kehoe@reed.UUCP (10/10/86)
In Gaelic, the O' prefix on a name means "son of",
e.g. O'Dhomnaill, O'Leary, and the ni prefix, with
an accent over the i, means "daughter of", e.g.
Triona ni'Dhomnaill.
In Scottish, the "Mac" prefix means "son of". What
is the Scottish "daughter of" prefix? And does this
mean that all Macintosh computers are male? MacWrite,
MacPaint, MacTerminal, etc. -- are those all male too?
BTW, "ni" is pronounced "nich".
Also, there's a name for words that are spelled like
"through" and "though" and "doughnut" -- with extra
"ugh"s. Anyone know?
--
"Don't play pool, don't play softball, how do you meet anyone?"
"Oh, I, ah, meet them at meetings, murders, things like that."
-- Barbara Wilson, "Murder in the Collective"
Dave Kehoe (503) 230-9454 ...tektronix!reed!kehoecondon@uw-larry (Anne Condon) (10/10/86)
Speaking of gender in Gaelic, the O' in an Irish surname such as
O'Donnell actually comes from the word "ua" which means "decsendant".
The gaelic word for son, like the scottish, is mac, though it is
not used in formal names.
Unmarried women and girls have the "ni" in their names, meaning
"daughter of", e.g. Triona Ni Dhomhnaill. Once married women take their
husbands name and the "ni" is replaced by "Bean Ui", meaning
"woman of", e.g. Maire Bean Ui Neill (Mary, Niall's woman).
It's probably better to keep such chauvinism out of the naming of software!
-Anne Condon (Aine Ni Chonduin
condon@uw-larry.UUCP
condon@larry.cs.washington.edu)rissa@chinet.UUCP (Garret and Trish) (10/13/86)
Dave Kehoe writes: >In Gaelic, the O' prefix on a name means "son of", >e.g. O'Dhomnaill, O'Leary, and the ni prefix, with >an accent over the i, means "daughter of", e.g. >Triona ni'Dhomnaill. >In Scottish, the "Mac" prefix means "son of". What >is the Scottish "daughter of" prefix? And does this >mean that all Macintosh computers are male? MacWrite, >MacPaint, MacTerminal, etc. -- are those all male too? According to the OED, the O prefix means "descendant" in Irish. Irish second names that have been anglicized are spelled with an apostrophe; those that have not been anglicized are not spelled with the apostrophe: O'Leary O Laoghaire O'Hara O hEadhra Also according to the OED, the prefix "Mac" is the Gaelic word for "son" and is used "as a prefix in many Scottish *and* Irish names of Celtic origin." The feminine form of *both* "O" and "Mac" is "Ni" (note capital "N" and no apostrophe). Not only would it seem that all Macintosh computers are male, but also all MacDonald's hamburgers. Which is just as well, if you ask me. * * * * * * >Also, there's a name for words that are spelled like >"through" and "though" and "doughnut" -- with extra >"ugh"s. Anyone know? Diphthongs! Trisha (Librarians know everything) O Tuama