Irish Translation Forum

How does the 12 calendar months translated in Irish?

Eanáir
Feabhra/mí na Feabhra
an Márta
an tAibreán
an Bhealtaine/mí na Bealtaine
an Meitheeamh
Iúil
mí na Lúnasa
Meán Fhómhair
Deireadh Fómhair
mí na Samhna
mí na Nollag

Why do some have "mí" and others have "an" and the rest have neither ? I'm confused.

Gealún wrote:Meitheeamh

I'm curious about that also. It seems as though everyone has a different way of writing the months; I'm not used to seeing "mí" and "na" included. The book I happened to grab for reference only includes them for December -- then again, it's from 1922 and spells "Iúil" like "Iúl", without the second "i" (among other divergences with modernity). Can language advance in 100 years??

Gealún: having viewed so many of your posts, I know you are extremely knowledgeable in matters like this. Please enlighten me!!
And anyone else who thinks they can straighten this out, once and for all!!

-- .;.

PS It's like eight in the morning I'm writing this, so please excuse my relative ineloquence. NOT a morning person, lol.

There are far more knowledgeable people around here than me I reckon.
The standard way these days is to write just the names of the months à la English: Eanáir; Feabhra; Márta; etc., but when I was going to school long long ago we learned them as I wrote them here. I remember my mother used to never say Eanáir or Feabhra. Eanáir was An Chéad Mhí, I can't remember what she used to call Feabhra though. That's probably why we learned the article with the other months.
Because Bealtain, Lúnasa, Samhain, and Nollaig are or were special feastdays these months were named for them thus the mí na… And don't ask me why Iúil hasn't an article or why it was once spelled Iúl, coz I do not know.

MichaeleenOgFlynn wrote:Can language advance in 100 years??

language change is ongoing all the time and Irish is no exception. sounds continue to change. The modern spellings from reputable sources are usually more consistant and accurate than those of a 100 yrs ago.

fiairefeadha wrote:

MichaeleenOgFlynn wrote:Can language advance in 100 years??

language change is ongoing all the time and Irish is no exception. sounds continue to change. The modern spellings from reputable sources are usually more consistant and accurate than those of a 100 yrs ago.

Oh, I know it! You should see some of the other things they have in that book (Irish at Home by Maire Ceallacain) And sure it's not an exception!

I'm not as clueless as I seem

-- .;.

níor bhaol duit!