#daoine

In The Fam, I wrote about first, second and third cousins and all that removal business and the degrees to which someone is related to you. Here are a few other ways to refer to your cousin:

Mathematically

Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977) gives this usage of dó:

(Of relationship) Tá siad a dó is a dó, they are first cousins.

A dó is a trí, first cousins once removed

Quite literally, they are "two and two", referring to first cousins. Two plus two degrees of separation = four degrees: col ceathar. 

Following that,  tá siad a dó is a trí "two plus three" degrees of separation = col cúigear. 

By the Knees

Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977) gives this definition of glúin:

Generation: ó ghlúin go glúin, from generation to generation Is iad an treas glúin iad, they are related in the third degree; they are second cousins

Dubhó and Fionnó

I’m not clear on where dubh and fionn come into this, but the ó bit comes from the same place last names do: "from" or "descendant of". They are used, at the very least, in Ulster Irish. See the following examples from Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977):

An dá ó second cousins

A óí agus a iaróí his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren

Ó agus fionnó second and third cousins

Fionnó: great-grandson; great-grandchild An dá fhionnó: third cousins

Dubhó: great-great-grandson; great-great-grandchild An dá dhubhó: fourth cousins

And from a piece written by Donegal writer Seán Bán Mac Meanman in his series Ó Mhuir go Teamhair, written using the penname 'Manannan' in the Derry Journal:

I'm normal and can be trusted with drinking blood as a fundamental form of intimacy in vampire stories

You're making friends with the fireflies I can't say that this comes as a surprise But the things they say are not what they seem So you've been called to tell us what they mean

(extra sketches under the cut)

The term for computer is ríomhaire:

ríomh (to count, calculate, compute) + suffix -aire (one who)

Ríomh hails from Old Irish rím (counting, narrating), which is from Proto-Celtic *rīmā (number). So a ríomhaire is “one who counts” or “one who computes”.

Sometime in the late 14th century to the early 15th century, the word rímaire was recorded in Leabhar Mór Leacain, or The Book of Lecan.

Ó Dónaill’s Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (1977) lists four words for exile:

deoraí (stranger, wanderer; exile)

eachtraí (adventurer; wanderer, traveller, exile)

ionnarbthach (expelled person; exile, outlaw)

loingseach (exile, wanderer)

Deoraí is the primary used term, while the rest are reserved for literary use.

Deoraí can also refer to a stranger or a wanderer. It comes from Old Irish deorad, meaning “stranger, foreign settler, outlaw, pilgrim”.

Eachtraí, meaning “adventurer, traveller, exile” comes from Old Irish echtraid (departs, banishes, exiles), which stems from Old Irish echtar, meaning “without” or “outside”.

Ionnarbthach (traveller, wanderer, exile) stems from ionnarb (to drive out or banish, exile); see excerpt from Duanaire Dháibhidh Uí Bhruadair (Poems of David Ó Bruadair, 1625-1698):

d'ionnarb [Colum Cille] an lon craois as a chliabh Colm Cille drove out the insatiable appetite from his bosom

Loingseach as an “exile, wanderer” derives from loingeas “banishment, exile”. However, this is metaphorical in nature and loingeas actually refers to a fleet of ships.

In medieval Irish texts, loingeas was the preferred term for exile; see excerpt from O'Davoren's glossary (from a 1177 manuscript) :

téit for loingis goes into exile