21 Comments
Just curious, is creid/creideann an English loanword ('credible', etc.)? Or is that just a coincidence?
Even older. Both originate from a common orignal indo-european source. It just seems that the irish word didn't diverge much from the latin one in this case.
1368
creid believe, Irish creidim, Old Irish cretim, Welsh credu, Cornish cresy, Breton cridiff, kreddiô, Old Irish cretim, Welsh credu, Cornish cresy, Breton cridiff, kreddiô; Latin cred; Sanskrit çrad-dadhâmi. From cred-dô, "I give heart to". http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb11.html
If I read it correctly, in this case credo is not a common ancestor. The words diverged long before. Of course irish borrowed a lot of latin words either directly or via english or french, but this doesn't seem to be such a case.
I try to pay attention to those little differences. I am sometimes asked how much celtic languages are related to other indo-european languages. I try to use examples then that are based on the original indo-european substrate and not later loan-words.
PS: My favourite example was water-uisce-wasser which are related from one common stem and aqua-eau from another.
It looks like you're right. I could have sworn that when I checked it said creid comes from credo. Scilling saw it too. Oh, well, it looks like you're correct according to what I last saw.
- 1497
If I wanted to say "Don't you believe me?" could that be "Nach creideann tú mé?"?
Would a native speaker say that?
Basing on FGB, I would translate this sentence as an gcreideann tú uaim? (as meaning do you believe in what I said?).
The two examples with object in nom.-acc. (?):
- Creidim sin (I belive that),
- Creid uaimse é (You can take it from me.)
suggest that creid + obj. means believe that the obj. is true.
So I would interpret an gcreideann tú mé? as do you believe I am [a] true [sentence]?, which makes not much sense…
EDIT: OK, there is also creid mise (go) in FGB, which I missed before, and which seems to confirm this sentence.
It is actually exactly how native speakers would say it, in Connacht at least.
"An gcreidreann tú uaim" is not something I have ever heard myself,"
And, as in the other thread, GRMMA. :)
So I have to remember that the creid uaim é is an exceptional phrase, and not the standard way of speaking of believing.
- 1074
In (my dialect of) English, the verb "to believe " can also express incredulousness, as in "Can you believe she wore that hideous dress to the party?" There's no question of the existence of the hideous dress, or that she wore it. Does Irish do this too, or is there a different word?
Could this sentence also mean "Do you believe in me?" Or would you use a different verb for that?
- 1815
No. That English phrase has two different meanings (viz “Do you believe in my existence?” and “Do you have confidence in me?”), and each meaning would be expressed differently in Irish (e.g. An gcreideann tú ionam? and An bhfuil iontaoibh agat asam? respectively).
