{"id":8456,"date":"2016-09-25T16:53:30","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T16:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=8456"},"modified":"2016-10-05T17:43:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T17:43:55","slug":"more-names-for-dandelions-in-irish-and-in-welsh-too-ainmneacha-plandai-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/more-names-for-dandelions-in-irish-and-in-welsh-too-ainmneacha-plandai-3\/","title":{"rendered":"More Names for Dandelions in Irish (and in Welsh, too) [Ainmneacha Planda\u00ed 3]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Seo<\/a>

Seo n\u00e9al clibeanna le focail chun ‘dandelion’ a r\u00e1 i nGaeilge, an gn\u00e1thfhocal (caisearbh\u00e1n) agus ceithre fhr\u00e1sa le c\u00fapla focal i ngach ceann. Agus ar a bharr sin, t\u00e1 fr\u00e1sa amh\u00e1in (tr\u00ed fhocal) i mBreatnais, le haghaidh an chraic agus mar ch\u00e9im bheag i dtreo Phan-Cheilteachais.<\/em> (Dearadh agus n\u00e9al le R\u00f3isl\u00edn; grafaic\u00ed: an leon: http:\/\/www.clker.com\/clipart-cute-lion-face.html<\/em> agus an caisearbh\u00e1n: http:\/\/www.clker.com\/clipart-12501.html<\/em>)<\/p><\/div>\n

(le Roislin)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Searbh … searbh\u00e1n … caisearbh\u00e1<\/strong>n.\u00a0 That’s how the Irish language builds up its most basic term for dandelion (caisearbh\u00e1n<\/strong>, say “kash-ar-uv-awn”) as we’ve seen in the most recent blogpost here, as well as a few earlier ones (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

But wait there’s more!\u00a0 In fact, four more ways to say “dandelion” in Irish with a few Scottish Gaelic parallels. \u00a0And why did I make such a point of bringing Welsh into this blog — Welsh has at least nine ways to say “dandelion”!\u00a0 Some day I’ll look into some other languages and see if the various vernacular names are as abundant as the weed itself.<\/p>\n

Well, OK, maybe I shouldn’t really call it a weed (fiaile<\/strong> in Irish), even if it does crop up unplanted and unexpected.\u00a0 But we can eat it and make wine (f\u00edon<\/strong>) from it, so that’s reasonably useful (r\u00e9as\u00fanta \u00fas\u00e1ideach<\/strong>), isn’t it?\u00a0 And aren’t weeds supposed to be basically neamh\u00fas\u00e1ideach<\/strong>, by definition? Bhuel<\/strong>, that a matter for botano-philosophy (dare I call it “luibheola\u00edochfheals\u00fanacht<\/strong>“?), and best left for l\u00e1 na coise tinne<\/strong> (an Irish expression for “rainy day,” but not literally; this is “rainy day” as in “a rainy day project” and the literal translation is in the note below)<\/p>\n

Here are the other four ways to say “dandelion” in Irish.\u00a0 As a little caveat, I would note that I haven’t heard or seen any of these nearly as much as I’ve heard “caisearbh\u00e1n<\/strong>” itself.\u00a0 Smaoint\u00ed ar bith eile ar an \u00e1bhar sin, a l\u00e9itheoir\u00ed<\/strong>?\u00a0 As a second caveateen, I would also note that in some cases the meanings of the individual words, or how they fit together, is still not clear, at least to me, even after pondering them quite a bit in the previous blogpost on this topic.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. a) bior na brighde<\/strong>, or in modern spelling, “bior na br\u00edde<\/strong>” The interpretations I worked out include “the lance of the maiden” and “the well of the maiden,” with several other possibilities as mentioned in the May 27 blogpost (2016). \u00a0Cf. the Scottish Gaelic bior nam br\u00ecde.\u00a0 <\/em><\/li>\n
  2. b) fiacail leomhain (leoin)<\/strong>, a lion’s tooth, which actually matches the original French “dent de leon.<\/em>” Cf. the Scottish Gaelic fiacal leomhain<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. c) be\u00e1rn\u00e1n be\u00e1rnaigh\u00a0<\/strong>(lit. “little gap of the gapped one” or “little gap of the indented one) or\u00a0be\u00e1rn\u00e1n be\u00e1rnach <\/strong>(“gapped little gap” or “indented little gap”).\u00a0 \u00a0Regarding the “fada<\/strong>,” be\u00e1rn\u00e1<\/strong>n<\/strong>” is usually “bearn\u00e1n<\/strong>” these days but in the older references where I found this, the long mark was used.\u00a0 \u00a0I assume these phrases refer somehow either to the jagged edge of the leaves or to the straight-edged quality of the flower petals themselves.\u00a0 But frankly, it still puzzles me.\u00a0 I can only add that most of us probably know a closely related word, “bearna<\/strong>” (a gap, as in Bearna, Co. na Gaillimhe<\/strong>, anglicized as Barna, Co. Galway).<\/li>\n
  4. d) bearn\u00e1n brighde<\/strong>, cf. \u00a0the Scottish Gaelic bearnan br\u00ecde. \u00a0<\/em>This version means\u00a0“little gap of … a lance, a skewer, a well, water.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Whatever those\u00a0might mean! \u00a0Curiously, this phrase\u00a0can also be used for “juniper.” \u00a0A luibheolaithe<\/strong>, I called out to you last time, and we really need you here!\u00a0 How can “juniper” be equated with “dandelion”?\u00a0 Anyone have any ideas?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    And here, once again, are the nine Welsh versions as alluded to\u00a0above:<\/p>\n

    dant y llew<\/em>\u00a0(the tooth of the lion), the most basic choice, with a close second in “dant y ci”<\/em> (the tooth of the dog)<\/p>\n

    dail clais<\/em>\u00a0(leaves of a bruise, not, apparently, “of a ditch,” another meaning of “clais<\/em>,” similar to the Irish) — meaning what, I wonder? \u00a0To apply to a bruise for healing?<\/p>\n

    blodyn faint ‘dy’r gloch<\/em>\u00a0(lit. “what-time-is-it” flower)<\/p>\n

    two more related ones: blodyn crafu<\/em>\u00a0(itchy flower) and blodyn crach<\/em>\u00a0(scab flower)<\/p>\n

    and the charming trio:\u00a0blodyn piso’n y gwely, blodyn pisho’n gwely<\/em>, and\u00a0blodyn pi-pi gwely, all <\/em>probably fairly self-explanatory, once we note that “gwely” means “bed.”<\/p>\n

    Fersiwn arall<\/em>? — any Welsh speakers care to contribute?<\/p>\n

    So that’s five Irish versions, a few Scottish footnotes, and some Welsh variations.\u00a0 Meaning that down the road, if I can make it with my “cos thinn<\/strong>” on “l\u00e1 na coise tinne<\/strong>,” I’ll still have to check out remaining the Celtic languages, and someday,\u00a0 since this plant grows in both san Eor\u00e1ise<\/strong> and i Meirice\u00e1 Thuaidh<\/strong>, I’ll get around to the approximately 4000 languages of those continents.\u00a0 Why 4000?\u00a0 Well, yes, it’s a very rough estimate, but the loose count I get from pooling together various Wikipedia articles is about 2000 for an Afraic<\/strong> and maybe 500 for Meirice\u00e1 Theas<\/strong>.\u00a0 There are currently between 6000 and 7000 languages in the world, according to most counts, with half of them doomed to d\u00edobhadh (imeacht in \u00e9ag)<\/strong> before the end of this century.\u00a0 Hopefully with so much enthusiasm for Irish these days, An Ghaeilge<\/strong> will not be among them, depsite the tuar tubaisteach<\/strong> that has frequently been heard.<\/p>\n

    Next I guess someone should get busy translating Ray Bradbury’s novel Dandelion Wine<\/em> into Irish. \u00a0 Presumably that would be Fion Caisearbh\u00e1in<\/strong><\/em>, using \u00e1r seanchara<\/strong>, an tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>. \u00a0But meanwhile, till that appears, sl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

    N\u00f3ta: \u00a0Aistri\u00fach\u00e1n focal ar fhocal ar “l\u00e1 na coise tinne”<\/strong>:\u00a0 the day of the sore foot (or “of the sore leg,” the word “cos<\/strong>” meaning both “foot” and “leg”).\u00a0 This is a beautiful example, not only of\u00a0 tuiseal ginideach ainmfhocail<\/strong> (the genitive case of a noun, with “cos<\/strong>” becoming “coise<\/strong>“) but also of tuiseal ginideach aidiachta<\/strong> (with “tinn<\/strong>” becoming “tinn<\/strong>e”).\u00a0 A grammar thing so perfect it makes my heart sing, mar a rinne an <\/strong>“Wild Thing” do na Trogganna<\/strong>. \u00a0OK, I made up “*Trogganna<\/strong>” for “The Troggs,” but it seems to fit.\u00a0 Why not, if we have “busanna,” “scileanna” and “blaganna,”<\/strong> all adding a plural ending (-anna) to words borrowed or adapted from English?<\/p>\n

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

    If \u2018Dandelion\u2019 Comes from \u201cDent de Lion,\u201d Where does the Irish name \u2018Caisearbh\u00e1n\u2019 come from?\u00a0 [Ainmneacha Planda\u00ed 2]<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Sep 23, 2016 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

    Bl\u00e1th Bu\u00ed Eile \u2014 An Caisearbh\u00e1n (\u2018Dandelion\u2019 in Irish)<\/a>\u00a0Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on May 24, 2016 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

    An Caisearbh\u00e1n (The Dandelion), Cuid 2: Other Names for \u2018Dandelion\u2019 in Irish<\/a>\u00a0Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on May 27, 2016 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    (le Roislin) Searbh … searbh\u00e1n … caisearbh\u00e1n.\u00a0 That’s how the Irish language builds up its most basic term for dandelion (caisearbh\u00e1n, say “kash-ar-uv-awn”) as we’ve seen in the most recent blogpost here, as well as a few earlier ones (naisc th\u00edos). But wait there’s more!\u00a0 In fact, four more ways to say “dandelion” in Irish…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":8457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4308,4376,460914,460398,460353,16889,460408,460354,460377,460911,460397,5302,460378,460380,460912,460913,7296,7972],"class_list":["post-8456","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-bearna","tag-bior","tag-bradbury","tag-brighde","tag-caisearbhan","tag-dandelion","tag-dant-y-llew","tag-dent-de-lion","tag-fiacail","tag-fiaile","tag-fion","tag-gaelic","tag-leoin","tag-leomhain","tag-neal-clibeanna","tag-tag-cloud","tag-welsh","tag-wine"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8456","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=8456"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8462,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8456\/revisions\/8462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}