Irish Translation Forum

rusureuvtriedvrytingwothavutriedsplainniwilhelp

If you explain in detail what you have tried, and what happened when you tried it, then we can probably help. We have a few Linuxeoirí on this forum.

Most of the regulars on dis 4um find txtspk rly annoying. We read a lot, and we read quickly. Capitalisation, punctuation and spelling make it easy to scan a sentence and get the meaning in one pass. If you leave them out, we usually have to re-read at least part of what you wrote because it didn't make sense on the first pass. The experience is jarring, like exiting a nice empty motorway onto a road filled with potholes.

seadanta wrote:

goneal1017 wrote:my name is O'Neal so because i'm not married my name would be Ni Neal? Is that correct?

if u were married u would be ui neill and ni neill if u werent ...

The person asked this question on Sat 30 Apr, 2005, almost two years ago! Why did you dig up this old thread?

oisin718 wrote:Ó came first, and was originally "grandson" but then came to mean "descendent."

Mac came later, probably to differentiate between different Ó's. This was probably about the time that the Gaels were making their way across the water from Antrim to Scotland, which is why there are Mac's in both countries but Ó's only in Ireland.

Fitz is Norman French, and is common throughout Ireland and England. It marks the descendent, in most cases, of the knights and lords who conquered England with William I in 1066 and Ireland under Henry II in 1172. It usually gets translated into Irish as Mac.

De is also found in Irish names (Burke = De Búrca), and is also Norman French.

Hi, Oisin a chara ,I have a sense of deja -vu about this .The scottish name Ogillvie is the to my knowledge the only ''O'' surname in Scottish Gaelic names.Thought you might like to know this .It prooves the rule .Tóg go bog é,Christy In modern Gaelic it is Mac Ghille Bhuidhe. Though in Irish it is O Giolla Bhuidhe

because i was reading through the forum and decided to put my 2p' s worth in lol

seadanta wrote:because i was reading through the forum and decided to put my 2p' s worth in lol

Tuigim! Ach cuireann an nós sin daoine ar strae go minic. Feiceann siad conspóid éigin ar sheantéad mar seo agus ceapann siad go bhfuil sí ar siúl fós. Cuid de na daoine atá ar an téad seo, níl siad feicthe againn leis na cianta... ach má tharraingtear an téad aniar as an gcartlann, beidh daoine á léamh is á bhfreagairt amhail is dá mbeadh siad inár dteannta fós.

An téad atá thart bíodh sé thart - sin an bealach is sábháilte.

Níl aon riail ina choinne, ar ndóigh, agus má tá réasún áirithe leis níl aon dóchar ann. Ach is fearr fógra a chur le d'fhreagra: "Tá's agam gur seanábhar é seo, ach...." Is leor é sin chun daoine a chur ar an eolas agus an mearbhall a choinneáil uainn go léir.

I understand! But that can often be confusing. Some of the posters on this thread haven't been seen for ages... but if the thread is brought up again, people will read and respond to them without realizing that.

There's no rule against bringing an old thread up, and no harm in it if there's a good reason for doing so. But if you do, it's better to clarify that you're doing so: "I know this is an old topic, but..." That's enough to save us all a lot of confusion.

LilMac08 wrote:So since my married name is McDonald... would that make it Scottish or Irish??!! Any one have any ideas??!!

The answer is probably a little of both. There are two main groups of McDonalds in Ireland today, but most Irish McDonalds are descendants from Scottish MacDonalds who were transplants from Scotland. However, to make things more interesting, the Scottish clan Donald traces its roots back to the patriarch Domnall who was a Scottish King in the middle ages and the descendant of Gaelic speakers from Ireland (the Dal Riata).

There was a time when Middle Irish was the "standard" Gaelic language, spoken in both Ireland and Scotland (btwn the 10th and 12th centuries), the speakers of which were all ethnically, historically, and often (but not always) politically linked. There was lots of trade going on and there was a huge common body of literature, in fact, one of the largest of any Eurolang. So it really didn't matter whether you were "Irish" or "Scottish" necessarily. You were a Gael.

A decent (however imperfect) clue as to whether you are Scottish or Irish if you have the surname McDonald (as I do), is your family's traditional religion. What religion do your McDonald grandparents belong to? If they are Catholic, there's a chance they could have been descended from Scottish immigrants but that is quite unlikely. They're probably Irish and probably of that other group of Irish McDonalds who are unrelated to the Clan Donald of Scotland.

If they were Presbyterian, there is an almost certain chance they were descended from Scottish immigrants, either to North America directly or to N. America via Ireland first. That is because Scotland at the time of the emigration waves was heavily dominated by the national church (the Church of Scotland) which is a presbyterian congregation. In fact, Eaglais na h-Alba is still the largest denomination in Scotland, and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the largest protestant denomination in Northern Ireland today.

This is an old thread.

All the name questions on this thread are over a year old. Most (all?) of the people who posted them are long gone as well.

If people want to discuss them anyway that's fine with me, but just so we're all aware of it...

Aibigéal

Hi, thats why I had a deja- vu moment Christy

Ah, well, I'm still glad someone dug this thread up because, being new here, I'd not have seen it otherwise and I found the information in it very interesting.

Agreed. Nother Newb. . . .

Though I know my one side left Ireland thanks to Cromwell and the other thanks to the potato famine. Two waves of Irish ultimately ending up with me.

Both genealogy trails go cold around Derry.

McKinney is the surname we have. I'd love to know more about it.