Pronounciation

[Rhyd6]

Anyone able to give me guidance on how to pronounce the Irish name Caoimhe? My friend has had ra text from her grandson who has been working in Ireland to say that he is bringing her to meet his Nana prior to their official engagement party. Any pointers gratefully received.

R6

[neversay]

From https://www.babynamesofireland.com/caoimhe

Caoimhe

MEANING: From caomh "gentle, beautiful, precious." The same root as Kevin, the name has become very popular in Ireland with the original Irish spelling. In 2003 it was the twelfth most popular Irish girl name for baby girls.

GENDER: Girl | Female

IRISH NAME: Caoimhe
PRONUNCIATION: kee + va"

ENGLISH: Keeva, Keva

The webpage has an audio clip of it https://www.babynamesofireland.com/audio/caoimhe.mp3

Apparently the same root as Kevin!

[PinkDalek]

Pronunciation of Caoimhe varies depending on the area of Ireland in which it is used ... according to http://www.encyclo.co.uk/meaning-of-Caoimhe

This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI1UaHt1zRU sounds like "keeva".

[Rhyd6]

Many thanks neversay and PD. I have phoned my friend and she is delighted. Her grandson lives near Epsom and doesn't speak Welsh, she often teases him when he visits and mangles Welsh place names, she suspected him of trying to get his own back so is now looking forward to seeing the look on his face when she rushes to the car crying "Dylan, Keeva how lovely to see you".

R6

[fuiseog]

I know how to pronounce Caoimhe but I'm not a 'technical' linguist, so not used to trying phonetic spelling.

The best phonetic indication I can propose is Kw_eev_eh.

When your friend meets her, if she can say "Dia dhuit a Caoimhe", she'll be surprised. (Pronounced deeya gwit a Kw_eev_eh). It means God be with you Caoimhe. That's how we say "Hello Caoimhe".

Irish Gaelic alphabet has no jkqvw, but it has arrangements of letters that achieve the same phonetic effects. Letter pronunciation is different from English.
a is pronounced ah, not ay
c is hard, like a k (there is no k)
mh is like v (there is no v)
e is like eh? in English. With an accent é (fada), it's pronounced like ay in "ay up" (Yorkshire)

Hope that helps,

fuiseog (skylark)

[Rhyd6]

Thanks fuiseog, I've contacted her with your greeting, she's well chuffed. Irish Gaelic is like welsh we don't have the same phonetic alphabet as English but combine letters to make similar sounds. I quite fancy having a stab at learning Gaelic, either Irish or Scots, are the two similar? I've found that when I've visited Brittany I can converse with a Breton speaker, they use Breton and I use Welsh and I'd say there's about an 80% overlap. I also find Patagonian Welsh different, rather like American and English.

R6

[Garless]

Thanks fuiseog, I've contacted her with your greeting, she's well chuffed. Irish Gaelic is like welsh we don't have the same phonetic alphabet as English but combine letters to make similar sounds. I quite fancy having a stab at learning Gaelic, either Irish or Scots, are the two similar? I've found that when I've visited Brittany I can converse with a Breton speaker, they use Breton and I use Welsh and I'd say there's about an 80% overlap. I also find Patagonian Welsh different, rather like American and English.

R6

Canadian and France versions of French have similar differences. Many years ago my partner, who teaches French, was asked to translate a short Canadian French document. She found certain constructs were closer to 18c French than modern.

[tjh290633]

Some years ago our Rotary Club hosted a joint meeting with Dutch and Belgian (Flemish) clubs. One of our members, brought up in South Africa, gave a speech of welcome in Africaans.

Our visitors commented that it was a bit like being in church.

[Rhyd6]

Neversay & fuisog Nana 1, Grandson 0 plus one very impressed Caoimhe who said it's the first time her name has been pronounced properly by a British person without Irish ancestry. Thank goodness she didn't say English person ot that would have certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons. Thanks once again for your help.

R6