Hello, my to all apprentice Gaeilgeoirí, pull up a chair and let’s get tore into the Bluffer’s Guide to Irish.
This week features another lesson in how the Irish language is perfectly at home in the 21st century in all its castacht - complexity.
Yes, we have a word for nearly everything as a look at téarma.ie will prove.
Tearma.ie – aka An Bunachar Náisiúnta Téarmaíochta don Ghaeilge - the National Terminology Database for Irish is the go-to website for téarmaí teicniúla - technical terms to do with, well, just about everything.
Don’t worry, Irish does béarlagair - jargon just as well as any other bureaucracy!
English is such a supple language. It has great metabolism, it takes on new words and excretes old ones at a rate of knots - Cisgendering, deputinisation, granny-chaser etc.
But Irish is doing its best to keep apace with English’s voracious appetite.
(Tá mé ar chomhchéim léi - I am at the same level as she is for example, níor fhan Learpholl ar chomhchéim le Man City - Liverpool didn’t keep up with Man City)
So, dear Blufferites, here are some new terms you might not know, in English or in Irish.
For instance, the Bluffer had no idea what fitspo meant until he saw the Irish - spreagadh na sláintiúlachta.
Fitspo is short for fitspiration: activity on social media intended to inspire people to get fitter.
Lá níos sine, lá níos eolaí - a day older, a day wiser.
And what about ampelography? It’s “the science of identifying, naming and classifying grape varieties” according to wikipedia.
It’s also finiúinghrafaíocht in Irish.
Put your name down for Mastermind immediately if you know what crypsis is. Does the Irish cumas duaithnithe help?
Crypsis is the ability of an animal or a plant to avoid observation or detection by other animals.
So now you know.
There seems to be as many sign languages as there are spoken ones and we have Teanga Chomharthaíochta Mheiriceá/na Breataine/na hÉireann · American/British/Irish Sign Language.
Growing up, did yoiu ever have a you ever had a tuismitheoir coimirce - a guide parent?
Again, the Bluffer had to ask Prof Google what exactly this was.
According to Humanists UK: “A guide parent is someone you invite to have an enduring relationship with your child. They could be considered to be the non-religious equivalent of a ‘godparent’”
Finally, there is máinliacht gan ghearradh · incisionless surgery which an be used to treat tremors, Parkinson’s disease and other ailments including acute heartburn.
Earlier this year, Galway University Hospitals performed incisionless surgery to help correct blockages of the oesophagus in a patient, the first procedure of its kind in Ireland.
So there, dear Gaelophiles, the Irish language has enough capacity in it to take it well into the 22nd century and to infinity and beyond!
CÚPLA FOCAL
castacht (castakht) - complexity
An Bunachar Náisiúnta Téarmaíochta don Ghaeilge (un bunakher naashoonta chayrmeeakhta dun gaylig) - the National Terminology Database for Irish
téarmaíteicniúla (chayrmee checknoola) - technical terms
béarlagair (bayrlagar) - jargon
Tá mé ar chomchéim léi (taa may er kho-caym layhe) - I am at the same level as she is
níor fhan Learpholl ar chomhchéim le Man City (neer aan larfull er kho-caym le MC) - Liverpool didn’t keep up with Man City
spreagadh na sláintiúlachta - (spragoo ne slaantchoolakhta) - fitspo
Lá níos sine, lá níos eolaí (laa nees shinya, laa nees awlee) - a day older, a day wiser
finiúinghrafaíocht (finyoongrafeeakht) - ampelography
cumas duaithnithe (cumas dooeeneeha) - crypsis
Teanga Chomharthaíochta Mheiriceá/na Breataine/na hÉireann · (changa khoreheeakhta verica/na Bratanya/na herin) - American/British/Irish Sign Language
tuismitheoir coimirce (tishmahore kimirca) - a guide parent
máinliacht gan ghearradh (manleeakht gun yaroo) · incisionless surgery
