Scottish Gaelic: ana-bhlasta

ryba

ryba

Senior Member
Poznań, Polska
polski
Hello,

Could someone be so kind and tell me what Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh meant when he said what follows?
Sa Bhìoball Ghàidhlig gheibh sinn "an t-ana-Crìosd" airson "the anti-Christ". Ach, mar a tha fios againn, ann an cotheacsa eile, bidh "ana" a' neartachadh na leanas an àite a bhith ga àicheadh, mar eisimpleir "ana-mhòr", "ana-bhlasta". Ach ma tha "Ana-" iomchaidh, a dh'àindeoin seo, airson "Anti-", dè an cruth as fheàrr airson "Antithesis"?"
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I don't need a word-for-word translation. What I need is just a hint about whether or not my assumption is right, the assumption being that there is an opposition in meaning between ana-bhlasta and ana-blasta (granted that both are correct). Knowing that would shed some light on the origin of both (discussed in a separate thread: Gaelic an- 'very').
 
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    • I speak Irish, not Scottish Gaelic, but I can pretty much understand this:

    In the Scottish Gaelic Bible, you get "an t-ana-Crìosd" for "the Anti-Christ". But, as we know, in other contexts, "ana" is used to emphasize the thing which follows it, for example "ana-mhòr", "ana-bhlasta" (very big, very tasty). But if "Ana-" is used despite this to mean "Anti-", how would you say "Antithesis"?

    From what I can see, and what I've just looked up in an old dictionary, if ana is followed by a word whose first letter is *not* lenited, then the word takes on the opposite, negative meaning. Hence ana-bhlasta means very tasty, but ana-blasta means tasteless/insipid, and so ana-    Crìosd means "the opposite of Christ" (ana-Chrìosd, if such a word existed and made sense, would presumably mean very-Christ).

    This is just me making an educated guess looking at other examples in dictionaries. You'd ideally want a Scottish Gaelic speaker to confirm this.
     
    Thank you lots, Tegs!!!

    I'm a newbie in Celtic linguistics, trying to learn Irish as consciously as I can (morpheme-by-morpheme), and it's just fascinating. Enriching. Enlightening! Inspiring! And very much rewarding.

    Go raibh maith agat arís!
     
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