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The Daltaí Boards » Archive: 2005- » 2006 (January-February) » Archive through January 30, 2006 » Capitalisation « Previous Next »

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Fear_na_mbróg
Member
Username: Fear_na_mbróg

Post Number: 949
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 08:14 am:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

I read the following today:

Brainse an ArdChuntasóra

and I wondered if that was the first time I'd seen a capital letter after a prefix preposition.

Are the following translations correct:

the accountant general = an t-ard-chuntasóir

The Accountant General = An tArdChuntasóir

THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL = AN tARDCHUNTASÓIR

Have I got the hyphens and the capital letters right?

Fáilte Roimh Cheartúcháin

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Mbm
Member
Username: Mbm

Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2006


Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 09:40 am:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

In Irish, capitalization, hyphenation and apostrophes are just all over the place, at least that's my impression.

The "t" we prefix to vowels at the beginning of masculine nouns after an article is usually separated by a hyphen if the following letter is lower-case (an t-athair) and there is no hyphen if the following letter is upper-case (an tAthair). So I think you got that right. One thing that amazed me when I first realized it years ago is that even if the whole text is upper-case, the "t" is still kept lower-case: AN tATHAIR.

As for the hyphens, I don't know. It seems to depend on the prefix. For example "an" meaning "very" always has a hyphen (an-mhaith, an-íseal) but "ró" only has a hyphen if attached to a vowel (rómhaith, ró-íseal). I don't know how "ard" should be treated but I would be quite reluctant to write "ard-chuntasóir", I'd very much prefer "ardchuntasóir". Can't say why, it just looks more normal. But when capitalization comes into play, I'm not so sure. And should you capitalize both the A and the C, or just the A? I don't know either. I wonder if anybody knows!

The thing is that Irish is so little spoken and even less written and printed that it hasn't had a chance to develop a stable, generally respected set of typographical conventions.

Is mise,
Michal Boleslav Mechura

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Aonghus
Member
Username: Aonghus

Post Number: 2848
Registered: 08-2004


Posted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 - 10:09 am:   Small TextLarge TextEdit Post Print Post

Rinne mé google beag agus fuair mé an méid seo:

https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0102&L=gaeilge-a&T=0&F=&S=&P=6730

I. Úsáidtear an fleiscín sna cásanna seo leanas :
...
(d) i dteidil dílse mar - Príomh-Bhreitheamh, Ard-Aighne, Ard-Easpag ;
...

Ba cheart an fleiscín a bheith ann, mar sin.

The Accountant General = An tArd-Chuntasóir

THE ACCOUNTANT GENERAL = AN tARD-CHUNTASÓIR

Cé nach leantar na rialacha úd i gconaí

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-41,G GLD:en&q=An+tArd%2DChuntas%C3%B3ir



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