House Name

Oliverdog

I'm moving house and have to give the house a name. We would like to call it Silver Birches (because it's surrounded by them).
I'd really appreciate it if someone could give me the Irish for this name, together with a guide to its pronunciation. Forgive my ignorance, Ireland is my adopted country.

simu

How 'bout "Na Beitheanna Geala"? Pronounced "Na Beh-anna gal-a" (that's beh like bed) - roughly anyways! It actually means the bright birches rather than the silver birches but that works better in Irish imo. The actual word for silver is used more for metallic things.

Oliverdog

Simu, thank you very much for this. So presumably, for brevity, Na Beitheanna would be The Birches - and in the same way Na Caorthann would be The Rowans ? (We have other trees !)

simu

Yeah, the plural for caorthann is caorthainn, though.

Oliverdog

Thanks again - that's perfect.

John

Kwekubo

Just checked focal.ie (a terminological database), and "beith gheal" is indeed the official translation for "betula pendula" (the silver birch).

Oliverdog

Thanks kwekubo - and that DB is a valuable resource too.
John.