{"id":7672,"date":"2016-02-22T20:15:31","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T20:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7672"},"modified":"2017-05-06T15:50:46","modified_gmt":"2017-05-06T15:50:46","slug":"an-da-mhuirin-agus-an-da-mhuirin-families-scallops-and-leaf-mould-oh-my-plus-showers-but-that-would-break-an-mheim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-da-mhuirin-agus-an-da-mhuirin-families-scallops-and-leaf-mould-oh-my-plus-showers-but-that-would-break-an-mheim\/","title":{"rendered":"An D\u00e1 Mhuir\u00edn agus an D\u00e1 Mh\u00fair\u00edn (families, scallops, and leaf-mould, oh my! — plus ‘showers’ but that would break ‘an mh\u00e9im’)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Cad<\/a>

Cad \u00ed an chos\u00falacht at\u00e1 idir an d\u00e1 phicti\u00far seo? Leid: n\u00ed bhaineann s\u00e9 leis an bpicti\u00far \u00e9 f\u00e9in ach le litri\u00fa na bhfocal at\u00e1 orthu i nGaeilge. (barr, an sliog\u00e1n: http:\/\/clipartion.com\/free-clipart-12925\/; bun, an gr\u00fapa daoine: http:\/\/www.clipartbest.com\/clipart-yTo59KGTE)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes it seems that no sooner do you learn one Irish word, than you find another one spelled in almost the same way.\u00a0\u00a0 In some cases, these are, in fact, dialect variations of the same word (raibh\/rabh n\u00f3\u00a0madra\/madadh, mar shampla<\/strong>).\u00a0 \u00a0But often they are completely different words, sometimes with just a “fada<\/strong>” of difference.\u00a0 And sometimes there are words spelled exactly the same way, “fadas<\/strong>” and all, with totally different meanings, just to add to the mix.<\/p>\n

So in this blogpost, we’ll look at two pairs of words, one set is spelled identically and the second set differs from them by having a “u” fada<\/strong> (\u00fa) instead of a “u” gearr <\/strong>(u).<\/p>\n

As the title suggests, we have two examples with a short “u.” \u00a0Here’s an overview, then we’ll continue the discussion with a bit more detail.<\/p>\n

1) muir\u00edn<\/strong>, family (an mhuir\u00edn<\/strong>, the family, pl: muir\u00edneacha<\/strong>), which, btw, is grammatically feminine and an exception to the general rule that most words ending in “-\u00edn” (like teach\u00edn, tig\u00edn, b\u00f3ithr\u00edn<\/strong>, and even cail\u00edn<\/strong>) are masculine.<\/p>\n

2) muir\u00edn<\/strong>, scallop (an muir\u00edn<\/strong>, the scallop, pl: muir\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

And two examples with a long “u.”<\/p>\n

3) m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>, \u00a0leaf-mould, vegetable-mould, turf-mould, compost, mire (an m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>, the leaf-mould, etc.; no plural\u00a0because it’s a collective noun)<\/p>\n

4) m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>, brief shower (an m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>, the brief shower; pl: m\u00fair\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Each word has some interesting background and comparisons.<\/p>\n

1) muir\u00edn<\/strong> (family):\u00a0 first, let’s note that there are at least five other words for family in Irish (teaghlach, clann, c\u00faram, comhluadar<\/strong>, and muirear<\/strong>) and that’s not even getting into “fine<\/strong>” (family, clan, kin-group), as used in discussing\u00a0kinship and in plant taxonomy. \u00a0“Teaghlach<\/strong>” is probably the one most people learn first.\u00a0 This set of words is probably worthy of a blog unto itself, am \u00e9igin sa todhcha\u00ed<\/strong>.\u00a0 I can’t help but note though, that “muir\u00edn<\/strong>” and “c\u00far\u00e1m<\/strong>” and \u00a0“muirear<\/strong>” all have additional meanings related to responsibility (muir\u00edn<\/strong>: charge, encumbrance, burden, load; muirear<\/strong>: charge, encumbrance, burden, load, weight, troop, throng, household; c\u00faram<\/strong>: care, charge, task, duty).\u00a0 I guess that speaks for itself.<\/p>\n

And now back to “muir\u00edn<\/strong>” itself.\u00a0 Since most words with an “\u00ad-\u00edn” ending are diminutives (st\u00f3ir\u00edn, Br\u00edd\u00edn, S\u00e9amais\u00edn, Seoin\u00edn, srl.<\/strong>), one wonders if “muir\u00edn<\/strong>” is also.\u00a0 However, looking at some older spellings of it (muirighean<\/strong> or muirghin<\/strong>), I wonder if, instead, it’s based on “gein \/ gin<\/strong>” (conception, genesis, occasionally used for “child”).\u00a0 Once the “g” is lenited (changed to “gh”), the sound would be more like “-\u00edn.”\u00a0 Many such spellings were changed during the spelling reform of the 1950s. \u00a0What the “muir<\/strong>” part of the word might mean, though, is beyond me.\u00a0 Presumably not<\/em> “muir<\/strong>” (sea).<\/p>\n

And now the second “muir\u00edn<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

2) muir\u00edn<\/strong> (scallop) might be related to “muireachaoin<\/strong>,” a general Irish term for the gastropod “murex,” a type of predatory sea snail (Yikes!) although they do seem quite different in shape from scallops.\u00a0\u00a0 In addition, there is a somewhat dated word, “murach<\/strong>,” which is also defined as “murex” (presumably the “purple dye murex”) and can also mean “a type of purple shellfish” or “any type of “shellfish.”\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps this “-\u00edn” suffix is not the original ending, maybe there originally was a word like “*murach\u00edn<\/strong>” (hypothetically) and the “ch” disappeared over time.\u00a0 Other than those possibilities, it’s not clear to me what “muir\u00edn<\/strong>” as “scallop” might be derived from, unless, quite speculatively, there could be a notion of “sea-born” (muir<\/strong> as sea + –ghin<\/strong>), but even I’m not\u00a0 convinced of that one.\u00a0 Eolas ag duine ar bith<\/strong>? \u00a0If “murach<\/strong>” looks like another completely different word you know, or if you’re wondering about the vowel harmony issue, please see the notes below.<\/p>\n

And now for “m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>” with a long u (\u00fa).\u00a0 First, we have the agricultural context:<\/p>\n

3) m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>, \u00a0leaf-mould, compost, etc., is, I assume, a diminutive of “m\u00far<\/strong>,” which can mean “mire” or “puddle,” There is a second word for compost, but it sounds a bit new-fangled to me: me\u00e1n f\u00e1is<\/strong>, lit. a growing medium (and no, that’s not Kathleen Goligher or her fellow spiorad\u00e1ltaithe<\/strong> after consuming Alice’s “Eat Me” size-changing cake — it’s simply decaying organic matter used to facilitate the growth of plants or crops)<\/p>\n

If that’s not enough, we also have gn\u00e1thmh\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong> [GNAW-WIRzh<\/sup>-een], general compost, and a lovely example of multiple lenition within one word, especially if we look at its genitive case in a phrase like “uigeacht an ghn\u00e1thmh\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>” (the texture of the general compost)<\/p>\n

And finally, “m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>” as a weather term.<\/p>\n

4) m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>, brief shower, a diminutive of “m\u00far”<\/strong> (shower, cloud of dust, spindrift).\u00a0 In my experience, “cith<\/strong>” is a more typical word for “shower;” at least that’s the one that gives us related words like “cithfholcad\u00e1n<\/strong>” (a shower, that is, a shower-bath) and “tuar ceatha<\/strong>” (rainbow, lit. sign of a shower). \u00a0But “m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong>” and “m\u00far<\/strong>” certainly can also be used and are related to such weather words as “m\u00fairling<\/strong>” (a heavy sudden shower), “m\u00fara\u00edl<\/strong>” (showery conditions), “ag m\u00fara\u00edl<\/strong>” (showering).<\/p>\n

There are actually a few more words that are worth noting here, although their usage is probably pretty limited today:<\/p>\n

m\u00fair\u00edn na muc<\/strong> (lit. m\u00fair\u00edn<\/strong> of the pigs), a type of seaweed (channel wrack, aka d\u00falam\u00e1n<\/strong> in Irish), presumably a diminutive of “m\u00far<\/strong>,” as noted above, which, intriguingly, can also mean “a type of red seaweed” as well as “mire” or “puddle.” \u00a0\u00a0That is, when it (m\u00far<\/strong>) isn’t busy as a completely different word meaning “wall (especially fortified)” or “rampart,” which gives us a nice cognate to Latin (m\u016brus<\/em>, wall, related to “mural,” “intramural,” etc.).\u00a0 And just to keep us on our linguistic toes, there’s also “muirmh\u00far<\/strong>,” which means\u00a0 “breakwater,” lit. “sea-wall.”<\/p>\n

Finally, we’ve got one more word that could have a diminutive and enter our discussion, but I just haven’t seen it in use as such.\u00a0 This is the “muir<\/strong>” of “muir chl\u00famhach<\/strong>,” which, perhaps a bit obscurely, can mean “common caterpillar,” or more logically, “hairy caterpillar.” \u00a0So “muir\u00edn<\/em> chl\u00famhach<\/strong>” could mean “a small<\/em> common\/hairy caterpillar.”\u00a0 Or we could make it grammatically masculine, since the “-\u00edn” suffix usually triggers that change, and then we’d have “muir\u00edn<\/strong> cl\u00famhach<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But just to add another dimension to this discussion, there’s at least one more way to say “hairy caterpillar” (speig neanta<\/strong>) and there’s also a general word for “caterpillar” (bolb<\/strong>, pronounced with two syllables [BOL-ub]).\u00a0 Furthermore, it seems that “muir chl\u00famhach<\/strong>” is actually related to the woman’s name “M\u00e1ire<\/strong>,” since another name for this critter is “M\u00e1ir\u00edn an chl\u00faimh<\/strong>.”\u00a0 \u00a0At any rate, I can’t find any examples of “muir\u00edn c(h)l\u00famhach”<\/strong> or even “muir\u00edn an chl\u00faimh<\/strong>,” so I’ll have to leave this possibility as “hypothetical” and “unattested.”\u00a0 \u00a0Full-sized hairy caterpillars, yes, go leor acu<\/strong>, but diminutive ones remain linguistically unknown.\u00a0 Fad m’eolais, ar nd\u00f3igh<\/strong>.\u00a0 Anyway, maybe in some future blog we can discuss caterpillars and variations of the name “M\u00e1ire<\/strong>” in more detail.<\/p>\n

Bhuel,<\/strong> getting back to our original tripartite “m\u00e9im<\/strong>” (Families, Scallops, and Leaf-mould, oh my!”) plus one additional term (“Showers”), we’ve now seen four seemingly similar words, with some ideas on where they come from.\u00a0 Hope you found it suimi\u00fail.<\/strong> \u00a0And here’s some (sea)food for thought:<\/p>\n

Chuaigh muir\u00edn U\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa a fhad leis an muirmh\u00far ag muir\u00ednteacht muir\u00edn\u00ed go dt\u00ed gur thosaigh m\u00fair\u00edn agus b’\u00e9igean d\u00f3ibh stopadh.\u00a0 Chuaigh siad abhaile sa charr ach faraor, thit cuid de na muir\u00edn\u00ed ar url\u00e1r an chairr agus n\u00ed fhaca duine ar bith iad.\u00a0 An ch\u00e9ad uair eile nuair a chuaigh siad isteach sa charr (c\u00fapla l\u00e1 ina dhiaidh sin) bh\u00ed drochbholadh ann, i bhfad n\u00edos measa n\u00e1 boladh an mh\u00fairn\u00edn sa chl\u00f3s.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0— R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

And by the way, if you’re wondering, “C\u00e9rbh \u00ed Kathleen Goligher?”\u00a0 Ba spiorad\u00e1lta\u00ed \u00ed.\u00a0 Rugadh i mB\u00e9al Feirste i 1898 \u00ed.\u00a0 Tuilleadh eolais f\u00faithi anseo:<\/strong> https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kathleen_Goligher<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Not “murach<\/strong>,” a completely different word, with meanings like “if not” or “only” (like “only for the fact that”), as in\u00a0“Murach sin, bheinn ann<\/strong>” (if it weren’t for that, I’d be there) or “Murach gurb \u00e9 an Luan \u00e9<\/strong>” (only for the fact that it is Monday). \u00a0Hmm, so … “Murach an murach, n\u00ed bheadh ruaim chorcra againn<\/strong>” which could also be expressed as “Murach muireachaoin na corcra, ni bheadh ruaim chorcra againn.<\/strong>“<\/li>\n
  2. Regarding vowel harmony, probably over 99% of Irish words follow the practice but there are exceptions. \u00a0“Teach\u00edn” <\/strong>is one type of exception, where adding a suffix breaks vowel harmony. \u00a0My hypothetical word “*murach\u00edn<\/strong>” would take the same liberty. \u00a0Other exceptions to vowel harmony include “anseo<\/strong>” and “ansin<\/strong>,” each of which can be explained by older alternate spellings (annso, inseo, annsoin, ansan, srl.<\/strong>) and the fact that each of these is sometimes considered to be two separate words (an + seo\/so; an + sin\/soin\/san, srl.<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Gluais: gn\u00e1th-<\/strong>, ordinary; ruaim<\/strong>, dye; rugadh<\/strong>, was born<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    (le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Sometimes it seems that no sooner do you learn one Irish word, than you find another one spelled in almost the same way.\u00a0\u00a0 In some cases, these are, in fact, dialect variations of the same word (raibh\/rabh n\u00f3\u00a0madra\/madadh, mar shampla).\u00a0 \u00a0But often they are completely different words, sometimes with just a “fada” of…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[307058,8378,411154,298623,411152,411151,411150,411153,6176,316266,150,411149,7280],"class_list":["post-7672","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-corcra","tag-diminutive","tag-muireachaoin","tag-muirin","tag-muirini","tag-muirinteacht","tag-muirmhur","tag-murchu","tag-murphy","tag-ruaim","tag-suffix","tag-ui-mhurchu","tag-vowel-harmony"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7672","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=7672"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9187,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7672\/revisions\/9187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}