Each week we publish the text of our Gaelic Word of the Week podcast here with added facts, figures and photos for Gaelic learners who want to learn a little about the language and about the Scottish Parliament – Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. This week our word is Cothromachadh Carboin – net zero.
At the moment the environment – an àrainneachd – is very much in the news as COP 26 takes place in Glaschu – Glasgow.
One subject which is at the center of discussions both at COP 26 and here at the Scottish Parliament – Pàrlamaid na h-Alba – is net zero.
So what is Gaelic for net zero?
It is actually quite a difficult term to translate as while there is a Gaelic for zero – neòni – and for net – lom – they don’t really mean much together. Lom can also mean bare so saying neòni lom sounds like it means “barely zero” or something else along these lines.
So what is the Gaelic for net zero?
It is cothromachadh carboin – literally carbon balancing. This is a great idiomatic way of saying the same thing as net zero. It means reaching carbon neutrality by balancing carbon dioxide emissions with its removal from the atmosphere.
This illustrates nicely that languages work in different ways and that things which are easy to say in one language might can be difficult in another language. This is an issue which translators face every day.
In political protest for example, you often see banners saying “no” to something – “no to this policy” or “no to this development” and so on. In Gaelic, this simply doesn’t work gramatically and you have to find a workaround such as “We don’t want this policy” – Chan eil sinn ag iarraidh a’ phoileasaidh seo or “we don’t agree with this policy” chan eil sinn ag aontachadh ris a’ phoileasaidh seo.
In the Scottish Parliament building, for example there are signs which say “no thoroghfare”. In Gaelic, we have translated these as “Chan eil seo na thrannsa” – this is not a corridor.
And when we’re on the subject of the word no, one of the notable feature of Gaelic and the Celtic languages in general is a lack of a words for yes or no. How you answer yes or no to a question depends very much on the question itself. You answer with the positive or negative form of the verb used in the same tense. This means there are almost limitless words for yes or no!
The most common one is the verb to be in the present tense. If you were using the positive form you’d say THA and if it was negative you’d say CHAN EIL. You will recognise negative forms as they normally start with “cha” or “chan”.
But it isn’t all one way! Gaelic can say some things far easier or more precisely than English. For example, for directions, Gaelic has words ‘a-nuas’ (down-from-above), ‘a-nìos’ (up-from-below) and words meaning *being* up or down – shuas agus shìos as well as the regular words for up and down suas and sìos!.
And there are words with no English equivalent such as cianalas – which means homesickness but can be for a time as well as for a place!
This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week is Cothromachadh Carboin – net zero.
This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week was written and read by Alasdair MacCaluim, Gaelic Development Officer who has been out to see some new battery electric trains being tested during COP 26 to contribute to reaching net zero. He also has deep sense of cianalas for the 1980s!
gaidhlig@parliament.scot
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