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23/02/2009

Tha litir bheag na seachdain-sa aig Ruaraidh MacIllEathain. This week's short letter for learners is introduced by Ruaraidh MacLean.

5 minutes

Last on

Mon 23 Feb 2009 19:00

Clip

An Litir Bheag 198

A bheil sibh eòlach air an fhacal muir? Tha e a’ ciallachadh “sea”. A’ mhuir – the sea. A bheil sibh eòlach air an fhacal ì? Tha e a’ ciallachadh “land”. An ì – the land. Muir is ì – the sea and the land. Tha an dà chuid cudromach air a’ Ghàidhealtachd.

Uill, tha ceist agam dhuibh. Dè tha am facal ܾ-ٳì𲹳 a’ ciallachadh? ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳. ’S e ainmear a tha ann – no noun. Tha e air a dhèanamh de na faclan muir agus ì. ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳. ’S e sin a’ Ghàidhlig air amphibian. Rudeigin a tha beò anns a’ mhuir agus air ì. ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳 – amphibian. Tha sinn a’ cleachdadh ܾ-ٳì𲹳 cuideachd mar bhuadh-air no adjective. ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳 – amphibious.

Tha sinn ag ràdh gu bheil ròin ܾ-ٳì𲹳. Pàirt dhen ùine bidh ròin aig muir, ag iasgach is a’ snàmh. Pàirt dhen ùine bidh ròin air ì, a’ gabhail fois. Ach cha bhi sinn a’ gabhail ܾ-ٳì𲹳 mar ainmear air ròn. ’S e ròn mamail. Chan e ròn ܾ-ٳì𲹳.

Ach dè mu dheidhinn losgann, no frog? Cha bhi losgannan a’ dol gu muir. Cha toigh le losgannan salann. Tha iad beò ann am fìor-uisge, agus air ì faisg air fìor-uisge. Saoil an e “uisge-thìreach” a bu chòir a bhith againn air amphibian, seach ܾ-ٳì𲹳?

Uill, chanainn gu bheil “ܾ-ٳì𲹳” ceart gu leòr, oir ’s e sin am facal a tha againn airson amphibian. Agus chan eil am facal amphibian ann am Beurla ag innse gu bheil an             t-ainmhidh a’ dol eadar uisge agus ì. Tha amphibian a’ ciallachadh “à-𲹳ٳ󲹳” no one with a double life. Tha e a’ tighinn bhon t-seann Ghreu-ais. Agus bidh cuid ag ràdh à-𲹳ٳ󲹳 ann an Gàidhlig airson amphibian.

Tha am facal ܾ-ٳì𲹳 air làrach-lìn ùr a tha gu math feumail. Air an làraich, tha tòrr ainmean Gàidhlig airson lusan is ainmhidhean. ’S e làrach aig Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba – sin Scottish Natural Heritage no SNH. Tha an làrach aig . Carson nach toir sibh sùil oirre?

The Little Letter 198

Do you know the word muir? It means “sea”. A’ mhuir – the sea. Do you know the word ì? It means “land”. An ì – the land. Muir is ì – the sea and the land. Both are important in the Gaidhealtachd.

        Well, I have a question for you. What does the word ܾ-ٳì𲹳 mean? ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳. It’s an ainmear – or noun. It is made up of the words muir and ì. ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳. That’s the Gaelic for amphibian. Something that lives in the sea and on land. ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳 – amphibian.We use ܾ-ٳì𲹳 also as a buadhair or adjective. ѳܾ-ٳì𲹳 – amphibious.

        We say that seals are amphibious. Part of the time seals are at sea, fishing and swimming. Poart of the time seals are on land, resting. But we don’t use the noun ܾ-ٳì𲹳 for a seal. A seal is a mammal. A seal is not an amphibian.

        But what about a losgann or frog? Frogs don’t go to sea. Frogs don’t like salt. They live in freshwater, and on land near freshwater. Do you reckon we should call an amphibian о-ٳì𲹳”, rather than a ܾ-ٳì𲹳?

        Well, I’d say that “ܾ-ٳì𲹳” is okay because that’s [simply] the word we have for amphibian. And the word amphib-an in English doesn’t tell [us] that the animal splits its life between water and land. Amphibian means “à-𲹳ٳ󲹳” or one with a double life. It comes from Ancient Greek. And some people call an amphibian à-𲹳ٳ󲹳 in Gaelic.

        The word ܾ-ٳì𲹳 is on a new website which is very useful. On the site, there are many Gaelic names for plants and animals. It is a site belonging to Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba – that’s Scottish Natural Heritage or SNH. The site is at . Why don’t you have a look at it?

Broadcast

  • Mon 23 Feb 2009 19:00

All the letters

Tha gach Litir Bheag an seo / All the Little Letters are here.

Podcast: An Litir Bheag

The Little Letter for Gaelic Learners

An Litir Bheag air LearnGaelic

An Litir Bheag is also on LearnGaelic (with PDFs)

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