Pronunciation Guide & Notes
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Abbreviations ~ Tips
Annwn - (Wales) the Underworld, underground kingdom of the dead.
Beltane - (Ireland & Scotland) May 1; it is the festival of the Celtic god Belenus, purifying fires were lit and cattle driven between them before being allowed out onto open pastures and ensuring fertility. Beltaine pronounced Bal-tinna.
Bodmin Manumissions - (Cornwall) a list of slaves set free in Cornwall, an important early source of Cornish personal names, which was written in the margins of a 10th C. copy of the Gospels.
The Dagda - (Ireland) "the good god"; Irish Celtic god of the earth and treaties, ruler of life and death, master of magic, a fearsome warrior and skilled artisan. One of the most prominent gods and leader of the Tuatha De Danann. Son of the goddess Danu, father of Brighid and Aengus mac Og, husband to Morrigan whom he mates with on New Years Day. Identified with the Welsh god Gwydion.
Fianna - (Ireland) a legendary band of Irish warriors, led by Finn Mac Cumhaill. The adventures of the Fianna are the subject of many stories, legends, and ballads. The ballads are often attributed to Oisin, Finn's son.
Lunasa - (Wales)
Mabinogi - (Wales) A collection of mythological tales.
Manannan Mac Lir - (Ireland) see the Deities page.
Samhain - (Ireland and Scotland) October 31 (Hallowe'en), the festival marking the beginning of Winter.
Tir Na Nog - (Ireland) "The Land of the Young"; another name for Mag Mell.
Tuatha De Danann - (Too-ah-hah dae Donnan) (Ireland) the "People of the Goddess Danu" were a race of divine beings skilled in magic and druid lore; said to have inhabited Ireland before the occupation of the Gaels or Celts. The Tuatha were driven underground after the Gaels came to Ireland, where they established an otherworld kingdom beneath the hills Tir Na Nog, land of the forever young. The Dagda assigned each member of the Tuatha De one of these mounds, or sidhe (faerie hills). In the sidhe there was immortality and ageless beauty, continual feasting, hunting and revelry. Such mounds are sometimes natural hills, but many are the megalithic burial mounds of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, believed in strong folk traditions to be the dwelling-places of the Irish gods.
sidhe - pronounced "shee"
Cornish Pronunciation Notes
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Most Cornish words can be pronounced as if they were British English words, except the letter s which is usually pronounced "z." Accents are nearly always on the next-to-last syllable. Most names ending in k can easily end in c, and s can be changed to z.
Breton Pronunciation
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Breton nicknames are formed by adding -ig, which is pronounced "eek"; by shortening a name; or by adding -ou, pronounced "oo", to a name.
Final syllables ending in-n are nasalized as in French, but the n is also pronounced. The vowel sound "ay" is pronounced as a short sound, like a French e (with an accent) or Spanish e, not a drawn out American "ay-ee." The letter combination c'h is pronounced like the Scottish "loch" or German "Bach."
Irish Pronunciation Guide
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Many of the names, especially of Ireland and Scotland, have accents over at least one letter. If you are concerned about wanting the name to be right, you may want to consult books on baby names, see Bibliography, or any book that may have Gaelic names. I have a lot of them, but some may not. If this is a particular concern to you, I'm sure there are resources online or your local library.
Letters in Irish have the same phonetic values as in English, except the following:
a is pronounced like o in cot
á is pronounced like aw in paw
bh is pronounced like v (or a hard f )
c is always hard, as in cattle
ch is pronounced like ch as in Bach
dh is pronounced like y
e is unpronounced before a, unless accented
é is pronounced like ay in play
fh is unpronounced
g is hard as in tiger
gh is pronounced like y
i is pronounced like ee in seek
mh is pronounced like v or w
ng is pronounced as though trying to talk through your nose
ó is pronounced like o in go
s is pronounced like sh before e or i
sh is pronounced like h
th is pronounced like h
ú is pronounced like oo in zoo
Scots Gaelic Pronunciation Guide
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Many of the names, especially of Ireland and Scotland, have accents over at least one letter. If you are concerned about wanting the name to be right, you may want to consult books on baby names, see Bibliography, or any book that may have Gaelic names. I have a lot of them, but some may not. If this is a particular concern to you, I'm sure there are resources online or your local library. There is also a forum for Scots Gaelic speakers/learners at gaelic.net and they can help you out better than I can on pronunciation.
The Gaelic r is said like a Spanish r, with the tip of the tongue against the palate, behind the front teeth.
Letter ~ English Equivalent ~ Gaelic Example
Vowels
a ~ as in cat ~ bata
à ~ as in
rather ~ bàta
ao ~ no equivalent, but between English
oo and ee ~ caol
e ~ as in both get and
gate ~ le and teth
è ~ long verson of 'e' ~
sèimh and fhèin
i ~ as in both tin and sweep ~
sin and ith
ì ~ long version of i, as in evil ~
sìn
o ~ as in both top and boat ~ poca and bog
ò ~ as in both jaw and door ~ pòcaid and mòr
u ~ as in brood ~ tur
ù ~ as in brewed ~ tùr
Broad Consonants ~ preceded or followed by 'a', 'o', or 'u'
b ~ at
start of word, as in English; elsewhere, as 'p' in captive ~ bata;
cab
bh ~ at start of word, as 'v' in English vent; elsewhere,
as 'v' or 'w' ~ bha; abhainn
c ~ at start of word, as 'c' in
English cup; elsewhere, like 'chk' in Loch Katrine ~ cù;
aca
ch ~ as 'ch' in loch ~ loch
d ~ at start of
word, as 'd' in English drew; elsewhere as 't' in cattle ~
dubh; ad
dh ~ see gh ~ dhà
f ~ as in English
~ fada
fh ~ usually silent, has no sound ~ fhada
g ~ at
start of word, as in English; elsewhere as 'k' in English ankle ~
gabh; adag
gh ~ a blurred version of g/voiced version of 'ch'
~ ghabh
h ~ as in English ~ hama
l ~ similar to English
pulled ~ latha
m ~ as in English ~ mòr
mh ~ as
Gaelic bh or 'v' in English ~ mhòr
n ~ similar to English
kindred ~ a-nochd
p ~ at start of word, as in English;
elsewhere, preceded by an 'h' sound ~ pàigh; ròpa
ph ~ as in
English pheasant ~ phàigh
r ~ as in English ~ rùm
s
~ as in English ~ sona
sh ~ as in English hat ~ shona
t ~ at start of word, as in English true; elsewhere, preceded by an
'h' sound ~ trì; cat
th ~ as in English hat ~
tha
Slender Consonants ~ preceded or followed by 'e' or 'i'
c ~ at
start of word, as in English kilt; elsewhere as in German ich
kenne ~ ceòl; aic
ch ~ as in German ich ~
chì
d ~ as in English jet ~ deiseil
dh ~ as in
English yet ~ dheth
g ~ at start of word, like g
followed by y; elsewhere, as in English neck ~ geal; aige
gh ~ as in English y ~ gheal
l ~ as in English
allure ~ leabhar
n ~ as in English new ~ nighean
s ~ as in English shin ~ sin
t ~ as in English
chin; elsewhere in word, preceded by an 'h' sound ~ teth;
cait
* from Teach Yourself Gaelic: a complete course for beginners by Boyd Robertson and Iain Taylor.
Welsh Pronunciation
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Welsh is phonetic. This site has primarily South Walian Welsh. If there's
a letter, you say it. However, there are different ways of saying certain
letters:
c is equivalent to the English 'k'
dd is like the th
in the English word "this"
f is equivalent to the English 'v'
ff is equivalent to the single English 'f'
ll is said like
"l" only with a short, sharp breath
rh is said like a Spanish
r with the same short, sharp breath.
w is a vowel pronounced
"oo"
y is more/less 'uh' unless it is the last syllable and then it
is said "ee"
Unless otherwise noted, all meanings are from Middle Welsh.
Special sounds:
lh - Welsh; place your tongue to make the sound of the letter l then breathe out a short, sharp breath.
rh - Welsh; place your tongue as for a Spanish r, then breathe out a short sharp breath.
x - as in Scottish loch or German ich; a sound halfway between the h in "oh, hey" and k in "okay."
The Gaelic r is said like a Spanish r, with the tip of the tongue against the palate, behind the front teeth.
ap or ab - (Wales) a contraction of the word map or
mab meaning "son, boy."
merch - (Wales) signifies "daughter,
girl." Welsh women did not change their names upon marriage.
A Few Tips to Using These Pages
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1) Setup: Primary Name - (pronunciation, if given) meaning and or
info. Variant spellings.
2) To search for a certain
meaning/word/name, choose "Find" or "Find in Page" from the Edit Menu; for best
results, try one word at a time.
OR
with the new search engine
(on the Main and SiteMap pages), you'll have to search separately for any words
with fadas/accent marks in them if you are concerned about that aspect. You can
also use an asterisk (*) in the search to get more results (Ex: "jenn" yields 1
result; "jenn*" results in 37). The search results page will give you links and
short excerpt to all the pages with your search query on it; from there you will
have to scroll down the page. The ALT codes for the fadas/accent marks are
below:
| Scottish (left) | Irish (right) |
|
à = ALT+0224 À = ALT+0192 |
á = ALT+0225 Á = ALT+0193 |
Updated 17 August 2000