{"id":8832,"date":"2017-01-15T20:51:20","date_gmt":"2017-01-15T20:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=8832"},"modified":"2017-02-28T16:42:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T16:42:13","slug":"harry-potter-agus-an-orchloch-sraith-ocaideach-dfhocail-shuimiula-sa-leagan-gaeilge-cuid-1-an-bundallan-draiochta-no-an-beasor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/harry-potter-agus-an-orchloch-sraith-ocaideach-dfhocail-shuimiula-sa-leagan-gaeilge-cuid-1-an-bundallan-draiochta-no-an-beasor\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter agus an \u00d3rchloch: Sraith \u00d3c\u00e1ideach d’Fhocail Shuimi\u00fala sa Leagan Gaeilge (Cuid 1: an bundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta — n\u00f3 an beas\u00f3r?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Having now made my way through Harry Potter as Gaeil-ge<\/strong> 3.9411-76470-5882-35 times, I thought this would be a good time to start looking at some of the interesting vocabulary in the Irish translation by M\u00e1ire Nic Mhaol\u00e1in, published in 2004.<\/p>\n

Before we start, why all those numbers after the pointe deach\u00falach<\/strong>?\u00a0 My third reading group is now doing Caibidil a S\u00e9 D\u00e9ag (“Tr\u00edd an gComhla S\u00edos”)<\/strong>.\u00a0 It seems a little awkward to use 16\/17 as a cod\u00e1n<\/strong>, so I decided to go with the leagan deach\u00falach, a bhu\u00ed leis an r\u00edomhaire<\/strong>, which did the calculation i bhfaiteadh na s\u00fal<\/strong> (an Irish equivalent to “in a split second,” but not a translation of it).\u00a0 In other words, I’m almost cr\u00edochnaithe<\/strong> reading the book for the fourth time, once on my own and three times with small reading groups.<\/p>\n

Also before we start, and for any one wanting some real basic Irish vocabulary related to Harry Potter, let’s look quickly at the word “\u00f3rchloch<\/strong>” from the book’s title.\u00a0 “Cloch<\/strong>” [klukh] is “stone” and “\u00f3r<\/strong>” is “gold,” pretty basic I guess.\u00a0 Combined, they literally mean “gold-stone,” but it’s really translated as “philosopher’s stone,” as in the original title of the book in English (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone).\u00a0 It always seemed to me that “cloch an ailceimiceor<\/strong>a” would be more appropriate today than “cloch an fheals\u00fana\u00ed”<\/strong> in this context, but “philosopher’s stone,” from the Latin, “lapis philosophorum<\/em>” seems to have established the precedent for that terminology, I assume before the word “alchemist” ever came into existence.<\/p>\n

And now, turning to the text, one of the most intriguing words in the English version is “bezoar,” which, as you may remember, Professor Snape asked Harry to define on their first day of classes.\u00a0 Needless to say, theip air (ach bh\u00ed an freagra ag Hermione, ar nd\u00f3igh).\u00a0 Tagann an focal B\u00e9arla<\/strong> “bezoar” \u00f3 na teangacha Peirsise agus Araibise<\/strong>, “b\u0101zahr<\/em>” agus “p\u0101dzah<\/em>r” faoi seach.\u00a0 Cialla\u00edonn s\u00e9 “frithnimh”<\/strong> (counterpoison). \u00a0\u00a0The name comes from the belief that a bezoar has healing powers, a bezoar being a calcified accretion that can grow in the stomachs of certain animals.<\/p>\n

Irish apparently has two choices for “bezoar.”\u00a0 \u00a0We see one in Nic Mhaol\u00e1in’s translation, “bundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta<\/strong>,” lit. “magic stopper (i.e. a magic plug)” or “magic bung.”\u00a0 The latter, I must admit, as a literal translation, doesn’t have quite the je ne sais quoi<\/em> of the mysterious-looking word “bezoar” (how many had to look that one up when the book first came out?) or the straightforwardness of “magical stopper”.<\/p>\n

The other choice is the gaelicization of the word “bezoar” itself, with minor changes to the vowels and the substitution of “s” for “z,” more typical in Irish spelling: beas\u00f3r<\/strong> [BASS-ohrrr<\/sup>, that’s “bass” like the fish, not the musical instrument].\u00a0 \u00a0There doesn’t seem to be any special reason why Nic Mhaol\u00e1in chose “bundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Perhaps there are some relevant Irish folk traditions dating from before the word “bezoar” reached the Gaeltacht.\u00a0 If anyone ever has the chance to meet her and find out, it would be great if you could write in and tell us. \u00a0At any rate, “beas\u00f3r<\/strong>” is closer to the original Arabic and Persian.<\/p>\n

A fun addition to this vocabulary, at least to ponder, is the Irish for “pseudobezoar,” for which, n\u00ed nach hionadh<\/strong>, I’ve found no precedents.\u00a0 But since the Irish for “pseudo-” is usually “br\u00e9ag<\/strong>-” (lit. false) and sometimes “s\u00fada<\/strong>-” (especially in math or computer science), we could easily enough come up with ” *br\u00e9agbheas\u00f3r<\/strong>” or possibly ” *s\u00fadabheas\u00f3r<\/strong>,” or a little more cumbersomely, ” *br\u00e9agbhundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta<\/strong>” or ” *s\u00fadabhundall\u00e1n<\/strong> dra\u00edochta.”\u00a0 Cad sa diabhal a chialla\u00edonn<\/strong> “pseudobezoar”?\u00a0 It’s a bezoar created by deliberately inserting some indigestible object (rud dodh\u00edle\u00e1ite<\/strong>) into the c\u00f3ras d\u00edle\u00e1<\/strong> of the selected animal so that the object becomes a bezoar.<\/p>\n

Well, anyway, that’s bezoar, but I’m still pondering “bezoardic” and “bezoartical.”\u00a0 If we go with “beas\u00f3r<\/strong>,” it would be easy enough to make it an adjective, although I’ve never seen an Irish version in use: *beas\u00f3rach<\/strong> or perhaps *beas\u00f3r\u00fail<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 But if we go with bundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta<\/strong>, we have to deal with using the phrase as an adjective, doable, but always, in my view, more complicated, like “leigheas bundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta<\/strong>” (a bezoardic cure) or “eala\u00edona leighis bundall\u00e1n dra\u00edochta<\/strong>” (bezoartical healing arts).\u00a0\u00a0 Definitely “ar an leathimeall<\/strong>” (a bit off the beaten track), ach mar gach uile fhocal ina dh\u00f3igh f\u00e9in, suimi\u00fail go leor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So , if bezoars crop up in your next Irish coffee klatch (whiskey-laced, b’fh\u00e9idir<\/strong>?) or ciorcal comhr\u00e1<\/strong>, now you’ll be prepared.\u00a0 Or if you happen to run into Professor Snape, which now sadly would have to be through time travel for the character or for the late beloved actor, Alan Rickman.<\/p>\n

Anyway, more interesting HP words to come, but perhaps intermittently, as the title of this blog suggests (sraith \u00f3c\u00e1ideach<\/strong>, an occasional series) \u00a0— R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Having now made my way through Harry Potter as Gaeil-ge 3.9411-76470-5882-35 times, I thought this would be a good time to start looking at some of the interesting vocabulary in the Irish translation by M\u00e1ire Nic Mhaol\u00e1in, published in 2004. Before we start, why all those numbers after the pointe deach\u00falach?\u00a0 My third…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":8834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[3531,474838,474837,474836,474839,474840,5490,46880,6517,474841,207463],"class_list":["post-8832","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-arabic","tag-beasor","tag-besoar","tag-bezoar","tag-bundallan","tag-draiochta","tag-harry","tag-persian","tag-potter","tag-rickman","tag-snape"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8832","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=8832"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8931,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8832\/revisions\/8931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}