For two years Iâve been dealing with a bug on Tumblr that staff canât seem to help me with. Itâs been âsent to their engineersâ for a long, long time now.Â
Thereâs a bug that only seems to affect this blog(?). Therefore Iâve been forced to manually copy all my posts, coding &c. to preserve the dates, tags etc.Â
My website URL is still the same, but my tumblr handle is now @toinghaeilge so if you follow me there, that would be stellar.Â
Clear Island Irish would be typical of the Munster dialect in that it uses archaic forms, commonly broadening those starting with âSâ, such as san (sin), so (seo), ansan (ansin), and annso (anseo).Â
Seeing as these forms were possibly as widespread as the Iveragh Gaeltacht, this could well be southwest Munster feature.Â
Pronunciation Quirks
Note: I did not list anything that is generally a Munster trait, as I would like this list to be Clear Island-specific. For Munster pronunciation, please visit Introduction to Munster Irish
AinmhĂ derives from Old Irish ainimide (âhaving ainimmâ).Â
The Old Irish word ainimm refers to a soul or a life, and originates from either the Latin anima (soul, spirit, breath) or from Proto-Celtic *anaman (soul, spirit). From anima derives the English animal, animated &c. Its modern Irish spelling is anam.Â
Ă DĂłnaillâs dictionary defines anam as:Â
soul
life
liveliness, spirit, breath
In other words, ainmhĂ is quite literally âone who has soul, lifeâ.
Note: no relation to ainm (name), from Old Irish ainmm, from Primitive Irish áá á (anm), from Proto-Celtic *anman, from Proto-Indo-European *hânĂłmnÌ„ (name).Â
Ă DĂłnaillâs dictionary (1977) lists plurals tonnta and tonntracha along another variant: tonntacha
You might hear tonntracha pronounced as though tonnthracha in parts of Munster.
Archaic forms and other Celtic Languages
Toinn, tonnan and tonntan can be found in historical textsâthey are dialectal forms from the Antrim Valleys, Oriel and North Down and are no longer used.Â
Scottish Gaelic still uses plurals tuinn, tonna and tonnan (singular tonn) and Manx uses the plural tonnyn (singular tonn).Â
I spied someone suggesting that faol for wolf and faoileĂĄn for seagull were related. It does look like faoileĂĄn: faol + diminutive suffix -ĂĄn. This is, fortunately or unfortunately, completely false.Â
FaoileĂĄn derives from Old Irish faĂlenn + diminutive suffix -ĂĄn. FaĂlenn in turn comes from Proto-Celtic *wÄlannÄ, meaning âseagullâ.Â
Faol comes from Middle Irish fĂĄel, which in turn comes from Proto-Celtic and Proto-Indo-European *waylos, meaning âwolfâ or âhowlerâ.Â
Going deeper back, though, *waylos is purported to have descended from *way, which was an exclamation or interjection, much like âalasâ. This is where the âhowlâ from âhowlerâ derives. Imagine deriving your word for wolf from "awoo"ânow you're getting it.Â
You might have also heard about how faol is actually a euphemism as the original *wÄșÌ„kÊ·os (wolf) was seen as a taboo word. It was replaced by *waylos and *wÄșÌ„kÊ·os descended to give the modern day Irish olc, meaning âevilâ.Â
Now, thatâs a loaded question. In a previous post, Are Fadas Important?, we compared a list of words with and without fada, just to provide an idea of just how crucial punctuation (in the broadest use of this term of course) is.Â
I have previously written about the fleiscĂn:
An FleiscĂn (Function and where to use)
Etymology list: Punctuation Marks
Now, on to our main course:
Gan fleiscĂn
Le fleiscĂn
An teallach
An tĂĄl
An teas
An teach
An tart
An torc
The hearth, Fireplace
The adze (cutting tool)
The heat
The house
The thirst
The boar
An t-eallach
An t-ĂĄl
An t-eas
An t-each
An t-art
An t-orc
The cattle, livestock, poultry
The litter, brood
The waterfall, rapid
The steed
The stone
The orc
I havenât done an interactive/try-it post for a while, and thought that in the spirit of the season to come Iâd do one without a lesson. Itâs about counting, so youâll need to recap on these topics:
Counting People
Counting Things
Vocab List on Counting: nominal, personal and by order
Remember that there are different forms for counting things, people and the order in which something comes (i.e. first, second &c.)
My double click dictionary might also come in handy: double click any word to get its translation.Â
Try it
Translate the following, or as much as you can:
1. On the eleventh day of Christmas
2. Four calling birds, three french hens
3. Seven swans a swimming, five golden rings
4. Ten Lords a leaping, nine ladies dancing
5. Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping
The most commonly seen terms for "rainbow" are bogha bĂĄistĂ and tuar ceatha, with the latter being the Ulster Irish term. Bogha bĂĄistĂ is very rarely used in Ulster. Weâre about to dig up a lot more, with antiquated or rare terms being marked with an asterisk(*).
Dineenâs dictionary (1927) gives the following for ârainbowâ:
Bogha leaca/leagtha
Bogha ceatha
Bogha bĂĄistighe
Bogha uisce*
Bogha frais*
Bogha sĂn(e)
Earc
Fiothbhach*
Madadh gaoithe*
Stuadh
Tuar ceatha
Ă DĂłnaillâs dictionary (1977) gives the following:
Bogha bĂĄistĂ
Bogha ceathaÂ
Bogha leatha
Bogha sĂne
Tuar ceatha
Stua/Tua ceatha*
Bogha
Weâll start with bogha: this generally refers to a bow, and also to a bow of a boat or a fiddle.Â
leaca is a form of leac, which refers to a sheet, or something flat. Leaca usually refers to a cheek, or the side of something.
ceatha is the genitive of cith, meaning a shower.
bĂĄistighe/bĂĄistĂ refers to the rain. Dineenâs states that the term bogha bĂĄistighe is mostly used in Inishmaan.
frais is the genitive of fras, which refers to a shower.Â
sĂn/sĂne comes from sĂon, which refers to weather (good or bad).
leatha, like leac/leaca, refers to a side.Â
uisce refers to water: a bow of water. This is rarely heard of.Â
So the above give two basic interpretations: âbow of a showerâ, or âthe side of a bowâ. The way I can make sense of the âsideâ translation is that leathadh is used to refer to something being spread, i.e. across the sky.Â
Earc
This one refers simply to an arc, usually of the heavenly sort.Â
Fiothbhach
Ă DĂłnaillâs dictionary gives the alternative (modern) spelling fiodhbhac, which simply means âbowâ.
Madadh Gaoithe
This is an interesting one: Dineenâs specifies its definition to be an imperfect rainbow. Itâs quite clearly an Ulster term, given by madadh, with the whole term literally being âdog of the windâ. Dineenâs also gives alternate meanings of "a mad dog; a blood-hound or wicked dog: also a kind of cloud that portends a storm."
Stuadh
The modern spelling of this is stua, and it simply refers to an arch.Â
Tuar
Dineenâs gives tuar in tuar ceatha refers to a sign or omen, thus rendering tuar ceatha âsign of a showerâ.Â
Stua/Tua
Finally, Ă DĂłnaill's dictionary gives stua ceatha or tua cheatha, with tua being a variation of stua. As mentioned above, it refers to an arch.Â
In this section there are certain claims (each prefaced with asterisks) that try as I might I was unable to substantiate. If you have any contradictions please get in touch.
You may have noticed three very similar examples, with different meanings and mutations: ar dĂłigh, ar dhĂłigh and ar ndĂłigh.
Ar dĂłigh: excellent, proper
*I believe that dĂłigh here refers to a specific way, the proper way. In this example it is thus a definite article.Â
Recall the rule from my prepositions post: with the singular article, ar triggers an urĂș: except for words starting with d and t. Therefore, dĂłigh here does not mutate.Â
Ar dhĂłigh: a way
Ar dhĂłigh eile, ar dhĂłigh nĂos fearr: another way, a better way
Ar ndĂłigh: of course (literally âon confidenceâ)
Dar ndĂłigh: of course (literally âon confidence of itâ, dar is a contraction of de+ar)
*I believe the definite article here refers to what is in the contextâconfident of âXâ, of course âXâ. As I mentioned earlier, with the singular article, ar triggers urĂș: except for words starting with d and tâwhich should mean that dĂłigh should not mutate (in the same vein neither shoud tĂșs in ar dtĂșs).Â
Because d and t still take eclipses in Munster Irish, I would caution a guess that phrases such as this are relics of their time (akin to the archaic grammatical form of âgo raibh maith agatâ).Â
The Scottish Gaelic An Fhaclair Bhig gives the adjective blĂ th for âwarmâ. Dwelly gives blĂ th, and much less commonly, teth.
Letâs look into the two terms, their Irish equivalents and how they compare in definition and use.Â
BlĂĄth/BlĂ th
Its Irish equivalents are blĂĄth and te respectively, though blĂĄth has likely fallen completely out of use or was ever just isolated to just Antrim Irish. I found it in only one dictionaryâFocail na Ultach. It defined âblĂĄthâ as such:
BlĂĄth        (a.) Warm. LĂĄ blĂĄth amhĂĄin, one warm day (Antrim: AU).Â
Note: As a noun, though, blĂ th refers to a blossom. Its Irish equivalent is obviously blĂĄth, which means the same.Â
Te/Teth
In Gaelic, teth seems to only refer to âhotâ rather than âwarmâ, while the Irish equivalent covers both definitions.Â
Itâs hard to exclude Scottish Gaelic when learning Irish, as there is a whole lot of overlap. Comparing what each calls the months of the year is a fun one as it highlights certain historical and cultural differences.
Gaeilge
EanĂĄir
Feabhra
MĂĄrta
AibreĂĄn
Bealtaine
Meitheamh
Iuil
LĂșnasa
MeĂĄn FĂłmhair
Deireadh FĂłmhair
Samhain
Nollaig
Etymology
Latin IÄnuÄrius
Latin FebruÄrius
Latin Martius
Latin Aprīlis
Old Irish Beltane
Old Irish Mithem
Latin Iƫlius
Old Irish Lugnasad
Mid-harvest
End-of-harvest
Old Irish Samhain
Latin nÄtÄlÄ«cia
GĂ idhlig
Am Faoilleach
An Gearran
Am MĂ rt
An Giblean
An CĂšitean
An t-Ăgmhios
An t-Iuchar
An LĂčnastal
An t-Sultain
An DĂ mhair
An t-Samhain
An DĂčbhlachd
Etymology
Wolf Month
The Cutting
Latin Martius
Pudding Month
from CĂštshamain
Month of the Young
Warm month
Old Irish Lugnasad
Month of fatness
The Rutting
Old Irish Samhain
The Darkness
Some Ulster writers also use MĂ na bhFaoillĂ or MĂ na bhFaoilleach for January.
Another one that they actually do have in common as well is Deireadh FĂłmhair, as Scottish Gaelic also uses mĂŹos deireannach an fhoghair. However, Gaelic tends to use the term for September, sometimes October and up to mid-November. MĂŹos Deireannach an t-Samhraidh is the archaic Scottish Gaelic term for July.
Latin influence on the Language
Christianity and the Calendar
Leath a n-ĂĄireamh
Their number declinedâliterally âtheir number halvedâ
As a PrefixÂ
Aside from the obvious leathuair (half an hour, though also âa whileâ), we have leath expressing anything from âtiltedâ (lopsided, onesided) to something small (half-grown):Â
Leathbheo: dead and alive, literally âhalf aliveâ
LeathbhrĂłg: one of a pair of shoesÂ
Leathduine cĂșpla: one of a pair of twins
Leathduine: halfwit
Leathchiorcal: semi-circle
LeathchailĂn: half-grown girl
LeathlĂĄmhach: one-handed, also shorthanded
LeathbhrĂłg is a nice one to know, as it is poetic in expressing double-crossing:Â
lena leathbhrĂłg ghaelach agus a leathbhrĂłg ghallda
with his one shoe Irish and his one shoe English
Within Ulster Irish, there are two main groups: West Ulster (Donegal Irish) and East Ulster (the rest of Ulster and parts of Counties Louth and Meath, and much of Oriel). When weâve mentioned Ulster Irish in the past, we have been referring to what we still hear todayâi.e. not East Ulster Irish.Â
East Ulster Irish was used up till the 20th century and is said to be very closely related to the (Scottish) Gaelic of Islay and Arran.Â
Favoured Spellings
Ărsuigh instead of the standard årsaigh (tell)
Corruighe instead of the standard corraĂ (anger)
Entirely Different Words
Frithir (sore)
Go seadh (yet)
And words clearly similar to Scottish Gaelic (of course including the Ulster âchaâ but weâre talking specifically East Ulster):
Coinfheasgar (evening) (Gaelic coin-fheasgar)
MĂĄrt (cow) (Gaelic mart, specifically a milking cow)
PrĂĄinn (hurry) (Gaelic prĂ dhainn)
Toigh (house) (Gaelic taigh, though teach is also used)
TonnĂłg (duck) (Gaelic tunnag or tonnag, though lach is used for a wild duck)
In East Ulster, th or ch in the middle of a word tended to vanish, leaving what sounded like one long syllable. And at the ends of words, ch sounds a lot weaker. In Southeast Ulster, ch could render much like âfâ, giving Ă Murchada the anglicisation âMurphyâ.
Much like Munster Irish, Outer Hebridean Gaelic (and the Westernmost Inner Hebrides), the broad bh and mh sounds are rendered like âVâ, though when in the middle of words they tend to conform to the more standard âWâ sound.Â
Standard Irish follows Connacht Irish in that it uses the spelling faoi, and can refer to all of the following:Â
Under the chair:Â faoin gcathaoir
Against the wall: faoin mballa
In motion:Â TĂĄ siĂșl fĂșm (I walk fast âthere is walking about meâ)
tĂĄ fuadar fĂșt (you're in a hurry âthere is hustle around youâ)
tĂĄ fĂĄs faoin gcrann (the tree grows âthere is growth around the treeâ)
Intent: TĂĄ fĂșm (I intend to)
About: caint faoi (speak about)
Around:Â faoi Nollaig (around Christmas)
Number of Times: faoi dhó (twice)
a trĂ faoina ceathair (three times four)
Expressions: faoi bhrĂłn (sorrowful)
Old Irish
Old Irish uses fĂĄ, and less commonly one might see spellings fĂł and fĂ. The Old Irish fo gives rise to the directional terms such as âĂł thuaidhâ (towards the North).Â
In Middle Irish, ó (as an alternate spelling of ĂĄu) and also manages to refer to the following, descending from the Proto-Celtic *ausos (related to âaudibleâ, âaudioâ and such):Â
ear
Anything earlike, including: parts of cloaks, shields, handles of pitchers and chessboards
Motion and Direction
Why, then, is Ăł found in phrases such as Ăł thuaidh and Ăł dheas?
North: thuaidh
Northbound: Ăł thuaidh
Away from the North: aduaidh
South: theas
Southbound: Ăł dheas
Away from the South: aneas
Surely Ăł here cannot mean âfromâ or any of its previously listed meanings?Â