{"id":9588,"date":"2017-08-29T21:04:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T21:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=9588"},"modified":"2017-09-10T02:14:33","modified_gmt":"2017-09-10T02:14:33","slug":"srona-proboscais-clocha-liofa-agus-oighinn-the-irish-for-noses-proboscises-grindstones-and-ovens-and-why-this-selection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/srona-proboscais-clocha-liofa-agus-oighinn-the-irish-for-noses-proboscises-grindstones-and-ovens-and-why-this-selection\/","title":{"rendered":"Sr\u00f3na, Pr\u00f3boscais, Clocha L\u00edofa agus Oighinn: The Irish for ‘Noses,’ ‘Proboscises,’ ‘Grindstones,’ and ‘Ovens,’ and Why This Selection!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

So what’s the connection between the four Irish terms in the title of this blogpost, most of which were introduced in recent posts (naisc th\u00edos<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Well, first let’s translate the title, and that will make some of it clear.<\/p>\n

sr\u00f3na<\/strong>, noses<\/p>\n

pr\u00f3boscais<\/strong>, proboscises.\u00a0 By the way, I did look in several Irish dictionaries for “mouthpart,” haunted always by “The Host” episode of The X-Files<\/em>.\u00a0 But no luck yet for “mouthpart” i nGaeilge<\/strong>.\u00a0 I imagine it would be “b\u00e9alph\u00e1irt<\/strong>” or “b\u00e9alchuid<\/strong>,” but would like to see some confirmation.<\/p>\n

clocha l\u00edofa<\/strong>, grindstones\u00a0 [remember, “ch” as in German “Buch<\/em>” or Welsh “bach<\/em>“]<\/p>\n

oighinn<\/strong>, ovens [remember the “gh” is basically silent, although it does affect the vowel sound]<\/p>\n

The first two have a fairly straightforward connection.\u00a0 If an organism, mar shampla, feithid<\/strong>, has a sort of nose\/mouthpart, we might call it a proboscis, if the “nose” and “mouth” are not really separate.\u00a0 Hmm, I guess I never really thought about the issue of whether there have to be poll\u00e1ir\u00ed<\/strong> to be considered a nose as opposed to a proboscis.\u00a0 At any rate, if used for humans, “proboscis” is usually either in jest or a downright insult.\u00a0 Jimmy Durante comes to mind, although he used it on himself, in “The Boys with the Proboscis,” his duet with Bob Hope.\u00a0 And Google gives me about 11,900 hits for Cyrano de Bergerac combined with proboscis.\u00a0 At any rate, nose or nosepart or combined nose\/mouthpart, the words “sr\u00f3n<\/strong>” and ” pr\u00f3boscas<\/strong>” are reasonably related.<\/p>\n

The “grindstone” connection comes from the English idiom, “to keep one’s nose to the grindstone.”\u00a0 As we’ll see momentarily, the traditional Irish phrase is actually quite different — that’s the “oigheann<\/strong>” connection.\u00a0 But the word for grindstone is interesting in Irish, anyway, even if it’s not part of the usual idiom.<\/p>\n

Probably many “foghlaimeoir\u00ed Gaeilge<\/strong>” first learn the word “l\u00edofa<\/strong>” to mean “fluent,” which indeed it does.\u00a0 “Cainteoir l\u00edofa<\/strong>,” srl.<\/strong>\u00a0 But it really comes from the verb “l\u00edomh<\/strong>” (grind, sharpen, polish by friction.”\u00a0 The verbal noun form is “l\u00edomhadh<\/strong>,” and there’s a verbal adjective form “l\u00edofa<\/strong>.”\u00a0 So we might say that the Irish for “fluent speaker” (cainteoir l\u00edofa<\/strong>) literally means something like “polished speaker.”\u00a0 Not sure about the friction part though – LOL!\u00a0 We can probably discard that here.<\/p>\n

Other uses of “l\u00edofa”<\/strong> in its more physical sense include:<\/p>\n

lann l\u00edofa<\/strong>, polished or sharpened blade<\/p>\n

tua l\u00edofa<\/strong>, a sharpened axe<\/p>\n

Finally, we have “oigheann<\/strong>” (oven).\u00a0 This introduces the actual fr\u00e1sa traidisi\u00fanta<\/strong> in Irish for “to keep one’s nose to the grindstone.”\u00a0 Like many idioms (cora cainte<\/strong>) and figurative or metaphorical phrases (fr\u00e1sa\u00ed f\u00e1thchiallacha n\u00f3 meafaracha<\/strong>), the exact translation (using “sr\u00f3n<\/strong>” and “cloch l\u00edofa<\/strong>“) doesn’t really pertain, although these days many expressions are translated back and forth between languages, since most Irish speakers these days are bilingual (dh\u00e1theangach<\/strong>), if not trilingual (tr\u00edtheangach<\/strong>) or more.<\/p>\n

So, i nGaeilge t\u00e1 an fr\u00e1sa seo againn<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

an taos a choinne\u00e1il leis an oigheann<\/strong>, lit. to keep the dough with the oven.<\/p>\n

OK, dough, oven, nose, grindstone, whatever.<\/p>\n

And just a quick review, with a few blanks to fill in (freagra\u00ed th\u00edos<\/strong>), to review these words, listed in basic form, then with definite article in the nominative singular, genitive singular, nominative plural, and genitive plural:<\/p>\n

sr\u00f3n, \u00a0\u00a0an\u00a0 __sr\u00f3n, \u00a0\u00a0na sr\u00f3__ne, \u00a0\u00a0na sr\u00f3na, \u00a0\u00a0na sr\u00f3n<\/strong><\/p>\n

pr\u00f3boscas, \u00a0\u00a0an pr\u00f3boscas, \u00a0\u00a0an phr\u00f3bosca__s, \u00a0\u00a0na pr\u00f3boscais, \u00a0\u00a0na \u00a0__pr\u00f3boscas<\/strong><\/p>\n

cloch l\u00edofa, \u00a0\u00a0an c__loch l\u00edofa, \u00a0\u00a0na clo__che l\u00edofa,\u00a0\u00a0 na clocha l\u00edofa,\u00a0\u00a0 na\u00a0 __cloch l\u00edofa<\/strong><\/p>\n

oigheann,\u00a0\u00a0 an __-oigheann,\u00a0\u00a0 an oigh__nn,\u00a0 na\u00a0 __oighinn,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 na __-oigheann <\/strong><\/p>\n

So, sin \u00e9 don bhlagmh\u00edr seo, c\u00fapla focal agus c\u00fapla fr\u00e1sa.<\/strong>\u00a0 There are actually a few more ways to suggest “keeping one’s nose to the grindstone.”\u00a0 An ch\u00e9ad bhlagmh\u00edr eile?\u00a0 SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed: <\/strong><\/p>\n

sr\u00f3n, \u00a0\u00a0an\u00a0 _t_sr\u00f3n, \u00a0\u00a0na sr\u00f3_i_ne, \u00a0\u00a0na sr\u00f3na, \u00a0\u00a0na sr\u00f3n<\/strong><\/p>\n

pr\u00f3boscas, \u00a0\u00a0an pr\u00f3boscas, \u00a0\u00a0an phr\u00f3bosca_i_s, \u00a0\u00a0na pr\u00f3boscais, \u00a0\u00a0na \u00a0_b_pr\u00f3boscas<\/strong><\/p>\n

cloch l\u00edofa, \u00a0\u00a0an c_h_loch l\u00edofa, \u00a0\u00a0na clo_i_che l\u00edofa,\u00a0\u00a0 na clocha l\u00edofa,\u00a0\u00a0 na\u00a0 _g_cloch l\u00edofa<\/strong><\/p>\n

oigheann,\u00a0\u00a0 an _t_-oigheann,\u00a0\u00a0 an oigh_i_nn,\u00a0 na\u00a0 _h_oighinn,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 na _n_-oigheann<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Vocabulary Round-up from \u2018More Irish Numbers Practice: Orduimhreacha i dTeidil Scann\u00e1n\u2019 (Cuid\/Part 2)<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Aug 26, 2017 in\u00a0<\/span>Irish Language\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Vocabulary Round-up from \u2018More Irish Numbers Practice: Orduimhreacha i dTeidil Scann\u00e1n\u2019 (Cuid\/Part 1)\u00a0<\/a>Posted by\u00a0r\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/a>\u00a0on Aug 20, 2017 in\u00a0<\/span>Irish Language\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) So what’s the connection between the four Irish terms in the title of this blogpost, most of which were introduced in recent posts (naisc th\u00edos) Well, first let’s translate the title, and that will make some of it clear. sr\u00f3na, noses pr\u00f3boscais, proboscises.\u00a0 By the way, I did look in several Irish dictionaries…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":9593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[489745,489748,489746,489432,489749,489744,489747,111700],"class_list":["post-9588","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-clocha-liofa","tag-grindstones","tag-noses","tag-oighinn","tag-ovens","tag-proboscais","tag-proboscises","tag-srona"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588","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=9588"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9607,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588\/revisions\/9607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}