{"id":7754,"date":"2016-03-17T19:11:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T19:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7754"},"modified":"2018-07-22T11:36:29","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T11:36:29","slug":"naomh-neamh-neamh-niamh-nimh-which-one-pertains-to-st-patrick-and-how-do-you-pronounce-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/naomh-neamh-neamh-niamh-nimh-which-one-pertains-to-st-patrick-and-how-do-you-pronounce-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Naomh, Neamh, Neamh-, Niamh, Nimh — Which One Pertains to St. Patrick and How Do You Pronounce Them?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Hmmm,<\/a>

Hmmm, yes, the sign does mean “St. Patrick’s Avenue,” but what else could “Ascaill Naomh P\u00e1draig” mean? Leid: is ceann de bhaill an choirp \u00e9! (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Ascaill_Naomh_P%C3%A1draigcrop.jpeg#file<\/a>, public domain, GRMA, a Stiof\u00e1in as \u00e9 seo a chur ar f\u00e1il)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Oh, the beauty of p\u00e9ir\u00ed \u00edosdifr\u00edochta!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the title we see five words that have similar spellings and somewhat similar sounds.\u00a0 \u00a0So let’s dig right in and see what the differences are.<\/p>\n

We’ll start with “naomh<\/strong>” for two reasons.\u00a0 First, it comes first alphabetically, never a bad reason for sequencing.\u00a0 Second, this is the one that relates most closely to St. Patrick, since it means “saint,” and is, therefore, seasonal (given the day that’s in it today).<\/p>\n

One key feature for all the words in this series (naomh, neamh, neamh-, Niamh, <\/strong>and nimh<\/strong>) is that the “mh” at the end is never pronounced like an actual “mh” combination in English.\u00a0 “Mh” would be rare enough in English anyway, but there are a few examples (Amharic, armhole), with the “m” and the “h” having separate sounds.\u00a0 And the Irish “mh” is also not like the occasional word or place name we might encounter in Hindi, which has a complete set of consonants followed by “h” (bh, as in Mahabharata<\/em>; dh, as in dharma<\/em>; gh, as in ghee<\/em> or ghat<\/em>, etc.).\u00a0 The one example I’ve been able to find so far for an initial “mh,” which might possibly make it into an English (or Irish) language discussion, is the place name “Mhowgaon” (in Madhya Pradesh), but I think we can safely say that’s not going to be much of an issue for Irish pronunciation practice.<\/p>\n

So how do<\/em> we pronounce the “-mh” in the Irish words selected for this blog?\u00a0 It’s either a “v” sound or a “w” sound, depending on the exact spelling, with some leeway for dialect variation thrown in.<\/p>\n

1) For “naomh<\/strong>,” the standard pronunciation is like “neev,” more or less rhyming with English “grieve” or “reprieve” (but not “sieve”!).\u00a0 In the Irish-modified IPA used in the Focl\u00f3ir P\u00f3ca<\/em>, this would be represented \/ni:v\/.<\/p>\n

“Naomh<\/strong>” is used primarily for Irish saints (Naomh P\u00e1draig, Naomh Colm Cille, Naomh Br\u00edd, srl.<\/strong>), with “San<\/strong>” used most of the time for non-Irish saints (San Niocl\u00e1s, San Doiminic, srl.<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Some interesting related words are “naomhluan<\/strong>” (a saint’s halo) and “naomh\u00f3g<\/strong>” (a curragh or coracle, that is the type of boat Tim Severin used to sail across the North Atlantic in 1976-77, following the alleged path of Naomh Breand\u00e1n<\/strong>, who lived about 1500 years ago).\u00a0 And how about the difference between “naomhaigh<\/strong>” and “naomhainmnigh<\/strong>“? \u00a0Freagra th\u00edos.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve also heard “naomh<\/strong>” pronounced like “nayv,” that is to rhyme with “save” or “gave.”\u00a0 In fact, most words with the vowel combination “ao” can be pronounced two ways: saol<\/strong> (as “sayl” or “seel”), baol<\/strong> (as “bwayl” or “bweel”), etc.\u00a0 If you add an “i” (-aoi-), then you will almost always have the “ee” sound (naoi, saoi, Saoirse, saoire, naoimh<\/strong>), but that’s not the main issue here.<\/p>\n

2) and 3) \u00a0Our next examples, “neamh<\/strong>” (the noun) and “neamh<\/strong>-” (the prefix), are two completely different words, despite the similarity in spelling.<\/p>\n

As a noun, “neamh<\/strong>” means “Heaven” and I’ve usually heard it pronounced “nyav,” with the “av” as in English “have” (or “salve” or “calve,” although those spellings could be misleading).\u00a0 The “n” is like the “ny” in “canyon.”\u00a0 I’ve sometimes heard it pronounced more like “nyow,” like English “now” but with that slender “n” sound (again, as in “canyon”).<\/p>\n

“Neamh<\/strong>-” as a negating prefix (non-, in-, im-) is often pronounced with a final “v” sound, like “neamh<\/strong>” for “Heaven” usually is.\u00a0 There are hundreds of examples of this prefix, so I’ll just give a few here, ranging from the short and sweet (neamhaird<\/strong>, disregard), to the delightfully lenited (neamhbhalbh<\/strong>, outspoken, i.e. “non-mute”) and the downright daunting (neamh-shainchreidmheach<\/strong>, non-denominational).\u00a0 However, I’ve often heard the final “-mh” of “neamh<\/strong>-” pronounced “broad” (more like a “w”).\u00a0 So, for example, “neamhbhalbh<\/strong>” could be pronounced “NyAV-VAL-uv” or “NyOW-WAL-uv.”\u00a0 Or for the first example, the first two Vs could be combined, to sound like “NyAV-AL-uv.”<\/p>\n

Three down, two to go!<\/p>\n

4) The girl’s name “Niamh<\/strong>” is mostly pronounced “neev” these days, almost the same as “naomh<\/strong>,” but with the slender initial “n,” which means it sounds a bit like the first “n” in “canyon.” \u00a0I’ve also heard “Niamh<\/strong>,” pronounced with the “i” and the “a” broken slightly apart, like “NEE-uv.”<\/p>\n

We could also say that this name is vaguely seasonal since “Niamh C(h)inn \u00d3ir<\/strong>” was indirectly associated with Naomh P\u00e1draig<\/strong>.\u00a0 \u00a0Quite indirectly, in that after this Niamh allowed Ois\u00edn to leave T\u00edr na n\u00d3g and visit Ireland, Ois\u00edn died upon touching Irish soil and, in some versions of the story, he was converted by St.\u00a0 Patrick to Christianity before he died.<\/p>\n

5) Our final pronunciation example is “nimh<\/strong>,” the Irish word for “poison” or “venom.”\u00a0 Here we have the slender initial “n” (as in cany<\/u>on) and the “mh” sounding like a “v.\u00a0 The vowel in the middle is a short “i,” so the words essentially rhymes with “give” and “live” (as in “to live,” not as in “live music”).\u00a0 No relation to “The Rats of NIMH<\/em>,” the American book and movie title, where “NIMH” stands for …? (freagra th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Well, that’s five intriguing words, anyway.\u00a0 I hope this blog has made at least a small dent in the questions people typically have about Irish pronunciation. \u00a0SGF\u00a0 – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n

naomhaigh<\/strong> – sanctify or hallow<\/p>\n

naomhainmnigh<\/strong> – canonize, literally “saint-name” (as it were)<\/p>\n

NIMH – National Institute of Mental Health, but could the author possibly be getting some revenge (from the rats’ viewpoint) for all the “nimh francach<\/strong>” (rat poison), that has been used over the centuries.\u00a0 Unlikely, I guess, but food for bilingual thought!\u00a0 Especially since the author of The Rats of NIMH<\/em>, Robert Leslie Carroll Conly, was from an Irish-American family and used a very Irish pen name, Robert C. O’Brien (from his mother’s maiden name).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Oh, the beauty of p\u00e9ir\u00ed \u00edosdifr\u00edochta! In the title we see five words that have similar spellings and somewhat similar sounds.\u00a0 \u00a0So let’s dig right in and see what the differences are. We’ll start with “naomh” for two reasons.\u00a0 First, it comes first alphabetically, never a bad reason for sequencing.\u00a0 Second, this is…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[411282,5878,411281,411280,6219,6230,411284,2336,411278,411279,6416,11,6663],"class_list":["post-7754","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-amharic","tag-lenition","tag-mhowgaon","tag-minimal-pair","tag-naomh","tag-neamh","tag-neave","tag-neve","tag-niamh","tag-nimh","tag-patrick","tag-pronunciation","tag-saint"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754","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=7754"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10687,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7754\/revisions\/10687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}