Gaelic Gaelic

[invergowrie arab]

 

46 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

 

Am I right in thinking that because original Gaelic speakers were so fiercely religious, they didn’t actually have words for proper swearing?

 

I'm not sure they were any more religious than anyone else 100 years ago. It's more how religious they are now that compared to everyone else that seems unusual.

I don't really know the answer but most Gaels by 21 would have been around the world 7 times with the merchant navy or have done 5 years in the army/navy so I imagine they all had a pretty good grasp of Anglo Saxon swearing.

Edited December 2, 2019 by invergowrie arab

[welshbairn]

1 hour ago, SweeperDee said:

 

Am I right in thinking that because original Gaelic speakers were so fiercely religious, they didn’t actually have words for proper swearing?

 

They say they same about Welsh but if you hear them talking there can be a liberal sprinkling of four letter anglo saxon. 

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, MixuFixit said:

I find leat much harder to say than leibh, is it sort of "lay-at"?

There are different dialects but personally i go with "laht" kind of ryhming with hat but with preaspiration before the t 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preaspiration

[Jacksgranda]

23 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

Gaelic swearing is pretty mild.

*****h Iain Grot ort. Literally John o Groats house on you or figuratively get yourself to John o Groats  is about as strong as it gets

FFS T a i g h is blocked on here.

Quite right...

[Kejan]

On 02/12/2019 at 23:03, invergowrie arab said:

There are different dialects but personally i go with "laht" kind of ryhming with hat but with preaspiration before the t 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preaspiration

That's the same way I pronounce it. Whilst I tend to say "air" as 'ay-ithh' was told that's the way Uist/Barra say it?!

I can read sentences/articles and a fair bit in Gaelic , sometimes one or two paragraphs and feel in control (or in my head I do) and then there's always one or two words that I stumble on, ones you see reguarly or aren't big long ones ;  e.g seen 'comhairle/council' today and I've heard it a fair amount of times, but always seem to murder the pronunciation of it. End up 'Coy-ru-huh' or 'Coll-ah-re' (ends up sounding like còmhla ri)

 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Kejan

[Kejan]

On 03/12/2019 at 18:22, Jacksgranda said:

Quite right...

That word in Gaelic was something you needed to own to vote in the bad old one man/one vote days in NI.

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, Kejan said:

That's the same way I pronounce it. Whilst I tend to say "air" as 'ay-ithh' was told that's the way Uist/Barra say it?!

I can read sentences/articles and a fair bit in Gaelic , sometimes one or two paragraphs and feel in control (or in my head I do) and then there's always one or two words that I stumble on, ones you see reguarly or aren't big long ones ;  e.g seen 'comhairle/council' today and I've heard it a fair amount of times, but always seem to murder the pronunciation of it. End up 'Coy-ru-huh' or 'Coll-ah-re' (ends up sounding like còmhla ri)

 

The light r rhing is definitely southern hebridean.

I have a real mixed bag of accents. It depends who taught me the word.

My first teacher was from South Uist so I  would say " hallo a vathee" if i was saying hi to Mairi. 

I got taught air by a man from Carloway to its more of an "ur" rhyming with fur.

I do plan on remedying all of this one day. 

[Kejan]

27 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

The light r rhing is definitely southern hebridean.

I have a real mixed bag of accents. It depends who taught me the word.

My first teacher was from South Uist so I  would say " hallo a vathee" if i was saying hi to Mairi. 

I got taught air by a man from Carloway to its more of an "ur" rhyming with fur.

I do plan on remedying all of this one day. 

Aigh, aigh, mise fhèin. Tha Sabhal Mòr Gàidhlig agam

I notice your location, I just ordered a book from Luath about Gaelic in Perthshire (I'll no doubt be flicking through a dictionary for a fair bit of it) but it looks fairly interesting.

https://www.luath.co.uk/gaelic/da-shamhradh-ann-an-raineach

Edited December 4, 2019 by Kejan

[invergowrie arab]

26 minutes ago, Kejan said:

Aigh, aigh, mise fhèin. Tha Sabhal Mòr Gàidhlig agam

I notice your location, I just ordered a book from Luath about Gaelic in Perthshire (I'll no doubt be flicking through a dictionary for a fair bit of it) but it looks fairly interesting.

https://www.luath.co.uk/gaelic/da-shamhradh-ann-an-raineach

Uill tha Sabhal Mòr Gàidhlig agam cuideachd. Rinn mi An Cùrsa Inntrigidh agus tha mi a' dèanamh an dàrna bhliadhna den Chùrsa Adhartais an-dràsta.

Tha mi an dòchas gum faigh mi an leabhar sin airson Nollaig.

[SweeperDee]

Is toil leam aran agus càise.

[Kejan]

1 hour ago, invergowrie arab said:

Uill tha Sabhal Mòr Gàidhlig agam cuideachd. Rinn mi An Cùrsa Inntrigidh agus tha mi a' dèanamh an dàrna bhliadhna den Chùrsa Adhartais an-dràsta.

Tha mi an dòchas gum faigh mi an leabhar sin airson Nollaig.

Math a chluintinn 's gur math a thèid leatsa ris a' chùrsa (agus an leabhar aig an Nollaig) Abair Nollaig e! Tha Dùbhlachd 'Nollaig' ann an Gaelige

 

 

[The Moonster]

Really struggling with (and mixing up) brother, sister, father, mother etc. for some annoying reason and I find some of the pronunciation the app gives you can sound slightly different depending on what recording it is (I realise this is probably just the accents of different speakers). For example in some recordings it sounds like brother starts with a "V" and in others it sounds like a "B".

[welshbairn]

53 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Really struggling with (and mixing up) brother, sister, father, mother etc. for some annoying reason and I find some of the pronunciation the app gives you can sound slightly different depending on what recording it is (I realise this is probably just the accents of different speakers). For example in some recordings it sounds like brother starts with a "V" and in others it sounds like a "B".

Trying to teach Spanish speakers the difference between a B and V is a nightmare. Maybe a few sailors who bailed from the Armada have had their effect on the language, transferred from Ireland. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by welshbairn

[invergowrie arab]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Really struggling with (and mixing up) brother, sister, father, mother etc. for some annoying reason and I find some of the pronunciation the app gives you can sound slightly different depending on what recording it is (I realise this is probably just the accents of different speakers). For example in some recordings it sounds like brother starts with a "V" and in others it sounds like a "B".

Thats because it does. The only downside of duolingo is its not a grammar course.

Bh  and Mh = a v sound

Brother = bràthair (braahar)

My brother = mo bhràthair (vraahar)

Mother = Màthair (maahar)

My mother = mo mhàthair (vaahar)

Father = athair

My father = mo athair ( or m' athair which sounds exactly the same as màthair for mother to the untrained ear)

Adding an h is called lenition and lenition occurs in a huge amount of situations.

One of them would be after my, your, his

My brother = mo bhràthair

Your brother = do bhràthair

His brother = a bhràthair

Her brother = a bràthair (no lenition)

Your (plural) brother = ur bràthair (no lenition)

Our brother = ar bràthair (no lenition)

Their brother = am bràthair (no lenition)

[Falcor Roar]

Duck is bad. 

Chicken and kitten and anna is nice.

That's the holiday to Uist sorted. 

 

[invergowrie arab]

3 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

Bloody hell that's going to be hard to keep abreast of. I hope any Gaels I end up speaking to are forgiving of me when I mix that up as I will!

Its so common it becomes second nature. 

The ones most people pick up first are good morning, good afternoon, good night. Lenition occurs to the adjective after a feminine noun. So:

Madainn - morning - feminine 

Feasgar - afternoon/evening - masc

Oidhche - Night - feminine 

Math = Good

Madainn mhath (va) - good morning 

Feasgar math (ma) - good afternoon/evening

Oidhche mhath (va) - good night

 

[Snobot]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Really struggling with (and mixing up) brother, sister, father, mother etc. for some annoying reason and I find some of the pronunciation the app gives you can sound slightly different depending on what recording it is (I realise this is probably just the accents of different speakers). For example in some recordings it sounds like brother starts with a "V" and in others it sounds like a "B".

IA beat me to it in far greater detail. Dà (two) also lenites the following word - b becomes bh (v sound), p becomes ph (f sound) and m becomes mh (also v sound) after dà. Sh sounds like a soft h.

Also, when addressing someone (you’ll hear it in Duolingo), you’d put in the word  “a” and lenite if you can - Halò a Bhràthair, Mar sin leibh a Mhàthair, Tioraidh a Phiuthar, Slàinte a Sheanair, fàilte a Sheanmhair but Halò Athair because you can’t lenite a vowel and also try to say “a athair” it’s impossible.

The English derivation Hamish comes from this - from Seumas (James) - Halò a Sheumais  (hello a Hamish)

You’ll tune into it the more you listen. 
 

If you want to get into the grammar of it in parallel with Duolingo get the optimistically titled Book “Gaelic in 12 weeks”. Great grammar reference book, if a little dry, but explains all these things quite well.

[jagfox]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Really struggling with (and mixing up) brother, sister, father, mother etc. for some annoying reason and I find some of the pronunciation the app gives you can sound slightly different depending on what recording it is (I realise this is probably just the accents of different speakers). For example in some recordings it sounds like brother starts with a "V" and in others it sounds like a "B".

You're maybe mixing Gaelic up with teuchtar?

Gheibh mi mo chòta...

[Kejan]

3 hours ago, The Moonster said:

Really struggling with (and mixing up) brother, sister, father, mother etc. for some annoying reason and I find some of the pronunciation the app gives you can sound slightly different depending on what recording it is (I realise this is probably just the accents of different speakers). For example in some recordings it sounds like brother starts with a "V" and in others it sounds like a "B".

Gowrie sums it up well.

It'll come, if you keep working away.

My Irish pal says that our Slàinte the Gàidhlig accent going that way ,compared to Gaelige's Sláinte = the two languages waving to each other.

Quite interesting those two words or fàilte /fáilte pronounced one after the other. Gàidhlig is more of a faaaaaal-cha and Irish is fowlllllll-cha.

Anyhoos, blethers gu leòr agus cum ort/oiribh(a h-uile daoine) with the Gaelic.

 

 

[SweeperDee]

Cha toil leam Tory b*****ds.