gaelic pronunciation

[beloitpiper]

Mo chroi means "my heart" as a term of endearment, usually said "A Stór Mo Chroí" which means "Darling of my heart" pronounced "Ah store muh kroy"

[O'Callaghan]

I always thought that the 'th' in tuatha was pronounced the same as 'th' in English. I may be totally wrong (probably am), but I'm thinking in terms of Irish, and I assume what Beloit Piper has given is based on Scots Gaelic, except where he says otherwise. As he says, there are differences. Now I'm curious if the Irish pronounciation is tooha like he says or if that's only in Scots Gaelic?

I think tuatha means a chief, or in the Irish context a minor king (in some cases that was the same thing), but traditionally Ireland was settled by the Firbolg (or Fir Bolg), then the Tuatha de Daanan (spelling?) and then the Milesians (from the Gaelic branch of the Celts) in that order.

[beloitpiper]

I speak Irish, not Scottish.

[O'Callaghan]

I speak Irish, not Scottish.

As you can tell, I speak neither!

[slohairt]

Tuatha is pronounced as TOO-A-HA. It's the same for both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It can mean 'people', 'tribe', or 'group'. In the case of the Tuatha Dé Danann, it means 'people of the goddess Danu.'

The 'th' sound (as pronounced in English) doesn't occur in the Goidelic language family. It does occur in the Brythonic Celtic languages, such as Welsh where it is represented by 'dd' or 'th'.

[O'Callaghan]

Tuatha is pronounced as TOO-A-HA. It's the same for both Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It can mean 'people', 'tribe', or 'group'. In the case of the Tuatha Dé Danann, it means 'people of the goddess Danu.' The 'th' sound (as pronounced in English) doesn't occur in the Goidelic language family. It does occur in the Brythonic Celtic languages, such as Welsh where it is represented by 'dd' or 'th'.

Like for example, I have an old friend called Gwyneth, who is not from the county of Gwynedd (in fact she's not even from Wales), but they are pronounced the same. From what I can remember, I think Welsh used the letter 'eth' (can't work out how to type it) at one time, like English once did for the soft 'th', but doesn't have the hard 'th' of the old letter 'thorn', or at least never used that letter anyway. The letter 'eth' looked a bit like a 'd', only different, which would explain why they represent it now as 'dd'. I didn't know that Gaelic doesn't have these sounds.

Nor did I know about Danu. I also mistook De for of/from like it is in a gazillion other languages, but if I thought about it I knew Irish had a genitive case because of Eirann (spelling?), hence De must be goddess (same root as deity I assume) and Danann must be genitive for Danu, right? So what does Fir Bolg (or even Firbolg as I've also seen it) translate to, or is that even gaelic?

[ardchoille]

I have two that I would like to learn how to pronounce:

'S Rioghal Mo Dhream

and

Ard Choille!

MacGregor clan motto and war cry, respectively. I've heard several different variations of the second one; ard-ko-ill, ard-koyl, ard-kola, ard-koll (long "o" in all four), but which one is correct?

[slohairt]

Like for example, I have an old friend called Gwyneth, who is not from the county of Gwynedd (in fact she's not even from Wales), but they are pronounced the same. From what I can remember, I think Welsh used the letter 'eth' (can't work out how to type it) at one time, like English once did for the soft 'th', but doesn't have the hard 'th' of the old letter 'thorn', or at least never used that letter anyway. The letter 'eth' looked a bit like a 'd', only different, which would explain why they represent it now as 'dd'. I didn't know that Gaelic doesn't have these sounds.

Nor did I know about Danu. I also mistook De for of/from like it is in a gazillion other languages, but if I thought about it I knew Irish had a genitive case because of Eirann (spelling?), hence De must be goddess (same root as deity I assume) and Danann must be genitive for Danu, right? So what does Fir Bolg (or even Firbolg as I've also seen it) translate to, or is that even gaelic?

Yes, dia is the word for deity, and dé is the genitive case. Danann is indeed the genitive for Danu. (Also spelled Dana, though unconnected to the female personal name.)

Éireann is the spelling you were looking for, I believe.

Firbolg is Irish, taken from Fir Bolg, meaning 'men of the bag' (or pouch). No dirty jokes please, folks, this is a family-friendly forum!

[Mr. MacDougall]

For that matter, I was recently surprised to learn that "Gaelic" is prounounced "Gahlic" and not "Gaylic."

[beloitpiper]

All of my Irish friends pronounce it "Gelic", while the Scots say "Gahlic". Me? I call it Irish, hah!