I am a dumb, 2nd generation Irish/American. I am extremely proud of my heritage. I have just learned that I am going to be a grandmother soon. I would like to use a traditional Irish (Gaelic) term for grandmother. I found this, and I have NO idea how to pronounce it. I am also open to other native names for grandmother. Can someone help the Lass?

As a term of endearment:

Mamó = Grandma

Pronunciation: /mamo:/ mu-MOO(r) - the first syllable "ma" is like the "mu" in "mum". The "mó" on the end is like the "mo" sound in "moor" without the "r".


Technically, you are "Mamó" when people talk about you, but "a Mhamó" when they address you. In that case, the inital "m" sound changes to a "w" -
/wamo:/ wu-MOO(r). But it would be a hard one to get English speakers into the habit, esp. little kids. Maybe when they are older. ;-)

Tá an focal ceart agat ach ní fheadar an bhfuil an fuaimnú ceart:

Déarfainn ma = mo as in mop
mó = mow (as in mow the lawn!)

A Shéamuis, that would probably be true if you are Irish but not if you are American.

yes Mamó

I agree with ismiseséamus on the pronunciation

Hi, Badhbh.

I think the reason you agree with ismiseséamus is probably that you are both Irish, and therefore you both have similar assumptions about how English is pronounced. That would be fine if Peggy_o were also Irish (as in born and raised in Ireland). However, Peggy_o is second-generation Irish-American, not a just-off-the-boat/plane first-generation Irish person.

To Irish people, my explanation using "mum and "moor" will probably seem like /mumu:/ because your dialect of English tends to say /mum/ for "mum" and /mu:r/ for "moor". Similarly, "mop" and "mow" are /mop/ and /mo:/ in your dialect and so your explanation leads to /momo:/ for an Irish person. Since the first vowel in /məmo:/ is a broad schwaa, that is close enough IF the student is Irish.

But in this case the "student" is American, and in the US standard "mop" is /ma:p/ with a long vowel and "mow" is a diphthongized /mow/ or /mou/, and so an explanation to an American using "mop" and "mow" is more likely lead to a lengthened and diphthongized /ma:mow/.

Therein, lies the difficulty of using English to explain pronunciation - you have to taylor it to the "brand" of English spoken by the student, not to your own dialect. Here I have used standard US pronunciation for Peggy_o, because she is American, and if I had a better knowledge of Peggy_o's actual accent I could taylor my explanation even further.

My explanation won't work for everybody, but it should work for most Americans. Your explanation will work for Irish people and those whose dialects don't diphthongize the "ow" sound. If I were teaching an English, a Scottish or an Australian person, my explanation would have to be tweaked slightly and so would yours.

Margaret,

You have said "I found this" but have not given the word you found in your post. I notice that you have given this thread the title "Gaeltacht". Is gaeltacht the word you found? Gaeltacht is a term used to refer to an official Irish-speaking area of Ireland and so may not be what you were thinking it was. Just thought I would check with you.

Breandán