Grandmother in Irish (Gaelic / Gaeilge)
By far the word I have most been asked the Irish for in the 8-plus years I’ve lived in Kansas City, is “Grandmother”.
In Irish pubs, Irish festivals, by emails here to Towers gan Fhéile, and even just at social gatherings (before the end time. obviously)
At Irish festivals all over the Midwest I have had this conversation so many times.
-Hey, you’re Irish!
-I know (or Thank you or So I Believe or No, I’m sure I’d know, etc.)
-How do you say “grandmother” in Irish?
At this point I say, you don’t, you get down off a duck and then after the blank stare I say,
Seanmháthair
It sounds something like “Shan” together with the way my mother in Dublin always told me to stop saying “water’, as in Don’t say waw-her.
This won’t be 100% but it’s a start on how to pronounce the letters in this particular case:
’s’ is like the English ’sh’
‘ea’ is like the English ‘a’ in ‘far’
‘n’ is like the English ‘n’
‘mh’ is like the English ‘w’
‘á’ is like the ‘a’ in the Kaw river, or the English ‘awe’
‘th’ is like the English ‘h’ in ‘Harry’
‘air’ is like the English ‘er’
This sounds exotic enough to cause searches for paper and pen, even though I’m always willing to write on bare flesh. So at this point I get boring and explain the etymolgy of the word, breaking it up into sean (pronounced ’shan’ and the word for ‘Old’), and Máthair (pronounced something like ‘maw-her’ and the word for ‘Mother’).
Put them together and you have the word for ‘Grandmother’. But in putting them together you have to make a change because your mouth is naturally lazy and inclined to short cuts when it comes to sounds anyway.
That’s why you can see a ‘h’ after parachuting in there just after the ‘m’. This is what we call An Séimhiú - Lenition - though you will see it also referred to as Aspiration even if modern use is less inclined to, but I don’t want to get into that argument now.
Anyway chances are you call your grandmother, when you’re speaking to her in English, Granny, Nanny, Grandma or something similar. Both of mine were Nana. In Irish Mamó is commonly used in this fashion though I know Nana in Irish is not uncommon also.
I’ve been meaning to post on this for over a year, but yesterday’s question from a reader on what is the Irish for Great-grandmother reminded me.
And why is “Grandmother” the word I am most asked to translate? I don’t know. Tattoos? People love their grandmothers more than other family members? Grandmas go on and on about their heritage more than any other family members? Grannies more than anyone take their grandkids on guilt trips?
No idea. Maybe I should ask.
See Also:
• The Irish for “Family”
• “Crack” or “Craic”, and is it Irish anyway?
• Irish Language Glossary
• Irish / Gaelic / Gaeilge Lessons
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
Kids get on so well with grandparents because they have a common enemy.
True enough Primal, but that would only half explain it - in that it doesn’t explain why I am practically never asked to translate “Grandad” who should have the same common enemy as Grandma?
Sí do Mhamó í,
Sí do Mhamó í,
Sí do Mhamó í,
Sí cailleach an airgid.
Haigh b’fhéidir go bhfuil fhios ag an Meiriceánach go bhfuil airgead at a mhamó
ar chuir tú ceist riamh ar na daoine tuige a bhfuil an focal “draíochta” uathu?
Ha ha! B’fhéidir go bhfuil.
Níor chuir mé an ceist sin uirthi. Agus níl fhios agamsa faoi an focal “draíochta”. Inis dúinn, le do thoil.
+ focal “draíochta” ?
tarraingt na ndaoine ar an bhfocal mamó/ seanmháthair/ máthair mhór a bhí i dtrácht agam
How do you pronounce the word Mamo?
Jessica ,
Without getting into differences of dialect, Mamó would be pronounced something like Mom-OH . That’s “Mom” as in the English word Mom.
And Mhamó is pronounced Wom-OH where “wom” rhymes with “mom”.
Sorry about the delay in responding - I’ve been travelling around a lot lately.
Sinseanmhathair seo as gaeilge
greatgrandmother this in English
Thanks Traolach.
We actually have this already on the great-grandmother post, but I should have put it in here also. Go raibh maith agat.
Hello,
I will soon be a young grandmother :D, my mother was born in Ireland, I don’t know why she came here, anyhow lol….I would like the proper word for grandma that the Irish use, so any help would be very much appreciated. I know there is mamo but is this what they say in Ireland and exactly how is it pronounced.
Thank you so much…
Hi Patricia,
Congratulations on your soon to be grandmotherhood.
It’s all in the post and comments above. There’s not really anything else to add, but all the above examples are used in Ireland.
Speaking English, Nana and Granny are probably the two most common words used in Ireland equivalent to Grandma. And speaking Irish Mamó and Nana are the most common pet names for grandmother.
Mamó is pronounced as described above and Nana is pronounced as it is in English so that it rhymes with the name Hannah.
Hi i just was trying to figure this grandmother prononciation out.
I to and soon to be a grandmother in a few weeks and would like to know an Irish name for grandmother but short!
I know a women here is from Dublin and her grandkid call her mem pronouced in English. I wonder if its mamo in Irish like mom.
Thanks for the help
Beth - Mamó is Irish and only used by someone speaking in Irish. It is pronounced like you would say Mom in English followed by an Oh sound. There’s really nothing further to add to the post and the comments - it’s all there already.
When you’re talking pet names people can call their grandmothers anything they want. Most people in Ireland speak English and call their grandmothers English pet names. I’ve not ever heard one here in Dublin that sounds like “Mem” in either language
i am using seana, pronounce shanna, as a made up abbreviation for seanmhathair much like granny is for grandmother