So there are times in Irish when the t- prefix Gets added to words that are masculine starting with vowels in Irish like t-Anam? Do these could as grammatical forms or words?
They are grammatical forms. It’s the same word with the same meaning.
Ok thx very much
Think of it more like a contraction. If you were using the word “soul” like a person’s name, then you would add a respectful “An” or “T’” depending upon the case.
I can only think of one rather formal example that I’ve seen in the wild: “May the soul of _____ be strengthened” Go neartófar _____ an t-anam.
So basically the t-anam is basically a contraction then?
Any reason this isn’t in FQ? I could move it for you.
What is FQ?
Factual Questions.
Ok sure! Go for it!
No, nothing is being contracted here.
Irish (along with most other other Celtic languages) is characterised by initial mutation. The initial consonant or (in this case) vowel of a word changes, depending on context or sense. This puzzles English-speakers, though they are quite used to terminal mutation, altering the end of a word to indicate plural, possessive case, etc.
If a masculine noun (like anam) takes the definite article (an) then the initial vowel is prosthesized with a t-. So:
Anam: soul
An t-anam: the soul
(The hyphen is included because, although tanam is not an Irish word, there are lots of Irish words that start with ‘t’. The hyphen indicates that the ‘t’ is a prosthesization. In other contexts an initial vowel may be prosthesized with ‘h’ — a hanam: his soul. There are no Irish words that begin with ‘h’, so no hyphen is needed.)
Oh ok. So the mind in Irish is “an t-intinn”. Get it!
No, it’s “an intinn”. Intinn is a feminine noun.
Perhaps worth mentioning that the “t-“ is historically a part of the definite article, even though it’s pronounced and spelled as if part of the noun.