Irish challenge (3)

This post is the 3^rd instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers those parts of chapters 1 and 2 of Teach Yourself Irish that I didn’t cover in the 2^nd instalment. The 1^st instalment covered Irish spelling and pronunciation.

Questions and answers

Yes and no

Irish has no words for yes and no. To answer a question involving a verb, echo the verb (without its pronoun).

The verb be in questions

In the 2^nd instalment, I covered the verbs is (the copula be) and tá (locative, existential, possessive be). In questions, replace is with an (example 1a) and tá with an bhfuil (pronounced /an wil/, example 2).

In answering a yes-no question with an, for a positive answer use is with the pronoun ea (‘it, that’, pronounced /ish a/, example 1b),and for a negative answer use ní with the [lenited] form hea (example 1c).

(1a)  Q.  An   Eirannach tú?
              Is.Q Irish          you?
             ‘Are you Irish?’

(1b)  A1. Is ea
               Is that
               ‘yes’
(1c) A2.   Ní     hea. Is Meiriceánch mé.
               Isn’t  that. Am American I.
               ‘No. I am American’

(2) An bhfuil sé deacair?
     Is.Q it difficult?

In answering questions containing an bhfuil, use tá (‘is’) for positive answers and níl (‘is not’) for negative answers.

Two prepositions

As (from)

Where are you from: Cad as tú?

(3) Tá duine    as     Meiriceá i   mo rang
      Is  person from America in my class
     ‘There is a person from America in my class’

Duine as Corcaigh (‘person from Cork’)

The preposition i (in)

The preposition i (‘in’):

• causes mutation of the following consonant
  i dtach mór (‘in a big house’)
  i nDoire (‘in Derry’)
  i gContae na Mí (‘in County Meath’)
• becomes in if a vowel follows
  in Eirinn (‘in Ireland’).
  Éire becomes Éirinn after prepositions.

Plurals of nouns

The plural of the definite article an is na (‘the’ plural). It puts the consonant /h/ before a word starting with a vowel.

Table 1 shows some noun plurals.

Table 1. Some plural nouns

Notes on table 1:

• the plural suffix -a applies to nouns ending in –(e)og.
• the plural suffix -aigh replaces endings in -ach
• for some nouns, the plural replaces a broad consonant with the corresponding slender consonant (as in na hárasáin and na leabhair). For more on broad and slender consonants, please see Irish spelling and pronunciation – Language Miscellany

Table 2 shows some irregular noun plurals.

Table 2. Some irregular noun plurals

Occupations and place names

Table 3. Some occupations

Other occupations:  an dochtúir (‘the doctor’), an siúinéar (‘the carpenter’)

Occupational names:

• ending in -r have plurals in -í (eg múinteoirí).
• ending in -aí have plurals ending in -the (eg rúnaíthe).

Table 4. Some place names

Notes on Table 4:

1. Baile Átha Cliath is often contracted to Bleá Cliath or Blea Cliath when spoken.
2. In Béal Feirste  ‘Mouth of river Farset’, Farset refers to a sandbar or tidal ford. 
3. Gaillimh (‘Gallway’) is a river which formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement there: Dún Gaillimhe (‘Fort Gaillimh’)

i gcathair Corcaigh (‘in the city of cork’)

Some non-Irish place names

Paras (Paris), Nua Eabhrach (Newy York), Glaschú (Glasgow).

Irish Surnames

Many Irish surnames started as patronymics (meaning ‘son or daughter of person X’). They later became surnames, but retained the original prefixes, now spelled Ó (man), Ní (for a single woman) and Uí (for a married woman).  

Séan Ó Conaill’s wife Máire would be known as Máire Bean Uí Chonaill (Máire wife of Ó Conaill), or Máire Uí Chonaill for short. His daughter would be Síle Ní Chonaill.

Some male surnames start with Mac, often corresponding to English Fitz- (originally French fils, son). The related female prefixes are Nic (single woman) and Mhic (married woman).

The female prefixes Ní and Uí cause lenition of the following consonant. On the other hand, the prefixes Nic and Mhic do not cause lenition when the surname starts with C-. For more on lenition, please see Irish spelling and pronunciation – Language Miscellany

Table 5 lists the male form and both female forms of some common Irish surnames. Bold letters there mark consonants undergoing lenition.

Table 5. Some Irish surnames

Áine Ní Chonaill is ainm dom (‘Ann O’Connell is my name’)

There is a useful database of Irish-language surnames (and their male and female and inflected forms) at https://www.gaois.ie/en/surnames

Countries and nationalities

Some country names start with the definite article an (table 6) but other country names have no article (table 7). Nationalities always end with -ach.

Table 6. Some country names with article

Breatnach (‘Welsh’) or its anglicized form Branagh shows up fairly often as a surname in Ireland, and is sometimes translated to English as ‘Welsh’ or ‘Walsh’. https://blogs.transparent.com/irish/logainmneacha-ceilteacha-agus-naisiuntachtai-a-tri-celtic-place-names-and-nationalities-%E2%80%93-wales-and-the-welsh/

Table 7. Some country names without article

Celtic names for Celtic countries

Excellent diagrams on Starkey Comics summarise the names for the Celtic nations in each Celtic Language:

• the words for Britain all descend from a single root: Irish an Bhreatain, Scottish Gaelic Breatainn, Manx Bretyn Vooar (‘Great Britain’), Breton Breizh-Veur (‘Great Britain’—Brittany itself is just Breizh) Cornish Breten, Welsh Prydain.
• the words for Ireland also descend from a single root Irish Éire, Scottish Gaelic Èrinn, Manx Nerin, and, related more distantly, Welsh Iwerddon, Cornish Iwerdhon, Breton Iwerzhon.
• the origin of Welsh Lloegr (‘England’) is unknown. The other words are related to the Latin word for Saxons:  Irish Sasana, Scottish Gaelic Sasainn, Manx Sostyn, Cornish Pow Sows (‘country Englishmen’), Breton Bro-Saoz (‘country of the Saxons’). The Welsh Saesneg ‘English’ also derives from the word for the Saxons.
• Celtic words for Wales come from words for Britain (Irish an Bhreatain Bheag [‘little Britain’], Manx Bretyn), or for ‘fellow countrymen’ (Welsh Cymru, Cornish Kembra, Breton Kembre, Scottish Gaelic a’ Chuimrigh). Welsh Cymru is from the same source as the English county name Cumbria (formerly Cumberland), where the extinct language Celtic language Cumbric was spoken until the 11^th century.
• words for Scotland mostly come from a single source, which also led to Latin Albus (‘white’) and Albion (an ancient name for Britain): Scottish Gaelic Alba, Irish Albain, Manx Albin, Welsh Alban, Cornish Alban. Breton has Bro-Skos (‘country [of the] Scots’).
• words for Cornwall all share a similar origin, though the exact etymology is unclear: Cornish Kernow, Breton Kernev-Veur (‘Great Cornwall’) Welsh Cernyw, Irish Corn na Breataine, Scottish Gaelic a’ Chòrn, Manx Yr Chorn. Brittany itself has a region called Kernev in Breton and Cornouaille in French.
• words for the Isle of Man: Manx Mannin, Irish Manainn, Scottish Gaelic Manainn, Welsh Manaw, Cornish manow, Breton Manav (or Enez Vanav, ‘isle [of] Man’). For more on Mannin, please see Consonant mutation in Manx – Language Miscellany

There is more detail at https://starkeycomics.com/2023/04/02/british-and-irish-words-for-british-and-irish-nations/

Other useful words and phrases

• do shlí bheatha ‘your occupation’
• tuigim ‘I understand’
• Cé hé tusa ‘who are you?’
• dar leat ‘in your view’
• go deas ‘nice’, suimiúil ‘interesting’, réidh ‘ready’
• freisin ‘also’
• isigh ‘in, amuigh out’, tar isteach ‘come in’

Source

Teach Yourself Irish, Diarmuid Ó Sé and Joseph Sheils (1993)