Irish Translation Forum

How would you translate, "The Grey Fox" in Irish? i have an idea but I'm not sure if its right or not. Thanks for any help.

an sionnach glas

I thought Liath was grey?

An Sionnach Liath or An Sionnach Glas
Aye this is a strange one.
I'm not sure which I would use here.
Liath is normally used when referring to hair but it implies old to me, whereas glas I would use to refer to reflective things, but it is used with horses for grey. And it also means green, as in among other things, inexperienced. Compounded with that the expression for fox I would use would be madra rua - red dog.
I love the subtlties of this language.
Ach ní fheadar ná gur dóigh liom gur caint í a tugfar anseo go deo…toisc nach féidir é bheith ina ghruth agus ina mheadhg againne ar bith.

I believe madra rua is fine for a red fox but I think sionnach liath is better for the grey

Thanks so much, this really helps a lot. Nice to have an experienced answer instead of a machine.

After extensive research (I looked up the word "grey" in focal.ie ) I discovered that there is an animal called the Argentinian Grey Fox (Lycalopex griseus) and the translation given is Síonnach Liath Airgintíneach so I suppose

An Sionnach Liath

is probably the best choice.

The grey squirrel is called iora glas.
Why would the rule be different for a fox.
I don't think we have any grey or silver foxes in Ireland, only the red kind.
Sionnach - doesn't have a fada.

The OP wants his nom de plume Grey Fox in Irish, It doesn't matter if there are no grey foxes in Ireland. For that matter, he may not be in Ireland. Some animals are called glas, others liath. It doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule.

Beagle wrote:It doesn't matter if there are no grey foxes in Ireland. For that matter, he may not be in Ireland.

It matters if only to explain why there isn't a word for it in people's natural vocabulary. Did I say it made any difference where the OP was from?