What does daoibh mean/stand for?
also:
Anois
Anseo
Fhois
Hiad
Miuse
Ortsa
and Tusa??

Any advice would be a great help!

A H.L.D, a chara (Dear HLD),

'Daoibh' is a prepositional pronoun... it comes from the preposition 'do' (meaning 'to') + 'sibh', the personal pronoun for the first person plural (i.e 'ye' or 'yez all' *grin*)....

M.s. (E.g.):
'Dia duit' (Hello [singular])
OR
'Dia daoibh' (Hello [plural]).

Refer to the grammar section on this site for further excellent info...

As for the rest of your request;

1.Anois = Now

2.Anseo = Here

3.Fhois = ? Did you mean 'Fios' or 'Fhios' (knowledge)

4.Hiad = ? Possibly from the 3rd person plural (them,they)

5.Miuse = ? Did you mean 'Mise', this is the emphatic form of 'mé' or the first personal pronoun (I, me).
M.s: Is amhránaí mé. - I am a singer.
Is amhránaí mise freisin. - I (emphasised) am a singer as well.

6.Ortsa = Emphatic form of the prepositional pronoun 'ort' (on you) ['ar' on + 'tú' you].
M.s: Cén t-ainm atá ort? (What is your name?)
Cén t-ainm atá ortsa? (What is YOUR name?)

7.Tusa = Emphatic form of the personal pronoun 'tú' (you).
M.s: Cé tusa? (Who are YOU?)

Hope this helps somewhat. Keep up the study, and don't be discouraged; learning something this beautiful is worth EVERY second of your time.
Two 'seanfhocail' (proverbs) that spring to mind are:
'Tús maith is leath na hoibre' (A good beginning is half the work)

agus

'Bíonn gach tosú lag' (Every beginning is weak).

Is mise le meas (Yours sincerely),
Creag 'Fintan' Batty

Thanks Creag. I really appreciate your help.

On those few words, that was the way I encountered them, although, when I looked them up in the online dictionary, they weren't listed...

hmmm.

Thanks again!

Heather

p.s. I enjoyed the proverbs :)

A Creaig, a chara,
In addition to "ye" and "yez", I think they're related to the Southern "y'all" and the Brooklyn-ese "youse."

Heather, Best of luck with your study of Irish.

Nollag shona dhaoibh, y'all,
Paul

Go raibh maith agat,

agus
Nollaig faoi mhaise dhaiobh!

5. Miuse: This might also have been 'muise', which is an interjection meaning 'indeed'.

'Fhios' is very commonly used in phrases like:

Tá a fhios agam. I know. (lit. It's knowledge is at me, i.e., I have the knowledge about it.)

An bhfuil a fhios agat? Do you know?

Níl, níl a fhios agam. No I don't know.

The temptation to attach the normal English plural to the pronoun 'you' is not limited to Booklyn. 'Youse' pops up in scattered places in the English-speaking world. I saw the word on a dialect map limited to the Middle Atlantic states, which includes Brooklyn. 'Youse' was actually more frequent in places to the west, especially areas of NJ and eastern Pennsylvania.

So is Fhios like 'to know' or 'to understand'?

I noticed that in every sentence you used it it, it had the word 'know', or 'knowledge'

I saw a mural in a small cafe in An Daengle written as gaeilge that translated "fish of knowledge." It was pertaining to the legend of Cuchullain(?) and his eating the salmon of knowledge. I believe it was written "feasa na fhios" but I may be mistaken.

Seosamh: can you give me a phonetic differentiation between Miuse (emphatic form of me) and muise (indeed)? My mind and tongue can't quite pick out the difference.

Also, there's another word "faoi" which means "under" as in to be "under" the knowledge of something. At least, I think that's how I understood its explanation. How does this differ in from "fhios"? OR, is it possible, just maybe, that I'm completely confused.

Go raibh mo agat agus Nollag shona dhaoibh.

James

Well, I'm just as "confused" as you are James.

I have another question: Just how many different dialects are there in Gaelic, and which one is the one they teach here on the site?

The legend relates to Fionn mac Cumhail.
The fish was the Salmon of Wisdom - an Bradán Feasa

Fios Feasa is the name of a company which makes CD Roms in Irish (www.fiosfeasa.com) - they are based in Dingle.

They use the image of Fionn with his thumb in his mouth.
Fionn burnt his thumb on the Salmon of Wisdom while roasting it for his Master Fineagas. Afterwards, he got any knowledge he required by sucking his Thumb.

"Fios Feasa" means the knowledge of knowledge.

You are absolutely correct! I get my mythical heroes confused at times. I distinctly recall seeing Fionn mac Cumhail sucking his thumb whilst a salmon roasted over an open fire. An Bradan Feasa was written over the mural. I was able to go back and look at some photographs after I posted my comments.

I knew I had seen Fios Feasa somewhere. Thanks for setting things straight.


Secondly, does anyone happen to know what dialect is taught in Buntús Cainte. I'm also having a devil of a time translating "Buntús Cainte." I get "satirist" for Cainte. Or is it from caint as in speak? Any help would be appreciated.

James

This conversation string seems to have gone all over the place!

James:

Muise 'indeed' is pronounced (approximately): MUSH-uh (Variations you may hear are MUSH, WUSH-uh, WUSH.)

HLD:

fios (PR. FISS) means knowledge.
a fhios (pr. uh ISS) means 'it's knowledge'
Tá a fhios agam (pr. TAH uh ISS UGG-um) means It's knowledge is at me, therefore: I have/possess it's knowledge, therefore: I know

'Feasa' is the genitive of fios and means 'of knowledge'.

In more archaic Irish an bradán feasa (the salmon of knowledge) is called the 'eo fis' (same literal meaning, pr. OH FISH). Hence the name of the video production company in Spiddal in Conamara: Eo Fís (I think I got that right. 'Fís' means 'vision' or 'video'.) The bradán feasa or eo fis greets you as you enter the Daltaí website.

For more advanced people: What do you think 'brádán' means. You sometimes see it in weather forecasts: brádáin ar maidin amárach.

James: 'Faoi' literally means 'under', but it also means
'about' in the sense of 'talking about X': Tá siad ag caint faoi stair na hÉireann. They are talking about the history of Ireland. And it can mean '(round) about': amuigh faoin tuath out in the countryside; Tá scairf faoina muineál. There's a scarf around her neck. Like many prepositions in Irish, English or other languages it has other meanings and submeanings. For example: a cúig faoin gcéad = five percent, 5%. A ceathair faoi(na) a ceathair sin a sé déag. Four times four is sixteen.

Unlike English or many other languages, Irish conjugates prepositions: fúm, under me; fút, under you, etc., etc. Other languages that do this are the other Celtic languages and the Semitic ones.

Buntús Cainte as satire??

bun = basic
tús = beginning
cainte = of talk, speaking, speech

Therefore: Basic beginning (i.e., first steps) in speaking [Irish]

Buntús Cainte is based strictly on Standard Irish. The three main dialects are Munster in the South, Connaught in the mid West and Ulster in the North. There is much variation within the three dialects.

Slán go fóill. Bye for now.

Seosamh

I found Cainte listed also as the god of speech on a web site regarding the Tuatha De Danann. I knew the satire thing was wrong but that's all I could find in my dictionary.

Thanks for your clarification.

slan,

James