Focal an Lae #163
The Word of the Day in Irish
Word: grá (GRAW) [graː]
Meaning: grá = love
Usage:
- Tá grá agam duit. (TAW GRAW AH-guhm ditch) [taː graː agəm dit′] = I love you. (lit., is love at-me for-you)
- Thit sí i ngrá leis. (HITCH shee uhng-RAW lehsh) [hit′ s′iː əŋraː l′es′] = She fell in love with him.
- A ghrá mo chroí! (uh GHRAW muh KHREE) [ə ghraː mə xriː] = My darling! (lit., oh love of my heart)
History: Old Irish “grád” (love, affection) is now generally believed by scholars to be a semantic shift from
Old Irish “grád” (grade, rank, order), which is a borrowing from Latin “gradus” (step, degree, rank),
which comes from Indo-European *grad-u- (step), from the root *ghredh- (to walk, go). The obvious formal cognate is “grade”.
Scottish Gaelic: gràdh