Looking at smál fola dhearg:

If it's "a stain of red blood", wouldn't that be smál fola deirge ? (Or using Sean79's corcairdhearg, smál fola corcairdheirge ?) because the adjective is genitive singular feminine (gsf).

On the other hand, if the dearg is modifying the whole phrase, then it wouldn't need to be lenited as the core of the phrase smál is accusative singular masculine (which is the same as nominative singular masculine in Irish). However, in that case, Sean's positioning of the adjective would be clearer, i.e., smál dearg fola or smál corcairdhearg fola.

I'm leaning towards smál fola corcairdheirge myself, but are there reasons one of the other versions is better? (or reasons that my analyses were incorrect?)

Awaiting further comment ...

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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).

I’d say it ought to lenite. DNTLS do not come into play when assigning adjectives. The lenite-or-not-to-lenite rules after feminine nouns are needlessly complex, but only when dealing with nouns functioning as adjectives—and doirte is a true adjective, so it should always be lenited: fuil dhoirte.


Not in the Caighdeán—it’s ní fhaighim there.


A different attempt here. I didn’t read the others, wanted to make a clean start of my own here—note that this is in the Ulster dialect, not the standardised orthography, and that it’s not particularly literal:

Go mbainfear an fhuil

Ní fhuil maitheas in mo shaol

Ag tnúth le rud a chreidbheáil,
amharcaim thíos fán dromchlaidhe
gan ach an fhuil le dhearcadh uaim
agus an phian,
í féin mar fhís romham

Ní fhuil fágtha ach an lorg dearg anois

Crá i ndiaidh na péine,
an fhuil ’tá leobhtha maraon,
an fhuil á tarraingt
an fhuil á tabhairt
ní fhuil tabhairt ionam a thuilleadh

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Yup.


Yup, on both accounts, though if smál fola is perceived as a single word, the adjective might just as well follow, similar to how ‘a young student’ will always be mac léinn óg, never *mac óg léinn.


I think the only problem with this is that blood is not usually crimson in Irish: it’s just red. Corcairdhearg is really just a concise description of a colour (‘purple-red’)—it doesn’t have the dramatic connotations of the English word. It’s kind of like choosing a nuance of crimson in English and applying that to blood: ‘an alizarin blood stain’ doesn’t really sound right, either, for example.

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

thank you to all who came to my aid. i am sorry for not saying what dialect to use because i don't know any for the differences between them. i realize this now this might of added translation conflicts. i also found it interesting that the color reference was of some strife. this left me unclear. the three options i saw were

1. just use the single word blood other than crimson blood
2. use red in place of crimson
3. there was a difference in masculine or feminine?

i undersand the diference between the first and the second but i don't understand how the masculine and feminine come into play?

The masculine/feminine is because the word(s) for ‘stain’ (smál or lorg) is/are masculine, while the word for ‘blood’ (fuil) is feminine.

So the colour adjective (in Irish dearg ‘red’) should be in the masculine if it’s the stain that’s red; but in the feminine if it’s the blood that’s red. In practicality, of course, the stain is red because the blood is red—but grammatically, that doesn’t matter, we just have to pick one or the other of the two nouns to qualify with the adjective.

Now, which noun is chosen depends basically on the degree to which ‘blood stain’ is considered one or two words in Irish. In English, it’s mentally considered one word (even if it’s written as two words); but I don’t know if smál/lorg fola gives the mental image of one lexical unit to a native Irish speaker, or two lexical units.

We’ll need a native speaker’s input on what sounds more natural:

1. Smál dearg fola
2. Smál fola deirge

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Not a native speaker.

Always wait for at least three people to agree on a translation, especially if it’s for something permanent.

My translations are usually GU (Ulster Irish), unless CO (Standard Orthography) is requested.

Thinking hard ! ... I would think it is two units.


I would chose -
lorg dearg fola - red stain of blood

I think "smál" is a different kind of stain, or maybe it's dialectical.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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You're probably right about smál I'd consider it more a "physical marking" as opposed to a stain. Workable, though.

Indeed.

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___________________________________________________________

It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
___________________________________________________________