I don't think there is anything particularly "Germanic" about them - Japanese, Chinese, and other langugaes have used the same formula for constructing compounds for centuries - but they do seem to have gone out of use in Irish and feel overly "constructed". The genitive constructions have a much more native feel in Irish.


@Cian - I think dearg-, fíor-, síor-, belong to a different class of (mostly emphatic) prefixes, like an- and ró- that do still get used regularly.

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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).

as I said, all these words are either very old, or very new (and then influenced by English).
And some have prefixes (ban-, síor-) which are as normal as droch- and sean-.



once again, if they create new compound words with the "wrong" order in Irish, it's because of English, which is a Germanic language, that's why I wrote "Irish is becoming a Germanic language".



sin an rud a bhí mé ag iarraidh a ráidht, go díreach...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

I think if someone who is not a native speaker is writing something for publication in Irish, a native speaker should be proof reading to ensure 'natural' Irish is used. It is important to replace things like 'd'oscail a súile níos mó' with something such as 'leath na suile uirthi'. I would say precisely the same for anyone writing in any language.

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Yes but you know the problem in Ireland, they say "Irish is my native language" because Irish is called "the native language of Ireland". So anybody can say "Irish is my native language" even though he/she doesn't speak it, or badly etc.
What a native speaker is, isn't clear in Ireland for many people. So you can say you're a native speaker while you've learnt Irish in evening classes...

If you say you're looking for a native speaker to proofread something, virtually anybody could answer...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

I'm getting a serious case of dejá vue here. Have we had this discussion before? I have NEVER heard someone who has learned Irish through classes claim to be a native speaker. I am Irish and live in Ireland and know lots of Irish people, some who are interested in Irish and some who aren't, but I have never experienced people claim that when it is not true. In fact, my experience is the opposite - regularly people claim to have NO IRISH when in fact they have some or quite a lot. They lack confidence and so don't or won't use what they have and so begin to believe they have none at all!

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This. A lot of people will say its 'our native langauge' but there's a difference when people say that, meaning its the original language of Ireland, and when they say they are a native speaker of Irish. I think lead era are even more aware of the difference, I've never heard a learner say they are native.

It does annoy me when people say they have no Irish and actually they have loads! '14 years of learning and I can't speak a word'. cac!

Lead era = learner

It has just occurred to me that maybe what you have heard is people saying that Irish is our native tongue i.e. that the language belongs to the country and its people (and anyone else who wants to share it, I hasten to add! ). They do not mean that they are native speakers - they are very different things.

(Crossed with Somhairle Óg)

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Yeah, maybe they rather say "Irish is my native language", but it looks like in all countries except Ireland, it means it's your mothertongue, ie. that you're a native speaker. That's the problem.

There's another problem: people who've been raised up through Irish by parents who don't master the language. Technically they are native speakers, but it doesn't mean they speak properly, if they speak more or less like their parents...

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

There can be an issue there (as there can be with English, by the way). I am one of those parents - as is my husband. We wouldn't dream of ever calling ourselves native Irish speakers - we are VERY far from that!!!, but yet we never speak to our children in English.

I recently met someone whose parents had done the same as we are doing. He is now the parent to a young child himself. His view was interesting and quite inspiring. His view is that his parents did 90% of the job that was needed (gave him Irish as his first language, but had limitations as they were not native speakers) and he views his role as needing to sort out the final 10% so that he hands an 'improved' version on to his son.

If enough people here did that, the future is not as bad as it sometimes seems. We know we cannot do what a native speaker can do, but we can do this or we can lament the fact that our children will not be fluent Irish speakers. I will never regret the decision we have made, but realise that it is not perfect. I just wish ordinary people here, outside of the Gaeltacht, would realise that there is a lot that they CAN do, even if they can't do everything.

I refuse to be one of the people who will not use the language at all until my Irish is perfect, although I am not at all confident around native speakers (I'm afraid of meeting Bríd some day!) It will be too late for my children then and they deserve better than that. My wishing that things are different is no good to them.

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