Irish Class, January 5, 2009

Rang Gaeilge, 5ú lá mí Eanáir 2009

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Fadas: áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ

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Cardinal directions

Based on unit 9 of Intermediate
Irish.

	Location (static)	To	From
W	thiar /hi:r’/	siar	aniar
E	thoir /her/ (Wes) /hor/ (FP)	soir	anoir
N	ó thuaidh	ó thuaidh	aduaidh
S	ó dheas	ó dheas	aneas

Note that the ó in ó thuaidh and ó dheas does not mean
“from.”

Irish includes directions in situations where they are ususually omitted in English:

Tá Baibre thoir i mBaile Átha Cliath.	Barbara is (east) in Dublin.
Beidh mé ag dul siar go Gaillimh anocht.	I’m going (west) to Galway tonight.
Tá Seán imithe siar.	Sean has gone west. [to someplace obvious to the listener]
Beidh mé ag dul ó dheas amárach.	I’m going south tomorrow. [to someplace obvious to the listener]

Intermediate Directions

1. E-W always comes before N-S.
2. The 2^nd (N-S) element is always in the a- form.

thiar aduaidh	in the northwest
soir aduaidh	to the northeast
aniar aneas	from the southwest

Directional terms as nouns

an Tuaisceart	the north
an Deisceart	the south
an tIarthar	the west
an tOirthear	the east

They are used with the genitive.

tuaisceart na hÉireann	the north of Ireland
iarthar Mheiriceá	the American west
deisceart na Fraince	the south of France
oirthear na hEuropa	eastern Europe

As adjectives

Conamara Thuaidh	North Connemara
Meiriceá Theas	South America
Afraic Theas	South Africa
Afraic Thiar	West Africa

Contae na hIarmhí	County Westmeath
taobh	side
Tá Indreabhán taobh thiar den Spidéal.	Inverin is west of Spiddal.
Tá an Fhrainc taobh ó dheas de Shasana.	France is south of England.
Tá ár dteach ar an taobh ó thuaidh.	Our house is to the north [of something previously mentioned]
Cas siar	Turn west [older folks usage]
Cas ar chlé	Turn left [younger folks usage]
Cas ar dheis	Turn right [younger folks usage]
Coinnigh ar aghaidh	Keep going straight
ar ais	back (as in “go back”)
laistigh	inside [surface] — static
laisteach	(to the) inside [surface]
lasmuigh	outside [surface] — static
lasmach	(to the) outside [surface]

Wind directions

Use the a- “from” form.

An ghaoth aduaidh, bíonn sí cruaidh, is cuireann sí fuacht ar dhaoine,
The north wind is harsh, and makes people cold,

An ghaoth aneas, bíonn sí tais, is cuireann sí rath ar shíolta,
The south wind is moist, and brings abundance to seeds,

An ghaoth anoir, bíonn sí tirim, is cuireann sí brait ar chaoirigh,
The east wind is dry and puts coats on the sheep.

An ghaoth aniar, bíonn sí fial, is cuireann sí iasc i líonta.
The west wind is generous, and puts fish in [the] nets.

gaoth	wind [f]
cruaidh	harsh
bíonn	pres. hab. of bí
cuireann … fuacht ar	lit. “puts cold on”
rath	abundance
síol	seed, offspring, progeny [m1]
is (=agus)	and [here]
tirim	dry
brat	cloak, coat [m1]
caora	sheep [f](npl caoirigh, gs, gpl caorach
fial	generous

Metaphoric Use

If you are facing east, south is to your right. Hence the connection between deis “right” and
deas “south”. Also thiar/siar “west” for “back” in space or time.

Tá an stábla taobh thiar den teach.	The stable is behind the house.
chomh	as, so
Téann an scéal sin chomh fada siar le haimsir an Ghorta.	That story goes back to the time of the famine.
thiar thall	over there (lit. “west”)
amach anseo	from now on
le deich mbliana anuas	for the past ten years
sa deireadh thiar thall	at long last

Listening Exercise

1. Beidh mé ag dul ó thuaidh go Béal Feirste amárach.
   I will go north to Belfast
   tomorrow. [from, e.g., Dublin]

2. Chuaigh na páistí ó dheas go Disneyworld.
   The children went (south) to Disneyworld.

3. Fanfaidh mé coicís ar an gcósta thiar.
   I will stay a fortnight on the west coast.

4. Níl Milwaukee i bhfad ó thuaid deChicago.
   Milwaukee is not far north of Chicago.

5. Tá San Francisco píosa maith thiar uainn.
   San Francisco is a good piece west of us.

6. An raibh tú ó dheas i bhFlorida riamh?. Have you ever
   been (south) to Florida?

Fanfaidh /fanə/	will stay. fut. of fan
coicís	fortnight
riamh	ever