An unsizable exception

[muckefuck]

At the risk of undoing my dogged efforts to convince everyone that Irish orthography is better than its reputation, I simply must share a wonderful word that I only discovered last night: neamhthaibhseach. My dictionary glosses it as "unostentatious", but Ó Cuív prefers the more unostentatious equivalent "small". (The online dictionary unexpectedly gives "sober", presumably in the sense of "understated" rather than "not pissed".) The root is taibhse "great size", so a more literal gloss would be "unsizable".

What amuses me most is that Ó Cuív gives the Muskerry pronunciation as /nʲafiʃəx/, which works out to 16 letters representing seven phonemes. Even better, the pre-reform spelling included a de rigueur silent dh wedged in there before the bh, bringing the total to 18 letters. The crowning touch, however, is that the pronunciation isn't in the least predictable from that of its components, which are normally neamh- /nʲa-/ and taibhse /təiʃi/.

Comments

[donncha22.livejournal.com]

Ababú! Tá an focal "neafaiseach" agam le fada an lá, leis an gciall "trifling, inoffensive, of little importance". Ní raibh a fhios agam gurbh é "neamh-thaibhseach" an litriú a bhíodh air. An-deas! Is rud rialta é, áfach, an t-athrú ó -mhth- agus -bhth- go -f- i litriú an lae inniu. Mar shampla: gabhtha > gafa.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Ach eisceacht don riail seo is ea an réimír "neamh-", i nGaelainn na Mumhan ar aon chuma. An ndeireann tusa i ndáiríre "neifeoranta", "neafoiliúil", "neafuillte", agus araile?

[donncha22.livejournal.com]

Is fíor duit. Is eisceach é gan dabht. Is dá bhrí sin nár aithin mé riamh go dtáinig sé ó neamh- + X.

[fainic-thu-fein.livejournal.com]

donncha22 beat me to the punch. I was going to recommend you just write neafaiseach like the rest of us ;)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Killjoy!

[donncha22.livejournal.com]

Hey Fainic, bhí pictiúr eile díot anseo inné. Is maith liom an ceann nua!

Agus a Dha, a chroí, cén fáth nach bhfuil grianghraf díot féin le feiceáil anseo? An bhfuil tú rua dáiríre? Ná bí cúthail!

[fainic-thu-fein.livejournal.com]

Go raibh maith agat, a Dhonncha!