Rae Grattan / Grattan Row

Rae Grattan / Grattan Row a small street in the west Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

Henry Grattan (1746-1820) was an Irish politician and lawyer.

Vocabulary:

ré (variant: rae) = stretch of ground; row (in place names)

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An Currach Buí / Curraghboy

An Currach Buí / Curraghboy is a village in Co. Roscommon

Vocabulary:

corrach (variant: currach) = marsh, wet bog
buí = yellow
an corrach buí = a yellow marsh

Reilig

Reilig

Vocabulary:

reilig [f] = burial ground, graveyard

Grammar:

Irish nouns are declined, but the declination is still quite basic comparing to Slavic or Ugro-Finnic languages.
There are four cases: nominative, genitive, dative and vocative, however dative and vocative are rudimentary.
The nouns are divided into five declensions and an irregular declension.
The word “reilig” is a feminine noun of the second declension.
The second declension covers mostly feminine nouns with three masculine exceptions.
The characteristic thing about nouns of the second declension is that their genitive is formed by adding “-e” (if the ending consonant is broad then it gets palatalised) or by replacing “-ach” with “-aí” and “-each” with “-í”.

singular nominative > genitive
reilig [f] > reilige
bróg [f] (shoe) > bróige
leabharlann [f] (library) > leabharlainne
lámh [f] (hand) > láimhe
súil [f] (eye) > súile
long [f] (ship) > loinge
fearg [f] (anger) > feirge
cearc [f] (hen) > circe
báisteach [f] (rain) > báistí
gealach [f] (moon) > gealaí
im [m] (butter) > ime
teach [m] (house) > tí
sliabh [m] (mountain) > sléibhe

Aire / Caution

Aire / Caution

Vocabulary:

aire = attention, care

bealach = way, road
isteach = in, into
bealach isteach = way in, entrance

chuig = to, toward

suíomh = site, location
tógáil = lifting, raising, erecting, building
suíomh tógála = building site, construction site

ar = on
aghaidh = face; front
ar aghaidh = facing, opposite; forward, ahead

bealach isteach chuig suíomh tógála ar aghaidh = an entrance to a construction site ahead

Sráid Uí Chonaill / O’Connell Street

Sráid Uí Chonaill / O’Connell Street is one of the streets of west Athlone, Co. Westmeath

Dónal Ó Conaill / Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) is a well known political leader in the Irish history.

Vocabulary:

sráid = street
ó (variant: ua) = grandchild; descendant
Conall = Irish name meaning that “strong as a wolf), comes from “cú” (hound, wolf)
Ó Conaill (literally: a descendant of Conall) = O’Connell
sráid Uí Chonaill = a street of O’Connell

The word “ó” is small but it has many meanings:
1) [m] grandson, grandchild
2) [m] second cousin (used when counting relationships)
3) [m] descendant (used in surnames)
4) [f] ear (used in literature)
5) [prep] from
6) [conj] since
7) [adv] towards
8) [interj] oh! o!

Grammar:

The preposition “ó”, in the form of prepositional pronouns, is used also to express “wanting” as the Irish language does not have a separate verb “to want” like English.

uaim = from me
uait = from you [singular]
uaidh = from him, from it
uaithi = from her, from it
uainn = from us
uaibh = from you [plural]
uathu = from them

Tá (…) uaim. = I want (…).
Tá (…) uait. = You [sg] want (…).
Tá (…) uaidh. = He wants (…). It wants (…).
Tá (…) uaithi. = She wants (…). It wants (…).
Tá (…) uainn. = We want (…).
Tá (…) uaibh. = You [pl] want (…).
Tá (…) uathu. = They want (…).

Tá leabhar nua uaim. = I want a new book.
Tá gluaisteán is níos uainn. = We want a bigger car.

Dé Domhnaigh / Sunday

Dé Domhnaigh / Sunday

Vocabulary:

tá = present tense of the verb “bí” (to be)
am / amanna = time / times
bus = bus
sonraítear = present tense, passive voice of the verb “sonraigh” (to specify, to present)
garbh = rough; harsh; approximate

tá na hamanna bus a sonraítear garbh = the bus times which are presented are approximate

Grammar:

There are three ways of specifying week days.

1) Weekdays as used in dictionaries:

Luan = Monday
Máirt = Tuesday
Céadaoin = Wednesday
Déardaoin = Thursday
Aoine = Friday
Satharn = Saturday
Domhnach = Sunday

This form is used also for specific days: Luan Cincíse (Whit Monday), Máirt na hInide (Shrove Tuesday), Céadaoin an Luathrigh (Ash Wednesday), Déardaoin Mandála (Maundy Thursday), Aoine an Chéasta (Good Friday) and Domhnach na Pailme (Palm Sunday).

2) When you list weekdays:

An Luan = Monday
An Mháirt = Tuesday
An Chéadaoin = Wednesday
An Déardaoin = Thursday
An Aoine = Friday
An Satharn = Saturday
An Domhnach = Sunday

3) When talking about unspecified weekdays:

ar an Luan = on Mondays, on a Monday
ar an Máirt = on Tuesdays, on a Tuesday
ar an gCéadaoin = on Wednesdays, on a Wednesday
ar an Déardaoin = on Thursdays, on a Thursday
ar an Aoine = on Fridays, on a Friday
ar an Satharn = on Saturdays, on a Saturday
ar an Domhnach = on Sundays, on a Sunday

4) When talking about specific weekdays:

Dé Luain = on Monday (last or next)
Dé Máirt = on Tuesday (last or next)
Dé Céadaoin = on Wednesday (last or next)
Déardaoin = on Thursday (last or next)
Dé hAoine = on Friday (last or next)
Dé Sathairn = on Saturday (last or next)
Dé Domhnaigh = on Sunday (last or next)

Sráidín Lloyd / Lloyd’s Lane

Sráidín Lloyd / Lloyd’s Lane is a small street in Athlone, Co. Westmeath

Vocabulary:

sráid = street
sráidín = small street

sráidín Lloyd = a small street of Lloyd

Grammar:

In Irish diminutives can be formed by adding a suffix “-ín”. If the last consonant of a noun is broad then it has to be palatalised (with a few exceptions).

sráid > sráidín
éan (bird) > éinín (small bird)
cat (cat) > caitín (small cat)
fear (man) > firín (small man; dwarf)
carr (car) > cairrín (small car, pushcart)
srón (nose) > sróinín (small nose)
súil (eye) < súilín (small eye; eyelet)
cluas (ear) > cluaisín (small ear)
crann (tree) > crainnín (small tree)
bláth (flower) > bláithín (small flower, floweret)
cloch (stone) > cloichín (small stone)
teach (house) > teachín, tigín (small house, cottage)
Seán (John) > Seáinín (Johnny)
Máire (Mary) > Máirín (small Mary)

Acomhal Romhat / Junction Ahead

Acomhal Romhat / Junction Ahead

Vocabulary:

aire = attention, care
acomhal = junction
romhat = before you, in front of you
acomhal romhat = a junction before you

Grammar:

The word “romhat” is a prepositional pronoun – a compound of a preposition “roimh” (before, in front of) and a pronoun “tú” (you).

All forms:
romham = before me
romhat = before you [singular]
roimhe = before him, before it
roimpi = before her, before it
romhainn = before us
romhaibh = before you [plural]
rompu = before them

Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin / Wild Atlantic Way

Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin / Wild Atlantic Way is a 2,500 km long touristic trail on the south-west, west and north-west coast of Ireland

Vocabulary:

slí [f] = way; manner, method
Atlantach [adj] = Atlantic
an tAigéan Atlantach = the Atlantic Ocean
an tAtlantach [m] = the Atlantic
fiáin [adj] = wild
slí an Atlantaigh fhiáin = a way of the wild Atlantic

Grammar:

When you capitalise words in Irish, the prefix and initial mutation letters are always small. That means that sometimes it is the third letter which is capitalised or all letters are capitalised except the prefixes.

an tAtlantach
Lá na nAmadán = April’s Fool Day
Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan = International Women’s Day
Craobhchomórtais Dhomhanda na bhFear = Men’s World Championships

MÚSAEM NA bPÁISTÍ I mBAILE ÁTHA CLIATH = THE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM IN DUBLIN

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Béal Átha na Muille / Bealnamulla

Béal Átha na Muille / Bealnamulla (also Bellanamullia) a small village west of Athlone

Vocabulary:
béal = mouth, lip
áth = ford
muileann (old variant: muille) = mill
béal átha an muilinn (old variant: béal átha na muille) = a mouth of a ford of the mill

Etymology:
The word “muileann” (mill, grinding apparatus, manufactory) comes from the Old Irish word “muilend” (mill, usually grinding corn and driven by stream) which in turn comes from the late latin “molinum” (mill). The word “muilend” had many variants: muiliunn, mulenn, muilund, muillend, muilne, muilend, moileand, moilenn, muillibh and finally “muille” which can be found in “Béal Átha na Muille”.

Cognates of the Irish “muileann” can be found in all Celtic languages:

muileann in Scottish
mwyllin in Manx
melin in Welsh
milin in Breton

And obviously in all Romance languages:

mulino in Italian
moulin in French
molino in Spanish
moinho in Portuguese

And in Germanic languages:

Mühle in German
molen in Dutch
mill in English
mølle in Norwegian & Danish

And Slavic languages:

mlýn in Czech
młyn in Polish
мельница [melnica] in Russian
млин [mlin] in Serbian & Ukrainian

And other languages, even not Indo-European:

μύλος [mylos] in Greek (IE language)
mulli in Albanian (IE language)
mylly in Finnish (non-IE language)
mira in Maori (non-IE language)

All meaning “a mill”.