Dia dhaoibh a chairde, mise mario ón Iodáil.
Níl m'fhadhb chomh mór, ach tábhachtach is ea liom anois é .
Can anyone explain to me the meaning of fo-rás? Of course,
it must be something quite different from forás, which means
"development".The Christian Brothers' Grammar gives "a heat", but my native language is not English and I don't know which of the several meanings of "heat" to choose, as I have no context to refer to.
Go raibh maith agaibh
mario

Halló, a Mhario ón Iodáil!

"fo" is a prefix (a special adjective that goes before the noun, rather than after).

fo = sub, under, minor

the conscious = an comhfhios
the subconscious = an fo-chomhfhios

underwear = fo-éadaí

subcommander = fo-cheannasaí

"fo-rás" would have the meaning of some sort of "minor race" or "sub race". A qualifying race is known in English as the "heats". E.g. "Michael Schumacher came fifth in the heats".

I'm not sure of whether "fo" is always followed by a hyphen. Anyone else know?

Generally, the prefix is written together with the word. However, two vowels, two identical consonants or two prefixes are separated by a hyphen. The prefixes 'an-' and 'dea-' are written with a hyphen and "aon" is a separate word.

So, 'fo', unless followed by a vowel, is not hyphenated.

Therefore 'fo + rás' IS "forás". But it does seem that 'fo-chomhfhios' and 'fo-chomhfhiosach' are exceptions to this as they are found in my dictioary with hyphens. BUT, "fochomhlacht" is found without a hyphen.

I suspect fo-rás (qualifying race) is written with a hyphen to distinguish it from forás, for which FGB gives the meaning "growth, development"

A quick look at my version shows fo in the sense of "sub" being hyphened frequently - not just befor "o", but for "r" as well - fo-rang, fo-rann, &c.

go raibh maith agaibh