{"id":9200,"date":"2017-04-26T13:11:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T13:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=9200"},"modified":"2020-03-05T11:12:21","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T11:12:21","slug":"childrens-books-in-irish-by-gwyneth-wynn-references-links-and-vocabulary-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/childrens-books-in-irish-by-gwyneth-wynn-references-links-and-vocabulary-pt-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Children’s Books in Irish by Gwyneth Wynn:\u00a0 References, Links, and Vocabulary (pt. 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

If you’ve been following the most recent blogposts (na blagmh\u00edreanna is d\u00e9ana\u00ed, naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>), then you’ve followed our discussion of Mic\u00ed, Teid\u00ed, Beartla Broc, agus An Crann Beag, in books by Irish- and Welsh-speaking author\/illustrator Gwyneth Wynn.\u00a0 Today we’ll briefly recap the background and move on to discuss one or two of her other books.<\/p>\n

We started with Mic\u00ed ar an bPortach<\/em> and Mic\u00ed agus an R\u00ed<\/em>, and looked at quite a few vocabulary words from those.\u00a0 One of the most interesting, I think, is “gr\u00f3ige\u00e1n<\/strong>” (a small stack of footed turf, stacked almost vertically for drying, not the big stack that would eventually be stored near the house, which would typically be called a “cruach<\/strong>“).\u00a0 In fact, how many ways are there to say “a stack” in Irish? \u00a0I can think of about ten, but that’s definitely \u00e1bhar blagmh\u00edre eile<\/strong>.\u00a0 Another fun and useful word, from Mic\u00ed agus an R\u00ed<\/em>, is “leite<\/strong>” (porridge), fun partly because it shows up in one of my favorite Irish phrases, “l\u00e1mha leitean<\/strong>” (porridge-hands, used like “butterfingers” in English).\u00a0 Not that “l\u00e1mha leitean<\/strong>” as such shows up in the Mic\u00ed books, but it’s always good to expand one’s vocabulary through the extended word family.<\/p>\n

For the two Beartla Broc (Beartla Badger) books, I can’t offer as detailed an examination, since I haven’t found them for sale online anywhere, but the last blogpost did include a few links to photos of someone in a Beartla Broc costume\u00a0reading to kids. \u00a0As I said before, I’d love to locate some copies.<\/p>\n

The last blog also mentioned that I had finally found some biographical information about the author, thanks to her Amazon authors page (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>).\u00a0 I had always been intrigued as to how such delightful Irish books had come to be written by someone with such a distinctively Welsh name, some of whose family members (mentioned in the “tiomnaithe<\/strong>” at the beginning of the books) also have distinctively Welsh names. \u00a0\u00a0Wynn mentions coming to Ireland in 1992 to learn Irish, and apparently she stayed!<\/p>\n

In today’s blogpost, we’ll look at another one of her books, based mainly on blurba an fhoilsitheora<\/strong>, since I don’t actually have a copy yet.\u00a0 But even a book blurb can give us some food for vocabularian thought.\u00a0 If you haven’t read the previous blogpost yet (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>), please remember that no. 1, from the previous post, was An Crann Beag<\/em>, so this post will start directly with no. 2.<\/p>\n

2) L\u00e1 Bre\u00e1 B\u00e1ist\u00ed<\/em> (An G\u00fam, 2004)<\/p>\n

“Ag gear\u00e1n agus ag cn\u00e1imhse\u00e1il a bh\u00ed na daoine f\u00e1sta. Agus c\u00fais mhaith acu mar l\u00e1 gruama b\u00e1ist\u00ed a bh\u00ed ann. Ach bhain cail\u00edn \u00f3g aonair, S\u00edle, an-sult go deo as tr\u00e1thn\u00f3na an lae sin. Is iontach an rud an \u00f3ige!<\/strong><\/p>\n

“A rainy day in Connemara doesn’t do much for adults but for a lonely young girl, S\u00ed\u00adle, the afternoon turned out to be one of sheer unadulterated enjoyment. ” (https:\/\/www.litriocht.com\/product\/la-brea-baisti\/?lang=en&add_to_wishlist=111885)<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/p>\n

a))\u00a0ag gear\u00e1n<\/strong>, complaining, sometimes also “accusing”; ag cn\u00e1imhse\u00e1il<\/strong>, complaining, grumbling<\/p>\n

b)) the English blurb and the Irish are pretty different in that the Irish ends by saying, “Is iontach an rud an \u00f3ige!<\/strong>” (lit. “Youth is a wonderful thing”), while the English concludes by saying that the girl had an afternoon of “sheer unadulterated enjoyment.” If we took the phrase “sheer unadulterated enjoyment” literally, we’d have:<\/p>\n

(i) sheer: “f\u00edor-“<\/strong> (lit. true) or “amach is amach”<\/strong> (lit. out and out); this is, of course, “sheer” used for emphasis, not for transparency, which would be “tr\u00e9shoilseach<\/strong>,” kind of like saying “through-light-ish”<\/p>\n

(ii) unadulterated: could also be “amach is amach<\/strong>” — interesting how “amach is amach<\/strong>” could be translated as “sheer” or as “unadulterated,” depending on context. In fact, “amach is amach<\/strong>” may be one of the most flexible phrases in Irish, since it can be translated about 50 different ways. Ach sin \u00e1bhar blagmh\u00edre eile!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or we could go with “ioml\u00e1n<\/strong>” (complete, completely) or “cr\u00edochnaithe<\/strong>” (finished, confirmed, all-around, etc.).\u00a0 It’s clearly not “unadulterated” in the sense of “pure,” which would be “gan truailli\u00fa<\/strong>” or “\u00edon<\/strong>” or “gan mheascadh<\/strong>” or “neamhthruaillithe<\/strong>.”\u00a0\u00a0 Fun, though, that by describing the fun as “unadulterated,” the blurb writer (an “*blurbad\u00f3ir<\/strong>,” to maybe coin a word?) also subtly suggests that part of the girl’s fun was that adults weren’t involved!\u00a0 Intentional?<\/p>\n

(iii) enjoyment:\u00a0 “sult<\/strong>” is probably the most basic here, but there other options (aoibhneas, pl\u00e9isi\u00far, s\u00e1samh, s\u00f3, su\u00e1ilce<\/strong>, and taitneamh<\/strong>).\u00a0 And you know I always enjoy it when there are at least five ways of saying something in Irish!<\/p>\n

So, somehow we could combine these and say “f\u00edorshult amach is amach<\/strong>” (or some other combination), but it just doesn’t seem to have the same panache as the catchy Irish phrase “Is iontach an rud an \u00f3ige!<\/strong>”\u00a0 This looks to me like another case where a literal translation back and forth wouldn’t do full justice to either language.\u00a0 If the English had simply translated “Youth is a wonderful thing!” I don’t think it would have resonated the way the Irish does.\u00a0 Irish has a whole slew of expressions that start out with “Is maith an …<\/strong>” or “Is iontach an …<\/strong>” or even negatives (“Is olc an …<\/strong>“), so using “Is iontach an rud an \u00f3ige<\/strong>” is the perfect focal scoir<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There’s an additional write-up, with a little more detail about the story at: http:\/\/childrensbooksireland.ie\/people\/?person=Gwyneth+Winn<\/a> [sic]<\/p>\n

And it does\u00a0look like it will take one more blogpost to finish this overview of Wynn’s books.\u00a0 Ag s\u00fail leis an gc\u00e9ad bhlagmh\u00edr eile a scr\u00edobh.\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Children\u2019s Books in Irish by Gwyneth Wynn: References, Links, and Vocabulary (pt. 1)<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Apr 22, 2017 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

Leabhar Eile le Gwyneth Wynn: Mic\u00ed agus an R\u00ed (Another Mini Irish Glossary)<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Apr 19, 2017 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

An Irish Vocabulary Guide for Gwyneth Wynn\u2019s \u2018Mic\u00ed ar an bPortach\u2019<\/a> Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Apr 16, 2017 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/p>\n

leathanach \u00fadair Wynn<\/strong>: https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Gwyneth-Wynn\/e\/B0034ODO34<\/a><\/p>\n

nasc do dh\u00edolt\u00f3ir leabhartha Gaeilge<\/strong>: http:\/\/www.forasnagaeilge.ie\/fuinn\/an-gum\/ceannach\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) If you’ve been following the most recent blogposts (na blagmh\u00edreanna is d\u00e9ana\u00ed, naisc th\u00edos), then you’ve followed our discussion of Mic\u00ed, Teid\u00ed, Beartla Broc, agus An Crann Beag, in books by Irish- and Welsh-speaking author\/illustrator Gwyneth Wynn.\u00a0 Today we’ll briefly recap the background and move on to discuss one or two of her…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":9206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[489394,460478,474876,4293,489378,489402,489393,460479,298644,4813,489396,489404,5190,489399,489397,298655,489403,489326,489395,489398,5802,376613,32994,32995,489330,489400,331951,230009,489329,489401,7296,489327],"class_list":["post-9200","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-amach-is-amach","tag-badger","tag-baisti","tag-beag","tag-beartla","tag-blurba","tag-brea","tag-broc","tag-cnaimhseail","tag-crann","tag-criochnaithe","tag-cruach","tag-fior","tag-gan-mheascadh","tag-gan-truailliu","tag-gearan","tag-groigean","tag-gwyneth","tag-iomlan","tag-ion","tag-la","tag-lamha","tag-leite","tag-leitean","tag-mici","tag-neamhthruaillithe","tag-sile","tag-sult","tag-teidi","tag-treshoilseach","tag-welsh","tag-wynn"],"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