{"id":9435,"date":"2017-07-10T16:14:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T16:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=9435"},"modified":"2017-07-27T14:10:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-27T14:10:47","slug":"in-irish-should-we-say-an-enchilada-fada-or-an-t-enchilada-fada-or-an-enchilada-fhada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/in-irish-should-we-say-an-enchilada-fada-or-an-t-enchilada-fada-or-an-enchilada-fhada\/","title":{"rendered":"In Irish, should we say “an enchilada fada” or “an t-enchilada fada” or “an enchilada fhada”? \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Since I had so much fun in the last blogpost (nasc th\u00edos<\/strong>) saying “enchilada fada<\/strong>” to myself, I thought you might enjoy playing around with the phrase also.<\/p>\n

Actually, there’s a very serious question to be addressed first.\u00a0 If we say “enchilada<\/strong>” in an Irish language sentence, should we consider the word to be masculine (firinscneach<\/strong>), feminine (baininscneach<\/strong>), or genderless (gan inscne<\/strong>)? \u00a0Almost all nouns in Irish have gender, so we should at least address the issue.<\/p>\n

If we say “an enchilada<\/strong>” (the enchilada). it could imply that the word is accepted as grammatically feminine.\u00a0 Why — because we didn’t insert the “t” before the first vowel, which is one of the best ways identify a noun as masculine in Irish (as in “an t-\u00fall<\/strong>,” “an t-uisce,” srl.<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

If it’s masculine, we could say “an t-enchilada<\/strong>.” \u00a0IF<\/em> we’re following the rules, agus is m\u00f3r an “m\u00e1” \u00e9 sin<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

If we consider the word genderless, because it’s a “focal iasachta<\/strong>,” then our discussion is really moot and I should just move on.\u00a0 But, to my mind at least, these “loan words” stand out more in Irish when they begin with a vowel than when they begin with a consonant.\u00a0 For example, to say “an taco<\/strong>” (the taco) or “an burrito<\/strong>” (the burrito) sounds reasonable enough, if we’re talking about mearbhia Meicsiceach<\/strong>.\u00a0 But my instinct tells me that “an + consan ag tos\u00fa le guta<\/strong>” (as in “an\u00a0enchilada<\/strong>“) means “feminine,” as long as we’re not in the tuiseal ginideach<\/strong>, in which case (no pun intended, or, well, maybe), the rules are reversed.\u00a0 \u00a0Sampla\u00ed?\u00a0 Seo c\u00fapla ceann<\/strong>.\u00a0 We can easily tell that words like “an ubh<\/strong>” and “an uillinn<\/strong>” are feminine because they start with a vowel and have no prefixed “t-” after the “an<\/strong>.” If, somehow, there was a “t-” before “ubh<\/strong>” or “uillinn<\/strong>,” it would mean the word was masculine.<\/p>\n

So far, then, our choices are “an enchilada<\/strong>” (dropping all gender considerations),”an enchilada<\/strong>” (implied feminine), “*an t-enchilada<\/strong>” (clearly masculine, if anyone ever actually says this). \u00a0All three mean “the enchilada”.<\/p>\n

As you can tell from the graphic above, I decided to go the route of least resistance, that is, to just treat “enchilada<\/strong>” as a genderless noun in Irish.\u00a0 If anyone can find any other precedents, please do let me know.\u00a0 I have searched online for the word with all possible prefixes (t-, h-, and n-), and have found no hits.<\/p>\n

So now that we’ve solved that weighty issue (gan inscne, gan r\u00e9im\u00edreanna<\/strong>), we can also address what would happen to an adjective, like “fada<\/strong>” (long), coming after “enchilada<\/strong>” in Irish.\u00a0 If we go with genderlessness, we can simply say “enchilada fada<\/strong>,” which was the original Spanish-Irish end-rhyming phrase that got me started on this whole rigmarole.\u00a0 If we consider “enchilada<\/strong>” to be masculine, the phrase is still “enchilada fada<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But, if we consider it feminine, then we should say, “enchilada fhada<\/strong>.”\u00a0 Remember that the “fh” is silent, so the phrase would sound like “enchilada ‘ada<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

But, lo and behold, when we say “a very long enchilada” or “an altogether very long enchilada,” we don’t have to think about grammar at all (Yay!, some say!).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the “an-<\/strong>” of “an-fhada<\/strong>” (very long) already begins with a vowel and so would not change, whether the noun was masculine or feminine (remember: b\u00f3thar fada<\/strong>, a long road, grammatically masculine, but sr\u00e1id fhada<\/strong>, a long street, grammatically feminine; no change to “aontreo<\/strong>” in the phrases “sr\u00e1id aontreo<\/strong>” and “b\u00f3thar aontreo<\/strong>“).\u00a0 So it’s easy enough to say “enchilada an-fhada<\/strong>” (a very long enchilada) and “enchilada an-fhada ar fad<\/strong>” (an altogether very long enchilada, i.e. a very very long enchilada).<\/p>\n

So far, so good.<\/p>\n

But that wasn’t quite the whole … [dare I say it] … enchilada, because I haven’t yet dealt with plurals.\u00a0 Again, I’ve found no precedents online for this vital element of understanding Irish grammar.\u00a0 But I’ll simply say that the choice would basically be whether to apply the Irish plural ending (enchilada\u00ed,<\/strong> adding the “-\u00ed”) or whether to use the final “s,” as in the English plural (boy, boys, etc.). \u00a0Even with the later, there’s still a final consideration — whether to pronounce a final “s” hard like a Spanish “s” (as in English “hiss” or “miss” or the Welsh phrase “bois bach<\/em>“) or soft, like a “z,” as in many English plurals (boys, girls, dresses, but not books or cooks).\u00a0 So if we’re talking about enchiladas in Irish, and treating the word as a borrowing, do we use the Spanish sound or the English sound for the plural? \u00a0I guess I’ll just to wait for the next time I hear some Irish speakers talking about them.<\/p>\n

So what’s the, erm, take-away?\u00a0 Grammatical gender is very important in Irish.\u00a0 This is also true of most other European languages (“le” chien<\/em> but “la” souris<\/em> in French; “das” Buch<\/em> but “der” Buchbinder<\/em> and “die” Buchbinderin<\/em> in German, etc.).\u00a0 Native English speakers are often thrown for a loop by all of the details about grammatical gender in Irish, because for them, tables, chairs, cloudiness, and modems have no gender.\u00a0 Various vehicles for transportation (ships, cars, etc.) or their engines might be considered feminine, especially by mechanics fixing them (“She’s running great now”).\u00a0 There may also be occasional, usually literary, instances of female gender for country names or for our planet as Mother Earth, as in the following example by Marjorie Wilson (1885-19??) from her poem “To Tony (Aged 3) (In memory T. P. C. W.):<\/p>\n

“[There was a man once …] A lover of earth’s forests\u2014of her hills,
\nAnd brother to her sunlight\u2014to her rain\u2014
\nMan, with a boy’s fresh wonder. He was great
\nWith greatness all too simple to explain.<\/p>\n

The poem was written in memory of the poet’s brother, Theodore Percival Cameron “Jim” Wilson, 188?-1918.<\/p>\n

And for a final bit of grammatical gender in English, why did whalers (sealgair\u00ed m\u00edolta m\u00f3ra<\/strong>) always seem to say “Thar she<\/em> blows!” when sighting whales (m\u00edolta m\u00f3ra<\/strong>)?\u00a0 Surely they’re not all female. \u00a0Whales, that is, not the whalers — that’d be a different kettle of fish altogether. \u00a0An occasional banph\u00edor\u00e1id<\/strong>, maybe, but not a whole crew of female whalers! \u00a0As for the whales, I don’t think I’ve ever heard “Thar he blows”! \u00a0But then, I don’t usually hang around ar dheiceanna b\u00e1d m\u00edolta mara<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But, back to our main point, in Irish, we either need to follow the gender rules for nouns and adjectives, or very occasionally, agree that they don’t apply, for certain loan words.<\/p>\n

So, now, that’s basically the whole enchilada, at least for today’s purposes.\u00a0 Someday maybe we’ll look more at words like “banana<\/strong>,” “bus<\/strong>,” and “wigwam<\/strong>” in an Irish context, and then consider why some definitely non-Irish terms like “igloo<\/strong>” and “Brockengespenst<\/strong>” do undergo some spelling changes when gaelicized (\u00edogl\u00fa, sc\u00e1il an Bhrocain<\/strong>).\u00a0 SGF<\/strong>\u00a0 — but please do read the notes below, and if you have any questions or comments, please write in\u00a0 — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta\u00ed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

a)) Why do we sometimes say “the whole enchilada” in English. Here’s an explanation. https:\/\/wholeenchilada.wordpress.com\/2007\/11\/27\/origin-of-the-phrase-the-whole-enchilada\/<\/p>\n

b)) You might be interested to know of the saga of my attempt to find a good graphic to use for the illustration above. I combed the Internet fairly thoroughly for public domain images of enchiladas, but they were almost all photographed or drawn in groups of two or three or more. I thought that having too many enchiladas in the picture would weaken the impact of practicing “fada<\/strong>,” “an-fhada<\/strong>,” and “an-fhada ar fad<\/strong>.”\u00a0 A lot of the pictures were also on a slant, making it harder to use them to illustrate different lengths.\u00a0 So, your long-suffering blogger (do bhlag\u00e1la\u00ed fadfhulangach<\/strong>) actually had to go to the store, buy some frozen enchiladas (enchilada\u00ed reoite?\u00a0 enchiladas reoite?<\/strong>), cook them, and photograph one (resisting the temptation to eat it) till the mission was accomplished.\u00a0 What we do “ar son na c\u00faise<\/strong>“!\u00a0 So, should I call this whole escapade “S\u00e1ga an Enchilada Fhada<\/strong><\/em>” (firinscneach<\/strong>), “S\u00e1ga na hEnchilada Fada<\/em>“<\/strong> (baininscneach<\/strong>) or “S\u00e1ga an Enchilada Fada<\/strong><\/em>” (gan inscne<\/strong>).\u00a0 Do bhar\u00fail?\u00a0 Agus n\u00ed hea, n\u00edor scr\u00edobh m\u00e9 \u00e9 seo \u00f3 Champa Granada!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nasc:<\/strong>\u00a0C\u00e9 chomh fada is at\u00e1 an tsr\u00f3n? (How long is the nose?)<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Jun 30, 2017 in\u00a0Irish Language<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Since I had so much fun in the last blogpost (nasc th\u00edos) saying “enchilada fada” to myself, I thought you might enjoy playing around with the phrase also. Actually, there’s a very serious question to be addressed first.\u00a0 If we say “enchilada” in an Irish language sentence, should we consider the word to…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":9436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[489661,8452,111082,376388,489675,489680,4488,489668,489669,332266,1020,489684,489678,489660,251488,5125,489683,2906,5175,111083,489662,489685,96546,1111,96586,9374,489667,489671,2993,489664,489665,489681,489670,3349,2418,11,207372,489682,489674,489663,489677,489676,489672,489673,390416,7650],"class_list":["post-9435","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-ar-fad","tag-bad","tag-baininscneach","tag-banana","tag-banphioraid","tag-brockengespenst","tag-buch","tag-buchbinder","tag-buchbinderin","tag-burrito","tag-bus","tag-campa","tag-deiceanna","tag-enchilada","tag-ending","tag-fada","tag-fadfhulangach","tag-feminine","tag-fhada","tag-firinscneach","tag-genderless","tag-granada-whole","tag-guta","tag-igloo","tag-inscne","tag-ioglu","tag-letter-s","tag-marjorie-wilson","tag-masculine","tag-mearbhia","tag-meicsiceach","tag-miolta-mora","tag-mother-earth","tag-plural","tag-prefix","tag-pronunciation","tag-reoite","tag-scail-an-bhrocain","tag-sealgaire","tag-taco","tag-thar-he-blows","tag-thar-she-blows","tag-to-tony","tag-tpcw","tag-wigwam","tag-wwi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9435","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=9435"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9445,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9435\/revisions\/9445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}