Word of the day – seandálaíocht

seandálaíocht, noun = archaeology (lit. “old data study”)

Related words:
seandálaí = archaeologist
seanda = old, ancient, archaic
seandacht = antiquity
seandachtaí = antiquities

The equivalent word in the other Celtic languages is:
Manx: shenndaaleeaght
Scottish Gaelic: àrsaidheachd
Welsh: hynafiaeth, archaeoleg

I’m currently learning some more Irish with RTE’s excellent course, Turas Teanga. This week’s lesson is about education. The course is an intermediate-level one based on a popular TV series and consists of a textbook, CDs and DVDs. The textbook contains dialogues, activities, grammar notes, vocabularly and reading passages. Recordings of all the dialogues and some of the exercises can be found on the CDs.

On the DVDs the presenter travels to a different part of Ireland in each programme, chats with various interesting people and explores a bit. There are also people acting out the situations in the dialogues, and even a mock ‘reality’ show called ‘An Grá Faoi Ghlas’ (Love Locked Away).

For more information about Turas Teanga, see:
http://www.rte.ie/tv/turasteanga/

Word of the day – bleachtaire

bleachtaire, noun = detective
bleachtaireacht, noun = detecting
úrscéal bleachtaireachta = detective novel

Is maith liom fuaim an fhocal seo, agus sin é an fáth a phioc mé é. Ina theannta sin, faoi láthair táim ag léamh úrscéal bleachtaireachta don fhoghlaimeoir fásta, Triblóid le Colmán Ó Drisceoil.

I chose this word because I just like the sound of it, and also because I’m reading a detective novel in Irish at the moment: Triblóid by Colmán Ó Drisceoil. It’s a short novel written especially for learners of Irish.