My wife is listening to an audio book entitled “The Fiery Cross” by Diana Gabaldon.
This Amazon page should give you an idea of the nature of the book:
She says she’s hearing a phrase, which she believes to be of Scottish origin, sounding like
A harish
or
Ahhh harish
or similar.
She’s trying to figure out what it means.
She’s indicated it’s getting used as a term of address or endearment.
Any clues?
I found “a charaid” on page 17 of the Google Books result for that title. Seems to mean something like “friend,” but I’ll leave the definitive translation to a Gaelic expert.
Excuse me, I meant page 14. Apologies if I had you straining your eyes to find it.
I’m going to say that it was likely:
“a charaid”
I can Google on up a meaning, but any native Gaelic or similar speakers are welcome to give me a good definition or sense of the word.
Sorry for the multiple posts, but I’m just piecing this together. It seems a charaid translates most accurately as “Dear Sir” and is pronounced, if this page is accurate as:
Yes, if you’re writing a letter. “Caraid” is the word for friend, and “a” is the vocative particle, so “a charaid” is “o friend,” or more loosely in English “my friend.” Depending on context, it could also be “his friend” or “its friend,” so long as the possessor is gramatically masculine. “Caraid” is “cah-ridge,” but “charaid” is “kha-ridge,” and you have to de-aspirate the final [-dge] which can sound like “-rich” to English-speakers.
Yeah, as the voice actor said it, the final sound was somewhere between a “ridge” and “rich” to my ears.
The wife found an example of the phrase and played it back for me after I posted the OP.
Neat, neat language and accent.