Bríd Mhór wrote:
mimerim wrote:
but the words are very similar (madra and madadh)
In Conamara it's "mad
ra" without the "r".
But Madadh in Donegal is pronounced like
"ma_doo" - am I right, Redwolf, Lughaidh?
Yep...spelled "madadh," pronounced MAD-oo.
Mimerim, "madra/mada/madadh" and "cú" aren't strictly synonyms. "Cú" is "hound." All hounds are dogs (well, not counting Cúchullain!), but not all dogs are hounds. In Ireland especially "cú" would refer to a sighthound...usually either a greyhound or an Irish wolfhound.
[Edited after I re-read Bríd's post: I don't know that I've ever heard "cú" used for dogs in general. Ulster songs, at least, tend to use "madadh." Maybe Lughaidh would know.]
Several languages make a distinction between dogs in general and particular types of dogs (physical type, not breed). I know that French, for example, uses different words for dogs in general and for mastiff-type dogs.
Irish also has a word for "terrier": brocaire
On an aside, there's at least one dog in the AKC that's misclassified because someone interpreted the German "hund" to mean "hound." That's the dachshund, which actually should be in the terrier group!
Redwolf