\u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/p>\n
President Obama\u2019s visit to one of his ancestral homelands, Moneygall, Co. Offaly, Ireland, provides us with an ideal segue from 4th<\/sup>-declension nouns (discussed in our most recent blogs) to international news events.\u00a0 And this is one angle of his trip that I think has been overlooked by the majority, perhaps all, of the media.\u00a0 At least Google assures me, \u201cYour search – obama “muine gall” declension – did not match any documents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMuine<\/strong>\u201d is a 4th<\/sup>-declension noun.\u00a0 It may look like its fellow 4th<\/sup>-declension noun, “duine<\/strong>,” but don\u2019t let that mislead you into thinking that the two words follow exactly the same pattern:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMuine<\/strong>\u201d is generally considered feminine in modern Irish (\u201cgenerally?\u201d F\u00e9ach an n\u00f3ta th\u00edos<\/strong>) and its plural, as you might have noted above, is \u201cmuineacha<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 And by the way, in Irish, it has nothing to do with \u201cmoney,\u201d even though it\u2019s been anglicized that way because of the sound [MWIN-yuh].\u00a0 It means a \u201cthicket\u201d or a \u201cscrub\u201d (area covered with shrubs).\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuine<\/strong>\u201d (person) in contrast, is masculine, and its plural is \u201cdaoine<\/strong>,\u201d somewhat irregular but not irregular enough to technically be considered \u201cneamhrialta<\/strong>\u201d (that is to say, outside the declension system).\u00a0<\/p>\n So let\u2019s look at some contrasting forms:<\/p>\n an mhuine<\/strong> [un WIN-yuh], the thicket, with lenition (m<\/strong> changing to mh<\/strong>) because the noun is feminine.\u00a0 Sampla: C\u00e1 bhfuil an mhuine<\/strong>?\u00a0 Where\u2019s the thicket?<\/p>\n an duine<\/strong> [un DIN-yuh], the person, with no lenition because the noun is masculine, and also because \u201cd\u201d resists lenition after \u201cn.\u201d\u00a0 But that is riail do bhlag eile<\/strong> (a rule for another blog).\u00a0 Sampla: C\u00e9 h\u00e9 an duine sin<\/strong>?\u00a0 Who\u2019s that person?<\/p>\n How about examples sa tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>?\u00a0 And remember, one nice thing about the fourth declension \u2013 there\u2019s no separate ending for these forms.\u00a0 Well, for the \u201ctuiseal ginideach<\/strong>\u201d of \u201cduine<\/strong>,\u201d examples abound (anam an duine, saol an duine, in aois duine, srl<\/strong>.).\u00a0 But I have to admit, I don\u2019t often discuss the properties or features of thickets, which would require the genitive case.\u00a0 It\u2019s always possible to drum up examples, though, especially if we use more place names.\u00a0<\/p>\n For starters, P\u00e1irc na Muine<\/strong> (angl. Parknamoney), which is i gContae an Chl\u00e1ir<\/strong>.\u00a0 Other place names in Clare with \u201cna Muine<\/strong>\u201d include \u201cGob na Muine<\/strong>\u201d (Moneypoint) and \u201cRinn na Muine<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 Further afield we also find \u201cC\u00fail na Muine<\/strong>\u201d (Coolnamoney), i gContae Thiobraid \u00c1rann<\/strong>, and at least two places called \u201cC\u00fail Mhuine<\/strong>,\u201d one anglicized as \u201cCoolmoney,\u201d i gContae Chill Mhant\u00e1in<\/strong>, and the other as \u201cCollooney,\u201d i gContae Shligigh<\/strong>.\u00a0 Somehow I prefer the \u201ccoolmoney\u201d interpretation, at least on a bilingual level!<\/p>\n More generically, we could have a phrase like \u201csc\u00e1th na muine<\/strong>\u201d (the shade of the thicket).<\/p>\n One point you might notice here is that the lenition you so carefully learned, for saying \u201can mhuine<\/strong>\u201d (the thicket), as the subject of a sentence (C\u00e1 bhfuil an mhuine?<\/strong>), gets canceled here.\u00a0 In the genitive case, we simply have \u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d again, preceded by \u201cna<\/strong>,\u201d meaning \u201c(of) the,\u201d for feminine singular nouns.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n If we\u2019re using the genitive case but without \u201cna<\/strong>\u201d (the), we\u2019re even further on our way back to \u201ccearn\u00f3g a haon<\/strong>,\u201d as it were.\u00a0 For the indefinite forms, breathnaigh an t-iontas<\/strong>, we simply have \u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d once again.\u00a0 As an example, I\u2019ll just note in passing that the phrase \u201cmeirdreach muine<\/strong>\u201d dates back to early Medieval Irish, and means a \u201cbush-strumpet.\u201d\u00a0 Enough said on that topic, s\u00edlim<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another phrase or two, for \u201cin the thicket\u201d or \u201cin a thicket\u201d:<\/p>\n For \u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d following \u201csa<\/strong>,\u201d the phrase is \u201csa mhuine\u201d <\/strong>[suh WIN-yuh]:<\/p>\n Och, a luin, is buidhe dhuit, c\u00e1it [c\u00e9n \u00e1it] sa mhuine at\u00e1 do nead?,<\/strong> which is a slightly modernized version of a question addressed to a blackbird in an Old Irish poem.\u00a0 \u201cLuin<\/strong>\u201d here is the direct-address form of \u201clon<\/strong>,\u201d usually translated as \u201cblackbird,\u201d though it could also be an \u201couzel.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And, for an example of \u201ci muine<\/strong>\u201d (in a thicket), if I may make so bold as to translate a line of the work of WWI soldier-poet Wilfred Owen:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cF\u00e9ach! Reithe agus a adharca in achrann i muine.\u00a0 Ofr\u00e1il Reithe an Uabhair ina ionad [in ionad \u00cdos\u00e1c]<\/strong>,\u201d from Owen\u2019s \u201cThe Parable of the Old Man and the Young,\u201d concerning Abraham, Isaac, and all the victims of the \u201cGreat War.\u201d \u00a0Tragically, Owen became one of those victims, dying at age 25 on November 4, 1918, a week before Armistice, at the Battle of the Sambre.<\/p>\n How about the plural, \u201cmuineacha<\/strong>\u201d (thickets, etc.)?\u00a0 Again, not a typical topic of conversation, at least not for me, i mo shaol fobhailteach<\/strong>.\u00a0 But when daily discourse or mionchaint choitianta<\/strong> fails to provide sampla\u00ed,<\/strong> we can always resort to <\u00e9ifeacht fuaime: gl\u00f3r<\/em> buabhaill n\u00f3 torm\u00e1il druma, d\u00e9anfaidh ceachtar acu gn\u00f3<\/em>> \u2026 seanfhocail<\/strong>!\u00a0 Conveniently for discussing thickets, we find:<\/p>\n Amach as na muineacha is isteach sna driseacha<\/strong>.<\/p>\n More or less equivalent to \u201cOut of the frying pan into the fire,\u201d but literally, \u201cOut of the thickets and into the ___________.\u201d (Can you fill in the blank? Freagra th\u00edos<\/strong>)<\/p>\n And this plural form brings us a bit closer to another place name, quite well-known, based on \u201cmuine<\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cContae Mhuineach\u00e1in<\/strong>\u201d (Co. Monaghan) is translated in various ways, mostly revolving around \u201cmuine<\/strong>,\u201d either as \u201cland of the thickets or brakes,\u201d or \u201cthe thicket\/brake of the field,\u201d amongst other possibilities.<\/p>\n Other place names with \u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d?\u00a0 There are quite a few, such as the Ballymoney in Co. Wexford, which is Baile Muine<\/strong> in Irish.\u00a0 This Ballymoney has a different origin (\u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d) from the Ballymoney in Co. Antrim, which comes from \u201cBaile Monaidh<\/strong>\u201d (townland of the peatland).\u00a0 Just because two places in Ireland may have the same anglicized name doesn\u2019t mean the Irish originals are the same!\u00a0 We also have Muine an Mhe\u00e1<\/strong> (Monivea, Co. Galway) and Muine Bheag<\/strong>, (Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow).\u00a0 With the latter, the English version is completely different from the Irish, as sometimes happens.<\/p>\n As for the \u201cgall<\/strong>\u201d of \u201cMoneygall,\u201d it can either mean \u201ca foreigner\u201d or \u201cof foreigners.\u201d\u00a0 The word is also found in the place name \u201cD\u00fan na nGall<\/strong>,\u201d which many of you may recognize (aistri\u00fach\u00e1n th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 So the generally accepted translation of \u201cMuine Gall<\/strong>\u201d is \u201cforeigners\u2019 thicket.\u201d<\/p>\n Who were the foreigners that were connected to this Co. Offaly thicket?\u00a0 We may never know.\u00a0 \u201cGall<\/strong>\u201d can also refer to Danes, Normans, Anglo-Normans, and the English, so presumably one of those groups.\u00a0 Maybe someday I\u2019ll ask one of Moneygall\u2019s 300 or so inhabitants.\u00a0 But I\u2019m not sure how quickly that will happen.\u00a0 Ideally, a Moneygall resident might be on this list and fill us in?\u00a0 Duine ar bith de mhuintir Mhuine Gall anseo<\/strong>?<\/p>\n Small though it may be, Moneygall, will certainly have a \u201ccleite ina sciath\u00e1n<\/strong>\u201d after Obama\u2019s visit.\u00a0 But, as for the opportunity the word \u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d provides for practicing Irish 4th<\/sup>-declension nouns, somehow I doubt that was part of the original cl\u00e1r oibre<\/strong> (agenda, lit. work-program).\u00a0 Sl\u00e1n go F\u00e1il\u00ed, \u00f3 R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gluais: breathnaigh an t-iontas, <\/strong>hey-presto; buidhe, <\/strong>old spelling of \u201cbu\u00ed<\/strong>,\u201d thanks, gratitude; cleite ina sciath\u00e1n<\/strong>, lit. a feather in its wing, considered equivalent to \u201ca feather in its cap;\u201d fobhailteach<\/strong>, suburban; in achrann<\/strong>, entangled; nead<\/strong>, nest; reithe<\/strong>, ram; mionchaint<\/strong>, small talk; uabhar<\/strong>, (pride, arrogance), which leads us back to Owen\u2019s English original, \u201cBehold! Caught in a thicket by its horns, a Ram. Offer the Ram of Pride instead.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cSl\u00e1n go F\u00e1il\u00ed<\/strong>\u201d is a one-off adaptation of \u201cSl\u00e1n go f\u00f3ill<\/strong>\u201d for this blog, and could be interpreted as \u201cGoodbye until we meet in Offaly.\u201d\u00a0 An lucht r\u00edphointe\u00e1ilte maidir le gramadach<\/strong> will notice that I said \u201ccould be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Freagra: driseacha <\/strong>[DRISH-ukh-uh], <\/strong>plural of \u201cdris<\/strong>\u201d ([drish], thorn, bramble, brier, cantankerous person).<\/p>\n Aistri\u00fach\u00e1n: D\u00fan na nGall<\/strong>, the fortress of the foreigners, angl. \u201cDonegal.\u201d<\/p>\n N\u00f3ta<\/strong> faoi inscne an fhocail \u201cmuine\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cGenerally considered feminine?\u201d\u00a0 Well, that happens sometimes with Irish nouns.\u00a0 The same word may have different genders, as we recently discussed, usually depending on dialect or sometimes on the time period involved.\u00a0 Historically, at least, \u201cmuine<\/strong>\u201d was sometimes considered masculine, resulting in such place names as \u201cArd\u00e1n an Mhuine Riabhaigh<\/strong>\u201d (Monerea Terrace, Cork) and Baile an Mhuine<\/strong>, which, depending on whether you mean the Galway \u201cBaile an Mhuine\u201d<\/strong> or the Wexford \u201cBaile an<\/strong> Mhuine<\/strong>,\u201d got anglicized as \u201cBallywinna\u201d or \u201cBallinvunnia\u201d respectively.\u00a0 Nice examples of the [v] and [w] pronunciations of the same letters (mh), but that\u2019s definitely \u00e1bhar blag eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 In all of these, the genitive case form \u201cmhuine<\/strong>\u201d tells us that this noun is considered masculine in this area or was when these place names evolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) President Obama\u2019s visit to one of his ancestral homelands, Moneygall, Co. Offaly, Ireland, provides us with an ideal segue from 4th-declension nouns (discussed in our most recent blogs) to international news events.\u00a0 And this is one angle of his trip that I think has been overlooked by the majority, perhaps all, of the…<\/p>\n