sc\u00e9il, t\u00e9ama an sc\u00e9il<\/strong>, a story\u2019s theme, the theme of the story<\/p>\n

sc\u00e9alta, na sc\u00e9alta<\/strong> (or sc\u00e9alta\u00ed,<\/strong> but that difference\u00a0won\u2019t affect this issue)<\/p>\n

t\u00e9ama\u00ed sc\u00e9alta, t\u00e9ama\u00ed na sc\u00e9alta\u00ed<\/strong>, stories\u2019 themes, the themes of the stories<\/p>\n

It probably seems like learning noun forms in Irish goes, like \u201cb\u00f3thar na hobad<\/strong>,\u201d ever on.\u00a0 Agus t\u00e9ann <\/strong>(and it does).\u00a0 \u201cNa hobad<\/strong>\u201d?\u00a0 genitive plural of \u201can hobad<\/strong>,\u201d a first-declension noun with \u201cna hobaid<\/strong>\u201d as the nominative plural. \u00a0Just whetting your appetite for the long-awaited Irish translation of J. R. R. Tolkien\u2019s The Hobbit<\/em>, which should be available this summer!<\/p>\n

Oh, yes, one last amphibian-ish question for you \u2013 kudos to anyone who can answer this:<\/p>\n

N\u00edl ach aon speiceas amh\u00e1in buaife at\u00e1 d\u00fachasach d\u2019\u00c9irinn.\u00a0 C\u00e9n s\u00f3rt buaife \u00e9?<\/strong>\u00a0 To make this a true cliff-hanger ending, the answer won\u2019t be at the bottom here but i mblag eile<\/strong>!\u00a0 Or perhaps someone will send the freagra<\/strong> in as a comment \u2013 bheadh s\u00e9 sin go deas<\/strong>!\u00a0 And how did this \u201cbuaf<\/strong>\u201d survive expulsion by Naomh P\u00e1draig<\/strong> \u2013 bhuel<\/strong>, I\u2019m not sure I can really answer that, but t\u00e1 f\u00e1ilte romhaibh an cheist sin a phl\u00e9<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

Coming up soon, if not next, ainmhithe mionchatacha cl\u00famhacha cl\u00famh\u00fala, na cinn a dtugann cuid mh\u00f3r againn \u201cgleoite\u201d <\/strong>(cute in appearance) orthu, uain agus sic\u00edn\u00ed (scallt\u00e1in) agus coin\u00edn\u00ed agus lach\u00edn\u00ed, mar shampla.\u00a0 Ainmhithe at\u00e1 ina siombail\u00ed C\u00e1sca.\u00a0 Sgf, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eochair: hata\u00ed fear, <\/strong>men\u2019s hats; hata\u00ed na bhfear<\/strong>, the hats of the men<\/p>\n

Gluais: d\u00e9bheathach<\/strong>, amphibian (lit. \u201ctwo-lived\u201d), frogaire<\/strong>, frogman; McDonaldais, m\u2019ainm ar Bh\u00e9arla McDonald\u2019s a chuir an fr\u00e1sa<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m loving it\u201d i mb\u00e9al na ndaoine, d\u2019ainneoin ghn\u00e1thrialacha an Bh\u00e9arla<\/strong> (I love it in ionad<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m loving it\u201d); pl\u00e9<\/strong>, to discuss<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) We\u2019ve recently seen a number of first-declension nouns in Irish, with their various forms.\u00a0 You might have noticed how when we say \u201chats of men\u201d or \u201ceyes of newts,\u201d the plural form appears to look singular.\u00a0 In other words, \u201cfear\u201d normally means \u201ca man\u201d but can mean \u201cof men\u201d in the right grammatical…<\/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":[4291,207444,207443,7372,3675,207440,3167,32970,207438,207439,207446,32971,3727,207445,207447,5667,3294,207442,207448,207441],"class_list":["post-766","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-basket","tag-bhfear","tag-cisean","tag-declension","tag-decline","tag-diochlaonadh","tag-easter","tag-fear","tag-fhear","tag-fhir","tag-fhroig","tag-fir","tag-first-declension","tag-frog","tag-froig","tag-irish","tag-man","tag-newt","tag-niuit","tag-niut"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766","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=766"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":769,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/766\/revisions\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}