{"id":7931,"date":"2016-05-21T02:32:23","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T02:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7931"},"modified":"2019-11-14T21:27:52","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T21:27:52","slug":"an-maith-leat-__-can-you-complete-the-question-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/an-maith-leat-__-can-you-complete-the-question-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"An Maith Leat __?\u00a0 (Can you complete the question in Irish?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"'An<\/a>

‘An maith leat __?’ le Charles Burton Barber (1845-1894). An f\u00e9idir leat an bhearna sa cheist a l\u00edonadh isteach? Freagra sa t\u00e9acs. Agus cad a tharl\u00f3dh d\u00e1 mbeadh Aimsead\u00f3ir Bu\u00ed ag an gcail\u00edn? Bu\u00edocht cheana f\u00e9in! Grafaic: http:\/\/www.the-athenaeum.org\/art\/detail.php?ID=98074)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, usually we try the buttercup question on people, not dogs, ach t\u00e1 an picti\u00far an-ghleoite, nach bhfuil?<\/strong>\u00a0 In this blogpost, we’ll take another short break from the flower-themed names series, and look specifically at one more flower, the buttercup, generally known as “cam an ime<\/strong>” in Irish.<\/p>\n

First let’s look at the word for “butter” itself, then we’ll look at “buttercup,” and finally the question, “Do you like butter?”<\/p>\n

A. “BUTTER” i nGaeilge<\/strong><\/p>\n

im<\/strong>, butter<\/p>\n

an t-im<\/strong>, the butter<\/p>\n

ime<\/strong>, of butter (scian ime<\/strong>, butter knife, lit. knife of, i.e. for, butter)<\/p>\n

an ime<\/strong>, of the butter (praghas an ime<\/strong>, the price of the butter)<\/p>\n

We may not use it real often in the plural, but the form does exist:<\/p>\n

imeanna<\/strong>, butters (but more likely implying “casks” or “containers” of butter)<\/p>\n

na himeanna taiscthe<\/strong>, the stored casks of butter.\u00a0 This could possibly refer to casks of “bog butter” (im portaigh<\/strong>), sealed in wooden containers, sometimes with plant wrappings, and buried in a bog, either for storage or for primitive chemical processing.\u00a0 One sample found in Ireland during an archeological dig is about 1300 years old; another may be at least a thousand years older.\u00a0 Like making the folkloric “heather beer,” the process had almost fallen into oblivion, but there has been a recent revival of interest in this method of storing butter, with some results presented at the 2012 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery (naisc don alt agus don taifeadadh agus don phodchraoladh th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

imeanna<\/strong>, of butters<\/p>\n

na n-imeanna<\/strong>, of the butters (blas na n-imeanna taiscthe<\/strong>, the taste of the stored butters)<\/p>\n

B. “BUTTERCUP” i nGaeilge<\/strong><\/p>\n

And now for “buttercups.”\u00a0 There are actually a couple of different words for “buttercup,” and globally there are over fifty different types of the flowers, so I imagine the list could go on longer.\u00a0 But here are the two main choices:<\/p>\n

1) cam an ime<\/strong>, buttercup, lit. the cresset of the butter.\u00a0 And what exactly is a “cresset,” aside from a word you might find in medieval-esque Victorian literature?\u00a0 It’s a cup-shaped holder for oil or some flammable substance, like rushes dipped in oil, historically used for beacons or early street lighting, and it can also refer to a simple lamp, with the wick burning in a cavity; check out the link below for a Scottish example made of sandstone from ca. 1300.\u00a0 And while 1916 literature is too late to\u00a0be considered Victorian, or even Edwardian, I’m struck by the appearance of “cresset” twelve times in H. Bedford-Jones’ serial novel Nuala O’Malley<\/em>, set in the Cromwell era and published in 1916 in All-Story Weekly<\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0A quick check for Ivanhoe<\/em>\u00a0shows no cressets, but any further insight into cressets will have to wait for a rainy day project. \u00a0 As for more recent examples than that, I have to admit I’m drawing blanks on cressets, except of course, The Cresset<\/em>\u00a0(thecresset.org)<\/p>\n

Apparently the word “cam<\/strong>” can also mean a melting-pot, which may be a bit more connected to its use in the phrase for “buttercup.”\u00a0 \u00a0This word “cam<\/strong>” is completely different from the more widely used “cam<\/strong>,” whose meanings include “bent” or “crooked” (mar aidiacht<\/strong>), a bent or crooked object (mar ainmfhocal<\/strong>), and “bend” or “distort” (mar bhriathar<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

2) crobh pr\u00e9ach\u00e1in,<\/strong> buttercup, crowfoot, lit. foot\/talon of crow.\u00a0 So far, I remain baffled as to why this cute, bright, and cheerful-looking flower would be called “crowfoot.”\u00a0 Bar\u00fail ag duine ar bith agaibh?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

C. An cheist: “An maith leat im?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

And finally, how about the question, “Do you like butter?” which is the English title of Barber’s painting in the illustration above. \u00a0In Irish that would be “An maith leat im?<\/strong>”\u00a0 And the answers?\u00a0 For “yes,” the answer is “Is maith<\/strong>,” and for “no,” it’s “N\u00ed maith<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But, come on, who doesn’t like butter?\u00a0 It seems to me that the custom of holding the buttercup under someone’s chin to see if they like butter is really an exercise in futility.\u00a0 But, as I recall, it was fun to do as a child.\u00a0 N\u00edor bhain m\u00e9 triail as le madra riamh, mar a fheiceann muid sa phicti\u00far, ach is f\u00e9idir liom a r\u00e1, gan dabht, go bhfuil d\u00fail mh\u00f3r ag mo mhadra\u00ed f\u00e9in in im. \u00a0T\u00e1irg\u00ed d\u00e9ir\u00edochta ar bith, leis an fh\u00edrinne a dh\u00e9anamh.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning of this blogpost, I mentioned that we’d be taking a short break from the series on names, but I can’t resist closing with a brief note on some famous “Buttercups,” both human (albeit fictitious) and bovine. \u00a0They can be found in The Powerpuff Girls<\/em>, The Princess Bride<\/em>, HMS Pinafore<\/em>, and Toy Story<\/em>. \u00a0And double-checking online, I find there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of references to cows named Buttercup, in books, as toys, and as TV or pantomime characters.\u00a0 Examples range from the current craze of the”Sylvanian Families” miniatures to the vintage “Buttercup the Cow” from The Woodentops<\/em>, a BBC children’s television series from 1955.\u00a0 Ironically, buttercups are actually poisonous to cows, yielding a bitter-tasting oil, protoanemonin, when crushed, and this cute flower can also cause contact dermatitis in people. \u00a0Nice!<\/p>\n

So far, I have to acknowledge that I haven’t found any examples of “Cam an Ime<\/strong>,” as a cow’s name in Irish, let alone as a human character’s name.\u00a0 Somehow, it just doesn’t seem to lend itself to this use.\u00a0 But one never knows.\u00a0 Maybe it’ll turn up.\u00a0 “Crobh pr\u00e9ach\u00e1in<\/strong>” seems even less likely.<\/p>\n

At any rate, there you have it: im, im portaigh, imeanna, cam an ime, crobh pr\u00e9ach\u00e1in<\/strong>, and a nod to Pinafore<\/em> and The Woodentops<\/em> et al. \u00a0Ar ais go dt\u00ed na hainmneacha cail\u00edn\u00ed roimh i bhfad. \u00a0Sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

naisc d’im portaigh:<\/strong><\/p>\n

alt:<\/strong> http:\/\/nordicfoodlab.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/bog-butter-a-gastronomic-perspective<\/p>\n

taifeadadh:<\/strong> https:\/\/vimeo.com\/58979362<\/p>\n

podchraoladh:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.eatthispodcast.com\/bog-butter\/<\/p>\n

nasc don lampa cam:<\/strong> http:\/\/nms.scran.ac.uk\/database\/record.php?usi=000-100-103-610-C (National Museums, Scotland)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)   Well, usually we try the buttercup question on people, not dogs, ach t\u00e1 an picti\u00far an-ghleoite, nach bhfuil?\u00a0 In this blogpost, we’ll take another short break from the flower-themed names series, and look specifically at one more flower, the buttercup, generally known as “cam an ime” in Irish. First let’s look at the…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[460342,8600,514295,4415,460346,460345,376629,255152,513845,460344,376621,460340,460339,460341,460348,376626,460347,376625,376622,460343,514294,255007,365349,460349,96645,255151,376634,460350,460351],"class_list":["post-7931","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-an-maith","tag-barber","tag-bedford-jones","tag-bog","tag-bog-butter","tag-burton","tag-butter","tag-buttercup","tag-cam","tag-charles","tag-cresset","tag-crobh","tag-crowfoot","tag-do-you-like-butter","tag-hms","tag-im","tag-im-portaigh","tag-ime","tag-imeanna","tag-is-maith","tag-nuala-omalley","tag-pinafore","tag-portach","tag-powerpuff","tag-preachain","tag-princess-bride","tag-t-im","tag-toy-story","tag-woodentops"],"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