I just wanted to make a thread where anyone can ask short simple questions and get answers to things they would not be sure of.

You can say chroith an fear lámh le bean, but how would you say 'they shook each other's hand'? *chroith siad lámh leo?

Thanks

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

Perhaps just 'Chroith siad lámha'? Even in English, you would surely just say, 'They shook hands', the 'each other's' bit is implied.

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Do chroitheadar lámha le chéile - but I wonder if shaking hands has always been the custom in Ireland. For example, it was traditionally the case that a woman would not shake hands - it wasn't ladylike - and I don't know which country in Europe this shaking of hands started off in.

Did the ancient Gaels shake hands? And did both the men and the women shake hands? And how can we find out?

Fair point. It would be nice to know anyways!

Would rug an fear ar láimh lámh na mná be correct?

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

That means - the man grabbed the woman by the hand. As you rightly point out you could have láimh or lámh there, depending on whether lámh na mná is viewed mentally as a separate noun phrase or not.

Thanks. The background to asking these questions is in looking at simple what are called 'psycho-motor' verbs.

In the book 'the Unfolding of Language' the author draws up a model of how language could have evolved. Whether it's at all true or not is not important, but he does start with a basic set of words (action and thing words) and so from there, so you get something like:
man see elephant
elephant make 'toot'
man wave

which in Irish would be obviously:
amharc fear eilifint
tóg eilifint 'toot'
croith fear lámh (chuig)

which can be then spun up to:
d'amharc fear elifint
thug elifint 'toot' as
chroith fear a lámh chuici

I'm trying to make up a list of such verbs and the above little game is one way to do so, as child-like as it seems!

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

There's a difference between the origin of language and the origin of a language, though, and Irish evolved from Proto-Celtic, which evolved from Proto-IndoEuropean which itself was not a language-from-nothing.

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A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

I think you have me confused! I'm simply saying that what was a thought experiment in a particular book might be a good teaching aid as there are no modifiers not tense or aspect etc to make things complex

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

I mean rather I think you are confused as to why I added the story

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