Fòram na Gàidhlig

How would one say "of shadows"??

Like as in "the people standing againt the window cast a bunch of shadows"

Something like "nan sgàileain" ??

Thanks!!

of shadows could be nan sgàilean, nam faileas or nan sgàth.

Your construction though is a little more complicated; I would say:

Thug na daoine a bha a' seasamh an aghaidh na h-uinneige bad de dh'fhaileasan/sgàilean/sgàthan

Although, their may be a more idiomatic way of saying it.

Thanks Stiòphan!

Yeah, the construction is a little odd - only example I could think of! The only other one that comes to mind is something like "book of shadows"

For "shadows" I mean it as the shadow something would cast - I'm not sure out of those three which would be the best word. I had thought "Sgàil", but I'm not positive - ?

Mike S

Going by songs I know, I would say 'faileas' fits the bill here. The shadow cast by something or someone.

Faileas air an Airigh, by Runrig, is not the only one.

Watson supports this:

Laigh a faileas orm: her shadow fell on me.

and compares:sgàil(e) as a 'shade' eg beneath the shade of a tree: fo sgàil craoibhe

there's a book called "fo sgàil a' swastika", and the english title is something like "under the shadow of the swastika"

Hmm...OK - I had seen where sgàil could also mean "shade" so I wasn't sure.

So - "faileas" - how would you put that in the genitive plural "of (the) shadows"??

Also, could someone give me a quick pronunciation of the word; sorry, I'm more familiar with Irish Gaelic....... something like FAH-lyus?? I assume the 'l' here would receive the "slender" pronunciation, right?

Thanks!!

Mike S

MikeS wrote:Hmm...OK - I had seen where sgàil could also mean "shade" so I wasn't sure.

So - "faileas" - how would you put that in the genitive plural "of (the) shadows"??

Also, could someone give me a quick pronunciation of the word; sorry, I'm more familiar with Irish Gaelic....... something like FAH-lyus?? I assume the 'l' here would receive the "slender" pronunciation, right?

Thanks!!

Mike S

You're pretty much spot on Mike although there isn't really the 'y', just the slender 'l' as in Irish Níl

nam faileas is the genitive plural

In case you don't know:

nan (nam before b, f, m and p) is the genitive version of the plural na (h-)

in terms of the noun itself, generally if the noun ends in a broad consonant you use the nominative singular for the g. pl., for slender nouns and borrowed words you use the nom. pl. although this can vary depending on dialect.

Hope this helps

Thanks - yes it helps -

My bad; I know about the change of n>m in "nan" before labials but I forgot about it when I typed it!

Yeah, the 'y' is the only way I could think of to approximate the slender 'l'.

Thanks again!

Mike S

MikeS wrote:Thanks - yes it helps -

My bad; I know about the change of n>m in "nan" before labials but I forgot about it when I typed it!

Yeah, the 'y' is the only way I could think of to approximate the slender 'l'.

Thanks again!

Mike S

'S e ur beatha

I have an update on your request Mike

It appears you would use the verb Tilg (to throw) for 'cast' and a better word for bunch in this case would be grunn.

Thus:

Thilg na daoine a bha a' seasamh an aghaidh na h-uinneige grunn fhaileas

no need for de after grunn.

Grinn grinn - 's toil leam am fear sin.

Hmmm..... OK - I just have to ask - hopw would you then say the following:

"book of shadows"

"cast (or the verb 'to cast') a spell

To cast a spell is: cuir fo gheusaibh

(from geus, a spell, enchantment)

Book of shadows - it would , as mentioned above, depend a bit on the shadows you mean, but by far the most likely would be

Leabhar nam Faileas

Sounds better with the article to me.

faoileag wrote:To cast a spell is: cuir fo gheusaibh.

You can also say ..... fo gheasaibh. Another way to say this is "cuir geasa air" - put a spell on.