Hello everybody,

I am currently writing a paper on an Old/Middle Irish poem about the historical change between that period and modern Irish. I posted on here earlier this month about getting someone to read the text for me and it worked out beautifully.

At this point in my research I am creating an interlinear text, glossing Irish words and writing out their pronunciation. When I came to two words both glossed as 'love' and used in consecutive lines, I became curious about the semantic differences.

The two lines are:
Do shearc i m’anam
do ghrá im chroí

I am wondering if people could inform me some, if any, of the finer differences between shearc and ghrá.
Also, I would appreciate any examples of where these words would and would not be used (in contrast with each other) and different ways these words can be used (i.e. can one mean physical love and the other not? Can one mean 'enjoy' as in English "I love pizza", or one mean 'loved individual' as in English "Hello love", etc.).

Thanks everyone.

Both could mean beloved. (Mo ghrá thú/mo shearc thú)

Searc is - I think - always love for a person, grá is mór general.

Aonghus - mór general.... I love it!

Oops.

N'fheadar cén cineál sciorradh a bhí ansin ...

(Message edited by aonghus on October 19, 2011)

I think the differences are mostly related to register (neutral vs poetical) and idiomatic usage (e.g you would say "tírghrá", but "chéad-searc").

Unless you can lay your hands on a native speaker (no pun intended! ;), Dinneen's dictionary has the following entries which might be also helpful:

1) grádh, g. -a and -áidh, m., love, affection, amity, amiability; trust; ar ghrádh, for the love of;
saobh-gh., foolish love; searc-gh., fond, intense love; tír-gh., love of country, patriotism; i ng.
le, i ng. ar, in love with.

2) searc, g. seirce, seirc and searca (poet.), pl. searca, m. and f., love, affliction, fondness;
wooing; saoghada searca, arrows of love (E. R.); céad-shearc, dearest or first love. searc is
more a poetical or ornamental word than grádh; it is also more peculiar to sexual love; grádh
is an every-day word; searc is used in exclamations like mo shearc thú, and in poetry.

Thanks Aonghus and Onuvanja. Thats exactly what I'm looking fór (the spelling is for you, Aonghus).