A Poem Using Two Interesting Irish Words: Ladhar and Ioscaid

Nothing Is Something--In Irish-Gaelic

Irish has many words for different kinds of nothingness:

Ladhar, the empty spaces between your fingers and toes;

Ioscaid, the hollow space behind the knee.

Do they have a Gaelic word for the emptiness of my brain on a Thursday night in February?

Or the hollowness of my heart after my mother died?

Or how my soul would feel if you ever left me?

Yes, the Irish,

And really all of us humans,

Understand a lot about nothing.

[Bob Coughlin / June 20, 2014]

Little Poem, in Irish and English--for My Grandson Robby

A Chuisle Mo Chroí

O Pulse of My Heart!

A Rún, a Stór,

Robby, beautiful baby,

Pulse of my heart!

Irish Terms of Endearment

The Irish Language has some beautiful ways to express love and affection. There's a nice web page that explains these expressions fairly well and tells you how to pronounce them: Irish terms of endearment.

Irish Gaelic Terms of Endearment—with approximate pronunciations

I love you.  Tá grá agam duit.  /tau grau AH-gum dit/

I’m in love with you.  Táim i ngrá leat.  /toym ih nraw laht/

You are my love.  Is tú mo ghrá  /iss too muh ghraw/ or /iss too muh hraw/

The following, except for “mo chuisle,”  are in the vocative case—used when addressing someone directly, in writing or orally. You could replace the “A” with “Mo,” but that seems less common.

A Ghrá Mo Chroí    Oh darling; Beloved of my heart! /ah ghraw muh khree/

A Ghrá Geal  Oh bright love! /ah ghraw gyall/ or /ah hraw gyall/

A Rún     Oh love! Oh Darling! [ah roon/ Pretty common phrase.

A Mhuirnín  My dear  /ah WEER-neen/

A Stór!   My darling /ah store/          Another common phrase.

A Thaisce  My treasure       /ah HAHSH-kuh/

Mo Chuisle  Literally, “my pulse”       /muh KWISH-luh/

A Chuisle Mo Chroí!  O pulse of my heart!      /ah KWISH-luh muh khree/  This is my favorite.

Closing a letter: Le grá (with love) /luh graw/

Note: the Irish “ch” sound is close to the “ch” in the Scottish word “loch.” Very similar also to German “ch.” The Irish “gh” can be transcribed in different ways. The “g” has a bit of a fricative sound. I transcribe the word “ghrá” either as /ghraw/ or /hraw/. Irish vowels with accent marks (fadas) over them are long. The long “a” sounds like “aw” in many dialects of Irish.

Final Thoughts About My Uncle Bill's Funeral

My Uncle Bill's wake was at the Jack Monreal Funeral Home On March 29th. Over 600 people paid their respects, many of whom are relatives. Just to mention a few people I hadn't seen in a while: my cousins Tim Fitzpatrick and Sheila Fitzpatrick; cousin Jerry Coughlin; cousin Sam Galioto; cousin Jill Charske and her husband Bill; Jack O'Donnell; Ellen McHugh--and so many more. An Irish wake is fun in spite of the sadness, in spite of the loss.

The beautiful funeral mass took place on Wednesday, March 30th at St. Mary Magdalene's in Willowick. Father's homily was so beautiful and so personal; it reminded me again (as if I needed reminding) how beautiful our church can be--and how we are best at celebrating life's passages. Following the burial at bitter cold All Souls Cemetery in Chardon, family and friends met again at the LaMalfa catering center in Mentor--and then it was over, the hard part. Luckily my brother Denny and his wife Sher were in town and we had quite a week with them.

I thank god for my Irish Catholic family and for the life of my Uncle Bill. Somehow we have to take on the joyful fun-loving spirit and deep faith that Bill had. We have to take care of Aunt Kay and help our cousins through this time of mourning.

The Gaelminn Gazette: Great Resource for Learners of Irish

There is a terrific newsletter called The Gaelminn Gazette, put out by "Gaeltacht Minnesota," an Irish study group from, of all places, Minnesota!

Here is the information at the top of the newsletter with the way to sign up to receive it in your email:

THE GAELMINN GAZETTE (#47): April, 2009

The GaelMinn Gazette, a monthly e-newsletter from Gaeltacht Minnesota, carries helpful items for anyone studying the Irish language, anywhere, as well as news of interest to local and regional students.

Please FORWARD this newsletter to any friends who may want to learn Irish. And if you received this Gazette from someone else, go to www.gaelminn.org to sign up.
To read this newsletter as a web page, go to www.gaelminn.org/lastgaz.htm .

CONTENTS==========================================
Tips, Tools, & Tricks
Telegraphic Forms
GaelMinn News & Announcements
Lessons Learned
The "I Got It!" Diary
About Gaeltacht Minnesota

To see the articles in the April 2009 edition, click on the links above.

Learn Some Basic Irish Words and Phrases

When you study a new language, you should learn some things by heart. Below are some common Irish phrases, with rough guides to pronunciations put between slashes. Try to memorize these. It would be great if you could find an online source with sound files so that you can hear native voices speak them. One source can be found at this site: http://www.daltai.com/phrases.htm

[I still need to add some fadas (accents) below]

Hello. Dia dhuit! /DEE-uh GWIT/ or /JEE-uh DITCH/ up north
Response to hello. Dia's Muire dhuit. /DEE-uh iss MWEER-uh GWIT/
How are you? Conas ta tu? /CUNN-us TAH TOO/
I'm fine. And you? Ta me go maith. Agus tusa? /TAH MAY guh MAH; AHG-us TOO-suh/

[Much more coming soon!]

Web Resources for Irish

It is almost unbelievable the number and quality of web resources now available for students of Irish. I will just list a few right now, but I will come back to this issue from time to time.

One fantastic site is published by "Foras na Gaeilge," and the web address is http://www.irish.ie/default1.asp?lang=en. At this site you can chose to read in Irish or English, and the resources available are incredible. The site states, "Foras na Gaeilge, the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland, was founded on the second day of December 1999."

Another interesting site is www.daltai.com ("Daltai" means "students," as in "Students of Irish."). I enjoy looking at the language forums on this site.

[more coming]