#Canúintí

[kevin-ar-tuathal]

Caithfidh mé tús a chur leis an mblag seo ag pointe éicint 🤷

Bhí mé ag iarraidh blag Gaeilge tumblr a dhéanamh le fada an lá. Tá cion agam ar an suíomh seo as gan bacáil leis an lucht corparáideach (agus tá súil agam gur choíche a ngabhfaidh an muintir an tsuímh seo ina n-éadan! ✊), agus as a bheith chomh oscailte le chuile shórt beo - ó thaobh roinnte smaointe, cabhair, 7 eolais de, ó thaobh na ráiméise a mbainimid uilig taitneamh as 🤪 ar bhealach éicint - go hábhair fíor-thábhachtach, cosúil le sábháilteacht chollaíochta, cosaint ó fhoréigean gnéis, plé ar dhaonlathas 7 ar dhíchóilíneachas, idir eile.

Go bunúsach, creidim gurb í an áit is oiriúnaí le tús a chur le blag Gaeilge - ba mhaith liom spás a chruthú anseo ar son a leanas:

leideanna foghlamtha teanga a chur ar fáil 😛

an cultúr a bhaineann leis an teanga a roinnt🥳

Plé ar an nGaeltacht ☘️, ar an nGalltacht 🫖 agus ar Éirinn uilig 🥁

Canúintí uilig na Gaeilge 7 an Domhain Ghaelaigh a cheiliúradh 7 a chur chun cinn - ní hamháin na trí mhór-chanuintí (Corca Dhuibhne, Conamara, Gaoth Dobhair)

Na lipéidí cruinne a thabhairt ar chuile cheann acu (gan ainm na gcúigí ina n-aimsítear iad a thabhairt ar na trí mhór-chanúintí agus dearmad a dhéanamh ar gach canúint eile 😢)

Mo chuid smaointeoireachta féin 💟

So, fáilte romhaibh uilig a bhfuil fonn oraibh a bheith i dteangmháil leis an nGaeilge sa mbealach seo, nó a bhfuil suim acu ar a bhfuil ag an mblag seo le tairiscint 😁🤗🎉.

🫖☘️🌈🌹🌧️♟️🎊

I've been wanting to make an Irish-language Tumblr blog for AGES - I've an affection for this site for the longest time having not got involved with the corporate world (and I hope they never do!) and for creating an platform atmosphere that is so open for anything.

For sharing thoughts, help and information - from the fantastic fanatical bullshit we all enjoy in one way or another, to really serious topics, like sexual safety, protection from gender violence, discussions on democracy and decolonisation, amongst so many other things...

Basically, I think this site is the perfect place to start a blog for the Irish language, and here I'd like to create the space for:

Language learning tips 😛

Sharing the culture that belongs to this language 🥳

Talking about the Gaeltacht (Irish-language Ireland), the Galltacht (English-language Ireland) and Ireland in its entirety 🎊

Celebrating and promoting all the dialects of Irish and the rest of the Gaelic-speaking world - not just the three biggest dialects (Corca Dhuibhne, Conamara 7 Gaoth Dobhair)

Giving each dialect its proper label (not labelling the three big dialects with the province wherein they're found, and forgetting about the rest 😭)

My own thoughts 🤠

So here's a big Fáilte romhaibh to all ye who'd like to interact with #Irish in this way, or have an interest in what this blog has to offer 😁🤗🎉

Go raibh míle maith agaibh 🥳

[not-that-debonair]

A sea, na canúintí Gaeilge: Uladh, Mumhan, Chonnacht, agus WhatsApp

[toinghaeilge]

Goat of the Bog

The snipe, a bog dwelling bird, goes by many names in Irish. The most common names are naoscach or bodachán (little lout).

Since the male snipe makes a bleating noise with its wings, it has earned a host of folk-names, some native to certain areas of the country.

Gabhair(ín) deorach, literally “(little) wandering goat” or “strange (little) goat”.

Gabhair(ín) Reo, literally “(little) goat of the frost”, is referenced by Séamus Heaney in his poem 'The Backward Look' (Wintering Out, 1972).

Gabhairín Rua, literally "little red goat". The only instance I've seen this used is around Cork and I suspect it is a corruption of gabhairín reo. That said, though, the snipe is a mottled red-brown, which could lend legitimacy to this term.

Meannán Aeir, literally “kid of the air”.

Meannán Aerach, literally “lively, flighty kid”. 

Meannán Gabhair(ín), literally “kid (of the little goat)”, is used in Clare and parts of Mayo. 

The Mythical Gloragoteen/Gloragoateen

I’ve heard reports from Cork of the snipe being referred to as glorago(a)teen, but this one is hard to decipher. Here's my best shot:

-goateen could be an hiberno-English translation of gabhairín (”goat”+ diminutive suffix “-ín“).

A search for glora- on logainm.ie brings up a possibility it refers to glórach, meaning "loud-voiced; noisy".

If so, it should grammatically be gabhairín (or "goateen") glórach. Considering "goateen" could be Hiberno-English, one might concede the grammar is potentially meddled with as well (or so I surmise).

In the Military

Snipes, being camouflage experts, were considered a challenging target for an expert shooter. A sniper originally referred to one who hunted snipes. The Irish for sniper (and snipe-shooters) derives from naoscach  → naoscaire. If you’d like some béarlachas thrown into the mix, you can also call a sniper snípéir.

More Combat Terms

[toingaeilge]

Faoi and Dialectal Differences

Connacht and the Standard

Standard Irish follows Connacht Irish in that it uses the spelling faoi, and can refer to all of the following: 

Under the chair: faoin gcathaoir

Against the wall: faoin mballa

In motion: Tá siúl fúm (I walk fast “there is walking about me”) tá fuadar fút (you're in a hurry “there is hustle around you”) tá fás faoin gcrann (the tree grows “there is growth around the tree”)

Intent: Tá fúm (I intend to)

About: caint faoi (speak about)

Around: faoi Nollaig (around Christmas)

Number of Times: faoi dhó (twice) a trí faoina ceathair (three times four)

Expressions: faoi bhrón (sorrowful)

Old Irish

Old Irish uses fá, and less commonly one might see spellings fó and fí. The Old Irish fo gives rise to the directional terms such as “ó thuaidh” (towards the North). 

Munster Irish

We previously mentioned that Munster uses the form fé in place of faoi.  

Ulster Irish

Both faoi and fá are used in Ulster Irish, but faoi specifically means “under” while fá can be used for pretty much any of the other meanings. 

Faoin gcathaoir: under the chair Fá dtaobh de: with regard to, about

Relevant reading:

Contracting faoi with pronouns (from me, from you &c.)

Contracting faoi with possessive pronouns (from my X, from his X &c.)

[mathsandcomedydotcom]

I check out Chabad for their Hebrew videos, now and then. Just as there are dialects: ’canmháintí,' or: ‘canúintí’ in Irish Gaelic, with different rules of pronunciation, so too are there such dialects in Hebrew. We have the Sephardic Modern-Israel pronunciation, the Ashkenazic and then the classical biblical pronunciation, which is what I use. What I call the letter "Beth," or: "b/v" Raskin calls: "bes." What I call the vowel, "ō" or: "chōlam," Raskin calls: "choylam." What I call "Shabbath" or: "Saturday/Sabbath" Raskin calls: "Shabbas." What I call the Hebrew pointing system, the "niqqudith," Raskin calls: "niqqudis." In Ashkenazic, the letter "Tau" if left unpointed by a dagesh, is pronounced as an "s." Modern Sephardic Israeli Hebrew pronounces all "Tau"s alike: as a "t" or, in IPA: /t/. In biblical Hebrew, the "Tau" minus a dagesh is pronounced: "th" or, in IPA: /θ/. In biblical Hebrew, the "Tau" pointed with a dagesh is pronounced: "t" or, in IPA: /t/. Dialectical differences within languages have always fascinated me. #Irish #language #education #linguistics #hebrew #judaism https://www.chabad.org/multimedia/video_cdo/aid/2550747/jewish/Soul-of-the-Letters-Cholam.htm https://www.instagram.com/p/CF5_G9NHJZH/?igshid=l5nrcf6dfml1

[toinghaeilge]

Regional Ways to Say “Why”

We largely use cén fáth in the Caighdeán, but there are so many ways to say “why”.

Connacht & Ulster

Cén fáth literally translates to “which reason” and is a feature of Connacht Irish.

Cad chuige (to what end, literally “what to it”) is heard in Connemara and Ulster Irish 

It is also sometimes more like tuige in Ulster. 

Munster

Cad ina thaobh (on what account, literally “what in its side”) is used in Kerry. When spoken it is closer to conathaobh. (Ina thaobh is used like faoi)

Cad é chúis (spoken d’é chúis, literally “what is the cause”) is used in Ring (East Munster)

[toinghaeilge]

Faoi and Dialectal Differences

Connacht and the Standard

Standard Irish follows Connacht Irish in that it uses the spelling faoi, and can refer to all of the following: 

Under the chair: faoin gcathaoir

Against the wall: faoin mballa

In motion: Tá siúl fúm (I walk fast “there is walking about me”) tá fuadar fút (you're in a hurry “there is hustle around you”) tá fás faoin gcrann (the tree grows “there is growth around the tree”)

Intent: Tá fúm (I intend to)

About: caint faoi (speak about)

Around: faoi Nollaig (around Christmas)

Number of Times: faoi dhó (twice) a trí faoina ceathair (three times four)

Expressions: faoi bhrón (sorrowful)

Old Irish

Old Irish uses fá, and less commonly one might see spellings fó and fí. The Old Irish fo gives rise to the directional terms such as “ó thuaidh” (towards the North). 

Munster Irish

We previously mentioned that Munster uses the form fé in place of faoi.  

Ulster Irish

Both faoi and fá are used in Ulster Irish, but faoi specifically means “under” while fá can be used for pretty much any of the other meanings. 

Faoin gcathaoir: under the chair Fá dtaobh de: with regard to, about

Relevant reading:

Contracting faoi with pronouns (from me, from you &c.)

Contracting faoi with possessive pronouns (from my X, from his X &c.)

[toinghaeilge]

Tú vs. thú

This post covers the usage of subject vs. object forms of pronouns.

Subject forms: Mé, tú, sé, sí, muid, siad and their emphatic equivalents

Object forms: Mé, thú, é, í, muid, iad and their emphatic equivalents

The Action Party

Tú or tusa is used as the actor or subject, while thú or thusa is used as the object. To illustrate:

Cloisfidh tú é Cloisifdh sé thú

Notice that the actor (subject form) always follows the verb.

An exception would be if the verb is autonomous: no party is specified to be acting. You can read in depth about deriving impersonal verb forms in this post. For example, one cleans it:

Glantar é One cleans it

The impersonal verb, glantar, is followed by the object form é.

The Copula

Tú or tusa follows immediately after the copula form:

Is tusa a thuigeann mé

Verbal Noun

In the first point, with you as the object, we used thú over tú. However, with the verbal noun, this would be tú.

tú a chloisint

Tú and tusa are also used after agus and with certain prepositions such as idir and gan.

Recap:

Subject form

As the actor (cloisfidh tú)

Directly following the copula (is tusa a thuigeann mé)

Verbal noun (tú a chloisint)

After agus (mise agus thusa)

Certain prepositions (idir tusa agus eisean, gan tusa)

Object form

As object (cloisifdh sé thú)

Not directly following the copula (cé as thú?)

Munster Irish

Munster tends to use thú after words ending in a vowel, and when it appears outside of that it is considered an archaic form.

Note: As a point of interest, Scottish Gaelic uses only the lenited versions: thu and thusa (no fada!).

Try it

Translate the following:

1. I'll see you again. 2. You're killing yourself. 3. I don't understand you.

Hover below for answers

1. Feicfidh mé arís thú. 2. Maróidh tú thú féin. 3. Ní thuigim thú.

Multiple Pronouns: You and What Army?

[toingaeilge]

Faduda Isn’t a Real Word?

I asked a friend what on earth faduda meant, and they didn’t know either. See, I’ve heard it a lot on TG4. I finally looked it up, and found a satire article: Donegal Man Horrified to Discover “Faduda” Not a Real Word. 

Well, I am neither, but paint me a horrified Donegal man.

The phrase (yes, a phrase) is actually fá dtaobh de, and it means “about” a subject, as in “I am talking about” (tá mé ag caint fá dtaobh de X). The reason we don’t hear it pronounced in other dialects (where it would be pronounced, ahem, correctly) is that the phrase is quite contained in the very tall walls of Donegal. 

Outside Donegal, faoi or ina thaobh are favoured. 

[toinghaeilge]

Amáireach

I was reading that the dialectal amáireach is used instead of the standard amárach in Conamara/Cois Fharraige Irish. To include an example from my introductory post to Connacht dialects:

Beidh siad ag baint na bprátaí amárach. Beidh siad ag baint na bhfátaí amáireach [Conamara/Cois Fharraige Irish]

Note dialectal fátaí for "potatoes", and amáireach.

The spelling amáireach is also used in the Muskerry (Central Cork) and Ulster dialects.

[toinghaeilge]

Faduda Isn’t a Real Word?

I asked a friend what on earth faduda meant, and they didn’t know either. See, I’ve heard it a lot on TG4. I finally looked it up, and found a satire article: Donegal Man Horrified to Discover “Faduda” Not a Real Word. 

Well, I am neither, but paint me a horrified Donegal man.

The phrase (yes, a phrase) is actually fá dtaobh de, and it means “about” a subject, as in “I am talking about” (tá mé ag caint fá dtaobh de X). The reason we don’t hear it pronounced in other dialects (where it would be pronounced, ahem, correctly) is that the phrase is quite contained in the very tall walls of Donegal. 

Outside Donegal, faoi or ina thaobh (Munster Irish) are favoured. 

[toinghaeilge]

Rethinking mh and bh Sounds

In my introduction to the Munster dialect, we stated that the broad mh and bh are pronounced like ‘v’, and ‘w’ in all other dialects. An interesting parallel was pointed out to me recently: certain languages and accents do not distinguish ‘v’ and ‘w’ either. 

Phonemic differentiation may vary between different dialects of a language so a particular minimal pair in one accent may be a pair of homophones in another. 

The above simply states that certain sounds may be distinguished in one accent but not another. I'm trying to put forth that the Irish 'v' and 'w' sounds in mh and bh were not, or hardly distinguished.

We look at one such language where the ‘v’ and ‘w’ lines are blurred: Russian. According to The Phonetics of Russian (Jones & Ward, 1969), the Russian 'f’ and 'v’ may have less friction than the corresponding English phonemes (the English ‘f’ and ’v’). This could mean that the Russian ‘v’ is much closer to the approximation ‘w’ sound that we hear. 

Going back to Irish, I uncovered that the Irish ‘v’ sound is not the same as the English one:

The broad 'bh/mh' in Munster is a bilabial 'v' sound rather than a labio-dental one in English.

Listen to the bilabial ‘v’ sound here

In the above clip, we can clearly hear that the Irish ‘v’ sounds are much softer (and thus less distinguishable from 'w') than in English. It’s entirely plausible that for a monolingual Irish person, the sounds were not distinguishable (e.g. maidin mhaith with a ‘w’ sound in Conamara and maidin mhaith with a ‘v’ sound in Munster could sound the same). 

[toinghaeilge]

Separated or Welded?

In my introduction to the Munster dialect, I mentioned synthetic verb forms, where verbs have personal endings instead of being accompanied by separate pronouns. I also mentioned that this form is partially adopted in the standard (for first person verbs).

For example, instead of tuigeann mé, Munster Irish would favour the synthetic form tuigim. In Irish, these forms are called foirm scartha and foirm tháite respectively. You may see them referred to in textbooks as the analytical form and the synthetic form. 

It’s much easier to use the Irish “separated” and “welded” to help understand what’s going on:

Scaradh means “separated”, while táite means “welded”. Scartha and táite are the genitive cases of scaradh and táite (no change). The genitive case is here used because there is a modifier: a noun modifies another noun. 

Separated → separated form Scaradh  → foirm scartha

Welded → welded form Táite  → foirm tháite

Recall that ‘sc’ in scartha cannot adopt a séimhiú.

You may also see textbooks refer to the forms as briathra scartha and briathra tháite—analytical (separated) verbs and synthetic (welded) verbs.

In usage, it’s pretty simple to tell them apart:

Separated (Analytical)

Chonaic muid Bhí muid Téann muid

Welded (Synthetic)

Chonaiceamar Bhíomar Téimid

[toinghaeilge]

Gender Non-Conforming Nouns

I ran into this topic quite by accident, while looking for gender rules for loan words (nearly all masculine, by the way, and not worth writing at length about). 

There are certain words whose grammatical genders are pretty mixed up. This means they vary either by dialect; change genders depending on the form they are in; or based on their surroundings. 

You may find these useful:

Grammatical Gender Rules

Grammar Glossary

Dialects

The gender of a noun can differ from dialect to dialect. Take the word buicéad, for example. 

With the article an, it is:

An buicéad in Munster and Connacht (masculine) An bhucáid in Ulster (feminine)

Similarly, according to Ó Sé (1995), Ó Murchú (1998) and Ó Siadhail (1989):

Ainm is feminine in Munster, masculine everywhere else

Asal is feminine in Donegal, masculine everywhere else

Loch is feminine in Connacht, masculine everywhere else

Mí is masculine in Munster, feminine everywhere else

What Form?

Sometimes, nouns also change gender depending on the form they are in. Am is masculine, but its genitive ama in North Galway and Donegal is actually feminine (Ó hÚiginn, 1994; Ó Siadhail, 1989). 

Ó Siadhail (1989) lists some examples of gender switching between the nominative and genitive cases:

Note: The little letter pairs after each example denote different dialects.

Gd: Gaoth Dothair (Donegal, Ulster)

Cf: Cois Fharraige (Connemara, Connacht)

Ky: Kerry (West Munster)

Environment

Nouns can also be affected by their environment to change genders.Take eolas, for example. The Ó Dónaill dictionary gives the word eolas to be masculine. In Rules: Gender Nouns, I wrote that for masculine nouns a definite article beginning with a vowel is prefixed with a t: an t-uisce.

Naturally, then, with the article an, it becomes an t-eolas. 

However, when surrounded by an adjective, this happens:

Eolas mhaith

Recall from Rules: Gender Nouns, the following:

Masculine nouns: adjectives make no change (fear bocht) 

Feminine nouns: adjectives give séimhiú (beoir fhuar) 

Ó Siadhail (1989) proposes this is because eolas is affected by similar, related words such as aithne (feminine). He also lists several other words affected by their environments:

For cleachtadh, Ó Siadhail’s reason is a little bit of a reach, where he suggests that cleachtadh turns feminine as influenced by the word taithí (feminine, meaning experience). 

He also says that oftentimes, despite being masculine, the nouns are switched because the usage befits a feminine noun and vice versa. 

[toinghaeilge]

The Fada, but without the Fada

Note: Unfortunately, Tumblr has decided to fuck with scripts in posts, so this post has no working audio! I have cloned this post here.

Broad Consonants

Broad vowels a, o, and u can lengthen without the fada when they precede certain consonants or clusters of consonants. These are m, rd, ll, nn, rr, gh and th. Double consonants can only appear with ll, nn and rr. 

For example, you’ll hear ceann and donn pronounced with an ‘ow’ sound, and thall with the same. I couldn’t find any well-supported sources about how this applies dialectally (GnaG gives it as “some dialects”, for example), but on forvo and teanglann, the ‘ow’ sound seems isolated to Connacht and especially Munster. 

Listen to the word 'ann':

Ulster Connacht Munster

From the recordings above the ‘ow’ sound tends to reduce in stress going towards the North. 

In the dialects that do not produce the ‘ow’ sound, though, they instead stretch the double consonants, emphasising instead on the ‘nn’ or ‘rr’ of donn and fearr, for example. Some could even do both, with the ‘ow’ sound and with the emphasis on ‘nn’ or ‘rr’. 

Scottish Gaelic agrees with Munster on the lengthened vowel, thus, for example, donn is pronounced the same as 'down'.

Slender Consonants

Slender double consonant nn can cause really strange things to happen in Munster. An ‘eye’ sound appears with -inn. For Connacht Irish speakers, the regular -í- sound, is lengthened with -inn. 

Listen to the word 'tinn':

Ulster Connacht Munster

On top of that, you might want to try listening out for an -ng sound of varying subtlety (not isolated to Munster) with -nns. 

Exceptions

I’ve never heard the elongated vowel sound in the words Éireann or Donnacha (nor can I find any evidence of it). Some, but not all of them, can likely be explained by reversing the polarity reform: during the formation of the artificial lárchanúint, -ln-, -nl- and -dl- became ll, -dn- and -nd- became nn.

[toinghaeilge]

How Old is This Lad?

Leanbh

In most of Ireland, leanbh refers to children under 5, especially babies. 

In Munster though, leanbh can refer to children in general: see Acht na Leanaí, the Children’s Act. 

Páiste

From the old French page, as in page boy, either from Ancient Greek παιδίον (“boy, lad”) or Latin pagus (“countryside” and thus “rural boy”). It refers today to a child of school-going age (6-10). 

Gasúr

From Old French garçun. 

In Ulster and Mayo, gasúr refers to a young boy under 10, and girseach to a young girl under 10. 

In Connemara, it refers to any child under 10, regardless of gender. 

In Kerry, the form garsún is used, and refers to anything from a young boy to a man in his 20s. 

Buachaill, Cailín

Buachaill originated from the Old Irish búachaill, meaning cowherd. Buachaill and cailín refer to young men and women older than the bracket for gasúr (and girseach).

In Kerry, buachaill would cover everything from a young boy to a man in his 20s. i.e. the same as garsún, but garsún is favoured over buachaill. 

Giolla

From Middle Irish gilla (“a youth of an age to bear arms”). It has secondary implications of a page or servant. The Scottish Gaelic equivalent gille refers mostly to your friends, or “the lads”.

Bachlach

Rathlin Irish (County Antrim) gives us bachlach (”labourer; clown; churl”), related to the Scottish Gaelic balach for boy.

bachlach  → bachall + suffix -ach