{"id":9446,"date":"2017-07-14T09:39:46","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T09:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=9446"},"modified":"2017-07-31T23:24:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T23:24:47","slug":"fada-nios-faide-is-faide-and-fadafhada-forms-of-the-word-fada-in-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/fada-nios-faide-is-faide-and-fadafhada-forms-of-the-word-fada-in-irish\/","title":{"rendered":"Fada — N\u00edos Faide — Is Faide and Fada\/Fhada: Forms of the Word ‘Fada’ in Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Since our last blogpost looked at the length of an enchilada (fad enchilada<\/strong>), so we could practice saying “enchilada fada<\/strong>,” “enchilada an-fhada<\/strong>,” and “enchilada an-fhada ar fad<\/strong>,” I figured today we could practice the word “fada<\/strong>” a little more.<\/p>\n

The forms you see in the graphic above are, respectively,<\/p>\n

fada<\/strong>, long. as in “b\u00f3thar fada<\/strong>,” a long road (fhada<\/strong> if after a feminine singular noun, like “nathair fhada<\/strong>“, a long snake)<\/p>\n

n\u00edos faide<\/strong>, longer, as in “T\u00e1 an nathair seo n\u00edos faide n\u00e1 an nathair sin<\/strong>.” (This snake is longer than that snake).<\/p>\n

is faide<\/strong>, longest, as in, “Seo \u00ed an ceann is faide<\/strong>” (This is the longest one).\u00a0 I used the pronoun “\u00ed<\/strong>” here, since I’m still loosely referring to “nathracha<\/strong>” (snakes), and that noun is grammatically feminine.\u00a0 If I said “Seo \u00e9 an ceann is faide<\/strong>,” the original subject would have been a masculine noun, not a feminine one.<\/p>\n

Did you get the answer for “Is \u00e9 an Mamba Dubh an dara nathair nimhe __________ ar domhan<\/strong>” from the graphic above?\u00a0 The “freagra<\/strong>” is “th\u00edos<\/strong>” and it was also in the credit line of the graphic.<\/p>\n

BTW, you may have already noticed that “an ceann<\/strong>” normally means “head,” but remember, it can also be used to refer to a previously mentioned noun, whatever the earlier topic of discussion was in that particular context.\u00a0 Of course, if there were a competition among long-headed horses walking into bars, well, no, that wouldn’t really work, because the bartender says, “Why the long face?” not “Why the long head?” in that old chestnut.\u00a0 A good attempt at whimsy, though.\u00a0 Anything to break up the grammar component of the blog, since a bit of “an ghramadach<\/strong>” is coming up next!<\/p>\n

Regarding the gender of the noun “Mamba<\/strong>” in the phrase “Mamba Dubh<\/strong>,” here’s what I’ve found so far (f\u00e9ach ar an n\u00f3ta th\u00edos chun nuashonr\u00fach\u00e1n a fh\u00e1il, 7\/29\/17<\/strong>):<\/p>\n

a)) no authoritative dictionary entries or online encyclopedia entries indicating gender<\/p>\n

b)) one hit online for “mamba dubh<\/strong>,” suggesting masculine gender<\/p>\n

c)) one hit online for “an mamba dhubh<\/strong>“ [sic]<\/em>, which is grammatically unclear, since “an mamba<\/strong>” would be masculine but “mamba dhubh<\/strong>” would be feminine<\/p>\n

d)) when I wrote previously in this blog about mambas, I decided to go with masculine for the noun, since there seemed to be no conclusive evidence that it was feminine. I did poke around a bit online for gender decisions for other languages, and found the following:<\/p>\n

baininscneach: Sp\u00e1innis, Gearm\u00e1inis (per an Vic\u00edp\u00e9id)<\/strong><\/p>\n

firinscneach: Fraincis, Iod\u00e1ilis (per an Vic\u00edp\u00e9id)<\/strong><\/p>\n

So that wasn’t really conclusive.\u00a0 Not that other languages’ decisions for the gender of loan words would really have any bearing on the gender of a “focal iasachta<\/strong>” in Irish, but it would at least be interesting background information.<\/p>\n

Tagann an focal “mamba” \u00f3n tS\u00fal\u00fais <\/strong>“imamba”<\/em> agus n\u00edl a fhios agam as mo sheasamh an bhfuil inscne ghramad\u00fail ag an teanga S\u00fal\u00faise n\u00f3 nach bhfuil.<\/strong> (The word “mamba” comes from the Zulu “imamba<\/em>” and I don’t know offhand if the Zulu language has grammatical gender or not).\u00a0 Also, offhand (as mo sheasamh<\/strong>), I can’t think of any non-Indo-European language that _does_ have grammatical gender, but I don’t know for sure.\u00a0 It would, of course, be interesting to know how the word “imamba<\/em>” fits into a Zulu sentence, but that’ll have to be a rainy day project.\u00a0 Ach amh\u00e1in m\u00e1 t\u00e1 S\u00fal\u00fais ag duine ar bith ar an liosta seo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Being a Star Trek fan, I really want to ask, “An bhfuil S\u00fal\u00fais ag Sulu<\/strong>?” but, of course, Uhura would be the more likely candidate for that situation, given that she knows “Svaha\u00edlis<\/strong>.”\u00a0 And on that note, I’ll say SGF<\/strong> and see you in some galaxy or other – R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra: Is \u00e9 an Mamba Dubh an dara nathair nimhe is faide ar domhan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta faoi inscnea: \u00a0faoi dheireadh fuair m\u00e9 an fr\u00e1sa seo: mamba glas oirthearach, Eastern green mamba. \u00a0Deir s\u00e9 linn go bhfuil an focal “mamba” firinscneach!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Since our last blogpost looked at the length of an enchilada (fad enchilada), so we could practice saying “enchilada fada,” “enchilada an-fhada,” and “enchilada an-fhada ar fad,” I figured today we could practice the word “fada” a little more. The forms you see in the graphic above are, respectively, fada, long. as in…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":9447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[5125,489686,6222],"class_list":["post-9446","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-fada","tag-faide","tag-nathair"],"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