Focal an Lae #107
The Word of the Day in Irish
Word: rath (RAH) [rah]
Meaning: rath = prosperity; success
Usage:
- Bhí rath ar an ngnó. (VEE RAH hehr uhng ROH) [v′iː rah er′ əŋ roː] = The business was successful. (lit., success was on the business)
- cúl le rath (KOOL luh RAH) [kuːl lə rah] = ne’er-do-well (lit., (one who has turned his) back to fortune)
- Rath na raithní ort! (RAH nuh RAH-nyee ORT) [rah nə rahn′iː ort] = Long may you flourish!
(lit., prosperity of the bracken fern on-you; apparently on the observation that bracken is tenacious and keeps coming back year after year,
come what may)
History: Old Irish “rath” (granting, grace, gift, success) is the verbal noun of “ernaid” (grants, bestows).
Both “rath” and Welsh “rhad” (grace, blessing) derive from Common Celtic *ratom (thing given, granted), which in turn
comes -- with typical Celtic loss of “p” -- from Indo-European *pra-to- (granted), from the root *per- (to sell, hand over, grant).
Cognates in English include “price”, “precious” and “porno” (<- Greek “pernanai”, to sell).
Pronunciation note: “th” is pronounced “h” in Modern Irish, but in Old Irish it was pronounced like the “th” in “thing”.
Scottish Gaelic: rath