‘Níth naoi n-aoi’, ní ‘Nigh ní naí’: Irish made fun, if not exactly easy

An Fochlac Foclach – The verbose first order bardic poet

Foclóir comhfhoghar Gaeilge – An Irish Homophone Dictionary

Homophones are words that sound the same, may be spelled the same, but have different meanings. So where does one start to compile such a dictionary?

Well it was initially a side project while I was compiling words for Our Fada, the Fada-Homograph Dictionary. Homographs are words that are spelled the same but may sound different and have different meanings.

For Our Fada my co-author Micheál Ó Domhnaill and I were drawing attention to the phenomenal difference a fada makes to Irish words ie Eire = Burden, Éire = the name of our country, named after one of the three goddesses of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Éirú.

During the research process I’d come across words that I had not heard before but from their spelling were the exact same as a word I was familiar with and so I’d jot it down into a separate file. I had been made aware of the wordplay phrase ‘leis leis leis leis’ meaning ‘his thigh also bare’ and thought perhaps I might be able to create some sentences of this kind with the abundance of homographs I was finding.

After several years I had a large amount but none to the same degree of excellence as the sentence ‘leis leis leis leis’. It stood alone in the pantheon of Irish language wordplay phrases because firstly each of the four similarly spelled and sounding words have a separate meaning and secondly it manages to completely avoid the entire canon of Gaelic grammatical transformations.

Our Fada came out in 2012 and was sold out within two months and thus I was asked to see about adding some more to the next edition. I managed to find 200 more couplets and many more homophones too. Some months after Our Fada’s second edition came out I presented the next book, with the working title Ag Focáil le Focail, to the publisher, Coiscéim. Firstly I was told that the title would have to be changed, not due to its obscenity, but because the title would be confusing, Focáil and Focail were not Homophones they were Fada Homographs from the previous book and secondly there were too many spelling corrections, grammatical faults and other words that could be used and so it would need to be reworked. So I continued to pack dictionaies in my travel bag and would be coursing through them and inputting phrases into my laptop on planes, trains and automobiles on the way to concerts around the world.

Late in 2013 I sent off my final draft to the editor who recognised its potential and did a fantastic job of tidying the grammar while retaining the sonic similarities of the phrases. I became very serious about the integrity of the silliness of the project. Strict rules would have to be applied to every sentence “No rhymes! No using the same word twice! Homophones only! No bi-curious homophones! Management reserves the right to refuse admission!”

During this time Foras Na Gaeilge launched digital versions ofAn Gúm’s two main Irish >English >Irish dictionaries e online (teanglan.ie) and lo and behold homophones would appear as alternative search options for every word entry returned. I’d have the three or four variations of a homophone in the dictionary open in separate windows while I’d crunch them into sentences. I would wiggle my fingers with glee once I’d managed to create a sentence using only homophones. I was equalling if not surpassing the ‘leis leis leis leis’ phrase. Soon I noticed that the book was becoming more than novel entertainment but scholarly too.

I returned my next draft to the editor hoping to have a launch date in October 2014 but he sent back so many corrections and suggestions that I had to postpone the launch. The project took a back seat till March when I decided the only way it would be done in time for our annual Irish language arts festival, Éigse Chluainín, in north Liatroim was to start by 7am and work through till 5pm. The toing and froing with the editor then became like a game of ping pong, but as I went over his corrections I started to be able to put to use areas of Irish grammar that I once knew or had never known and so I started being able to match him with cuts, chops, top spins and slams.

By the time we had whittled the corrections down to 20-odd it was high time to find an illustrator. My previous illustrator was getting married, my band mate was not interested, a local friend reluctant. Time was running out. I had to find an illustrator to draw 36 cartoons in a week. My wife suggested a local sculptor, Séamus Dunbar, who had done some quirky cartoons for a show she saw. I rang him and sent him the material. He gulped when I told him the time frame but by the time I met him the next morning he had already done five superb cartoons and a week later he’d had all 36 of them done. They were scanned, sent, then set in the book, given one last check while the cover was designed then over to the printers to get plated, printed then couriered up to Cluainín with only one day to go before the launch.

And here it is, the first edition, seven years later, with 200 pages, 1,000 headwords, 2,000 homophonic sentences and 36 hilarious cartoons.

An Fochlac Foclach – Foclóir comhfhoghar Gaeilge by Rossa Ó SAnodaigh is published by Coiscéim, at €7.50

Some useful phrases

ae

Ae Aodha fhéith é.

It’s bashful Hugh’s liver.

aire

Ara, aire, a fheara! Ara aire!

Yerra, watch out, men! A minister’s charioteer!

aoi

Aoidh! Aoi oí’ í Aoidh Uí Aoidh í.

Heed! She’s Hugh Hayes’s nocturnal island guest.

deinim

Deinim deinim den im.

I make denim from the butter.

dó

Dó dó d’ó dó.

The burning of your grandson’s pair for him.

éigean

Éagann éigean éagann éigin.

Some kind of senseless violence dies.

fíon

Fíonn na fianna fíona fíne.

The warriors of wine weave a vine.

inse

Ag inse inse inse inse.

Telling of an island holm hinge.

léas

Léas léas léas léas.

I read a lease on a beam of cornstalks.

luaigh

Luaigh Lughaidh luaith luaidhe.

Louis mentioned leaden ashes.

ní

‘Níth naoi n-aoi’, ní ‘Nigh ní naí’

‘A nine guest battle’, not ‘Clean an infant’s thing’.

ó

Ó, ó ó ó!

Oh, an ear from a grandson!

rí

Rí rí-rí rí-rí.

Enthronment of a superb king’s majestic forearm.

ula

Ula ola olla Uladh.

The tomb which holds Ulster’s woollen oil.