Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
The use of the English names for Irish letters really is absurd, especially in cases like “g” or “e” where the English name bears no resemblance to the Irish pronunciation. It’s pure laziness.
From “Learning Irish” pg. 223 (taken from “Graiméar Gaeilge na mBráithre Críostaí” 1960 according to a footnote):-
á /É‘:/
bé /b’e:/
cé /c’e:/
dé /d’e:/
é /e:/
eif /ef’/
gé /g’e:/
héis* /he:s’/
í /i:/
[color=gray]jé /ʤe:/
ká /kÉ‘:/[/color]
eil /el’/
eim /em’/
ein /en’/
ó /o:/
pé /p’e:/
[color=gray]cú /ku:/[/color]
ear /æ:r/
eas /æ:s/
té /t’e:/
ú /u:/
[color=gray]vé /w’e:/
wé /we:/
ex /eks/
yé /É£’e:/
zae /ze:/[/color]The names given for some of the “foreign” letters (coloured grey above) seem a bit odd to me – based entirely on English pronunciation.
*I’ve seen “hé” elsewhere.
Hi all,
I was listening to a song in gaidhlig today, “An Tarbh Breac Dearg”. One of the lines is “An Tarbh a mharbh mi”, and it got me thinking about how to say it in Irish. I came up with “An tarbh a mharaigh mé”- The bull that I killed, but that leaves the problem of how to say “the bull that killed me”. I remember learning the difference before, but it obviously didn’t sink in!So how would one say: The bull I killed and the bill that killed me.
Also, some similar examples would be appreciated! Thanks
It’s the same.
An tarbh a mharbhuigh* mé means both “The bull that I killed” and “The bull that killed me”.
Munster Irish avoids ambiguity with the construction An tarbh ar/gur mharbhuigheas/mharbhuigh mé é for “The bull that I killed”.(*traditional spelling of “maraigh”)
I purchased this book recently. There are many interesting details about the Irish formerly spoken in Leinster to be gleaned from it.
For example, /au/ next to a nasal sound became /uË/ in south-west Leinster, so “Samhradh” was pronounced /sË uËrË É™/, “ann” as /uËnË / etc.For what it’s worth I have now come across a statement of grammar in TYI, but hidden in a footnote on page 20 among all the other countless rules on mutations. It says there that ‘le’ takes ‘n-‘ with ól and ithe. I wonder whether there is some historical reason for this – confined as it is to these two common verb-forms.
Unless I’m mistaken, it was originally “le n-a ól” & “le n-a ithe”, literally “for it’s drinking/eating”.
An ‘n’ is inserted between a preposition ending with a vowel and a possessive adjective beginning with a vowel sound (generally written as one word), e.g. “óna mháthair” (from his mother), “lenár n-airgead” (with our money).
Spellings like “le n-ól” are misleading. Something like “len’ ól” would be better I think.
Leopold has been adopted into most European languages. Irish can accomodate it too.
Many of our indigenous surnames are formed with personal names not of Gaelic origin, e.g. Mac Uilliam, Mac Pheadair etc.
Mac Leopóild – from Leopóld, gen. Leopóild (pron. /l’o:po:ld/) – would be no different.
