Focal an Lae #14

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The Word of the Day in Irish

Word: croí (KREE)

Meaning: croí = heart

Usage: Croí has a wide range of both concrete and figurative meanings, not unlike English “heart”:

• croí lag (KREE LAHG) = a weak heart
• croí bog (KREE BOG - O short, almost “bug”) = a soft heart
• A Bhríd, a chroí! (uh VREEJ, uh XREE) = Brigid, darling! (lit., O Brigid, o heart!)

History: From Old Irish “cride”, which goes back to Indo-European *kerd- (heart). Cognates found in English are “heart”, “cardiac” and “cordial”.

Scottish Gaelic: cridhe (KREE-uh) (Note that the spelling indicates that the “r” has a slender pronunciation in Scottish Gaelic, while the Irish spelling shows that the word has a broad “r” in that language. I have not tried to show these distinctions in the imitated pronunciation.)