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How do you spell bicycle [i]as gaeilge?[/i]

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  • 22-08-2008 12:35am
    #1
    Snickers Man
    Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭


    I know the text book word for bicycle in Irish is 'rothar'. But listening to Des Bishop talking about learning Irish in Connemara he says that the locals there just use the word "bicycle" but they decline it, just as you should in Irish.

    So "my bicycle" becomes "mo wise sickle." [I use a phonetic spelling here to make the point. ]

    But the question is, how is it spelled in Irish, given that Irish does not have a y. Also, it is clear that the second letter must be a broad vowel, otherwise it would be pronounced "mo vice sickle"

    So i'm guessing the Irish spelling for Bicycle must be "baighsicheal". Or something pretty damned near it.

    How am I doing?


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    #2
    Poll Dubh
    Registered Users Posts: 1,145 ✭✭✭Poll Dubh


    I know next to nothing about phonetics but I'd be tempted to shorten it down to:

    bísiceal
    mo bhísiceal


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    #3
    Redbhoy
    Registered Users Posts: 149 ✭✭Redbhoy


    Use rothar.
    Don't bastardise the language! Its sad to hear that native speakers are anglicising Irish.


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    #4
    VW08
    Registered Users Posts: 61 ✭✭VW08


    mo rothar.


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    #5
    Poll Dubh
    Registered Users Posts: 1,145 ✭✭✭Poll Dubh


    I use rothar. I'd only use 'bísiceal' if i was transcribing what a native speaker was saying.


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    #6
    Snickers Man
    Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭Snickers Man


    Redbhoy wrote: »
    Use rothar.
    Don't bastardise the language! Its sad to hear that native speakers are anglicising Irish.

    They're not anglicising it. They're keeping it alive. All living languages mutate or adopt words from other languages. The French talk about "le weekend" and "le parking".

    English people experience "schadenfreude" when hearing about the "denoument" of people they don't like.

    Irish will die out if the gaelgeoiri see it as their ultimate aim to make themselves incomprehensible to everybody outside their immediate circle of acquaintances.


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    #7
    arse..biscuits
    Registered Users Posts: 1,878 ✭✭✭arse..biscuits


    Snickers Man wrote: »
    They're not anglicising it. They're keeping it alive. All living languages mutate or adopt words from other languages. The French talk about "le weekend" and "le parking".

    English people experience "schadenfreude" when hearing about the "denoument" of people they don't like.

    Irish will die out if the gaelgeoiri see it as their ultimate aim to make themselves incomprehensible to everybody outside their immediate circle of acquaintances.

    Why not just pronounce every word slightly differently than it is in English and hey presto anyone can be fluent in Irish overnight.

    I'm woing to the whops on me wicycle to wuy wilk and wutter.


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    #8
    Redbhoy
    Registered Users Posts: 149 ✭✭Redbhoy


    An-mhaith ar fad! :):):):):):)


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    #9
    dlofnep
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭dlofnep


    Snickers Man wrote: »
    They're not anglicising it. They're keeping it alive. All living languages mutate or adopt words from other languages. The French talk about "le weekend" and "le parking".

    English people experience "schadenfreude" when hearing about the "denoument" of people they don't like.

    Irish will die out if the gaelgeoiri see it as their ultimate aim to make themselves incomprehensible to everybody outside their immediate circle of acquaintances.

    Calling a bike a rothar is hardly going to kill the language.


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    #10
    cantalach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,922 ✭✭✭cantalach


    Redbhoy wrote: »
    Use rothar.
    Don't bastardise the language! Its sad to hear that native speakers are anglicising Irish.

    So should we not be talking about "Radio" na Gaeltachta either? Or asking what the "scór" is at "Páirc" an Chrócaigh? I think I've made my "poínte"...


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    #11
    Redbhoy
    Registered Users Posts: 149 ✭✭Redbhoy


    Have you??
    Some words are bound to be bastardised as there are no Irish equivalents but when there are already ones in use why change such words to anglicised versions?


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    #12
    cantalach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,922 ✭✭✭cantalach


    Redbhoy wrote: »
    Have you??
    Some words are bound to be bastardised as there are no Irish equivalents but when there are already ones in use why change such words to anglicised versions?

    You talk about words already in use but seem to have forgotten that An Tóraíocht didn't take place on a fleet of Trek mountain bikes. The bicycle wasn't invented until the 19th century and native Irish speakers couldn't possibly have had an existing word for it. Without an Irish equivalent of l'Académie Francaise to concoct a new word they would have just gaelicised the English word and got on with their lives without a second thought. We were told in school that it was long after independence before some academic or civil servant came up with rothar.

    If I was a native speaker, I reckon I'd be well amused at some dude who dreams in English saying how my way of speaking the language (i.e. with a word that has been in use for a lot longer than the official word) was "sad".


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