About this phrase
A Mháire is the vocative, singular, of the feminine personal name Máire.
Notes
In common with other Celtic languages, in the vocative case (when someone or something is being directly addressed), the particle a is both uttered and written before personal names and before nouns.
- This particle is pronounced /ə/ rather than /a/.
- It lenites, when followed by a lenitable consonant.
- The lenitable consonants are b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s and t.
- In the modern standard orthography, lenition involves the insertion of the letter h after the consonant to be lenited.
- Lenition occurs in Irish for various grammatic reasons and affects nouns, verbs and adjectives.
In the case of male names, the ends are generally palatalised as well. For example:
- Conchubhar becomes a Chonchubhair.
- Seán becomes a Sheáin.
- Séamus becomes a Shéamuis (from which we get the anglicisation Hamish).
- Mícheál becomes a Mhichíl.
- ⁊rl…
Consonants in Irish may be velarised or palatalised (broad or slender). Generally:
- A consonant is velarised if preceded, in the written form, by the letter a, o or u.
- It is palatalised if preceded, in the written form, by the letter e or i.
- In the written form, where palatalisation occurs as a result of some grammatic modification, it normally involves the insertion of the letter i:
- Before the final consonant of single words. (As with male names in the vocative case.)
- Around the internal boundries of closed compound words. (For example, íseal (low) + tír (country) = An Ísiltír (The Netherlands.)
- Palatalisation, like lenition, occurs in Irish for numerous grammatic reasons.