Irish Translation Forum

how do you say "sister" in gaelic?

sister = deirfiúr

how is that pronounced?

/jre-hoor/

i would say:

jer-ih-fur

And I'd say DRIFF-oor

Don't be worried Bridget's_Disciple: Irish pronunciation differs greatly depending on the part of the country

That's for bloody sure!

This word is a fusion of two older words: "Daor" (Dear) and "Siúr" (Sister).Spelling and pronunciation varies according to dialect. In Tír Chonaill (Northwest Ireland) it is Deirbhshiúr (dyer-uh-fer).

Brian Costello wrote:This word is a fusion of two older words: "Daor" (Dear) and "Siúr" (Sister).Spelling and pronunciation varies according to dialect. In Tír Chonaill (Northwest Ireland) it is Deirbhshiúr (dyer-uh-fer).

Not quite correct. "Daor" originally carried the connotation "unfree, slave," as the antonym of "saor." Its use today to mean "dear" as in "expensive" is of English influence.

The original prefix was "dearbh" (certain, real). The etymology is the same with "deartháir," brother.

The original words are the plain Indo-European cognates "bráthair" and "siúr," which gradually came to acquire the status of religious brother and sister, as with monks and nuns or "brothers and sisters in Christ."

Thus, to denote a person's actual blood sister or brother, the prefix "dearbh" was added. The derivation is easy to see with "sister."

dearbh+shiúr -> the second element of the compound is lenited, as per regular.

dearf-shiúr -> the "bh" of the first element assimilates to "f," losing its voice in sandhi with the unvoiced "sh."

dearf+iúr -> the "sh" (realized as /h/) is now lost after the spirant /f/:

deirfiúr is the final form, the "r" becoming slender in association with the "i."