# Irish dopers, pronunciation please **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409 "2007-09-25T11:54:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/1 "2007-09-25T11:54:42Z")
Of this name please; Caoimhe Sile Nic Dhaibheid. Looks lovely, can’t pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/2 "2007-09-25T13:13:17Z")
I’m not Irish, but my wife is and I’ve picked up a fair bit of the language. Assuming the missing fadha on the I in Sile, it is pronounced KEE-va SHEE-la Nick DAH-vid. At least in parts of Co. Kerry. I’ve also heard KWEE-va. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/3 "2007-09-25T13:16:47Z")
Hmmm. I’m pretty sure it’s not “Throatwobbler Mangrove.” ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/4 "2007-09-25T13:20:20Z")
And for good measure, an Anglicized version might be Keeva Sheila David. “Nic” means “daughter of” and is commonly dropped. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/5 "2007-09-25T14:00:50Z")
[QUOTE=Gus Gusterson] I’m not Irish, but my wife is and I’ve picked up a fair bit of the language. Assuming the missing fadha on the I in Sile, it is pronounced KEE-va SHEE-la Nick DAH-vid. At least in parts of Co. Kerry. I’ve also heard KWEE-va. [/QUOTE] Thanks, I’d grasped at dah-bid for the pronunciation of the surname, so not that far off. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/6 "2007-09-25T14:19:19Z")
[QUOTE=Gus Gusterson] And for good measure, an Anglicized version might be Keeva Sheila David. “Nic” means “daughter of” and is commonly dropped. [/QUOTE] How in the name of the Nine Turning Wheels of Og do they get “Keeva” out of “Caoimhe”? :eek: I do _not_ understand Irish orthography. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/7 "2007-09-25T14:35:51Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] How in the name of the Nine Turning Wheels of Og do they get “Keeva” out of “Caoimhe”? :eek: I do _not_ understand Irish orthography. [/QUOTE] “mh” and “bh” are usually pronounced as a “v” sound, as in Niamh and Siobhan. And for any given random collection of vowels, plump for “e” or “a” and you probably won’t be too far out 😉 ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/8 "2007-09-25T14:39:53Z")
Caoimhe Sile Nic Dhaibheid- Caoimhe has several pronunciations Keeva, Queeva, Queeve and a few others I think Sile = Sheela Nic = Nee Dhaibheid = Davidge ---
**Author:** ![Gus\_Gusterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@Gus\_Gusterson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gus_Gusterson)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/9 "2007-09-25T15:03:31Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Caoimhe Sile Nic Dhaibheid- Caoimhe has several pronunciations Keeva, Queeva, Queeve and a few others I think Sile = Sheela Nic = Nee Dhaibheid = Davidge [/QUOTE] I knew I should have double-checked with my wife about “Nic”. I’ve never seen that and made an incorrect assumption. Everyone I know with that sort of surname has Ní instead of Nic. I know a couple of Dhaibheids and they say “DAHvid”. This is in Co. Kerry. I know pronunciations vary around the country. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/10 "2007-09-25T15:10:57Z")
That’d be fine too, some would put more emphasis on the last syllable but yeah it’s grand. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/11 "2007-09-25T15:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] How in the name of the Nine Turning Wheels of Og do they get “Keeva” out of “Caoimhe”? [/QUOTE] ca = /k/ - the “a” is there only to indicate that it is velarized (“broad”) and not palatalized (“slender”) oi = /wi/ - a diphthong mh = /v/ - the lenited “m” a = /a/ Not so crazy, now, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/12 "2007-09-25T16:30:46Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] ca = /k/ - the “a” is there only to indicate that it is velarized (“broad”) and not palatalized (“slender”) oi = /wi/ - a diphthong mh = /v/ - the lenited “m” a = /a/ Not so crazy, now, huh? [/QUOTE] Y’know, that actually makes sense. A is just a marker to prevent a sound schange, like U preventing the G from going soft in English “brogue”. :: goes to look up ‘palatilized’, ‘velarized’, and ‘lenited’. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/13 "2007-09-25T18:40:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Y’know, that actually makes sense. A is just a marker to prevent a sound schange, like U preventing the G from going soft in English “brogue”. :: goes to look up ‘palatilized’, ‘velarized’, and ‘lenited’. [/QUOTE] “Brogue”, of course, is the Irish word _bróg_, meaning “shoe” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irish-dopers-pronunciation-please/420409/14 "2007-09-25T19:12:20Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Y’know, that actually makes sense. A is just a marker to prevent a sound schange, like U preventing the G from going soft in English “brogue”. :: goes to look up ‘palatilized’, ‘velarized’, and ‘lenited’. [/QUOTE] Oh, and of course, it’s “imhe” instead of, say, “umha” to indicate that it’s the palatalized (slender) lenited _m_ (which is like /v/) and not the velarized (broad) lenited _m_ (which is like /w/).