With all the news about GAA hurler Dónal Óg Cusack's coming out as gay, I thought I'd ask how one says this as Gaeilge?

Go raibh maith agat.

"Ag teacht as an lios" a thug Cathal O'Searcaigh air.

Cliste, mar is dual dó, ó tharla go dtugann sé fhéin fairy ar féin, le greann. Níl aon leagan cloiste agam.

Bheadh "ag teacht amach" ceart go leor, sílim.

(Message edited by aonghus on October 27, 2009)

Aontaím leat, a Aonghuis. Ceapaim go mbeadh Cathal féin in ann rud mar sin ag rá ach go mbeadh sé drochbhéasach nó garbh teacht as béal éinne eile.

So, "ag teacht amach" it is. GRMA. Tháinig mé amach sa mblian dhá mhíle a sé.

Also, according to a couple online dictionaries, "aerach" is the translation for 'gay'. Is this a derogatory term or a neutral one?

How would you use it? "Is aerach mé"? "Táim aerach"? "Tá aerach agam"? "Tá aerach orm"?

How would you talk about a boyfriend/partner? "Mo bhuachaill"? "Mo fhear"? "Mo fhearchéile"?

I think "aerach" only has the meaning homosexual in the modern context. I think you can find some "fear aerach" quotes from 19th century literature and the meaning wlll be more "a lively man".

As an adjective, I would have thought "is fear aerach mé" and "fear aerach is ea mé" would be the things to say.

I'm not sure about the rest. Of course "ag teacht amach" doesn't have any traditional connotation. It is just a direct translation of the English.

Pádraig Ua Maoileoin's Na hAird Ó Thuaidh (1960) has this on p14: "is cuimhin liom féin duine des na hiascairí seo. Duine de mhuintir Ghaoithín ab ea é; fear muinteartha ach é a bheith aerach, éaganta ann féin".

"Aerach" meant cheerful and was a highly positive but non sex related term up to the late 20th century. It began to be used for "gay" by direct translation, much as the range of meaning of the english word gay narrowed. Aerach is till used in the traditional sense, but less than previously.

On usage, I think what you are most likely to hear is "Táim aerach" or "Is duine aerach mé"

quote:

So, "ag teacht amach" it is. GRMA. Tháinig mé amach sa mblian dhá mhíle a sé.

Mhol cúpla cairde an leabhar seo liom:

http://www.cic.ie/product.asp?idproduct=27&variables=catalogue%2Easp%3FNAV%3D4%2 6type%3D0%26txtsearch%3D%26txtsong%3D%26sel%5Fcategory%3D1%26sel%5Fauthor%3D0%26 sel%5Fsubcategory%3D2

Ní raibh deis agam é a léamh go foill ach chuala mé go bhfuil sé an-shiumiúil.

(A couple of friends recommended the above book to me and I believe it is very good. You have probably heard of it anyway.)

I would say that "aerach" and gay" have the same type of history.

Gay went from meaning "happy/merry/lively" to meaning "strange/queer" to meaning "homosexual." And to be honest, it still means "queer or unusual" even who you are using it in a sexual context. At first it was used as a negative, as we felt this type of sexuality was strange. And only recently has "gay" taken a more neutral meaning of homosexuality. It's funny, gay was the bad word and homosexual was the positive word, but today it seems they have flipped, most couples would rather be called gay than homos, which is not negative, but only the shortened form of the word.

"1178, "full of joy or mirth," from O.Fr. gai "gay, merry" (12c.); cf. O.Sp. gayo, Port. gaio, It. gajo. Ultimate origin disputed; perhaps from Frank. *gahi (cf. O.H.G. wahi "pretty"), though not all etymologists accept this. Meaning "brilliant, showy" is from c.1300. OED gives 1951 as earliest date for slang meaning "homosexual" (adj.), but this is certainly too late; gey cat "homosexual boy" is attested in N. Erskine's 1933 dictionary of "Underworld & Prison Slang;" the term gey cat (gey is a Scot. variant of gay) was used as far back as 1893 in Amer.Eng. for "young hobo," one who is new on the road and usually in the company of an older tramp, with catamite connotations. But Josiah Flynt ["Tramping With Tramps," 1905] defines gay cat as, "An amateur tramp who works when his begging courage fails him." Gey cats also were said to be tramps who offered sexual services to women. The "Dictionary of American Slang" reports that gay (adj.) was used by homosexuals, among themselves, in this sense since at least 1920. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889. Ayto ["20th Century Words"] calls attention to the ambiguous use of the word in the 1868 song "The Gay Young Clerk in the Dry Goods Store," by U.S. female impersonator Will S. Hays. The word gay in the 1890s had an overall tinge of promiscuity -- a gay house was a brothel. The suggestion of immorality in the word can be traced back to 1637. Gay as a noun meaning "a (usually male) homosexual" is attested from 1971."

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=gay&searchmode=none

Do you have any evidence that aerach was used in a sexual sense by native Irish monoglots? If not, then it's inaccurate to say these words have the "same history". The Irish word acquired its sexual connotations from association with the English word.

Actually...I never said they have the "same history."

You need to read more carefully.

I said they have the "same type of history." In that their original meanings have gone from meaning "happy/merry" to being used for homosexual referencing.

And the fact that it "acquired its sexual connotations from the assiociation with the English word" as you put it only demonstrates that you are agreeing that it has been given a similar meaning in today's context regarless of its traditional meaning.

Which is what I said in my post.

And if you really want some sexual references:

The Gay Gordons and An Tailliúir Aerach was the First thing that come to mind.

Just google Irish Gay Community. You will find "aerach" being used by the Irish people themselves to refer to their sexuality.

For example, it is the word of choice used by the posters of GayCork.com, and Gay Ireland and Gay Northern Ireland.

(Message edited by do_chinniúint on November 03, 2009)

quote:

You need to read more carefully.

Dá dtábharfá iarracht ar scríobh i nGaelainn léifinn sa dóigh.

I only say that because you were tying to say that I said something that I did not.

I didn't say they were the same, I said they were similar. There is a difference.