Hi,

My name is Kathy Murphy and I am about to become a grandmother for the first time. I would like to use something different than the normal Mom Mom, Grandmom, etc. and thought maybe the Irish have a translation for Grandmother.

Is there anyone out there that can help.

Thanks!

Kathy Murphy

Kathy, a chara,

Here's a few I've seen: máthair mhór, mamó, seanmháthair.

I'm sure the native/fluent speakers know of some others.

Le meas,

Bradford

Mamó is definitely the best.

The other two mean:

Big mother
Old mother

-Phil

Phil a chara
please don't pontificate
All three words given by Bradford above are in common use by native speakers for grandmother; and here is a fourth
Nana

Mamó and Nana would be familiar forms/pet names for calling your grandmother, the other two are less likely to be used when talking to a grandmother, more as a description.

im a fluent speaker and i use seanmhathair and mamó. Mamó is probably the easiest though

btw. Phil
consider the etymology of grandmother for a moment
Just for comparison
in French it's
Grand mére
in German it's
Grossmutter

Kathy wanted a name by which her grandkids could address her.

I don't call my grandmother "Grandmother", I call her "Nanny", which comes from "Granny".

"Mamó" is the Gaeilge for "Granny/Nanny".

In alot of Gaeilge stories I've read, the grandad is called "Daideo" by the kids.


-Phil

Yes, but what you said was
> The other two mean:
> Big mother
> Old mother

They don't. They mean grandmother.

true

-Phil

What about 'Garmhathair'?

Garmhac is one of the ways of saying grandson,
(Gariníon for granddaughter)
but I've never heard/read Garmháthair, and it doesn't come up in An Foclóir Beag

A Aonghuis,
According to Dinneen's dictionary 'Gar-' is used in compounds and means 'great-' or 'great-grand-'. The examples given are 'Gar-athair', 'Gar-mhathair', 'Gar-mhac' and 'Gair-inghean'.
I suppose 'gar-' isn't used as much as 'sean-' etc. or mabey it has fallen out of use.

Interesting.
I've read and heard garmhac and gariníon frequently, but never come across garathair or garmháthair. I must check my Dineen; perhaps it is confined to a region.

Sin-seanmháthair would be my way of saying greatgrandmother.

Having checked out Dineen 1934 it has all those forms.

I only have the shorter Gearr Fhoclóir Gaeilge Béarla, which is an extract from Ó Donaill.

It does not list garmháthair, but lists garathair as great-grandfather.

And, as I say, I've never come across it's use as grandmother.

Unfortunately, Dineen gives no hint as to whether it might be regional.