Madam, - Michael Finlay (October 26th) has a go at the efforts of Luas to provide information in Irish on their public address system. He objects to the use of the word San in the placename Ospidéal San Shéamas. He assures us that there is a perfectly good Irish word for "saint", namely naomh.
According to context, there are at least two perfectly good Irish words for "saint", naomh and san. San in Irish is a Romance loan word; it has been in Irish for several hundred years. Mr Finlay will find it in column 54 of the S Volume of the Dictionary of the Irish Language (Royal Irish Academy).
Mr Finlay proceeds to share with us his thoughts on Árd-Mhúsaem v. Árd Iarsmalann or Iarsmalann Náisiúnta.
The adjective/prefix ard has been written without the length mark for over 50 years now, as in most surviving dialects of Irish the vowel cannot be other than long in such a context. Músaem and iarsmalann are both current in written Irish. Most Irish speakers would favour músaem or miúsaíom over iarsmalann. Iarsmalann is a neologism. Músaem/miúsaíom are transliterations. It is quite usual for lesser-used languages to prefer transliterations to neologisms.
Mr Finlay urges Sráid Harcourt for "Harcourt Street". I don't know the origin of that streetname, but I do know that Irish speakers in Dublin call the street Sráid Fhearchair.
Number 6 Harcourt Street is the address of the HQ of Conradh na Gaeilge, and also the address of a drinking club for Irish speakers, Club an Chonartha.
Is Mr Finlay trying to put Irish speakers off the drink; or to drive them to drink, maybe, with his comments?
Luas, Dublin City Council, and the Placenames Branch, deserve our gratitude and appreciation for the work they have done in providing us, at long last, with authoritative Irish versions of our Dublin street names. - Yours, etc.,
SÉAMAS de BARRA, Beaufort Downs, Rathfarnham Village, Dublin 14.