{"id":7767,"date":"2016-03-20T19:15:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-20T19:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7767"},"modified":"2016-03-25T19:51:06","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T19:51:06","slug":"naoimh-neimhe-neimhe-and-nimhe-and-what-does-any-of-this-have-to-do-with-saint-patrick-cuid-1-as-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/naoimh-neimhe-neimhe-and-nimhe-and-what-does-any-of-this-have-to-do-with-saint-patrick-cuid-1-as-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Naoimh, Neimhe, N\u00e9imhe, and Nimhe\u00a0 — and what does any of this have to do with Saint Patrick?\u00a0 (Cuid 1 as 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Ta<\/a>

Ta an fo-chalafort ‘St. Patrick’s’ ar an mapa seo. An bhfuil a fhios agat c\u00e1 bhfuil sr\u00e1idbhaile beag eile a bhfuil an t-ainm ‘St. Patrick’ air? Muna bhfuil, l\u00e9igh leat. Sin n\u00f3 b\u00ed ag smaoineamh “Crataegus punctata” “Polyodon spathula,” agus “Ictalurus punctatus” (ainmneacha chuid de shiombail\u00ed an st\u00e1it ina bhfuil an sr\u00e1idbhaile ‘St. Patrick’ lonnaithe). grafaic: http:\/\/www.mapsopensource.com\/canada-outline-map.html; lip\u00e9id i nGaeilge le R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\"map<\/a>Well, to answer the title question, the St. Patrick connection will primarily be in the first of the four words in the title, “naoimh<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

You might remember that in the most recent blog (nasc th\u00edos)<\/strong>, we looked at these five words: naomh, neamh, neamh-<\/strong> (the prefix), Niamh<\/strong>, and nimh<\/strong>, meaning, in order: saint, heaven, in-\/un-\/non-, Niamh (the girl’s name), and poison.<\/p>\n

So today we’ll start looking at another form of these words, known in Irish as “an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>” (the genitive case).\u00a0 But we won’t need to look at “neamh<\/strong>-” the prefix, since prefixes don’t have inflections like an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong> — and that’s at least one less thing to worry about.<\/p>\n

Let’s start with “naomh<\/strong>” and the form “naoimh<\/strong>,” for this 2-part blog post.<\/p>\n

While “naomh<\/strong>” [say “neev” or “nayv”] means “saint,” the slenderized form (“naoimh<\/strong>,” with the “i” inserted), means “of a saint. ”\u00a0 Or it can be used with the word “an<\/strong>” preceding it, to mean “of the saint,” as in: ainm an naoimh<\/strong> (the name of the saint).<\/p>\n

While “naoimh<\/strong>” does mean “of a saint,” we should note that when we’re referring to a specific saint, using “Naomh<\/strong>” as a title<\/em>, the word “Naomh<\/strong>” typically doesn’t change at all, even when we’re talking about something “of” or “possessed by” that saint.\u00a0 A classic example is:<\/p>\n

litreacha Naomh P\u00f3l<\/strong>, the letters of St. Paul<\/p>\n

I’ve always wondered why it isn’t “San P\u00f3l<\/strong>,” but that’s a discussion for another blog.<\/p>\n

Getting back to St. Patrick, it’s also interesting to note that, in his case, the title “Naomh<\/strong>” itself is noticeably absent in many phrases that refer to something “of” St. Patrick.\u00a0 Examples include:<\/p>\n

L\u00e1 Fh\u00e9ile P\u00e1draig<\/strong>, the day of the feast of Patrick, i.e. St. Patrick’s Day (the word “saint” isn’t in the phrase in Irish)<\/p>\n

pota Ph\u00e1draig<\/strong>, the pot of Patrick, referring to the St. Patrick’s Day drink<\/p>\n

and various place names, such as<\/p>\n

Knockpatrick: Cnoc P\u00e1draig (Luimneach)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Croagh Patrick or Croaghpatrick: Cruach Ph\u00e1draig (Maigh Eo)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Downpatrick: D\u00fan P\u00e1draig (An D\u00fan)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seapatrick: Su\u00ed P\u00e1draig (An D\u00fan)<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can see from the anglicizations, these place names don’t have “St.” in the English versions either.\u00a0 As far as I can tell, there’s no town or village in Ireland that’s actually called “St. Patrick,” the way there is in Newfoundland (St. Patrick’s) and in Missouri (St. Patrick).\u00a0 In case you haven’t heard of these latter two places, it’s not too surprising considering their population size.\u00a0 According to Adam Farley’s article, “Irish in the Heartland: St. Patrick, Missouri,” the population of St. Patrick, MO, was about 20 in 2013 (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 For St. Patrick’s, Newfoundland, which is in Green Bay, itself part of Notre Dame Bay, I can’t actually find a population figure online.\u00a0 The closest I can find are the nearby communities of Little Bay, at 166 (ca. 2015), Little Bay Islands, at 97 (2011), and the nearest large town, Springdale, at 2,764 in 2006 (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 So I assume that St. Patrick’s, Newfoundland, has a population along the lines of Little Bay and Little Bay Islands.\u00a0 Eolas cruinn ag duine ar bith<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

It would probably be of interest for someone to look at why one community is simply called “St. Patrick” and the other is called “St. Patrick’s.”\u00a0 And I suppose that could have some interesting ramifications for discussing why we have St. David, Arizona, and St. David, Illinois, but St. David’s, Wales (Tyddewi<\/em>, lit. House of David, in Welsh), and St. Davids [sic], in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Presumably the latter was originally “St. David’s,” but apostrophes have been falling like flies lately.\u00a0 In fact, St. David’s, Wales, sometimes shows up without its apostrophe (as “St. Davids”), also, but the traditional version still seems to be holding its own.<\/p>\n

And to think that all of this discussion came from looking at an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>, when we use it and when we don’t! \u00a0Which could be a book-length discussion, but we’ll cut it short here.\u00a0 Remember, up next: neimhe, N\u00e9imhe,<\/strong> and nimhe<\/strong>, a few more examples of an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>, before we move on to other topics.\u00a0 Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill\u00a0 – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

PS: There is at least one Patrick-related place name in Irish that does get anglicized with the “St.” element though: \u00a0\u00a0St. Patrick’s Purgatory: Purgad\u00f3ir Ph\u00e1draig (D\u00fan na nGall)<\/strong>. \u00a0However, still no “Naomh<\/strong>” in the Irish. \u00a0Perhaps it’s because of the greater religious significance of the area?<\/p>\n

Naisc:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/irish-language-blog\/,\u00a0Naomh, Neamh, Neamh-, Niamh, Nimh \u2014 Which One Pertains to St. Patrick and How Do You Pronounce Them?<\/a>\u00a0Posted on 17. Mar, 2016 by r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a> in Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

Irish in the Heartland: St. Patrick, Missouri<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n