Fòram na Gàidhlig

Since bhithinn = bhiodh + mi, that makes sense if you compare it to:

An dèid thu ann?
Thèid. Thèid mi ann.

The first one without mi, the second one with mi.

Chanainn gur e smùid a' Ghàidhlig air "smog", ged a tha i a' ciallachadh rudan eile cuideachd.

smùid thachdach - mar eisimpleir - choking smog

Tha "toit-cheò" san Fhaclair Bheag.

Thank you for all the assistance.

Tha ceistean eile agam (mu dhéidhinn Oidhche Shamhna):

Would 'gealach-fhuil' be the correct tr*nsl*t**n for 'Blood Moon'?

Is 'bhampair' really the only tr*nsl*t**n for vampire? Isn't there Gaelic lore relating to these creatures - BaoBhan Sìth, Droch-Fhola, Dreach-Fhola - that might be more suitable?

And is 'neo-mharbh' a suitable tr*nsl*t**n for zombie? I've seen 'zombaidh' provided as a tr*nsl*t**n into Scottish Gaelic , but as Scottish has no letter 'z' ...

I would say fuil-ghealach or gealach-fhala for blood moon.

Looking at the dictionary, a baobhan isn't the same as a vampire - bhampair is just an attempt at Gaelic spelling for vampire AFAIK, but it would work.

zombie - I used "corp coisiche" for "Walking Corpse" in Battle for Wesnoth, maybe that would suit you? It would work for a zombie in a horror context. The original religuios context is a bit different, I wouldn't tr*nsl*t* it at all there.

You could also try to dig into the beul-aithris and use Gaelic creatures rather than American ones.

Not keen on mixed spelling like zombaidh (though it beats *sombaidh or some such abortive form). It's not really a concept that natively occurred in many cultures and if you look at the Wikipedia entry and just move the mouse over links to other languages you'll see that most other languages either use the English word or some English-derived word. Corp coiseachd isn't a bad suggestion for walking corpse and I'm not getting into the debate of whether that's the same as a zombie I'd just use zombie(dhean) and acknowledge that it's a word from way outside the Gaelic sphere. There is no rule that says that a foreign word used in a Gaelic text may not have z or x etc.

The blood moon most likely would invoke the article though, cf gealach an abachaidh, so gealadh na fala probably.

Again, with vampire, as GunChleoc said, you're running into great cultural differences. The drinking of blood was actually quite common but the context was different. There are many many references into drinking the blood of slain relatives as a sign of honouring them in Gaelic song and poetry. So the idea of drinking blood would have seemed much less scary or weird to a Gael than to someone from other parts of Europe. I know Wikipedia is replete with articles on such creatures but of all the Wikipedia content, the pages on mythical creatures are just about the worst. They are not well referenced and what is sold as Gaelic, Irish, Basque or whatever is barely recognizable to a speaker usually and often third hard from some unreliable source which mis-interpreted a Gaelic or Irish word. If it's a vampire of the Bram Stoker kind you mean, I'd roll with bhampair or vampire(ichean).

Tapadh leibh!

I saw those Wikipedia articles referencing dreach-fhola as a basis for Bram Stoker's 'dracula', etc., but I also saw articles on BaoBhan Sìth, and Abhartach.

I do like Corp Coisiche as a suggestion though for zombie.

I think trying to label Oidhche Shamhna (Halloween) decorations, pictures, etc. in Gaelic might have to be a 'miss'. I had trouble enough labelling items on my desk! The label for the dictaphone, inneal-deachdaidh, was (almost) longer than the actual device.

akerbeltz wrote:Corp coiseachd isn't a bad suggestion for walking corpse and I'm not getting into the debate of whether that's the same as a zombie I'd just use zombie(dhean) and acknowledge that it's a word from way outside the Gaelic sphere. There is no rule that says that a foreign word used in a Gaelic text may not have z or x etc.

Given the poor link between the original voodoo concept and most of the English uses of the word, I can't see anyone being too worried about whether the Gaelic matches the English.

Anyone who thinks there are no such thing as zombies in Gaelic culture should perhaps read this story about one.

https://ant-oide.com/2014/10/08/an-tail ... n-iubhair/

It's about a "taibhse", also described as "an duine marbh", which rises from it's grave and tries to grab hold of a tailor who ventures into the graveyard at night. There may not have been a specific term for it, but what is a zombie but a type of ghost which uses the dead body of someone to walk in the land of the living? For the modern adaptations of such stories, then sòmbaidh is surely appropriate? What else would be readily understood?

Stories about the following:

fuath
colann gun cheann

seem to have some similarities to modern-day zombie tales...

An Gobaire wrote: Anyone who thinks there are no such thing as zombies in Gaelic culture should perhaps read this story about one.

https://ant-oide.com/2014/10/08/an-tail ... n-iubhair/

It's about a "taibhse", also described as "an duine marbh", which rises from it's grave and tries to grab hold of a tailor who ventures into the graveyard at night. There may not have been a specific term for it, but what is a zombie but a type of ghost which uses the dead body of someone to walk in the land of the living? For the modern adaptations of such stories, then sòmbaidh is surely appropriate? What else would be readily understood?

Stories about the following:

fuath
colann gun cheann

seem to have some similarities to modern-day zombie tales...

Actually, the idea of a ghost as a disembodied spirit, and "haunting", is fairly recent in European folklore. The more traditional ghost stories are what the French term "revenants" (literally: those who come back). Revenants were people who would rise from their graves at night and wander round town, sometimes not even aware that they were dead. The French series "The Returned" was originally titled in French "Les Revenants", because it was a conscious decision to base them on the ancient ghost stories rather than ones from the recent past.

The press tended to refer to the series as a "zombie" story, and it wasn't (not at the start anyway) as we really have no concept of the revenant in English any more, to the point where anyone writing about revenants needs to use the French word as an English word.

I believe the English word "ghost" referred to a revenant long before anyone used it in reference to a disembodied spirit, and I imagine the same is true of "taibhse".


But revenants are very different from zombies as zombies have no real concept of free will. The voodoo zombie is the mindless slave of a sorcerer, and the Hollywood zombie is just a shambling mess that has an instinctive drive to eat brains.

So, I've tried to write answers for these question, but I am struggling. Any assistance greatly received:

1. An robh thu an-seo romham? Cha robh. Bha thu an-seo romham.
2. A bheil thu a' cur litir thugam? Chan eil, ach bidh mi a' cur post-d thugad.
3. Seo an t-ochdamh leasan, nach e? Chan e. Chan e. ’S ann an treas leasan deug.
4. A bheil talla ann mu mheadhan na sràide agad? Chan eil. Is talla ann aig an ceann an t-Sràide Ard.
5. An ann anns a' choille a tha thu ag obair? Chan e, ach 's ann coille faisg far a tha mi a' fuireach.
6. An e purpaidh an dath a tha air an taigh agad? Chan e! 'S e donn an dath a tha air a-muigh an taigh agam.
7. A bheil an taigh anns a bheil thu a' fuireach fuar? Tha, agus bu toigh leam teinn ann an taigh agam fhìn.
8. A bheil thu airson a dhol gu dannsa a-nochd? Chan eil. Tha mi airson a dhol gu cadal a-nochd.
9. An tusa a sheinneas aig a' chèilidh a-màireach? Chan e. 'S mise nach eil ag iarraidh seinn aig a' chèilidh a-màireach.
10. An e dolar na tha agad de dh'airgead? Chan e. Tha airgead eile agam anns a' bhanca.
11. An tusa am fear leis a bheil each? Chan e. 'S esan an-siud am fear leis a bheil each.
12. An tusa a bhios a'snàmh thairis air an abhainn a-nochd? Chan e, ach is mise a bhios a choiseachd thairis air an drochaid a-nochd.

You're doing pretty well - sin thu fhèin!

A couple of basic rules of thumb:
1.
'S e / an e? / nach e? / chan e - all used with nouns only, not adjectives or anything else.
'S ann / an ann? / nach ann? / chan ann - used with everything except nouns, and used predominantly for 'fronting' - re-ordering sentence to put stressed element at front. 'S ann ann an Glaschu a tha mi a' fuireach. (not Edinburgh.) The normal order would be : Tha mi a fuireach ann an G. , but there would be no emphasis there.

When defining something, remember the standard pattern: 'S e oileanach a th' annam. 'S e taigh mòr a th' ann.

Try numbers 3 and 5 again.

2.
'S e for defining things/people, Tha for describing.
'S e tidsear a th' annam agus tha mi ag obair ann an Glaschu / tha mi toilichte leis an obair agam / tha mi ag obair gu cruaidh / tha mi sgìth gach latha / tha mi ann gach latha...
Try numbers 4 and 5 again.

3. Genitive chain - you may not have had this yet, but it's fun. . When you have 2 or more nouns in a possessive relationship to each other, only the last noun is in the genitive case, and only that last noun can have an article (if needed).
I like the car of the friend of the daughter of the teacher of the school: 'S toil leam càr caraid nighean tidsear na sgoile.
Try no. 4 again.

One or two minor slips/typos elsewhere, but these are the main issues.

You really have done very well!

Second attempt:

1. An robh thu an-seo romham? Cha robh. Bha thusa an-seo romhamsa.
2. A bheil thu a' cur litir thugam? Chan eil, ach bidh mi a' cur post-d thugad.
3. Seo an t-ochdamh leasan, nach e? Chan e. Chan e. ’S e seo an treas leasan deug.
4. A bheil talla ann mu mheadhan na sràide agad? Chan eil. Tha talla ann aig ceann na Sràide Àirde.
5. An ann anns a' choille a tha thu ag obair? Chan ann, ach 's ann a' choille faisg air far a bheil mi a' fuireach.
6. An e purpaidh an dath a tha air an taigh agad? Chan e! 'S e donn an dath a tha air an taigh agam.
7. A bheil an taigh anns a bheil thu a' fuireach fuar? Tha, agus bu toigh leam teine anns an taigh agam fhìn.
8. A bheil thu airson a dhol gu dannsa a-nochd? Chan eil. Tha mi airson a dhol gu cadal a-nochd.
9. An tusa a sheinneas aig a' chèilidh a-màireach? Cha mhise. ’S mise nach eil ag iarraidh seinn aig a' chèilidh a-màireach.
10. An e dolar na tha agad de dh'airgead? Chan e. Tha airgead eile agam anns a' bhanca.
11. An tusa am fear leis a bheil each? Cha mhise. 'S e siud am fear leis a bheil each.
12. An tusa a bhios a'snàmh thairis air an abhainn a-nochd? Chan mhise, ach is mise a bhios a’ coiseachd thairis air an drochaid a-nochd.

5. An ann anns a' choille a tha thu ag obair? Chan ann, ach 's ann sa choille faisg air far a bheil mi a' fuireach.

12. Chan mhise

Tapadh leibh Faoileag 's GunChleoc airson ur cuideachaidh.