{"id":7918,"date":"2016-05-16T04:02:25","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T04:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7918"},"modified":"2019-09-02T13:34:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T13:34:31","slug":"please-dont-eat-the-noinini-and-a-few-other-flower-phrases-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/please-dont-eat-the-noinini-and-a-few-other-flower-phrases-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"Please Don’t Eat the ‘N\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed’ (and a few other flower phrases in Irish)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An<\/a>

An bhfaca t\u00fa n\u00f3in\u00edn mar seo riamh? B’fh\u00e9idir i dT\u00edr na nIontas? Agus \u00f3s rud \u00e9 go bhfuil “aghaidh” ag an “day’s eye” (d\u00e6ges \u0113age) seo, an bhfaca an n\u00f3in\u00edn seo thusa? (grafaic: www.publicdomainpictures.net\/view-image.php?image=21342&picture=daisy-face)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

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

Mostly we’ve been focusing on ainmneacha<\/strong> lately, but I thought we’d take a short break and look at the flower behind one of the flower-themed girl’s names featured in a recent blog.<\/p>\n

So today we’ll look at various uses of the word “n\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>” in Irish.\u00a0 We discussed ‘n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed’<\/strong> pretty thoroughly in the last blogpost, mostly as a girl’s name, usually in Irish (N\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>) but occasionally anglicized (Noneen).\u00a0 Let’s review the different forms of the word, and then look at a couple of different types of daisies and other daisy phrases.<\/p>\n

an n\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>, the daisy<\/p>\n

an n\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>, of the daisy (same as above; peitil an n\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

na n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>, the daisies<\/p>\n

na n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>, of the daisies (same as the 3rd line, because this is one of those wonderful 4th-declension nouns that don’t change when you say “of the ….” ).\u00a0 Peitil, gais, duilleoga agus bl\u00e1th\u00f3ga strapachruthacha na n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here are a few varieties:<\/p>\n

n\u00f3in\u00edn p\u00e1ip\u00e9ir,<\/strong> everlasting daisy (with 2 akas to its credit, “strawflower” and, “paper daisy,” logically enough, since the Irish literally means “daisy of paper.”)<\/p>\n

n\u00f3in\u00edn madaidh<\/strong>, a type of small red daisy, lit. “dog daisy”<\/p>\n

n\u00f3in\u00edn m\u00f3r<\/strong>, ox-eye daisy, literally just “big daisy.”\u00a0 But a different type of ox-eye daisy doesn’t use “m\u00f3r<\/strong>” at all; it’s “easpag\u00e1n bu\u00ed<\/strong>,” lit. yellow marguerite (“marguerite” being another word for ‘daisy’).\u00a0 Actually easpag\u00e1n<\/strong> must be a sort of diminutive of “easpag<\/strong>” (bishop), but not as small as “*easpaig\u00edn<\/strong>,” if that’s even a word, or “*easpag\u00e1in\u00edn<\/strong>,” which may not be a word either.\u00a0 “Sagarteen” (Little Priest) I’ve heard, right enough (as in the song, “An Sagairt\u00edn<\/strong>,” sung by Joe Heaney and others) but so far no “Little Bishops.”\u00a0 Well, if flowers can have names like “Jack-in-the-Pulpit’ and “Lus na Maighdine Muire<\/strong>,” I’m sure we could have flowers whose name means “bishop” as well.<\/p>\n

The “n\u00f3in\u00edn m\u00f3r” <\/strong>is also sometimes translated as “dog daisy,” just to add to the mix. \u00a0So what is a “dog daisy,” really? \u00a0Is it the flower whose name means “dog daisy” (n\u00f3in\u00edn madaidh)<\/strong>\u00a0or the flower described as “big,” and equated in English with an ox’s eye? \u00a0And what’s the deal with ox-eyes anyway? \u00a0Why not “bull’s eye,” “cow’s eye,” “pig’s eye,” etc. \u00a0Next time I meet an ox, I’ll have to look more closely at his eyes.<\/p>\n

Leaping from the diminutive daisy to the impressively tall sunflower, we have the term “n\u00f3in\u00edn na gr\u00e9ine<\/strong>” (lit. daisy of the sun) for “sunflower,” although that plant is more typically called “lus na gr\u00e9ine<\/strong>.”\u00a0 That latter term, lus na gr\u00e9ine<\/strong>, appears quite charmingly in the children’s book, Camille agus na Lusanna Gr\u00e9ine<\/em><\/strong>, by Laurence Anholt, whose Leonardo and the Flying Boy<\/em>\u00a0has also been translated into Irish (Leonardo agus an Buachaill a D’eitil<\/em><\/strong>).\u00a0 Both of the Irish titles are available from Cl\u00f3 Iar-Chonnacht (www.cic.ie).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And a few uses of ‘n\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>‘:<\/p>\n

slabhra n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>, a daisy chain<\/p>\n

Which can be made into a verbal noun:<\/p>\n

slabhr\u00fa n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed<\/strong>, daisy-chaining, in computing<\/p>\n

And speaking of daisies and computing, I haven’t seen one for a while, but there’s the term “print\u00e9ir roth n\u00f3in\u00edn<\/strong>” (daisy-wheel printer, lit. printer of wheel of daisy).<\/p>\n

As for the title of this blogpost, you probably noticed that it’s based on “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” the book (by Jean Kerr), song (with its pleasant but earworm refrain), movie (with Doris Day) and TV series (on NBC), which are quite fun, if definitely “Meirice\u00e1 na gCaogaid\u00ed\/Seascaid\u00ed<\/strong>.”\u00a0 It seemed a shoo-in for offering up a context for our “blagmh\u00edrfhocal an lae<\/strong>,” so I couldn’t resist it.\u00a0 Hmmm, <\/strong>“earworm” i nGaeilge?\u00a0 N\u00ed fheicim i bhfocl\u00f3ir ar bith \u00e9.\u00a0 ” *Cluasph\u00e9ist” n\u00f3 ” *p\u00e9ist chluaise,” is d\u00f3cha.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Bhuel, sin \u00e9, an focal “n\u00f3in\u00edn,” cine\u00e1lacha n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed, agus \u00fas\u00e1id\u00ed an fhocail i bhfr\u00e1sa\u00ed.\u00a0 SGF – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

nuashonr\u00fach\u00e1n (2 Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair 2019), bu\u00edochas le Niall D. as \u00e1r n-aird a tharraingt ar an bhfocal “\u00e9istph\u00e9ist” ar “earworm.”\u00a0 B\u00edodh sp\u00f3rt agat ag r\u00e1 an fhocail sin — t\u00e1 s\u00e9 cos\u00fail le “aysht-faysht.”\u00a0 Literally, it’s “listen-worm,” not really the word for “ear” (cluas, cluaise, srl.), but it’s a great coinage.\u00a0 It was first popularized in 2017, fad m’eolais.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Mostly we’ve been focusing on ainmneacha lately, but I thought we’d take a short break and look at the flower behind one of the flower-themed girl’s names featured in a recent blog. So today we’ll look at various uses of the word “n\u00f3in\u00edn” in Irish.\u00a0 We discussed ‘n\u00f3in\u00edn\u00ed’ pretty thoroughly in the last…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[460328,460335,4981,460334,9611,460327,255448,460336,460332,411189,365375,274839,460338,359594,460322,460307,460316,460323,460326,460337,460324,460325,460329,460330,460331,460333],"class_list":["post-7918","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-blathog","tag-daisy-wheel","tag-dog","tag-earworm","tag-flower","tag-gais","tag-girls","tag-jean-kerr","tag-ligulate","tag-madaidh","tag-mor","tag-name","tag-nbc","tag-noinin","tag-noinin-mor","tag-noinini","tag-noneen","tag-ox-eye","tag-peitil","tag-please-dont-eat-the-daisies","tag-slabhra","tag-slabhru","tag-strap","tag-strapa","tag-strapachruthach","tag-womans"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t