I would be very grateful if you could help me out with two little translation problems!

1) What would be the Irish name for a pub called "The Anchor"? I believe the word is "Ancaire", but what is the correct form for a pub sign? "Ancaire", "t-Ancaire", "tAncaire", "An t-Ancaire", or something else entirely?

2) I'm a big fan of Irish house names. If someone decided to name their house "Love song" or "True love", what would be the name on the sign? I think the words are "Amhrán Grá" and "Fiorghrá" respectively, but again, what is the correct form of these?

And finally, how do you pronounce „Amhrán Grá“?

Any help will be very much appreciated!

Haigh, a mhorning!

As far as I can tell (though somebody may correct me on this), what you're looking for is "An t-Ancaire". At least, that's the direct translation of "The Anchor".

As for the house names, you seem to have nailed them (but again, I'm a bit of a greenhorn, so you might want to wait for some of our wiser members to come by and see whether they have any objections).

Amhrán Grá would be pronounced /ˈoːran ɡrɑː/ in the official standard and /ˈoːran ɡræː/ in Ulster Dialect.

Except that there is no hyphen after the t when the noun is capitalised. The correct version would be:

An tAncaire

Contrast that with uncapitalised an t-ancaire.


Though the -án prefix may tend to be shortened in some dialects, it is generally kept long in Connemara:

/ˈoːrɑ:N ɡrɑː/

but when shortened in Connemara it still sounds like /ɑ/ rather than /a/

/ˈoːrɑN ɡrɑː/.

According to TYI, the Munster (Muskerry) pronunciation of amhrán is /ɑvә'rɑ:n/.

_________________
Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).