Irish Class, June 29, 2009

Rang Gaeilge, 29ú lá Mí na Mheiteamh

Administrivia

• We are meeting at the Dunn Bros. at Lake Ave. and the River
• Winona 7/17-19
• Irish Fair 8/7-9
• First Fall class at Central 9/14

Prepositions and Mutations again

From Initial Mutations:

• Lenition came about because long ago, the
  consonant was between two vowels. In many cases one of the vowels has disappeared, but the lenition
  remains. E.g. ar was once ara, hence ar char (see table).
  If the preposition ended in a consonant, the following consonant would not be changed. E.g.,
  ag páiste.

• Eclipsis came about when the preceding word ended in a nasal, /n/, /m/, /ŋ/.

le ← let. The t would be lenited between two vowels.
Hence we now have le hÚna ←*leth Úna.

leis an mbosca: leis is from
sindos in proto-Celtic.

roimh used to end in a vowel. The –i– is
for slenderization.

thrí ← thríde.  
thrí bhosca: The lenition is from the
e that is no longer there.

ón ← ó + an

faoin ← faoi + an

gan is from proto-Celtic *cina.

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Cleachtadh le Réamhfhocail — Practise with
Prepositions

Cén sórt … Cén saghas ….. “What kind
of… [followed by noun in the genitive]
(Bain úsáid as
ainmneacha branda, ldt.) “Use brand names, please”)

1. Cén sórt feithicle a tháinig tú
   leis anseo inniu?

   Tháinig mé anseo leis an mbus, leis an bPontiac, le hAcura, leis an bhFord,
   7rl.

2. Cén saghas fhoirgnimh a tháinig tú as, nuair a bhí tú ag imeacht inniu?

   Tháinig mé amach as árasán… teach, bothán 7rl.

3. Cén sórt leapa a chlodlaíonn tú ar san oíche?

   Codlaím ar rímhéid, dhúbailte, bhunc…

4. Cén ollmhargadh is fearr leat dul ag ceannach aige?

   Is fearrliom ceannach ag Cub, ag an gCub, ag an mByerly’s…

5. Cén saghas shoitigh is fearr leat ól uaidh?

   Is fearr liom ól ó chupán.. ón ngloine.. ón sconna láithreach bonn.

feithicle	vehicle
foirgneamh	building	m1
nuair a bhí t&uacut; ag imeacht inniu	when you were leaving today
árasán	apartment, flat
bothán	cabin, shack, shed	m1
codail	sleep	v /kodəl’/
codlaím	I sleep	/kol’i:m/ d is silent
rímhéid	king size
dúbailte	double	verbal adjective
soiteach	dish, vessel	/sohəx/
sconna	spout, tap	m4
láithreach	immediate
bonn	sole, basis, foundation	m1
sconna láithreach bonn	right from the tap

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Note that any mutations induced by prepositions are trumped by those from a possessive pronoun (mo, do,
7rl) if one is present.

Réamhfhocail — Prepositions

		singular indefinite	singular definite	plural indefinite	plural definite
ag	at	ag páiste	ag an bpáiste	ag páistí	ag na páistí
as	out of, from	as bosca	as an mbosca	as boscaí	as na boscaí
let	with	le bosca le hÚna	leis an mosca	le boscaí	leis na boscaí
ó	out of, from	ó bhaile	ón mbaile	ó bhailte	ó na bhailte
arv	on, to	ar chlár	ar an gclár	ar chláir	ar na cláir
roimhv	before	roimh bhalla	roimh an mballa	roimh bhallí	roimh na ballí
thrícv	through	thrí bhosca	thríd an mbosca	thrí bhoscaí	thrí na boscaí
faoi	under, about	faoi bhord	faoin mbord	faoi bhoird	faoi na boird
thar	past	thar fhear	thar an bhfear	thar fhir	thar na fir
de /gə/ except after dentals. Then /də/	of, from	de bhróg d’úll	den bhróg den t-úll	de bhróga d’úlla	de na bróga de na h-úa
do /gə/ except after dentals. Then /də/	for	do pheann d’am	don pheann don t-am	do phinn d’amanna	do na pinn do nah-amanna
in	in	i bpota	sa bpota	i gcathracha	sna cathracha
ganv	without	gan bhean gan bean eile	gan an bean	gan bhróga gan bróga nua	gan na bróga
goc go dt&iacute	toward, until	go Sasana go hEireann	go dtí an teach		go dtí na tithe
seachas	except	seachas fear	seachas an fear	seachas fir	seachas na fir
idir	between	idir bord idir fuinneog	idir an bord idir an fhuinneog	idir boird idir fuinneoga	idir na boird idir na fuinneoga

Notes

• Eclipsis with singular definite articles does not apply to nouns beginning with
  t-, d- & s-.
• Superscripts in the 1^st column refer to sounds that used to be part of the language but
  are now gone. c: consonant, v: vowel. Others (t, n)
  mean the specific letter given, e.g. le was once let.
• thríd is aspirated. Almost /s’ri:d’/ .
• seachas used to be a noun (“exception”) and then took the genitive.
• gan ← gana. gan: If the noun has an adjective, there is no lenition.

• go is cognate to comh- “mutual, joint, common, co-” and Latin
  cum.
  go dtí ← com tí (result of the
  nasal).

ar /er’/ ← aire. r is slender because it used to be between two
slenderizing vowels. Since it used to end in a vowel, it lenites.

ó has not changed much from pIE.

aire	care
Tabhair dom de aire	Be carefull	?
tocht	matress, deep emotion, intestinal obstruction [!]	m3
rinne de húlla	made from apples
pióg úlla	apple pie	note genitive
pióg d’úla	pie [made] from apples	See also Progress in Irish, lesson 15
Tá … le	with
Is … le	own
Tá an madra liomsa.	The dog is with me.
Is liomsa an madra.	The dog is mine.
roimhe sé	before him
bráid	neck, throat	f
faoi bhróg	under a shoe	/vro:g/ /v/ because of r
riamh	ever, never	/riəv/ ever before
roimh bricfeasta	before breakfast	or any other specific event in time
sula	before	used with verbs

References

• Initial Mutations
• Mary Roguski, “Tsk tsk… T before S”, An
  Gaeilgeoir, Bealtaine 2009
• Basic
  Irish, Chapters 9 and 23.