Currachs

[NoNaYet]

Help me out here, does currachs rhyme with "rocks", as in cur-rocks or would it be more like cur-rahs?

 

Connemara Cradle Song sounds beautiful on my baritone.

 

NNY

[Barry J]

I think its cu-ra-cks

[TomB-R]

I reckon more like cur-rah, [edit] emphasis on the first syllable though not too strongly, with a fairly good H sound on the end of the owrd, not just ending with the mouth open, but not a harsh germanic sound either!

 

(As I understand it, given that Irish uses h a great deal as a special combination with the letter before it, ch is near to what h would be on its own in English pronunciation.)

Edited September 30, 2010 by TomB-R

[Barry J]

Googled it and:

 

http://209.161.37.11/cgi-bin/audio.pl?currag02.wav=curragh

[Lawrence Reeves]

In most dialect of Irish all Cs are pronounced and hard as in K. The h as you pointed out in many cases can be silent. It also causes the the preceding consonant to become silent and have a h sound.

[shelly0312]

didn't find Connemara Cradle Song on FolkTune Finder. Hints? Michelle SE WI

[Barry J]

If you just want to hear it played, its on You Tube.

[TomB-R]

Googled it and:

 

http://209.161.37.11...g02.wav=curragh

 

I think generally Curragh is the racecourse, currach is the boat!

 

The boat is sometimes called a naomhóg (pronounced something like "knave-oak" but softer at the end) "little boat" or "young boat." There's a bit of latin in there!

[Stephen Chambers]

I think generally Curragh is the racecourse, currach is the boat!

Correct!

 

The boat is sometimes called a naomhóg (pronounced something like "knave-oak" but softer at the end) "little boat" or "young boat." There's a bit of latin in there!

Naomhóg is used in Kerry, whilst in other parts (including around Kilkee, where I live in West Clare) they were called a canoe...