Can someone explain the difference between Éireann chun chinn and Éirinn chun chinn? Is it just a subtle difference in meaning? Are they both correct? I saw both featured on billboards recently.

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Is foghlaimeoir mé. Is fearr liom Gaeilge Chonnacht. Corrections always appreciated.

It would depend on the context. "Éireann" is genitive/possessive. "Éirinn" is dative (which you would normally see after a preposition). "Chun cinn" without some form of "teigh" in front of it is also rather odd. Was there anything else there...more words, or some context that would imply a complete sentence?

Redwolf

Hi Redwolf,

The billboard simply said...
'Putting Ireland First - Éirinn chun chinn'

The other one said
'Putting Ireland First - Éireann chun chinn'

Finally, there was
'Putting Ireland First - Éire Chun Tosaigh'

All were associated with the same body, so I suspect they were written by more than one person, and/or someone who may have a shaky grasp of Irish? Or are these merely dialectal variations? My understanding is that Conamara prefers the dative.

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Is foghlaimeoir mé. Is fearr liom Gaeilge Chonnacht. Corrections always appreciated.

I'd like to hear more from others here, but my first impression is that none of these really make a lot of sense.

As far as the forms for "Ireland" go, you've got all three there: Dative, genitive, nominative. And it's true that, in some areas, the dative and the nominative are pretty much exchanged, so I wouldn't worry too much about "Éirinn" vs. "Éire." "Éireann," though, is definitely genitive, and doesn't make sense there.

I'm only familiar with the construction "chun cinn" in terms of "progress" (as in "ag dul chun cinn"...making progress).

I'm virtually certain that "Éire chun tosaigh" is just plain nonsense.

Let's wait and see what others say, but I'm not seeing a lot of sense in any of these.

Redwolf

Absolutely, I'm interested in getting additional feedback. And if all three phrases are incorrect, perhaps someone can take a stab at the correct form of 'Putting Ireland First' (if such a sentiment can be expressed in Irish idiomatically).

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Is foghlaimeoir mé. Is fearr liom Gaeilge Chonnacht. Corrections always appreciated.

Éirinn ar dtús!

I would say that such exclamatory phrases don't need very complex syntax, just X + bit at end

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

I think they're all right syntactically as far as political precepts or mottos go - we don't always expect a full grammatical construction in such cases, as in newspaper headlines.

Éireann seems odd considering that, as Redwolf explains, it's the genitive form. Éire would be fine, as would Éirinn as this dative form is often used as a nominitive form. I don't think we need to lenite chinn.

Éirinn/Éire chun cinn
Éirinn/Éire chun tosaigh

Slán,

Domhnall

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Ultach mé agus Gaeilg Uladh a labhraim go measardha maith!

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

Éireann is not odd if you think it was a mistake or the writer didn't know the difference

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__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.___

The reason I asked about syntax (or implied syntax) is I was trying to determine if there was a logical reason for using the dative or genitive.